XFlash Utility for LiteOn/Sony Optical Drives

*code65536* · 28-03-2004

XFlash Utility for LiteOn/Sony Optical Drives
The Official Thread

What does this do?
This tool is designed to extract the raw .BIN firmwares from LiteOn's firmware flashers (the ones that use XFlash). These .BIN files can then be used with firmware flashing tools such as MtkFlash.

Compatibility
This program only works with XFlash firmware flashers. XFlash Utility will not work with scrambled/compressed flashers!

<HR SIZE="1" NOSHADE STYLE="border-top: 1px dotted #555555">Latest version is 3.2.4 (7 January 2008)
Download: http://codeguys.rpc1.org/utilities.html
More Info: Change Log | Documentation | Unpacking RAR Files<HR SIZE="1" NOSHADE STYLE="border-top: 1px dotted #555555">

Enjoy!

*dhc014* · 28-03-2004

Cool!

You can recognize which Windows updaters are considered XFlash by looking at the main Window. There are two variations as seen below.

XFlash 1:

Embedded Images

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You must be registered in order view images in this forum.

XFlash 2:

Embedded Images

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You must be registered in order view images in this forum.

The older Liteon Windows Flasher that you might still find for some drives that this tool will not work with can be seen below:

Embedded Images

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*pinto2* · 28-03-2004

This tool will be very handy...

A BIG thank you

Keep up the good work.

*Ssseth* · 30-03-2004

Nice!
Two tools in one week!

Keep up the good work!

BB88 · 30-03-2004

Another Liteon GURU!

Mango · 31-03-2004

Good job Code65536

Thanks!

*Wesociety* · 02-04-2004

Very useful indeed.

*Karr* · 27-04-2004

Sorry ... I think this tool won't work very soon...
I compressed/scrambled the binary data.
Sorry again !!

*Ssseth* · 27-04-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Karr
Sorry ... I think this tool won't work very soon...
I compressed/scrambled the binary data.
Sorry again !!

...please clarify...

Mango · 27-04-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Ssseth
...please clarify...

I think Karr is telling us that upcoming firmware upgrade releases will be in a compressed/scrambled format. Probably to save Liteon some bandwidth.

(Unmodified) Xflash-X won't be able to find the bytes it's looking for.

Thanks for the warning Karr

*code65536* · 27-04-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Mango
Probably to save Liteon some bandwidth.

*nods*

*dhc014* · 27-04-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Karr
Sorry ... I think this tool won't work very soon...
I compressed/scrambled the binary data.
Sorry again !!

You've got to do what you've got to do... no worries

*Squirrel* · 25-10-2004

Any change there will be someone to write an unpacker/descrambler for stock firmwares that come straight from LiteOn?

Possible workaround:
If you have the drive that the f/w update was really intended for, flash it with the new firmware from LiteOn. Use any flash utility to dump the firmware from the drive to a .bin file. And there you have the unscrambled, uncompressed firmware file. Disadvantage of this method is that you have to have the right drive, a cross-flashed drive won't work.

*chok0* · 25-10-2004

@squirrel

just look at the codeguys, tdbs and dhc014's site, there are a lot of unscrambled firmwares.

*ala42* · 25-10-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squirrel

Disadvantage of this method is that you have to have the right drive, a cross-flashed drive won't work.

It will work enough to extract the firmware. Simply ignore the flashing led, crossflash the extracted firmware and flash it. But as allready posted, there are several places where you can get unscrambled firmwares

*Squirrel* · 25-10-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by chok0

@squirrel

just look at the codeguys, tdbs and dhc014's site, there are a lot of unscrambled firmwares.

I know that, but I didn't mean that. Sometimes LiteOn releases a new firmware and you won't find it unscrambled in a few days time. And sometimes there are those firmwares that shouldn't have been released but somehow escaped from LiteOn headquarters... For this cases, it would be nice if Xflash-X could handle scrambled/packed firmwares, just to mention something...

*code65536* · 25-10-2004

This question has been addressed before, in another thread.

As some on this forum may remember, a long time ago, XFlash-X used to handle scrambled firmwares. But LiteOn kept adapting its scrambling algorithm. It got to the point where a new version of XFlash-X became obsolete in just a few days because it doesn't take that much effort for LiteOn to make minor (or not so minor) changes to the scrambling algorithm. Because XFlash-X was becoming obsolete so quickly and so frequently, having the unscrambling feature was, in practice, useless. Thanks to XFlash-X, LiteOn has already created, by my count, 5 different scrambling algorithms. This number would probably be much higher if I had kept updating XFlash-X.

So, no, there will probably never be a unscrambler for LiteOn firmwares.

*chok0* · 25-10-2004

@code65536

how do you, and other firmware freaks, extract the firmware and whats the tool to create an .exe-file with the unscrambled fw with?

