There is a new firmware available for my LG DVDRAM GSA-4040B optical
(FIRMWARE A302) that will make it burn 4x dvds at 4x but LG isn't
warranting it if it fails. I want to hear from the group any pros
or/and cons. Also what if it fails,can I reverse the firmware rev.?
TIA
The risk is pretty low, and if it fails, you can retry the flash
update. However, if it's hosed, you are stuck with it. That said, if
it's hosed, you only lose about $60Cdn. The newer faster variants of
this drive like the 4081/82, the 4120, and even the newest 4160 are
all under a hundred bucks Cdn.
Reversing the firmware flash requires you to download an earlier
firmware update from LG, as their flasher doesn't backup the original
firmware, like many others do. It's also a bit weird in that you have
to have the drive on secondary master (see the readme for the update),
so you may need to do some drive shuffling that's not already the
case.
FYI, the latest firmware for that drive is 304, and even with that
update, the drive will only reliably burn at 4x on media that passes
its calibration routines. The drive has a calibration feature which
lowers the burn speed for low grade media, regardless of the reported
burn speed. Even with the later updates, this is the case. High
grade DVD-R 4x media like Ridata, Ricoh, and Verbatim all burn at the
full 4x speed even with the original 301A firmware. As far as I know,
there's no way around the calibration feature.
