Hi, my drive has been acting up recently. It is not liking to read and/or burn DVD+,-,DL media. Sometimes even burning CDs is painful.
I found a tutorial on CD freaks (http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=178207Drive) to flash my drive to a higher version, i.e. 840, which sounds pretty good. However, my firmware for the drive isn't the latest, i.e. HJ24 (currently FF24)
And if I decide to skip the tiny update and just flash, I see that my drive is actually the same as the LG GSA-4166B. Should I just say the hell with calling it an HP and just use the firmwares provided on this site? (http://italianjob.ifrance.com/?)
Anyways, thanks for all the help. If you need to, take a look at the drive specs provided by Nero InfoTool:
Information
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Drive : HP DVD Writer 740b
Type : DVD±R/RW DL Recorder
Firmware Version : FF24
Buffer Size : 2 MB
Date : 05-07-15
Serial Number : 4423GD48
Vendor Specific : 05/07/15
Drive Letter : E:\
Location : 0:1
Mechanism : Tray
Read Speed : 40 X
Write Speed : 40 X
Read CD Text : Yes
Return C2 Pointers : No
Read CD-R : Yes
Read CD-RW : Yes
Read DVD-ROM : Yes
Read DVD-RAM : No
Read DVD-R : Yes
Read DVD-RW : Yes
Read DVD+R : Yes
Read DVD+RW : Yes
Read DVD+R DL : Yes
Read BD-ROM : No
Read BD-R : No
Read BD-RE : No
Read Digital Audio : Yes
Read CD+G : No
Read VideoCD : Yes
Write CD-R : Yes
Write CD-RW : Yes
Write DVD-R : Yes
Write DVD-RW : Yes
Write DVD-R DL : Yes
Write DVD+R : Yes
Write DVD+RW : Yes
Write DVD+R DL : Yes
Write DVD-RAM : No
Write BD-R : No
Write BD-RE : No
Buffer Underrun Protection : Yes
Mount Rainier : No
Modes : Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO, RAW DAO, RAW SAO 16, RAW SAO 96, RAW DAO 16, RAW DAO 96
Region Protection Control : RPC II
Region : 1
Changes User : 4
Changes Vendor : 4
Interface Information
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Adapter 2
---------
Description : Secondary IDE Channel
Driver
Description : System32\DRIVERS\atapi.sys
Company : Microsoft Corporation
Version : 5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
Description : IDE/ATAPI Port Driver
Attached Devices
Description : Master: Maxtor 6L200P0
Type : Disk Drive
DMA : On
Create a new restore point then upgrade your firmware, don't forget to do a restart, and give the drives lens a clean, and all should be well. If anything goes horribly wrong with the firmware update, use system restore to take you back. If the "acting up" continues, you may be faced with replacing the drive.
Hey are you having problems with your HP DVD740 too...SO did you get it working?..if so let me know...awhile ago I switched it to HT-DT-ST GSA-4166B and its still the same....I read the same forum you did...SO let me know if you got it to work...