*Squirrel* · 25-10-2004

Excuse me for the empty reply above. I had text typed, but somehow something went wrong when I pressed the send button. The text vanished and I can't edit the post anymore.

What I wrote was that I was wondering why LiteOn should take the hassle to scramble their new f/w, because it is easy enough to flash it, dump it and save the .bin file unscrambled.

Another wonder I had was about the added value of XFlash-X, because when someone has to descramble the .exe first, it's also easy to save the unscrambled .bin and flash that with any flasher available.

Understand me well, I hugely appreciate the work of the C0deguys!

*code65536* · 25-10-2004

1/ I don't know why they bother, either. But they do.

2/ XFlash-X used to have value, but now that most flashers of interest are scrambled, there is very little value to this tool. Which is why this thread has been lying dormant for so long until someone dug it up from the grave.

BluePhantom · 25-10-2004

just a thought... how hard would it be to do a software-emulated LiteOn drive? That way it could be "flashed" and extract the bin that way. I know, it's a crazy suggestion, but this thread had me thinking.......

-Blu

jimmsta · 25-10-2004

I suppose that you would need to have something that contained an eeprom that looked like a Liteon Drive, sorta like Daemon Tool's, or Alcohol 120%'s virtual drive, except that it would need to have a unique LiteOn id... thus, it would probably be possible, but impractical.

Besides, most firmware's that come out need to be tweaked, so it's just best to wait for the 'masters' to work out the bugs first.

Codeguys are a bunch of firmware masters. They KNOW firmware, and they KNOW how to make it work better. Trust them... believe me, it's worth it to do so.

*code65536* · 26-10-2004

*shakes head* There is no need to make suggestions on solving a problem that does not need solving.

We have our ways of getting a firmware out of the flasher, and for a number of reasons, making such methods public would provide the community with little or no benefit (for one, because unscrambled firmwares are already readily accessible).

*Squirrel* · 26-10-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by code65536

*shakes head* There is no need to make suggestions on solving a problem that does not need solving.

We have our ways of getting a firmware out of the flasher, and for a number of reasons, making such methods public would provide the community with little or no benefit (for one, because unscrambled firmwares are already readily accessible).

...and making the methods public would make them unusable, because LiteOn or whatever company will change the scrambling procedures again...

*Matth* · 26-10-2004

So are we really saying, that Liteon put effort into chasing down the descrambling of the firmware, but not into fixing the dodgy burn quality that's one reason for people wanting to get into the firmware in the first place?

28-03-2004	#1
code65536 CDFreaks Resident Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: .us Posts: 5,984	XFlash Utility for LiteOn/Sony Optical Drives XFlash Utility for LiteOn/Sony Optical Drives The Official Thread What does this do? This tool is designed to extract the raw .BIN firmwares from LiteOn's firmware flashers (the ones that use XFlash). These .BIN files can then be used with firmware flashing tools such as MtkFlash. Compatibility This program only works with XFlash firmware flashers. XFlash Utility will not work with scrambled/compressed flashers! <HR SIZE="1" NOSHADE STYLE="border-top: 1px dotted #555555">Latest version is 3.2.4 (7 January 2008) Download: http://codeguys.rpc1.org/utilities.html More Info: Change Log \| Documentation \| Unpacking RAR Files<HR SIZE="1" NOSHADE STYLE="border-top: 1px dotted #555555"> Enjoy! __________________ "You don't have to be a supporter of freedom of speech to protest when your own ox is being gored. You do have to be a supporter of freedom of speech to protest when the government tries to censor the speech of those who are goring your ox." -Alan M. Dershowitz LiteOn Stuff: LiteOn F.A.Q. \| OmniPatcher \| DVD-Writer Overview \| Changing Write Strategies \| Crossflashing \| XFlash Utility General Stuff: DVD-Writer F.A.Q. \| Rules of the Optical Drive Forums \| Attaching Scans \| The rpc1.org Firmware Database Code Guys: http://codeguys.rpc1.org/ \| send us e-mail I Use: Firefox + QuickDrag + NoRedirect + URL Flipper \| Winamp \| CmdOpen Shell Extension \| HashCheck Shell Extension C64K: My Travel Photos \| In Retirement... Last edited by C0deKing; 07-01-2008 at 03:32.

28-03-2004	#2
dhc014 Retired Moderator Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,369	Cool! You can recognize which Windows updaters are considered XFlash by looking at the main Window. There are two variations as seen below. XFlash 1: Embedded Images View/download images and remove advertisements by registering now! (it's easy, free and takes less than a minute) You must be registered in order view images in this forum. XFlash 2: Embedded Images View/download images and remove advertisements by registering now! (it's easy, free and takes less than a minute) You must be registered in order view images in this forum. The older Liteon Windows Flasher that you might still find for some drives that this tool will not work with can be seen below: Embedded Images View/download images and remove advertisements by registering now! (it's easy, free and takes less than a minute) You must be registered in order view images in this forum. __________________ .:: Dave \| http://dhc014.rpc1.org ::.

