Iomega ZipCD 12x10x32 CompUSA Dec31/Jan01 for $99 after rebate - Thread II - MODS Please lock!

[steevo]

Thanks RacerX! I wonder if they will change the status from "processing" to something more descriptive..

 

[diehlr]

I am trying to find some information about the person who wrote a similar program to change the drive ID string of an Imation IMR080020 8x20 to a Plextor PX-R820T. This was around December of 1999. The original author posted the program on the Anandtech forums around that time. If anyone has the name of the original author or any other useful information about updating EEPROM on a device via software, please let me know.

 

[unknown]

hopefully this will help you.

Imation/Plextor Resouce Info

 

[inode]

racerx09,

I also called CompUSA and got the same answer. Hopefully they will get a shipment of the product soon. :|

 

[OJ]

Lore wrote the original program, if that helps.

<edit>Do a search on the user name and you will get his email.

 

[wasssup]

My drive says I have firmware 1.06....but I see plextor hasn't released a 1.06, so I don't know what the hell is up. It may have been mentioned in a post somewhere (who knows) but there's over 1000 replies and no way am i looking through them all.

 

[BrianA]

I also called CompUSA and the customer &quot;dis-service&quot; representative was not able to answer my questions. I asked her directly if they even had any drives in stock when they made the drive available online and she didnt know. She did tell me that the orders will be processed in the order they were recieved, so hopefully I will get my drive sometime this year.

Looks like I should have gone to a B&amp;M instead.

 

[Lore]

Hi folks:

Actually, Lotsamula wrote the original program. The drive that it modified is still working just dandy, thanks to him!

Thanks for thinking of me, though

 

[RaysMD]

Lore,

Those were the good old days. I just sold my Imation for $87 profit (originally paid $100) after 1 year of use and I kept the SCSI card.


RaysMD

 

[LiQiCE]

My online order is now marked &quot;Back ordered&quot;, I ordered on Sunday morning around 10am.
:-(

 

[ss284]

Canwe still pricematch best buy?

can someone please scan something!!

please im desperate!!
Best buy was actually open yesterday!!!!!

the thing said they were closed, but they were actually open!!!

DAMNIT!!!


steve

 

[Lore]

RaysMD: I still have two drives here, one on my computer and one on a family member's computer. Great workhorses, they are!

 

[thewinky]

I just ripped two CD's on the fly, the 1.07 firmware update did actually speed it up some. The times were 4:12, Windows 2000, and 4:39, Unreal Tournament; man that is fast. Again, thank you everyone who helped make this deal possible, and helped hack the firmware updater.

 

[CitizenX]

I have one in Houston I don't want I am going to return it to COMPUSA.... anyone want to pay me a $10-15 premium for it??

 

[smensch]

Citizen X, I'll consider taking your Iomega drive off your hands. I missed out on the deal. PM me...

 

[immortalis]

Look what I found in my mail:

Q: How large is the cache of the drive? I could not find any information on this.

Dear xxxx
Thank you for using Iomega's Online Support services. The drive has a 4MB cache.

Sincerely,
Jeremiah
Iomega Customer Support


Now it's time to open the box!

 

[bjassin]

Actually the cache is only 1.8 MB. The plextor also has 2 MB. Most burn proof drives have a 2 MB cache.

BJ

 

[ss284]

hey citizen X email me about that drive ok?

 

[LiQiCE]

I looked at Ray's program which is a hex edited version of the Imation 2 Plextor program, and I found a 'bug' in it. I have hex edited my own version, but I can't try it because I don't actually have an Iomega drive to try it on. I'm not positive if I got the drive IDs correct either, but that would be easy to fix if thats the case. I would highly recommend you don't have any other Iomega drives attached when this thing runs. It searches for an Iomega ID tag, and then edits those drives accordingly.

Link

Try it out and let me know if anything happens. I'm not quite sure it will because of the whole SCSI/IDE thing, but IDE can and does use ASPI (you have to make sure you have ASPI drivers loaded) ... This probably would not work in Windows 2000, you would need Windows 98 or WinME with ASPI drivers loaded. No boot disks either, since there aren't any ASPI drivers for IDE in DOS I dont think.

As always, use this program at your own caution, I make no guarentees on its effects.

Update: Oops, fixed the bad link.

 

[HKSturboKID]

Damnit, my is on backordered too. When I ordered it, they have it instock and not its backordered. This is false advertisment!!!

 

[immortalis]

bjassin,
I wonder too, why they would write that, but I specifically asked for this drive.
Anyhow, after so many satisfied users here, one could presume that it is probably functioning well with whatever cache it has.

 

[BuckNaked]

LiQice,
just ran your utility and it changed the ID string. Heres what it says under CD ROM properties: PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W1210A. I am going to download a firmware update from plextor and see what happens when I run it.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Just ran the update, and got a message: PX-W1210A not found. Hope I am not screwed at the moment...
Nero is now reporting my CDR as an unsupported drive....
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
EDIT
This file has now been updated to a file that should work.... LiQice helped me update the ID String to one that now correctly identifies the drive as a Plextor 1210a, Nero correctly identifies the drive as a Plextor and works perfectly, and the Plextor firmware updates from Plextor now correctly update themselves WITHOUT a 3rd party updater. Thanks to Liqice for the help, and also to RaysMD and MrVW for there input as well.
**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Dave

 

[ChannelX]

If the plextor drive has a 2MB cache, and this is just a rebadged plextor, how is it possible that its only got a 1.8mb cache? (1.8mb??? wtf did that number come from?)

 

[thewinky]

I dont know were everyone got the idea that the Iomega has 1.8 meg cache. I have had three programs tell me it has 2 megs, just like Plextors drive.

 

[diehlr]

It's possible their flash utility is also checking the Vendor ID, Product ID, and/or Version number of the drive. Someone with an Iomega and someone with a Plextor should run this utility: http://www.torry.net/vcl/filedrv/driveinformation/taspiinterface.zip and report what values it is returning for these parameters (I don't know how if it is possible to change them).