upgrading the firmware of a CD-RW drive on the Dock II

[is]

Hello.

This question probably fits in more than one group. I have a ThinkPad T43 (2668-W4M) notebook and a Dock II unit. This computer is running a BSD operating system, but I have preserved the rescue and recovery partition; so I can use it iff required.

I want to upgrade the firmware on the CD-RW drive on the Dock II from release 1.6q to release 1.6v using the "ThinkPad Optical Disc Drive Firmware Update Utility" (FWOD08) CD-ROM. Can it be done when the CD-RW drive is attached to the Dock II? This drive has a form factor that does not fit on the UltraBay on the T43, so moving the drive to the ThinkPad is not an option.

When booting the FWOD08 CD-ROM, it finds both the internal combo drive and the CD-RW drive on the Dock II and a flashing arrow identifies the drive on the Dock II as upgradeable. But after trying to flash the drive the firmware remains at revision 1.6q:

Code: Select all

$ dmesg | grep ^cd 
cd0 at scsibus0 targ 0 lun 0: <SONY, CD-RW CRX700E, 1.6q> SCSI0 5/cdrom removable
cd0(pciide0:0:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 2
cd1 at scsibus1 targ 0 lun 0: <HL-DT-ST, RW/DVD GCC-4242N, 0201> SCSI0 5/cdrom removable
cd1(pciide1:1:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 2

Is it possible upgrading the firmware on the CD-RW drive installed on the Dock II without looking for a ThinkPad with a compatible Ultrabay?

[BillMorrow]

THAT is a good question..
perhaps james or john can answer this..?!

[JHEM]

Is it possible upgrading the firmware on the CD-RW drive installed on the Dock II without looking for a ThinkPad with a compatible Ultrabay?

No, not as far as I know, sorry.

James

[richk]

The best people I know for firmware are here:

http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php

[is]

Hello.

Thank you very much for your advice.

Bill, I suppose that there is some physical restriction on the Dock II. Perhaps it is not able to provide the right voltage to overwrite the firmware on the CD-RW drive. I believe that the only way to upgrade the firmware on that drive will be moving it to a ThinkPad with the right Ultrabay. I believe that James is right, a firmware upgrade for a drive on the Dock II unit is not possible.

I agree with richk, the people at RPC-1 is the right one to ask about this question. They are real experts hacking devices firmware, perhaps they know if a workaround exists. I will ask them.

By now, I can check if there is a chance to upgrade the firmware moving the IBM CD-RW drive to my Dell Latitude laptop. I need to look carefully at it, but it seems that the drive can be swapped (I will need to carefully compare both drives, they seem mechanically compatible... don't know about the connector specs). Is it too crazy?

[is]

I have carried the Latitude notebook to the same building were the Dock II is installed. The connectors on the Dell CD-RW drive and IBM's CD-RW are close (both look as some sort of SCSI-like connector) but not the same. So, asking at RPC-1 will be the only chance.

Thanks for your feedback and good advice! I really appreciate it.