Custom Speedhacked Firmware for LDW-451S/851S

terminalvelocd · 2004-03-29 21:59:09 UTC

Latest Version: 1.0.1

G’day all,

For all those who don’t have the time or the knowhow to modify the Speedhack program created by code65536, I have made and released a custom speedhacked firmware for the LiteON LDW-451S/851S. This firmware is based on LiteON’s official GS0F release for the LDW-851S and has also been patched to allow LDW-451S drive users to upgrade to an LDW-851S.

Download it here!

EDIT: The site’s been hammered over the last day or so and is past it’s bandwidth limit! I need another web host. Any ideas???

Again, a big thank you to code65536 for the Speedhack program.

Future releases will include a custom speedhacked LDW-811S firmware as well as a custom speedhacked SOHW-812S firmware that will allow 1x, 2x, 4x, 6x, and 8x writing to 4x DVD-R media.

Regards,
TerminalVeloCD

code65536 · 2004-03-29 22:40:25 UTC

Originally posted by terminalvelocd
For all those who don’t have the time or the knowhow to modify the Speedhack program

LOL! Maybe you don’t find this to be as funny as I do, but I think it’s hilarious because just a little while ago, the concern was about people who didn’t have the “time or the knowhow” to use a hex editor and to go around hunting for speed codes. And now it’s “time or the knowhow” to modify the Speedhack configuration.

But anyway…

I do not have any objections.
I realize that my tool isn’t very easy to use. In fact, ever since that beta version of someone else’s graphical hacker came out, I’ve had a few people ask me if I would do a graphical version of my tool because they like the ease of the graphical version but don’t like the fact that it can’t do everything that my tool can. So after a bit of prodding, I’m now considering doing a graphical front-end–an optional add-on tool that would interact with the spdhack and getcodes tools. You would specify the firmwares that you want to hack in a pretty interface, and the frontend will generate a new config file and run spdhack with those generated config options for you. But even if this frontend were to be implemented, it would still take people time to go through and select all the codes to patch, etc., so having them all patched, I think, is a good thing for people who don’t want to spend much time on it.
So I’m supportive of this idea, but I do want to bring a few things up that you might want to consider…

a) You may want to tell people that they still need to run LDW851FP on your new F/W in order for it to work on the 451S… you didn’t say that on your page, and it might confuse people

b) I’m wondering if it might be better for people if, instead of having them download an entire firmware, just have them download a “config.pl” configuration file? It’d certainly be a lot quicker than a 700+ KB file. (but then again, considering the spdhack is 300+ KB, it might not save that much) And all that they’ll have to do is overwrite the default config.pl with yours and run spdhack (okay, figuring out how to edit the config might be tricky, but I’m hoping that actually running the tool isn’t, especially with pinto2’s guide).

c) Actually, if you like that idea, then what we could do is create a little repository of custom “config.pl” files that people could submit, and the config.pl that you used for this could be one of the ones in the repository.

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions regarding the above would be welcome.

terminalvelocd · 2004-03-29 22:44:48 UTC

code65536,

The firmware has already been patched to allow LDW-451S users (like myself) to upgrade their drives.

UPDATE:
I have updated to version 1.0.1, correcting a small problem.

Thanks for your support!

Regards,
TerminalVeloCD

code65536 · 2004-03-29 23:05:52 UTC

Results of a compare I did of the official GS0F firmware against the LDW851FP-patched firmware:

Comparing files GS0F.exe.bak and GS0F.EXE
00001574: 0F E9
00001575: 85 CA
00001576: C9 02
00001577: 02 00
00001579: 00 90
00001EB7: 0F E9
00001EB8: 85 82
00001EB9: 81 00
00001EBC: 00 90
0011F375: 60 D3
0011F376: 02 D3
0011F377: C3 D3
00148892: 06 1E
00148AB4: 06 1E

I did a compare between the official GS0F against the GS0F that I downloaded from you (1.0.0)…

Comparing files GS0F.exe.bak and GS0F2.EXE
00148892: 06 1E
00148AB4: 06 1E
00148ACE: 06 1E
00148AE8: 06 1E
[ more speed codes… ]
0015CD66: 01 03
0015CD67: 02 03
0015CD68: 01 03

It has all the speed code byte changes, but none of the other byte changes (highlighted in bold and bold red)

Also, the bytes highlighted in red bold are bytes that are bytes patched in the firmware itself (and are not just patches to XFlash). Those 3 red bytes make the 851 GS0F different from the 451@851 GS0F (not counting the speedhacks done by LDW851FP, of course).

code65536 · 2004-03-29 23:22:05 UTC

Downloaded 1.0.1
Ran LDW851FP on what I downloaded
Did file comparison…

Comparing files sh51s101.exe.bak and SH51S101.EXE
00001574: 0F E9
00001575: 85 CA
00001576: C9 02
00001577: 02 00
00001579: 00 90
00001EB7: 0F E9
00001EB8: 85 82
00001EB9: 81 00
00001EBC: 00 90
0011F375: 60 D3
0011F376: 02 D3
0011F377: C3 D3

However, so far, I’ve been basing my comments on the file comparisons. I haven’t actually tried to run it yet (mostly because my computer’s busy doing stuff and I don’t want to have to restart it). Does it work on the 451S despite those byte differences?

terminalvelocd · 2004-03-29 23:35:20 UTC

OK, I’ve run the EXE through LDW851FP.EXE again and uploaded the firmware again. Hope that fixes the problem.

