LVW-5045 Firmware upgrade nightmare!

Consumer Electronics
#1

I have recently bought a LVW-5045 and have been trying to upgrade the fw that its been shipped with 193 as the unit was built 17 Jan 2005 and have not been able to do so. As The unit does not recognise any DL disk that I have tried despite the fact that the brand appears in the approved manufacter list.
Imation, TDK, Mitsubishi are among a few that I have tried and the unit alwaus comes up with the message ( invalid disk )

I have practically read every available thread regarding this issue and have tried all of the possible suggestion that I cold see and still no go.

The Unit has been Purchased in Australia with
serial number 0132-1640-0193-B208(001-010D) and the Model Number on the box indicates that this is actually a LVW-5045f I have yet to find out what is the mysterious F after the model number means !!!

On The liteon site the only available FW for this unit is the
[196-EU] [196-UK] [197-US] [193-TW] not exactly as straight forward as I have assumed it would be. Not knowing what FW crosspond to my region if any I have followed the instruction for the firmware upgrade point by point and even went so far restoring to default settings and noting seems to work.

No matter which FW is unzipped and burned with Nero as explained none has ever prompted me with the upgrade screen. I have even tried to boot up with the disk in the drive and all I ever see is the unit picking the disk up as a data disk spins a bit and then noting no upgrade menu and no upgrade.

I have tried each and every one of the available firmwares released crossponding to LVW-5045 as mentioned above and have tried to burn the unpacked information in CD and CDRW and even a Blank DVD -R and they all come with the same response data disk and “Noting” no upgrade screen.

Surely upgrading a FW should be simpler than this but it does not appear to be the case in my part.

I would appreciate any helpful suggestion, regarding this procedure and what FW is meant to work with this unit so maybe I could be able to get the unit to recognise any of the DL DVD +R before I start to rip apart the unit removing the DVDR and upgrade it manually through my computer, because this is really getting Ridiculous like the liteon support and their ever Trivial instruction/s. :confused: :sad:

#2

I don’t think the 5045 supports DL media. Try unplugging/shutting the machine off for a while, get a cup of coffee or a beer then start it up with the cd in it with the new firmware cd in it.

See this post http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=879075&postcount=23

Shutting off / unplugging the machine with the ugrade cd also worked for unwired to get the update to take.

#3

Thank you very much for your reply jm1647, really appreciate it.

I am not sure where but I could have sworn that I read some where in these reviews that the LVW-5045 was meant to support the DL media but now that I have checked again I can not see any mention of it anywhere. Ah well you get that !

In any case since liteon has made so many flavours of the updated firmware,

[196-EU]
[196-UK]
[197-US]
[193-TW]

None of which seems to relate to the australian region or Oceanina is there any suggestion which FW of the Lot I should use, having 197 being the latest of the bunch. Any Idea what does F at the end of the LVW-5045 model (LVW-5045F) that is written in the box mean??? Thanks again for all your help

#4

paradox - I have a 5005A and heard of the 5005B, it is probably just a revision number they use to track what they are making. I dunno what site you got to for updates but for the 5005 it is important to pick the right country as well as to enter your serial number from the setup screen. What site do you go to for Australian updates?

#5

I just checked the 500x site and they have a country listing for Australia in the drop down box.

#6

OK here is the site I have checked

http://www.liteonit.com/DC/english/download/index.asp?sn-style=NEW

which is meant o be for all the 500X series like LVW-5001/5002/5005/5006 no mention of 504x or 5045 there yet when I put my serial number which is

0132-1640-0193-B208(001-010D)

it keeps giving me an invalid serial number

I have also looked at this site which is just staright FW download

http://www.liteonit.com/DC/english/download.htm

which is the address that they recommend in their manual. Having a look at this site I did not see any lisiting for serial number or country :confused:

#7

Thanks again for your help

#8

paradox - I just got off the phone with Jeff from liteon tech support. Your present serial number goes to the TW update if there is any and at the present time the 193 is the latest. I would have guessed UK but he definitely said it is TW by your setup screen serial number

#9

Many thanks jm1647 for clearing this confusion. I think liteon should make these protocols and procerdures a little bit more intuative and easier to follow rather than making a russian rollet out of it. Three days of searching the web and countless experimentation I was ready to give up as this was doing my head. Thanks again jm1647 for your time and super quick reply.

#10

Looks like the 5045 firmware updates are handled a little different at this site http://www.liteonit.com/DC/english/download.htm - picking the drop down box for the 5045 where it lists the 4 latest firmwares the 0193 is the latest for TW - which is what you have. I would check from time to time and if there is a number for TW higher than what you have as per Jeff it is the firmware update for your machine. As you seen on the 500x site things are handled a little differently.

#11

MY pleasure, glad to be of help. Jeff did mention they try not to make things confusing. I said well it’s a lot different than the 500x site and at first before he looked it up, he was going to say UK also. He is located in the US also.

Edit - I told Jeff Paradox was from Australia.

#12

Much appreciated for all the trouble and work you went through to solve this issue for me jm1647.

I got to admit that I find it a bit odd understanding Liteon philosophy in selective regional upgrades for the same platform and the same hardware specially when the LVW-5045 actually features the LiteOn SOHW-832S DVD burner drive that supports up to 8x DVD recording and so far has had many FW revisions like below

LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-832S - VS01, VS03, VS04, VS05, VS08, VS0A, VS0B, VS0E, VS0G / VPDE

Thanks again.

#13

paradox - is the drive an actual sohw832s or a variation, take a peek inside there are no warranty void stickers anywhere, at least on the 5005a I have. My 5005 has a ddw-451s drive, a variation of the ldw-451s. Another user on this forum ( I forget who) tried to upgrade the firmware of his ddw with the ldw firmware and the drive did not like it at all. So be careful and don’t be puttin no sohw-832s firmware in there. About the speed we really don’t need it cause we are recording 1x (real time).

Again my pleasure and If I get Clone CD and need any help I know who to ask :iagree:

#14

Is your model LVW-5045F capable to tune with Australian PAL TV stations ?
Thanks.

#15

Yes it sure is !

UPDATE:

since Liteon decided to release the AUS version of their 197 FW the upgrade went through with out a hitch and seemed to have worked fine as I have not experienced any issues.

I did not bother with the hacked versions as I had no need for it since I use Anydvd for any DVD decryption anyhow.

#16

paradox - ya made me jealous with that 832s in your 5045 so I put one in my 5005. Only kidding about the jealous part. My ddw-451s was on it’s last leg so it was time for it to go. I’m glad everything is working out for you !

#17

Will the new 201 firmware allow 16x DVD recording?

#18

No answer to my last yet. Here’s another: Can I upgrade the latest manufacturers firmware over a hacked firmware, or is there something I must do to keep from screwing up the system?
Incidentally, my 5045 has operated perfectly in all modes since I bought it a few weeks ago. I just wish it would record 16x… I bought 100 16x before realizing they wouldn’t work in the 5045. A friend (expert?) told me that if you try recording a 16x, it would start at 4x, then later move to 8x, etc. That probably explains why the 5045 will record about half way through and stop.

#19

Whoa, all this sounds very involved.

Isn’t updating FW as simple as going to:

http://www.liteonit.com/DC/english/download.htm

Then under Latest Firmware, select LVW-5045, drop down the box to 201-AU (which is the first option), download it, unzip it, burn it, load it, follow instructions?

I ask because I am considering doing just that. Though I just bought my unit today and I’m in Australia too. I’m wondering how to tell what FW my machine currently has and wht benefits the new FW would give me?

Thanks in advance!

#20

It’s that simple.