The big external enclosures thread

Whats up guys!, I have a few questions hopefully u all can help me with. I just bought a NEC 3520 Drive along with a Plumax PM-525C2-PPB (black) USB 2.0/Firewire enclosure. Hooking them up to a dell laptop. I have read this whole thread about the flashing and the firmware upgrades for the box and the drive. Maybe u can give me the proper order of these steps to get my setup to the optimal performance. Thanks in advance.

1st, install the drive in the external case. Check your existing BenQ firmware on the drive & note it.
Do not flash your BenQ yet. (do one thing at a time)
Make sure there is no media in drive.
Connect only with USB to flash PL-3705 & BenQ.

Pl-3507 Rom updater's & firmware can be found here:
http://member.newsguy.com/~siccos/PL3507%20Firmware.htm

Then using 2.14 Rom Updater, do a Rom read (write it down or do a screen shot save) on your existing Pl-3507 case firmware. Save the file.

If your PL-3507 has "0X6F" Chip ID then you will have to flash up to 09/07 firmware using "2.04" Rom Updater. 2.14 Rom Updater will not work!
After flashing reboot your external case, then read with 2.14 Rom Updater to insure your good with Sept firmware.

If you have ATMEL flash chip you can use the 2.14 updater to flash directly to 09/07/04. Reboot case and confirm update with 2.14 Rom read.

Updating to this 09/07/04 firmware will insure your drive will not have any drive recognition problems with your OS.

If you wish to update to v185 (Nov) firmware (future HD use in case), then use Rom Updater 2.2 or 2.21 and the respective hex file. Reboot case and do confirm update Rom read.

Now for your BenQ, burn a disk with your present firmware, scan it with Nero CD Speed Disc Quality Scan. (If you have early firmware in your BenQ, you may have some difficulty with scan speed, don't worry, this will be fixed by updating your BenQ firmware)
This insures your BenQ is working right.
Before you flash, make sure you are connected via USB.....I had a failed flash using Firewire......you don't need to scare yourself like that.

Now for some information:
"G7xx" firmware require a crossflash to "B7xx' or 47L9 BenQ (External firmware). You need WinDWflash & appropiate .cvt file.
WinDWflash & .cvt files can be found here:
http://dvdpro.club.st/firmware/BENQ_FW.htm

However G7xx firmware may be directly upflashed to other G7xx firmware, see here bottom of page (make sure you select right firmware):
http://www.iomagic.com/Firmware/FirmwareDownload.html

B7xx firmware can be upflashed directly to B7xx with official BenQ .exe files.

You must Crossflash to 47L9 using WinDWflash & 47L9.cvt.

47L9 external firmware changes your drive ID from DW1620 to EW1621.
47L9 firmware allows you to burn at up to 12X USB2 or up to 16X FireWire.
Latest B7xx firmwares only allow 12X burns (not enough MB/s transfer rate), But do burn some media better than 47L9.

I now make this a rule, I upgrade my BenQ firmware on my XP machines only in Safe Mode. This prevents anything from auto start, downloading, Firewall problems, anti-virus problems....etc. Anything that could screw up my flash.

If you install the 47L9 firmware your Burst rates in CD Speed will be something like 21-22MB/s for USB2 (good for 12X), 23-24MB/s on FireWire (good for 16X)
22MB/s is not good enough for 16X burns, 23MB/s is!
I hope this helps.

Thanks alot Dish, the first part is very helpful, the only problem is the second part is for a Benq drive, I have a NEC 3520, would these steps also apply or do I need different ones for the nec. thanks again

Sorry,
I forgot you have a 3520.
You should be able to get 16X with latest stock firmware.....I know the 3500 is capable of this. What you do from there is on NEC forum......

I have both a NEC and BenQ in the PL-3507 case.

As far as the NEC is concerned: This is a just released drive, there is no newer firmware available as present. So unless you want to run "hacked" firmware there is no need to flash. You can flash your NEC via either Firewire or USB without problems.

You should check the NEC forum for modded firmware by Liggy/Dee or Quiikee for increased burn speeds, rip-lock, bit-setting.

Thanks guys, u have made it seem real simple, I am do both items tomorrow, soon as I get them up and running I will post the results. Thanks again

Hi!

Just, for information, I have successfully flashed my Prolific chip. The details:
The external box is Welland ME-320U2F
The chip itself is Prolific PL-3507 03473C
The romwriter and firmware is from http://member.newsguy.com/~siccos/PL3507%20Firmware.htm
The Vendor ID is ATMEL (info from romwriter)
The Chip ID is BV512 (info from romwriter)
The old firmware was 2003.10.17.010
For backup I saved the original firmware.

Then first I flashed fw_pl3507B_d0907.zip with the 2.1.4 romwriter.
Secondly, I flashed fw_pl3507B_d110904.zip with the 2.2.0 romwriter.

