Can't play DVD's from Liteon DL-4ETS drive!

[chris57]

Right I meant using the Recovery firmware on the player:-
http://support.popcornhour.com/article.aspx?id=1089

The firmware in the LiteON must have at the least been changed by the LiteON tool you used. The firmware on purchase would have been a liteon firmware RPC2 firmware. Yours reports RPC1 though so something has happened.

Did you not dump your ROM drives orignal firmware before you tried the liteon tool or anything else?

See here:-
http://188.138.72.109/showthread.php?tid...pid=533654

Contact someone who has it working fine.

I'm beginning to think that the LiteON tool is the cause for your DVD region problems:-
http://dhc014.rpc1.org/LtnRPC/
See how it disables the region counter.

[cap2587]

Chris57,

I am going to try to recall what happened originally which might lead us to a solution. I was getting the bad region warning trying to play a DVD when I 1st purchased the Lite-on Drive. I was not aware of the region set instructions on the WIKI (slow, 1, 6,8,3) and tried the http://dhc014.rpc1.org/LtnRPC/ and I think that is where my problem started from. Why won't the PCH allow me to change the region to #1. Do you think the issue is my Lite-on drive or the PCH. Even if I flash new firmware on my Lite-on drive, it still might not work if I cannot change the region on the PCH C200. I read this http://188.138.72.109/showthread.php?tid...pid=533654 post, but it still did not really give me an answer to my problem. I do not remember doing anything regarding firmware with my LIte-on DL 4ETS. What steps do you think I take and in what order. Thanks.

[chris57]

Reading the posts at the thread I linked was to show you that others with the make/model have managed to change the DVD Region. It also gives you someone to contact who has your ROM drive which I obviously do not. One of those people may be able to help you with an original firmware. I remember when I tried to make my LiteON BD ROM Region free I uploaded my firmware to a guy over at cdfreaks who then tried to make it region free. Perhaps at a specialist ROM drive firmware site you may get a firmware or help be a specialist:
http://club.myce.com/f142/
http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php
http://www.firmwarehq.com/
At those site you will find the app to backup your present ROM drive firmware, you really should do this before you use things like the liteon tool just in case it does cause problems.

I'm afraid you are asking for a definitive answer as to where the problem lies and what to try in which order when it's impossible to be definitive at this stage. All we can do is to confirm what we know presently and keep trying:

We know that the DVD laser is OK, as the ROM drive can play DVD's in a PC.

We know that even when in a PC with AnyDVD disabled that the ROM drives firmware will not let you select a Region.

We know that the C200 player itself will not let you select a Region (with DVD in drive). The fact that to set a DVD Region you require a disc inserted suggests some form of communication between player and ROM drive.

First thing to do is to read. Read those links on those sites and ask for some help there not only in terms of trying to access what exactly you have done but also how the drive works and how you would dump its firmware and flash a ROM drives firmware etc. Also please PM other members for their experiences with the make/model, we are all here to help get the best from our players and I'm sure they wont mind the contact.

Second thing I would do is to reset the player. You have done this via 'Reset to Factory' settings but that does not wipe a lot of settings which a Recovery with a jumper does. Personally I would go for a Recovery with jumper attached. If that does not fix it then the only other player option is to try something like Lundmans Region Counter Clear, you need CSI for this.
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showth...nter+clear
You could also try connecting say a DVD ROM and seeing if that works fine in the player. That way you'll be nearer knowing if the issue lies in the ROM or the player.

If you do those then you cannot do anything more on the player so you then would remove the ROM drive and connect it to your PC and try to flash it with a firmware or use other tools like mediacodeedit. But you'll need to read in specialist sites. You may find that the ROM model has the same firmware as a more popular model that already has firmwares posted or you can cross-flash it.

[cap2587]

Thanks for staying with me on this topic! I will start trying to sift through those other sites for information on my drive. I will attach another DVD ROM drive to my PCH and see if that plays DVD's.

MY firmware is Release date : 3 June 2011
Firmware version : 03-04-110530-21-POP-408-000

Does that mean I can follow the steps in this link http://support.popcornhour.com/article.aspx?id=1089

to do a Recovery firmware on the player. I just follow the steps in the link above. Is that going to erase all the settings and maybe allow me to set the region on the PCH again.

[chris57]

It could do, remember we dont know exactly what the problem is so we can only try to cancel out possible causes.

Resetting the player could help. The link you provided is the correct link but do the recovery with a jumper.
http://files.syabas.com/popcornhour/down...jumper.jpg
Make sure you download the correct recovery image. You want the bottom one if you have 0530.


As always any firmware flashing does carry a risk so dont blame me if it does. I do recoveries using this method at times and have done it recently on my C200. It worked fine.

[cap2587]

What cable goes onto the Jumper connection and where does the other end attach to? Where will it say 0530?