28-03-2004	#3
pinto2 DVD Freak Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Valhall Posts: 7,651	Thank you This tool will be very handy... A BIG thank you Keep up the good work.

31-03-2004	#6
Mango CD Freaks Lite-on Firmware Guru Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 354	Good job Code65536 Thanks! __________________ Best regards, mango aka digi digi.rpc1.org firmware, regional freedom and tips for Liteon / Jlms dvd drives

02-04-2004	#7
Wesociety CD Freak Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 5,230	Very useful indeed. __________________ WesleyTech.com Blu-ray Disc & consumer technology reviews, news & articles

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30-03-2004	#4
Ssseth Retired Senior Moderator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Canada - Hockey Capital of the World! Posts: 4,387	Nice! Two tools in one week! Keep up the good work!

30-03-2004	#5
BB88 MyCE Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 136	Another Liteon GURU! __________________ LITEON SHM-165H6S (HS0E) BenQ DD DW1650 (BCIC) ASUS DRW-241BST (1.04)

27-04-2004	#8
Karr K-Probe Author Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Taiwan Posts: 66	Sorry ... I think this tool won't work very soon... I compressed/scrambled the binary data. Sorry again !!

25-10-2004	#13
Squirrel CDFreaks Resident Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Dronten, The Netherlands Posts: 793	Re: XFlash-X (XFlash eXtractor) Any change there will be someone to write an unpacker/descrambler for stock firmwares that come straight from LiteOn? Possible workaround: If you have the drive that the f/w update was really intended for, flash it with the new firmware from LiteOn. Use any flash utility to dump the firmware from the drive to a .bin file. And there you have the unscrambled, uncompressed firmware file. Disadvantage of this method is that you have to have the right drive, a cross-flashed drive won't work. __________________ My optical drives: NEC ND-4550A(1.X7)@ND-4551A(1.Z2) / NEC ND-3500AG(2.FC_QV3ME) / NEC ND-3500AG/BTE(2.FC_QV3ME) / Philips DW1650@BenQ DW1650(BCIC) / Philips CDRWDVD3210 Combo / LiteOn LTR-32123S@40125S / LiteOn LTD-165H(CH12 Quiet patch)

25-10-2004	#14
chok0 CDFreaks Resident Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Trenchtown, Germaica Posts: 2,467	Re: XFlash-X (XFlash eXtractor) @squirrel just look at the codeguys, tdbs and dhc014's site, there are a lot of unscrambled firmwares.

25-10-2004	#17
code65536 CDFreaks Resident Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: .us Posts: 5,984	Re: XFlash-X (XFlash eXtractor) This question has been addressed before, in another thread. As some on this forum may remember, a long time ago, XFlash-X used to handle scrambled firmwares. But LiteOn kept adapting its scrambling algorithm. It got to the point where a new version of XFlash-X became obsolete in just a few days because it doesn't take that much effort for LiteOn to make minor (or not so minor) changes to the scrambling algorithm. Because XFlash-X was becoming obsolete so quickly and so frequently, having the unscrambling feature was, in practice, useless. Thanks to XFlash-X, LiteOn has already created, by my count, 5 different scrambling algorithms. This number would probably be much higher if I had kept updating XFlash-X. So, no, there will probably never be a unscrambler for LiteOn firmwares. __________________ "You don't have to be a supporter of freedom of speech to protest when your own ox is being gored. You do have to be a supporter of freedom of speech to protest when the government tries to censor the speech of those who are goring your ox." -Alan M. Dershowitz LiteOn Stuff: LiteOn F.A.Q. \| OmniPatcher \| DVD-Writer Overview \| Changing Write Strategies \| Crossflashing \| XFlash Utility General Stuff: DVD-Writer F.A.Q. \| Rules of the Optical Drive Forums \| Attaching Scans \| The rpc1.org Firmware Database Code Guys: http://codeguys.rpc1.org/ \| send us e-mail I Use: Firefox + QuickDrag + NoRedirect + URL Flipper \| Winamp \| CmdOpen Shell Extension \| HashCheck Shell Extension C64K: My Travel Photos \| In Retirement... Last edited by code65536; 25-10-2004 at 18:28. Reason: Typo fix

25-10-2004	#18
chok0 CDFreaks Resident Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Trenchtown, Germaica Posts: 2,467	Re: XFlash-X (XFlash eXtractor) @code65536 how do you, and other firmware freaks, extract the firmware and whats the tool to create an .exe-file with the unscrambled fw with?