Now the new firmware is 2004.11.09.185

Thanks for your informations to do this!
Regards

Hey, that's just what I like to hear! Glad that the info was helpful.
Your case model, Prolific Chipset & Flash Chip ID is going to be helpful to someone else.
Lets see more posts like this.

Hey guys, I just got my Plumax PM-525C2-PPB, my nec wont be here for a few more days. One quick question I have a sony dru-510a external drive, that the enclosure broke on, Could I use the drive inside my plumax until I get my nec 3520a, just at least to do the rom updates to the plumax or should I just resist tempatation amd wait.

Are you sure that the case on your Sony went belly up? If so, then yes (is this going to invalidate any warranty on the Sony?), but to be sure, I would do a test burn with the Sony in the PLumax case before I did any upgrading of the PL-3507 firmware.

Yeah dishinit the case is busted, my kid dropped it off the desk and busted the USB port. So I should install the sony, burn a disc in it, than upgrade the PL-3507 firmware. than I can swap the sony out for the NEC when I get it. Thanks again for the help I think i Got it right

Do you know how to open the Sony Case ?
You just remove the 4 rubber side feet and the top seperates from the bottom.

I know Sony uses the Prolific ChipSet also in their case (Firewire/USB).
I have an extra bridgeboard up for sale on eBay. Take a look and see if it's the same type you have. Maybe you can save the Sony drive & case.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MESE:IT

I will check that out, just put the sony drive in the case, going to burn a dvd now, will post in a little while.

Burnt my first DVD, no Problems. I was able to update to 09/07 firmware using "2.04" Rom Updater, but when I Use Rom Updater 2.2 to update to v185 (Nov) firmware. the updater just hangs on when it is reading the chip info. My Vendor ID is EON, the Chip ID is en29lv512, and I have firmware ver 2004.09.07.160 installed. Should I use a different Rom Updater....

Can you take a screen shot of your firmware update?
When you tried the 2nd update,
did you have a disc in the drive?
Was case connected VIA USB?
If none of the above, try ROM UpDater 2.21:
http://upload.cdfreaks.com/prolific/

Sorry Don't have yhe software to do a screen grab. (at Least I don't think so, will check), no disc in drive, case hooked up USB2, I downloaded the updater, but it says that it is verison 2.2 when it is running? the first flash went so easy, now I am getting confused.

Hi - a completely unexpected hassle with this flashing process; may well only apply to those using the D-Link DSL-504T, equally may well only apply to the five-thumbed.

. . . I flashed my nice new Plumax twice using ROMWRITER v2.2 - each time it hosed my RJ45-attached 504T . . . . . . required manual reset, & etc & etc. . . of course it wasn't till the second time I realised the cause-'n-effect.

Perhaps wise to disconnect absolutely every other widget which might contain any of the [common] EPROMs used in these bridge-boards.

Here is a photo of the update to 907 firmware, the second updater is the one that I get when I unzip the file i doenloaded from dishnit link, can't get a screen grab of the hanging update because it freezes my system and i have to reboot. I do have a usb2 pcmia card attached, and also a linksys wireless pcmia card attachec, should I disconnect this card and try the update in safe mode.Once again thanks for all the help guys

Billy2657, Disconnect all other USB devices, make sure you select correct device with loader, ands yes see what happens in the safe mode.
From every thing I see you should be able to go to v185 firmware.

See Showarthing's post about disconnecting "all widgets"

Dishinit, I have tried safemode, removing my wireless card, I don't see any tab where I can select a device in the loader. I don't understand I am doing the same exact thing I did for the first upgrade, didn't change a thing with the system. The only thing I don't understand is how come the loader I get when I unzip that file is 2.22, when the zip file says 2.21. Is it possible to use an older loader like 2.14. Any other suggestions would be great, thanks

Billy2657,
I am sorry to confuse you. There is no tab to select device with the Rom UpDaters. I was thinking BenQ firmware updaters

I just wonder if you got a bad flash???

Go back to 2.14 and reflash to 09/07/04.

Then using 2.2RS32 flash up to Nov firmware.
Let me know how it goes.

Use Rom UpDater 2.2RS32, and it will look something
like this before:..........................................and this afterwords:

I remember reading in the "readme file" that you must have "Enable Verfication" checked off. Don't know if this is your problem but you can try.

Actually it is greyed out using Rom Updater 2.2RS32.

Something is really strange. Look at the last three screen images. In the last case it's grayed out, in the next two screens it's NOT...

Sorry, you are correct - I didn't look at version #s...

I went back to 2.14 and reflashed to 09/07/04, no problems. Then I used 2.2RS32 to flash up to Nov firmware, and the same thing it just freezes and eventually gives me the "not responding" line. It does this either when I read the rom or try to upgrade.