region free for Toshiba DVD rom SD-R2512 1A04

[speyul]

I have an hp pavilion laptop about a year old with a Toshiba DVD rom SD-R2512 1A04 that I want to make region free. Can anybody tell me where to find what i need to do this?

[cynthia]

Hi and welcome to the forum, speyul!

You can find regionfree firmware here: http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1703

[blutach]

See here. Pick the XA08.

Regards

[blutach]

@cynthia - snap!

Regards

[speyul]

hi cynthia, blutach.

Forgive me, but if there were a special IQ measurement for doing this kind of thing I would get about a "70". That would be someone able to function but you have to be careful trusting him with complex tasks!
So the disclaimers on that page that says "Only for expert users" and "You can permanently ruin your drive" freaks me a bit. I've downloaded the file but haven't opened it. Are there idiot-proof instructions anywhere

[blutach]

Take disks out of the drive. Run firmware update. Reboot.

Regards

[speyul]

Ok...now your instructions sound idiot proof, but the "read me" file says something slightly different (and I don't have a floppy drive). It says
Instructions:
1. Make Bootable Floppy Disk
2. Extract all files of the ZIP file onto Boot Disk
3. Reboot PC with Boot Disk inserted.
4. Type
update.bat <return>
F/W will now be updated (you may be prompted to insert a disk, any CD will do)
5. Wait for Flashing to finish.
6. Reboot PC

[blutach]

I'd boot the PC from a bootable CD with the files on it but change update.bat to ask you to remove the CD before the processing starts.

Regards

[cynthia]

Sounds easier/safer to leave the update files on your hard disk and run them from that place and only use the CD disc to boot your system. Or?

[blutach]

Could he borrow/buy a USB floppy drive?

Regards

[cynthia]

Wonder if you could create a virtual drive in DOS and copy the update files to that one?

[speyul]

So...is there no simple way to do this? If I copy all the files onto a cd and do it from there, how do I makethat cd bootable?

[blutach]

Just create a bootable CD-ROM when you make it with Nero or whatever. You can even use a CD-RW.

BUT, your update.bat will need to pause at the first line to enable you to remove the disk from the drive and then press a key to continue. This will involve inserting the batch command pause as the first line in the update.bat file and saving it. Then you can burn the files onto your CD-ROM.

Regards

[blutach]

Just to make it clear, when update.bat pauses, you will need to remove the disk. If the firmware update hasn't loaded by this time (and it may not have had), this method won't work.

EDIT: I have looked at the batch file and this is, in fact the case. The pause is already there!! So, I would run this from a dos session under windows.

Regards

[cynthia]

Sorry, but it will not work - you insert the pause before it launches the flash program.

Not sure if this is a good suggestion: When you start your Windows you can press 'F8' and enter DOS - wonder it that involves any problems flashing from that environment?