Something odd ... Just purchased ASUS DRW-24B1ST (firmware now 1.04 - man 09/2010) from Newegg

[currentswillshift]

Any input from those who have the newer 24B1ST drive would be appreciated. I bought this drive this week from Newegg and noticed some odd things right away......

1.) The back of the drive is not like others 24B1ST 's I have seen. The connectors in the back no longer have the "2 little metal clips" which several of my friends have.
2.) It has the new 1.04 firmware which will not show jitter with the 47716 SE Cd-Speed, unlike firmware 1.03 does.
3.) The metal panel on the back of the drive is Yellow instead of Beige like the older 24B1ST drives.
4.) I searched around on the web regarding the 1.04 firmware (because I wanted to cross-flash it to a iHAS-324) and found a post on different forum stating they could not cross-flash this drive now that it had the 1.04 firmware, and they bricked the drive. Also, the ASUS website does not have a 1.04 firmware to download, just the 1.03.

Do you guys think it is possible that ASUS could be using a newer MediaTek chipset or worse, changed all newer 24B1ST's to an NEC chipset or another drive type ???? I am a little leery to cross-flash now, given these oddities.

[C0deKing]

Hi currentswillshift

I think, other than the different looks of the drive, the missing jitter is the other most telling sign, usually indicating a non MTK chipset. What speed options does it offer for the quality scan?

As requested by the OP, moved to the Asus/Pioneer forum

[currentswillshift]

[QUOTE=C0deKing;2556450]Hi currentswillshift

I think, other than the different looks of the drive, the missing jitter is the other most telling sign, usually indicating a non MTK chipset. What speed options does it offer for the quality scan?

As requested by the OP, moved to the Asus/Pioneer forum[/QUOTE]
CK, See the attached screenshot. Hopefully this is what you are asking for. If not let me know

[C0deKing]

Yes it is. I was expecting to see a 5x, 8x, 12x, 16x in there, if it was an NEC firmware.

What does the EEPROM Utility allow you to do (backup wise)?

[currentswillshift]

[QUOTE=C0deKing;2556460]Yes it is. I was expecting to see a 5x, 8x, 12x, 16x in there, if it was an NEC firmware.

What does the EEPROM Utility allow you to do (backup wise)?[/QUOTE]

It creates a .bin and lets me back it up. Here is a screen shot.
Seems to work in this regard. A little weird that your version of CD Speed won’t work :(. Do you think it is a different type of MediaTek chipset now ? Or do you think that the 1.04 FW is so different from 1.03 that it blocks out the ability to scan jitter properly?

[C0deKing]

Thanks for the screen shots. If EEPROM backup works and the quality speeds do not including 5x, then it now starts to point more towards the MTK chipset again.

Could be a major firmware change.

1/ What options do you get in the Flash Utility (any status code displayed)?
2/ Can a backup of the firmware be made?

[currentswillshift]

I can back up the firmware.
The saved file is “[B]1.04.bin”[/B].
Here is the status screen from the Flash Utility… Pre and Post Saving of bin.

[C0deKing]

It’s using the same new flash method as the 324B, so I suspect it’s more than likely a 124B/324B. If you look at the saved bin file, it should say “BOOT” just after the 1000h point.

I now understand how this new flash method works, but I’m not sure when or if I will have any time to implement it in the Flash utility.

[currentswillshift]

[QUOTE=C0deKing;2556484]It’s using the same new flash method as the 324B, so I suspect it’s more than likely a 124B/324B. If you look at the saved bin file, it should say “BOOT” just after the 1000h point.

I now understand how this new flash method works, but I’m not sure when or if I will have any time to implement it in the Flash utility.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, CK for all your help here. What is the best way to view the Bin file so I can confirm the word “BOOT” after the 1000h point ???

I just want to say you were a big help to me over on the old CDFreaks board when I was a diffeent name.
I have now joined here after some time away, its good to see the community is still thriving under MYCE.
I will await any changes you make in the future and I will hold off from flashing
until updates are made. This is probably why the other guy I spoke off may have bricked his drive, because of 1.04.
I still have my Benq 1655 and Samsung 203B/N to fall back on as well as an older, and very functional BenQ 1640.
I’ll try some burns under 1.04 with this B1st and see how they scan on the BenQ drives and in the future when you have had time to make your updates I will flash.
Thanks again.

[C0deKing]

Thanks for the kind words and for your help revealing what is under the cover of the new ASUS 24B1ST v1.04.

No flasher currently supports this new method and using an old flasher that does not detect the new flash method will indeed brick the drive, especially if the boot code is updated.

Interestingly, the 324B does display jitter, as can be seen here:

MP3 Compression

Are you sure you’re using the SE3 version:

The New LiteOn/PLDS Patched Firmware Thread

and that jitter is enabled in the advanced dialog.

