Sting1264

2 Posts

13498

October 9th, 2003 02:00

Philips DVD+RW-D01 (AKA:Ricoh MP-5120A)

The problem with the computer industry, as with any business, is that it is far more beneficial to sell you an improvement to an existing technology than for that business to have to provide a service remedy for a known problem with the same technology. It provides no direct income if they fix the problem for free.

I purchased the Dell Dimension 8200 that came with a DVD+RW-D01 manufactured by Philips as the. In my research I have found out that this drive is actually a rebadged unit made originally by Ricoh as the MP-5120A.

Anyone had any luck with 1.70 or the 1.90 firmware conversion to allow burning of the cheaper DVD+R discs this Philips/Ricoh DVD+RW-D01 drive?

What is the procedure to follow to enable this drive conversion? It seems rather complicated and could cause DELL warranty cancellations and could be a DVD drive killer. Either way, Philips does list a site that lists firmware available for the DVD+RW-D01?

The information listed by jwant below is accurate, but the question remains who has been so bold and tried it? Based on my history with Dell it could take an act of congress to get then to verify if it works. It would be great if DELL checked it out and amazingly it worked. Why I would be willing to pay hard currency for a DELL service patch which would allow DVD+RW and +R to work on the DVD+RW-D01.

Dell could do this if they wanted to help us out. To their credit. It took them a year but they finally shipped me a working Premium Movie Studio 2 Bundle. Yet, it almost took an act of congress.

The spin here is that the ROI-return on investment for Dell and Philips is repeat customers if they do the right thing.

Sincerely,

Sting1264

OK, there is like a ka-jillion posts (well, maybe not that many) about this drive, which I have as well in my Dell Dimension 8200 purchased late April of 2002. Personally, I'm not having any problems at all with it! Why? Don't know...I'll admit that the Movie Bundle I paid for with the Dazzle device is junk, but using other software, I've been able to do anything I've wanted with DVD-RW discs (Verbatim DVD+RW 4.7 GB). All my stuff plays on the computer and on 3 different DVD players hooked up to my TV's (an RCA, a Magnovox, and a Philips DVD/VCR combo). Like everyone else though, I can't burn to DVD+R like I would like to (cheaper discs). After searching forever, I found Philips released a firmware patch less than a month ago (2/24/03) version 1.74 for this drive. The file name is M5a04174.bin. This drive is a.k.a. DVDRW208 made by Philips (thier site states this clearly, I'm not guessing):

DVDRW208: DVD6001 IDE

1.PHILIPS DVD6001
2.PHILIPS DVD+RW-D01
3.IDE-DVD DVDRW6001
4.PHILIPS DVDRW1208

Here is where I found this info - http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/dcbint?mode=files&modname=DVDRW208K%2F00&moddesc=DVD%2BRW200Series+-+Internal+DVD+Rewriter+DVD%2BRW+2.4x8x+%2F+CD-R%2FRW+12x10x32x&moreList=0¤tIndexName=0&index_val=0&searchstring=DVD+RW+208&confval=DVD+RW+208&country=&prevcy=&totrec=910&lang=eng&screen=&tmplt=ce_eu&s=consumer

When you get to this page, the first file is a Firmware Upgrade Readme.txt file - open it and scroll down about a quarter of the way to find DVDRW208: DVD6001 IDE; you'll see exactly what I've posted about the firmware upgrade. The second file listed is the Firmware Upgrade software itself; the file is about 4 MB so it won't take long to download. The file is called 0303030033_fus.zip and should download automatically when you click on the link (note that you will need a zip extraction utility to open it like WinZip 8.1 or that provided with WIndowsXP). There are several other .pdf files (requiring Adobe Acrobat Reader) listed on this page as well that may (or may not) be useful. The images in these .pdf files don't resemble what I have, but that is because mine is an OEM drive installed by Dell and not bought directly from Philips.

Now what does all this mean? Hmmm....not quite sure. As I said, I'm not have any problems so I fear using the firmware hence creating an issue where none was (one of Murphy's laws may apply to me - If it's not broke, don't try to fix it). But hopefully this may help some of you out there with all the different problems I've seen posted. If someone installs the firmware, please reply back with your results (i.e. can we now use DVD+R, erasing/reformatting DVD+RW discs, etc...). I agree I was duped by Dell as well; it was clear that the drive was supposed to be +R and +RW, but of course it isn't. Since, I'm not having problems though, they refuse to help me and replace the drive with what I was supposed to get. Maybe I'll fight a little more; some posts have shown persistance won out. And again, that Premium Movie Studio Bundle was truly the biggest waste of money I've ever spent. Even Windows Movie Maker refuses to use (or see) the Dazzle device - it tells me the device is in use when I know it isn't; to use the Videowave & My DVD software is so darn frustrating - I can get it work but only with major frustration and quite a few expletives later.

Responses(3)

M

Mark_Strahan

11 Posts

0

October 9th, 2003 12:00

Sting,

I've recently been through all this firmware update stuff to 1.90 and had no problems with the following:

1) Go to http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=312 to get the firmware update for the Phillips ver 1.90

2) Download the update (BR59173.exe)

3) Ensure your DMA is disabled on your DVD drive prior to installation (see Windows help)

4) Run the update, as per instructions.

5) Reboot PC - System will find your NEW CD-ROM/DVD player

6) Enable DMA for device

7) Voila...your drive now works like a dream with +RW media (will only WRITE +RW but read +RW / +R / -R)

Hope this helps.

Mark S.

Predator

15.3K Posts

0

October 9th, 2003 15:00

Hi Sting,
To verify the warranty issue, using the one supplied by Mark, Firmware Forum, and the one at Philip`s site will void the warranty on the drive, even though the file name is the same.
Why not use the 1.90 version supplied by Dell in their file library, Dell`s release date is 4/14 and the Firmware Fourm 4/15, then follow Mark`s suggestion.

It is risk You must take, however, we have been very lucky here, rarely do we get malice Members, so I am fairly sure Mark is sincere, up to you my friend.
Good luck..

God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the
difference.

Message Edited by Predator on 10-09-2003 12:02 PM

Sting1264

2 Posts

0

February 21st, 2005 13:00

Thanks to all of you that have sent many helpful replies regarding this DVD drive issues. You are true techno wizards. I have not had the time to load the firmware but will at some point if I keep this computer any longer. Thanks again.

Shawn

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Philips DVD+RW-D01 (AKA:Ricoh MP-5120A)