Update of CDROM firmware from Linux?

pablaasmo · #1 6th September 2004, 10:23 AM

Hi,

I would like to update the firmware of my CD/DVD-ROM in my PC. The problem is that I do not have a floppy in the PC nor do I have MS-Windows

installed on another partition.

So, how can I do that given that I have the firmware image?
BTW the model I have is NEC 3500A.

Per A.

kosmosik · #2 6th September 2004, 10:31 AM

you probably need to get a USB floppy drive, boot DOS from it and load firmware... sorry it is imposible with Linux. AFAIK most of these firmware upgrades are designed for DOS...

imdeemvp · #3 6th September 2004, 10:32 AM

so you have a notebook? and why do you need to update the firmware for you cd/dvd rom?

pablaasmo · #4 6th September 2004, 11:17 AM

This PC is not a notebook.

I buildt it from "scratch" using ASUS motherboard etc. It is actually a Home Theater PC (HTPC) running FC2 and mythTV (http://www.mythtv.org).

The reason to update the firmware is to make it region free and bee able to burn some more DVD brands than originally.

Have a look at http://www.herrie.org/ for info on firmware for the NEC DVD-ROMs.

Per A.

imdeemvp · #5 6th September 2004, 11:22 AM

i have to tell you i now agree with kosmosik, you will need a floppy.

now you can download it using linux and if you have a friend that has windoz i guess you can open it his/her pc and create floppy for dos

#6 6th September 2004, 11:37 AM

so, did the usb method work?
you need to do is

Code:

dd if=FirmwareImage.img of=/dev/sda1 bs=1440k

make sure you replace sda1 with the approipiate device of you usb drive. if you don't have a usb drive, or your bios doen't support usb booting, you can burn you dos image to a cd using the "El Torito" format. k3b supports this.

kosmosik · #7 6th September 2004, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imdeemvp

now you can download it using linux and if you have a friend that has windoz i guess you can open it his/her pc and create floppy for dos

you can get MS-DOS disk images from net (use Google) than copy them on floppy and add firmware files to that floppy. you can probably use FreeDOS but usually those things (firmware) are tested for MS-DOS so be carefull... if you don't have a floppy you can burn floppy image to CD-ROM el-torino boot - the CD will act exactly the same as boot floppy... but problem is that you wan't to upgrade CD-ROM's firmware so you will need another CD-ROM to boot from...

pablaasmo · #8 6th September 2004, 12:56 PM

OK, it seems there is no way around using a floppy or possibly a USB-drive to boot from.

But!!

Theoretically, would it be possible to have a program running on linux to do the firmware update?
I know that on Herrie's page he has a MS windows firmware update program.
The same should be possible from Linux

I have asked him to give me the source code for the windows program. Maybe it can be ported somehow? Just have to wait to see if he answers me

Anyhow, I think the Linux community needs such a program also.

Per A.

kosmosik · #9 6th September 2004, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pablaasmo

Theoretically, would it be possible to have a program running on linux to do the firmware update? I know that on Herrie's page he has a MS windows firmware update program. The same should be possible from Linux

it is impossible since DOS/Windows treats devices (hardware) completely different from Linux...

Quote:

Originally Posted by pablaasmo

Anyhow, I think the Linux community needs such a program also.

well usualy floppy with DOS does it's job. I mean firmware updates are not for joe user and you can always put the cdrom out and plug it into a machine with floppy (or vice versa) - firmware upgrades are usually being made by technicians in shops or services... and those people tend to have needed hardware and OS anyway. I don't think it is cruicial to Linux community to have something to do firmware upgrades... usualy it can't be done as the hardware firmware itself is usualy closed and obscure (remember issue with Mandrake burning cdroms?). I think Linux community have better things to do

crackers · #10 6th September 2004, 06:09 PM

It's not up to the "Linux community" to provide these update utilities - it's up to the hardware vendors. This is the only reason I've actually kept a floppy drive around (it's not installed, but I have it available).

#11 6th September 2004, 09:21 PM

did you try the bootable cd method mentioned above?

pablaasmo · #12 7th September 2004, 02:31 PM

No, I have not tried the bootable CD task. I can try that first.