BTW, you could have used your old login, if you wanted too.

[currentswillshift]

CK, I re-downloaded your link and ran a scan of an earlier burned dual layer (from another drive).
Odd thing happened… and this did not happen before, when I scanned it earlier to 100%.

At the very end of the Disc Quality scan at 98%, the “Jitter” scan actually activated on your version of CD-Speed. Look at the scan below : one is near completion (81%) and one at completion (100%).

Is this the way the SE CD-Speed is supposed to work ? Is this verison designed to show Jitter at the very end of the scan ?

Attached are the screen prints so you can see that it activated later in the scan.

This will definitely hold me over while updates to the flasher are made , especially if the 1.04 FW burns well on this newer 24B1ST … we shall see.

Thanks again… Oh, and I think I will keep this new user name. New board, New Name

[C0deKing]

Yes, LiteOn/PLDS firmware’s display the jitter at the end of the quality scan now.

The latest SE3 version assumes all drives use this jitter method, and not just the one drive that was supported originally by CD-DVD Speed. Some of my earlier releases only supported additional drives that were around at the time.

Look forward to seeing some of your results.

BTW, I like the avatar.

[currentswillshift]

CK, Here is a scan of one of the first 2 burns using the 1.04 firmware.

I am using Verbatim DVD+R’s, a relatively new 100 pack from Newegg.

The 1.04 firmware seems to produce high PI errors early in the burn, then they really drop-off.

Decent burns except for the beginning. I used DVDFAB 6.5. I am a little surprised at the 13%
plus jitter at different points.

I just got DVDFAB8. I will install and see if this has an affect. I will burn a Dual
Layer Verbatim (Singapore) and post the scan.

[fnsmag]

just got one of these also…is there any way to cross-flash it to a iHAS324?

[KTL]

No.

[samlar]

I purchased two of these last week from newegg and after installing the first one started getting blue screen and restart. I figured it was something else but have checked about everything I can think of and found nothing else that would cause this. I just removed the first one and installed the second one to see if something in the first DRW-24B1ST was causing the blue screen restart. I googled DRW-24B1ST and found some other post of people getting blue screen restarts after installing this drive. I did notice that both had the 1.04 software and when I google it I came to this post.
If I also get the blue screen restarts with the second installed I am going to remove it and reinstall my lg and see if I stop getting the blue screen restarts. I will repost in a few days when I have more info. I did noticed the first one had a small dent in the bottom of it but it was very small do not think it would cause a problem.

I forgot to say something else I have been getting with the first of the two drives installed. I would go to burn a dvd using clonedvd and it would take forever to start the burn then it would show 300 min to burn.
It did not take that long as it burn the time would drop but it would still take about twice as long to burn as normal. Did not have this problem with LG drive. I was so busy trying to figure out the blue screen problem I overlook this. Will burn some with the second drive and see what happens. It did not do this everytime so might take a while to check the second drive.

[samlar]

Turn out to not be the drive that was causing the blue screen did not think so at first but then I thought I had tried everything else. It was intellipoint 8 pro and zonealarm forcefield driver icask.sys.
The slow burns was caused by a bad sata cable

[Nazo]

[QUOTE=KTL;2560770]No.[/QUOTE]

No it can’t be done at all or no it can’t be done at this time? Have we confirmed whether or not it’s a Mediatek chipset yet? I wasn’t clear on that from the previous posts. Just that it uses a different flashing method. But if it’s a different method, perhaps someday?

I just got one of these and had hoped to cross-flash it as well. Well, I don’t need it cross-flashed right now, but it would still be nice if it could be done later on if nothing else. What if more drives start using this method though? Shouldn’t it be integrated someday?

BTW, when I backup my EEPROM, I do not see “BOOT” near 0x1000h. The first string it says at that location is “KEYPARA”. In fact, if I run a search for “BOOT” the program finds no results anywhere in the file. Just in case it might be of any use whatsoever to anyone, here is the original EEPROM from my DRW-24B1ST: http://www.mediafire.com/?oc8yvpyk325zz3u

[C0deKing]

[QUOTE=Nazo;2565921]…BTW, when I backup my EEPROM, I do not see “BOOT” near 0x1000h. The first string it says at that location is “KEYPARA”. In fact, if I run a search for “BOOT” the program finds no results anywhere in the file. Just in case it might be of any use whatsoever to anyone, here is the original EEPROM from my DRW-24B1ST: http://www.mediafire.com/?oc8yvpyk325zz3u[/QUOTE]
You have to backup the firmware with the Flash Utility and then look at the 2MB file it creates.

[Nazo]

Oops. You’re right. I do see the string “BOOT” starting from 0x1006h and repeating several times in that area.