Confused about region free patch Sony DRU-840A

Hello all - Sorry if this is in the wrong place. I'm brand new to this. I just tried to do a region-free firmware patch to my DRU-840A, following directions and apps I found here. Afterwords, my DVD Drive "properties" said no region was selected. I took that as a good sign, but then I tried to play a Region 1 DVD on PowerDVD (I live in Region 1) just to see that I hadn't messed anything up. The DVD wouldn't play until I indicated it was Region 1. That apparently changed my region selection on teh Drive back to 1 and reduced the number of allowed changes I can make down to one. I tried reloading the original unpatched firmware and my number of allowable changes went up to 4, but now (I think) I'm not region free. Feel like I'm going in circles. Thanks in advance for any help. If you need to know the exact steps I took and can give more info. The software I used was:

Patch_Utility_Samsung
840A.SS01.stock
sfdnwin

Thanks again,
Sylvilagus

Hi and Welcome!

flashing RPC1 firmware is not all. There are several more things to keep an eye on.
Windows does indeed show only "1 change left" if there is a drive with RPC1 firmware. Perfectly normal.
Next thing is the player software. Commercial DVD players have some additional region code handling. Instead of these commercial players, I'd rather suggest using free alternatives like VLC, mplayer or Mediaplayer Classic HC.

Michael