Liggy & Dee's Optiarc AD-7170A Modified Firmware 1.O4 Results & Support Thread

LD7170 1.O4 (Liggy & Dee Optiarc AD-7170A firmware)

Two Versions available
Version Release Date 02/03/2007
Binflash + LD7170 1.O4 Original Firmware
Binflash + LD7170 1.O4 RPC1 Firmware
The firmware packages can be used with Windows, DOS, Linux or MAC. (see minifaq)

NOTE
Special FLASHING instructions.
Boot your PC into Windows Safe Mode before attempting to flash. Trying to flash when in normal Windows XP mode may result in a checksum error.

Please make sure you read the documentation included in the package.

Visit our website for all the latest firmware news

NOTES
LD7170 1.O4 Orig
Media speedups, strategy tweaks, full bitsetting.

LD7170 1.O4 RPC1
RPC1, media speedups, strategy tweaks, full bitsetting.

The AD-7170A is not RIPLOCKED, so pressed DVD-VIDEO discs will RIP at 16x SL and 12x DL

Change log
1.O4
All new firmware based on Liggy's 1.03bt

1.O3
Added OPTODISC008 -R media at 12x
Improved the write quality of the following media.
YUDEN000T03
RICOH JPNR03
MCC03RG20
TYG03

1.O2
All new firmware

LD Firmware Mini FAQ

Q: Which NEC firmware is this firmware based on?
A: This firmware is based on 1.03 Bitsetting firmware with version and name string changed to 1.O4.

Q: How do i flash my drive with this firmware?
A: The firmware is now bundled with Liggys Binflash Unzip then run the package, now click on the FLASH button. The firmware will now be uploaded onto your drive, when completed you will be prompted to restart your PC.

To Flash a drive in DOS, LINUX or MAC. Use a current version of Binflash. Run Binflash with the commands necessary to load the firmware package. Binflash will accept either a .BIN or a .EXE file and flash your drive.

Q: What are the risks of flashing my drive with this firmware?
A: Great care has been taken to make sure your drive is not damaged in any way by using this firmware. However, you flash your drive with this firmware at your own risk. Neither I, Liggy, or cdfreaks will be held responsible if your drive or media is damaged in any way.

Q: Will flashing my drive with this firmware void my guarantee?
A: Yes, flashing your drive with any unofficial firmware will null your guarantee. If something should go wrong with your drive, you should buy a new one and not RMA the drive.

Q: Do I need special IDE drivers when running this firmware on my drive?
A Like all optical drives. It has been proven they work best when using Microsoft’s default IDE drivers. This is a must for this firmware.

Q: Why do i not get good results when i burn media on the modified media list at MAX speed?
A: This is largely down to the quality of your media. If the speedups don’t give you good results. Set the burn speed lower. This firmware will give good results at the stated stock firmware speed, without having to flash back to a stock firmware.

Q: What about media not on the modified media list?
A: All media both SL and DL not listed in the modified media table use the default NEC STOCK write strategies and speeds. If you don’t get the results you expect with media not in the modified list, this is a limitation of the media or drive, not this firmware.

Q: How do i set SL bitsetting for +R media?
A: Use CD Speed or WinBtype to set booktype to DVD-ROM This setting is remembered by the drive and only needs set once. Make sure no disc is in the drive.

Q: How do i use DL +R bitsetting?
A: Use CD Speed or WinBtype to set booktype to DVD-ROM This setting is remembered by the drive and only needs set once. Make sure no disc is in the drive.

Q: How do i use DVD+RW bitsetting?
A: Use CD Speed or WinBtype to set booktype to DVD-ROM This setting is remembered by the drive and only needs set once. Make sure no disc is in the drive.

Note Q: Does this firmware support the LabelFlash labelling system?
A No

Submitting test results
Please state the LD firmware version used for the burn, the media type (MID code) and the burn speed.

If possible burn a disc with NERO CD-DVD Speed (create data disc) and save the burn screenshot by clicking on the disc icon at the top of the window.

