[QUOTE=Jacen_solo762;2063229]I flashed my drive about 3 months ago per ala42’s instructions and everything worked fine, my snail-pace drive actually became useful.
[B]However, all of a sudden the riplock has returned[/B] and its now slower than a fortnight again. Could this be because of automatically upgraded firmware? I’d just like to check before i do any re-flashing, so that i can avoid a dead drive, i was nervous enough doing it the first time 
Thanks =][/QUOTE]
That is impossible.
Check the DMA mode first.