Benq DVDRW not supported?

[jyp]

I have Benq 1620 dvd rw.

Up till now I was just using the drive to copy cd and stuff, but just tried to flash the driver and it's telling me 'Drive not support!'. The management shows the drive as 'ATAPI DVD DD 2x16x4x16'

What could be the problem?

 

[jyp]

Anyone with Benq had similar problem? I'm not sure if i even need new driver. How can I verify it everything's good besides start burning?

 

[n7]

I would try burning something, though that does seem odd.

Is this the firmware you are getting?

Are you sure your drive is the DW1620 not the DW1620A?

 

[Belzer]

Originally posted by: jyp
I have Benq 1620 dvd rw.

Up till now I was just using the drive to copy cd and stuff, but just tried to flash the driver and it's telling me 'Drive not support!'. The management shows the drive as 'ATAPI DVD DD 2x16x4x16'

What could be the problem?

Do you have the bulk or the retail version? The bulk version has a G*** firmware while the retail version has a B*** firmware. Latest retail firmware (B7P9) is available here. Latest bulk firmware (G7P9) is available here.

 

[sumrtym]

You need to use the G version of the firmware. Your drive is OEM (same as I just ordered from Newegg) and not retail. They use different firmware versions. That's why the drive is shown as ATAPI DVD rather than BENQ in device manager.

There is no difference between drives and firmware to my knowledge. Some have inferred that the OEM firmware doesn't allow overspeeding media like the retail (8x at 12x, that sort of thing). Personally, I see that as a BENEFIT, not a drawback, as overspeeding media results in more errors that outweighs the benefit of any time gained (provided this is even true).

It's a little harder to find the OEM firmware posted, but the benq forum over at cdfreaks does a good job.

There is a complicated (well, relatively....3 step process) to get the OEM to use retail firmware. I just don't think it's that smart an idea myself.

 

[Ranger X]

Go here.

Download WinDWFlash.exe and download the latest firmware (B7P9). Just flash your drive with the "G" firmware to a "B" firmware to make your DVD burner a true BenQ drive. Afterwards, your drive should be able to burn DVD+R DL at 4X instead of 2.5X.

Don't flash your drive to the latest "G" firmware.

 

[kangaroodinosaur]

I am having a similar problem to the user above.

I bought the BenQ 1620 OEM version from Newegg. Just go it and installed it today. It does not recognize any disk that I put in it. I've set it up as the Master drive on the IDE chain, just as my cd burner had been.

I downloaded the G7K9 firmware executable from BenQ's website and ran it. I tried the B7K9 firmware patch first because I wasn't sure, but the program said "match not found" or something. So I tried the G7K9, which claimed it was successful. I tried re-booting, but Windows wouldn't shut down properly. I had to manually reboot. I've never had to do this after installing new hardware.

After running the firmware upgrade, the drive still does not recognize any disks. Windows Explorer shows the drive as "ATAPI DVD DD 2x16x4x16"

Device Manager shows it is working properly.

I tried downloading WinDWFlash.exe, but only found a version that was WinDWFlash.rar instead. I don't have the program to run WinDWFlash, so I tried renaming it to a .exe and running it. A Dos window popped up, then an error message, "encountered an illegal instruction." I also had trouble downloading the B7P9 driver from the website you've referenced.

What am I missing? Please help!

Thanks a million,

-Alan

 

[Scaramouche]

WinDWflash.rar is a WinRAR compressed file. Go to www.rarsoft.com and download the trial version of WinRAR 3.41 to decompress the file. Then run it.

 

[kangaroodinosaur]

Okay, I decompressed WinDWflash and ran it. The program is asking me to indicate an "image file" of extension type .cvt

What the world is that? Without it, I can't flash the drive...

Thanks,

-Alan

 

[Ranger X]

Originally posted by: kangaroodinosaur
Okay, I decompressed WinDWflash and ran it. The program is asking me to indicate an "image file" of extension type .cvt

What the world is that? Without it, I can't flash the drive...

Thanks,

-Alan

Find it at this URL: dvdpro.club.st/firmware/BenQ/B7P9.cvt.rar (copy and paste into your browser)

Don't forget to uncompress the file with WinRAR and use the .CVT file as the image file in WinDWflash. Reboot and your drive should be recognized as BENQ DVD DD DW1620 or something similar.

 

[kangaroodinosaur]

I tried the B7P9 and the B7M9. The G7M9 just made my drive show as ATAPI as above. Using the B version, my drive appears as CD Drive (D and still will not recognize any media. When I click on the hardware profile (in properties or control panel) it does show as Benq dvd dd dw1620, but the drive still doesn't work. What could be wrong?

I will return if I can't resolve this by tomorrow. Why doesn't the BenQ website provide everything I need?

Thanks,

-Alan

 

[kangaroodinosaur]

actually, what's the whole process I need to run, from start to finish?

For example, what do I with the B7P9.exe and B7P9.cvt files? Are both necessary?

Just trying to make sure I did everything right...

Thanks,

Alan

 

[sumrtym]

Originally posted by: Ranger X
Afterwards, your drive should be able to burn DVD+R DL at 4X instead of 2.5X.

Don't flash your drive to the latest "G" firmware.

The latest G firmware also enables 4x DL media. Crossflashing doesn't generate any real benefit, but runs some interesting risks of their own.

 

[Ranger X]

Originally posted by: sumrtym

Originally posted by: Ranger X
Afterwards, your drive should be able to burn DVD+R DL at 4X instead of 2.5X.

Don't flash your drive to the latest "G" firmware.

The latest G firmware also enables 4x DL media. Crossflashing doesn't generate any real benefit, but runs some interesting risks of their own.

I'm curious ... what risks would that be? I have ventured out into many forums and no one has reported any problem by cross flashing their BenQ drive. I believe there is more support, as in terms of firmware updates, when you have a "B" firmware but I could be wrong. I also read that you can't overburn with the "G" firmware (unless that feature was implemented in their latest "G" firmware). For me, it's a personal preference. I want my BenQ drive to read "BenQ" and not "ATAPI".

Originally posted by: kangaroodinosaur
actually, what's the whole process I need to run, from start to finish?

For example, what do I with the B7P9.exe and B7P9.cvt files? Are both necessary?

Just trying to make sure I did everything right...

Thanks,

Alan

Both files are not necessary.

Think of B7P9.exe as WinDWflash + B7P9.cvt together. As for your drive not working, could it be that your DVD media is not supported by your drive? Try downloading QScan v1.0 from BenQ's website and run that against the media that you have. I don't think there is anything wrong with your drive but if your drive does not recognize other DVD medias, then I would suggest getting it exchanged.

By the way, I don't think your problem is a firmware problem.