Importance of extenstion number: Toshiba 6112-1332

[1ggie]

There is not a patch listed for the 6112-1332. Can I substitute any of the ones listed below. Thanks for help. Newbie 1ggie

Found this information:
R6112
Toshiba SD-R6112 - 1030, 1031 / 1730, 1731 / 1M31
Laptop DVD-R/RW drive
You can make your drive region free (RPC-1) by using one of these firmware (patch by Hijacker)
Patched X031 RPC-1 (ONLY for drives with 10xx firmware)
Patched X731 RPC-1 (ONLY for drives with 17xx firmware)
Patched XM31 RPC-1 (ONLY for drives with 1Mxx firmware)
To be installed correctly, a drive region code must be selected before using the patched firmware.

[joegib]

The first 2 digits in the Toshiba version numbering scheme refer to the firmware "family" (13 in your case). The last 2 digits refer to the firmware update development stage (32 in your case). As you can see, all the other "families" are at stage 31, an earlier stage than your version.

Toshiba laptop drives don't have jumpers for setting the drive's IDE status (Master/Slave). This is done by a combination of the laptop interface and encoding in the firmware. Some laptop manufacturers want the drive to be Slave on a single IDE bus (the hard drive being Master). Other manufacturers want the optical drive to be Master on the secondary IDE bus). This is where the "families" come in -- they are customised firmwares to suit the Master/Slave preferences of the different laptop manufacturers.

So, you can't use firmware from another family on your drive indiscriminately. If your drive needs to be Slave and you install Master firmware you'll create an IDE conflict on your laptop and it probably won't boot. If your drive needs to be Master and you make it Slave, it may run but there will be adverse side effects e.g. you won't be able to use a boot CD/DVD.

If you want a firmware solution one strategy would be to:

1. Determine the IDE setting of your drive (Primary/Secondary -- Master/Slave) using a diagnostic tool e.g. Nero Infotool.

2. Do a search or post a query on The Firmware Page forum (this is where you got the version information you posted, right?) to see whether any of the other families use the same IDE setting and try that on you drive.

Given the risks, though, so you might want to investigate software solutions for overcoming region protection -- Region Selector and DVD43 (free), AnyDVD and RegionFree (commercial).

[1ggie]

Comprehensive reply. So my "family" and the update version need to be exactly the same, right? if I wait long enough and there shows up a 32 that is not good enough, I need to be in the right family. In otherwords, nothing less than a perfect match. OK. Given my lack of expertise, I will try ALL of your suggestions. I will find out as much as I can and, no doubt, come back with more questions. At the moment, the best solution is to watch Code 2s on my DVD/TV and use the laptop only for Code 1s until I find a real solution. Thank you very much for such a clear answer. 1ggie