25-10-2004	#19
Squirrel CDFreaks Resident Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Dronten, The Netherlands Posts: 793	Re: XFlash-X (XFlash eXtractor) Excuse me for the empty reply above. I had text typed, but somehow something went wrong when I pressed the send button. The text vanished and I can't edit the post anymore. What I wrote was that I was wondering why LiteOn should take the hassle to scramble their new f/w, because it is easy enough to flash it, dump it and save the .bin file unscrambled. Another wonder I had was about the added value of XFlash-X, because when someone has to descramble the .exe first, it's also easy to save the unscrambled .bin and flash that with any flasher available. Understand me well, I hugely appreciate the work of the C0deguys! __________________ My optical drives: NEC ND-4550A(1.X7)@ND-4551A(1.Z2) / NEC ND-3500AG(2.FC_QV3ME) / NEC ND-3500AG/BTE(2.FC_QV3ME) / Philips DW1650@BenQ DW1650(BCIC) / Philips CDRWDVD3210 Combo / LiteOn LTR-32123S@40125S / LiteOn LTD-165H(CH12 Quiet patch)

25-10-2004	#20
code65536 CDFreaks Resident Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: .us Posts: 5,984	Re: XFlash-X (XFlash eXtractor) 1/ I don't know why they bother, either. But they do. 2/ XFlash-X used to have value, but now that most flashers of interest are scrambled, there is very little value to this tool. Which is why this thread has been lying dormant for so long until someone dug it up from the grave. __________________ "You don't have to be a supporter of freedom of speech to protest when your own ox is being gored. You do have to be a supporter of freedom of speech to protest when the government tries to censor the speech of those who are goring your ox." -Alan M. Dershowitz LiteOn Stuff: LiteOn F.A.Q. \| OmniPatcher \| DVD-Writer Overview \| Changing Write Strategies \| Crossflashing \| XFlash Utility General Stuff: DVD-Writer F.A.Q. \| Rules of the Optical Drive Forums \| Attaching Scans \| The rpc1.org Firmware Database Code Guys: http://codeguys.rpc1.org/ \| send us e-mail I Use: Firefox + QuickDrag + NoRedirect + URL Flipper \| Winamp \| CmdOpen Shell Extension \| HashCheck Shell Extension C64K: My Travel Photos \| In Retirement...

25-10-2004	#21
BluePhantom CD Freaks Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: New England Posts: 55	Re: XFlash-X (XFlash eXtractor) just a thought... how hard would it be to do a software-emulated LiteOn drive? That way it could be "flashed" and extract the bin that way. I know, it's a crazy suggestion, but this thread had me thinking....... -Blu __________________ "No one can make you feel inferior without your permission" -Eleanor Roosevelt Lite-On 851@832 CG5G Autobitset, couple of overrides IOMEGA ZIPCD3840INT-A@PLEXTOR PX-W1210A 1.10 Omnipatcher Rocks! Check out my MAME project!

25-10-2004	#22
jimmsta New on Forum Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 23	Re: XFlash-X (XFlash eXtractor) I suppose that you would need to have something that contained an eeprom that looked like a Liteon Drive, sorta like Daemon Tool's, or Alcohol 120%'s virtual drive, except that it would need to have a unique LiteOn id... thus, it would probably be possible, but impractical. Besides, most firmware's that come out need to be tweaked, so it's just best to wait for the 'masters' to work out the bugs first. Codeguys are a bunch of firmware masters. They KNOW firmware, and they KNOW how to make it work better. Trust them... believe me, it's worth it to do so.

26-10-2004	#23
code65536 CDFreaks Resident Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: .us Posts: 5,984	Re: XFlash-X (XFlash eXtractor) shakes head There is no need to make suggestions on solving a problem that does not need solving. We have our ways of getting a firmware out of the flasher, and for a number of reasons, making such methods public would provide the community with little or no benefit (for one, because unscrambled firmwares are already readily accessible). __________________ "You don't have to be a supporter of freedom of speech to protest when your own ox is being gored. You do have to be a supporter of freedom of speech to protest when the government tries to censor the speech of those who are goring your ox." -Alan M. Dershowitz LiteOn Stuff: LiteOn F.A.Q. \| OmniPatcher \| DVD-Writer Overview \| Changing Write Strategies \| Crossflashing \| XFlash Utility General Stuff: DVD-Writer F.A.Q. \| Rules of the Optical Drive Forums \| Attaching Scans \| The rpc1.org Firmware Database Code Guys: http://codeguys.rpc1.org/ \| send us e-mail I Use: Firefox + QuickDrag + NoRedirect + URL Flipper \| Winamp \| CmdOpen Shell Extension \| HashCheck Shell Extension C64K: My Travel Photos \| In Retirement...

26-10-2004	#25
Matth MyCE Resident Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 1,676	Re: XFlash-X (XFlash eXtractor) So are we really saying, that Liteon put effort into chasing down the descrambling of the firmware, but not into fixing the dodgy burn quality that's one reason for people wanting to get into the firmware in the first place?

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