Also submit a (data transfer test) using a NEC or Optiarc 16x drive.

Disc Quality scans can be submitted with NEC Drives using CD-Speed with scan speed set at 5X or 8X
Note Version 3.75 or higher is required for PI/PIF scanning on the NEC drives.

Below is some additional info from the author of CD-Speed.
(Liteon drives) using K-Probe @4X scan speed or CD-DVD Speed (disc quality) @4X scan speed.

If scanning with a Benq drive. use CD-DVD Speed (disc Quality) @8X scan speed.

DOWNLOAD LINKS
NOTE We do not allow offsite linking to these files. You may also have to temporarily switch off any firewall or similar software you are running.

All our firmwares for all NEC series drives are now stored on our new website

Note
We do NOT offer support for previous versions

PS: Before posting in this thread, please read the documentation supplied

Full media list is included in the download.

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Last edited by Dee; 02-04-2007 at 23:28.

Verbatim +R 8x
YUDEN000T02 @18x
Burn time: 05:41

Overspeed 225% and still has excellent quality. Thanks Dee.

I guess a YUDEN000T03 burn would be worse than this one.

That would depend on the batch. With TH000021 I think the results might be just as good.

With some batches of T02 (yes, I do mean T02) the results would be significantly worse than the one above.

Excellent burn 2601
@DrageMester
Bring it on. If the drive is a good one. I'll bet any good batch of T02 will beat T03 90% of the time.
Someday i may learn how to burn T03 better. It's only taken 2 years to learn how to burn T02 well at high speed.

Thanks Dee and Liggy for this firmware

But this time you have the knowledge, from the T02, so we can hope that T03 will not take that long (hope dies last) .

RICOH +R 16x
RICOHJPN R03 @18x
Burn Time: 05:40

Burn quality is still very good.

Not bad 2601. But i think i need to do some work on the 14x and 16x strategies for JPNR03.
***on my 'to do list'***

BenQ -R 16x
DAXON016S @18x
Burn time: 05:48

Philips -R 16x
RITEKF1 @18x
Burn time: 05:30

Is 18x too fast for this media?

HP +R 16x
CMC MAG M01 @18x
Burn time: 05:27

Mitsubishi +R 8x
MCC003 @12x
Burn time: 06:55

does nec actually have an official firmware page for these new drives?

Not yet. It will take a few months i expect. The drives function very well straight from the box, so i guess NEC won't be in a hurry to release a new firmware.

yeah they do. i'm just wondering where this 1.02 fw comes from then. was it extracted from new drives or something?

also why didnt the 5170 get this update?

It did, you may have to look on the 2nd page for it.

lol, ok cheers

on the side note: NEC 7170A-0B is avaliable on newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827152076

anyone got a 8x burn?

I hoped NEC might be able to lick those power calibration spikes, but it looks as if the 7170A isn't the turnaround. Maybe next time...

The PIF spikes are annoying, but they rarely cause a problem in my experience, and not all scanning drives report them.

When I was burning with the 3550A that's now out of a job, I wasn't so much worried about scans showing those PIF spikes as I was about my stand-alone DVD player stumbling over them. But it wasn't able to get by one of those 7-level spikes without at least freezing for a few seconds. After all, my player isn't very smart and couldn't understand the spikes were "friendly" ones.

My Pioneer burner has an NEC chipset, but I don't have PIF spike problems with it. If Pioneer can manage to use NEC's chipset cleanly, wonder why NEC can't?

Again, i've never had a problem with playing movies on my standalone with those spikes.
Pioneer may use different optics on their drives. They certainly have a better AOPC system.

Dee, if this is a stupid question, it's fairly rooted in my admitted ignorance of the way these things work. But is there any way of regulating AOPC through firmware?

I really hated to give up my 3550A because it did such a great job of burning, especially with your f/w, except for those spikes. If you could somehow come up with f/w that would force NEC AOPC to behave, you would make a lot of people very happy.