[cap2587]

I am pretty sure I found the firmware for the Liteon-DL-4ETS BD drive. Can I follow the below steps to flash the firmware. Do I need to edit or change an settings in the Mediacode program. Once I flash the new firmware should I put it straight back in the PCH. Then should I try and set the region (slow 1,6,8,3) Prior to trying to play a DVD. Thanks.

1. you download the firmware and mediacode edit (check the website and the readme to check drive compatibility)
2. you launch mediacode edit and select the file of your firmware (and of course edit everything you need while loaded in mediacode edit)
3. you flash the "new" firmware from a computer (no way to flash from C-200)
4. you install your fresh new RPC1 compliant drive in your C-200

---

I pulled up some previous advice from Popchfan (see below). I being a dumb a.. used this reset tool prior to my region count reaching 0.

When the hardware region changes count on the drive reaches 0 then you will need to be reset it after connection to a PC with liteon RPC tool. The site you download has instructions on how to do it. I don't know if I can post the link. So haven't done it here.

---

I think this is the way to go with flashing lite-on firmware. Does this sound right. My plan was to just use read flash option and not write flash. Is that right. I am in over my head and am hoping to have some advice.

Flash Utility for LiteOn Based Optical Drives. http://club.myce.com/f44/flash-utility-p...ew-190420/

[chris57]

From what I can remember that was the tool I used to backup my LiteON ROM drives firmware. Yes using the Read option should create your backup. You also need the 2MNb option as in the link as the firmware is 2048 or 2Mb.

The guy there codeking was the guy that tried to help me make my LiteON iHOS104 RPC1. He even provided me with a tailored firmware that I flashed. He should be able to give you better advice on what the RPC tool will have done and how to reflash to normal or why you are having region setting issues.

Remember that even if you must have a RPC1 firmware on your ROM drive you can always try that after you have first set the region in the player. Then if you do have to constantly swop regions you would use Region Couinter Clear to get 5 region changes back.

[cap2587]

I went ahead and flashed the new firmware using Flash Utility for LiteOn Based Optical Drives. However, that did not change anything. I am not left with resetting the PCH C200 with a firmware flash.

What cable goes onto the Jumper connection and where does the other end attach to? Where will it say 0530? Thanks

[cap2587]

I tried a regular DVD RW drive in my PCH and that worked fine. I was able to go into the settings and do slow, 1,6,8,3 and then I changed the region to #1. Why can I not do that with my Lite-on 4ETS drive. I have not got any response from PM message to http://club.myce.com/ forum. Do I have to perform firmware reset with jumper, if so How do I do this. Thanks.

[cap2587]

I figured out where to put the jumper and performed a firmware reset to 03-04-110531-21-POP-408-000. However, when I went into the settings to try and set the region (Slow 1 6 8 3 ), it again said region set failed, please insert the DVD. Now I am really at a loss. Is there any hope for my Slim Lite-on 4ETS drive to work properly in my PCH C200. Thanks for staying with me on this issue.

[chris57]

Sounds like it's not reading the DVD. Like the DVD laser is broken. There are seperate lasers in the ROM drive for DVD and BD.

However you say that when you use the ROM drive in a PC and have AnyDVD disabled that your PC can play DVD's. You do also say that even when in your PC you cannot set a Region for DVD playback in the ROM drives firmware though which is worrying and also a smilar occurence to the players problem.

You have tried a different DVD drive and that worked fine in the player, so the player works. You've tried replacing the SATA slimline cables, are they different to the ones you used when using the DVD Drive?
You've done everything else that I've suggested and I have nothing more to suggest, that would not involve getting/trying a different slimline ROM.

[cap2587]

Thanks for the response. Your pretty much on the money with what you stated. There is something wrong with the relationship between my PCH and the Lite-on 4ETS drive. The Lite on drive works fine when connected to my PC. The PCH works fine with another dVD drive in it. For some reason I cannot set the region in the PCH for my Lite-on drive. I cannot change the region for the drive when connected to my PC. I included a picture of my error message in Post: #7. I am yet to try a Blu Ray retail movie in my PCH with Lite-on drive. Would this tell us anything if it works or doesn't work. If the laser is broken then why is burnt DVD's working. Is just retail DVD's have the laser. The DVD region reset tool in the PCH acts like there is no disk in the drive, when there is. I really want to stay with a slim drive and it has to be blu ray. Thanks for any other suggestions.

[cap2587]

I guess Miracles do happen. I was finally able to play a retail DVD from my PCH and the region setting said # 1 in the settings. I think perseverance paid off and I got lucky. I attached the drive to my PC and played a movie. Then I used that same movie in the PCH and it worked.

I am hoping that I should be able to play other DVD's without any issues. I think I finally do understand how the region setting works. Chris57 - I can't thank you enough for all of your help with not only this post, but all my other issues. I love my PCH C200, but it would be an impossible task without this amazing forum and the help of people like yourself. Thanks.

[chris57]

Glad you managed to set the Region