How to crossflash the Benq 1620

Sarcoptic 2004-12-29 10:40:06 UTC #1

There have been a lot of questions lately on how this is accomplished and what is the best method to use etc....here is what I did and have so far had ZERO problems. This is for those people who have the G7 OEM firmware...

First go to http://dvdpro.club.st/firmware/BENQ_FW.htm
Grab the windows flasher called WinDWFlash.exe
Grab B7P9.CVT
Flash to B7P9 using the windows flasher
Reboot computer
Now grab B7T9 from Benq site here http://support.benq.com/files/storage/Firmware/DVDRW/DW1620/B7T9.zip
Run the exe and flash to B7T9, reboot computer and finished.

I would choose to go to B7P9 as this was the first Pro firmware out. Also there has been speculation about the integrity of the CVT file for B7T9. Using the exe from benq will assure no problems. Please add comments to help those who need it....

Braxas 2004-12-29 10:42:37 UTC #2

I've used the B7T9.cvt file form the unofficial site and I've had no problems that I can tell with it. Scans are pretty reasonable considering the crappy Optodisc media I was using and playback was good. Going to see what I get off of TYG02 8X DVD-R media here in a bit.

Sarcoptic 2004-12-29 10:43:40 UTC #3

Here is some scans of Fuji media I bought at best buy, 8x rated burnt at 16x....first is B7P9 then B7T9:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=119980

LPsage 2005-01-01 03:19:41 UTC #4

Thank you Sarcoptic for the easy to follow directions for the crossflash.

I followed them and successfully crossflashed my Pacific Digital 9(1620) from the FW G7P9 to B7T9 and it burns flawlessly. Will any/all future FW upgrades now automatically be to BXXX?

test123 2005-01-01 05:47:21 UTC #5

Sarcoptic....I use the same method as you....On W2Kpro I tried to boot to safe mode but kept getting these stop error messages so I was never able to make it there. So I just shut all background tasks down and worked from normal mode no problems.

I only saw your 8x scans where are the 16x scan on FUJI?

LPsage.....Once you are a Benq with B FW you and just use the the *.exe official BENQ flash in the future. You can also cross-flash back to G as well.

Quikee 2005-01-01 05:51:37 UTC #6

test123: Sarcoptic scans are burned at 16x... but scaned at 8x...

Sarcoptic 2005-01-01 08:47:37 UTC #7

LPsage you will be able to upgrade straight to any new BXXX upgrades, and Quikee2 is right, those are 16x burns scanned at 8x (used the older CD-DVD Speed). Quikee2 are you going to start tinkering with benq firmware???

Quikee 2005-01-01 09:04:31 UTC #8

Sarcoptic: Unfortunatlly no... I've looked into the firmware.. but it's not like Nec or LiteOn firmware. I'm however very satisfied with my Philips 1640P the way it is It burns my YUDEN000T02 disc better at 8x and 16x (dunno why it doesn't support 12x) than my Nec.

PsychoCat 2005-01-01 10:09:42 UTC #9

So what's the difference between the G and B firmwares? Also, I noticed BenQ USA has the G firmware while BenQ Europe has only the B firmware. What's up with that? And, does it void my warranty if I flash my 1620 from G to B?

DVD_ADDICT 2005-01-01 10:38:58 UTC #10

So what's the difference between the G and B firmwares?

"G" firmware is for OEM drives and "B" firmware is for retail drives....they are both the same firmwares.....some say the "B" is better than "G" but in my opinion I haven't seen a difference.....I have a "B" & "G" 1620 drives....

PLEXTOR 708A DVDRW
PIONEER 107D DVDRW
LITEON 811 DVDRW
BENQ 1620 DVDRW (2)
TOSHIBA (2)1612 DVD-ROM
PLEXTOR 48X24X48 CDRW
PENT 4 HT 3.00C, 800 FSB, PENT 4 2.40 533 FSB
ASUS MOBO's P4P800SE (2)
1GB CRUCIAL PC3200 MEMORY, 1GB CRUCIAL PC2700
WESTERN DIGITAL 36GB RAPTOR HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR 200 GB HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR (2)250 GB HARD DRIVEs
MAXTOR 200 GB SATA HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR (2)120 GB HARD DRIVEs
MAXTOR 60 GB HARD DRIVE
ANTEC TRUE POWER 480 WATT POWER SUPPLY
ANTEC TRUE POWER 430 WATT POWER SUPPLY
ANTEC SLK2650 CASE, ANTEC SLK2600AMB CASE
CANOPUS ADVC-100 ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER
MAXTOR ATA -133 PCI CONTROLLER CARDS

Bob 2005-01-01 10:46:18 UTC #11

I thought that "G" was for OEM and "B" was for retail but i got 2 I/O Majic drives from CC and one had "B" f/w on it and the other had "G" f/w so i'm not sure why anymore lol .