Regards,
TerminalVeloCD

code65536 · 2004-03-29 23:46:09 UTC

Cool. But there are still those 3 mysterious bytes…

Does anyone know what those 3 bytes highlighted in red are supposed to do? dhc014? Those 3 bytes are bytes are not XFlash bytes that are changed, but actual firmware bytes that are changed. I don’t know if the 451@851 GS0F firmware (with those 3 red bytes changed) would work on an original 851…

Reversi · 2004-03-30 05:14:36 UTC

This 3 Bytes (D3 ‘setb c’) replaces an call in the original FW where the EEPROM is checked if the FW is made for this model. This is the whole ‘secret’ of the 451@851 or 812 mod. So an original 851 works also with the patch.

Regards,
Reversi

code65536 · 2004-03-30 06:41:32 UTC

Originally posted by Reversi
[B]This 3 Bytes (D3 ‘setb c’) replaces an call in the original FW where the EEPROM is checked if the FW is made for this model. This is the whole ‘secret’ of the 451@851 or 812 mod. So an original 851 works also with the patch.

Regards,
Reversi [/B]

Interesting. Thanks.

BB88 · 2004-03-30 06:53:02 UTC

so, despite all these bytes difference, is it safe or final now to use this 1.01 custom speedhacked firmware?

thanks for all your work guys, code65536, terminalvelocd

code65536 · 2004-03-30 07:02:16 UTC

Originally posted by BB88
[B]so, despite all these bytes difference, is it safe or final now to use this 1.01 custom speedhacked firmware?

thanks for all your work guys, code65536, terminalvelocd [/B]

I think so. I don’t have a 851 to verify this with, but I think so. Terminalvelocd has verified it for the 451@851. But what reversi said makes sense, especially considering how those bytes got changed. So if he’s right, then it means that this f/w by terminal should work on both the 851 and 451@851.

ala42 · 2004-03-30 15:17:29 UTC

Originally posted by Reversi
This 3 Bytes (D3 ‘setb c’) replaces an call in the original FW where the EEPROM is checked if the FW is made for this model.

To be exact, it forces the result of the first of the four checksum checks to ‘ok’ and forces the checksum function to return this value (‘ok’) without performing the other three checks.

This is the whole ‘secret’ of the 451@851 or 812 mod. So an original 851 works also with the patch.
It is also the ‘secret’ of the 4x1@811 mod.
A firmware with a disabled checksum check also works on a drive which has a correct checksum, because it is not evaluated at all.

code65536 · 2004-03-30 16:23:53 UTC

@ala42

Thanks for the insight. I guess it’s time that I started to fiddle with actually dissassembling the firmware.

dentman42 · 2004-03-30 16:31:32 UTC

Originally posted by ala42
To be exact, it forces the result of the first of the four checksum checks to ‘ok’ and forces the checksum function to return this value (‘ok’) without performing the other three checks.
It is also the ‘secret’ of the 4x1@811 mod.
A firmware with a disabled checksum check also works on a drive which has a correct checksum, because it is not evaluated at all.

Ok, possibly stupid question:

Would this method elminate the need for the flashing of a patched EEPROM in the process of converting the 411 to an 811, or does that patch do more than change those 3 bytes to make it appear to be an 811?

Ssseth · 2004-03-30 16:33:18 UTC

Originally posted by dentman42
[B]Ok, possibly stupid question:

Would this method elminate the need for the flashing of a patched EEPROM in the process of converting the 411 to an 811, or does that patch do more than change those 3 bytes to make it appear to be an 811? [/B]

No. There is missing 8x +R calibration data in the 411S EEPROM that needs to be ‘fixed’. Hence the need for the Z-mod to patch your EEPROM. (the 451S EEPROM has the 8x data so that’s why it does not need to be patched)

beerbaron · 2004-03-30 18:17:40 UTC

So basically this firmware is HSOF firmware that accepts any drives (451 or 851), nothing else is different if I understand correctly?

BeerBaron

code65536 · 2004-03-30 18:48:48 UTC

Originally posted by beerbaron
[B]So basically this firmware is HSOF firmware that accepts any drives (451 or 851), nothing else is different if I understand correctly?

BeerBaron [/B]

This is GS0F. Works on 451 or 851. NOT for 411 or 811.

terminalvelocd · 2004-03-30 22:58:46 UTC

G’day all,

I have just done a minor update of the web site. You can now download the (now more informative) Readme.txt file independently from the actual firmware patch file and you can now also view the Updates Log.

LDW-411S and LDW-811S owners will get a little gift from me tomorrow - in the form of an LDW-811S Custom Speedhacked Firmware!

Regards,
TerminalVeloCD

beerbaron · 2004-03-31 08:16:37 UTC

I don’t get it, in the SpeedHack FAQ it says that you need to overclock you burner first. But putting a 851s firmware (HSOF Hacked)in a 451s burner equals to overclock it.

Unless SpeedHack only changes certain bytes of the firmware already in the drive…

BeerBaron

code65536 · 2004-03-31 08:59:00 UTC

Originally posted by beerbaron
[B]I don’t get it, in the SpeedHack FAQ it says that you need to overclock you burner first. But putting a 851s firmware (HSOF Hacked)in a 451s burner equals to overclock it.

Unless SpeedHack only changes certain bytes of the firmware already in the drive…

BeerBaron [/B]

Terminal’s firmware does the overclocking & speedhacking all in one step by applying both the OC patch and the speedhack patch at the same time. This 1-step approach works only for the 451@851 overclock, though, because the overclocking method for 411@811 is considerably more involved and thus it’s not possible to combine the 2 patches into one condensed step. Thus, if you load terminal’s FW on a 451, it’ll have the effect of doing an overclock and speedhack at the same time, and loading his FW on a 851 will have the effect of just doing the speedhack.