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Matsushita UJ-857 RPC-1 (Region-Free) Update Available

irmongoose

irmongoose

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Dec 3, 2001
2,864
7
Sometimes Tokyo, sometimes California
The notorious Matsushita UJ-857(D) firmware has at last been cracked, thanks to ben11 from rpc1.org. He has released region-free updates for the HAEA, HBEA, KBVB, and KCVB revisions.

Before I provide the download links, here's the obligatory disclaimer:

WARNING: DO NOT DOWNLOAD IF YOU ARE UNCONFIDENT ABOUT THE FLASHING PROCESS. IF ANYTHING GOES WRONG YOU ARE LIABLE FOR DRIVE REPAIR. THE FOLLOWING IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND IS NOT WARRANTED. FLASHING YOUR DRIVE IS IN VIOLATION OF APPLECARE TERMS


Now, take these steps before you do anything:

1. Check that you have a UJ-857 or UJ-857D drive with revisions HAEA, HBEA, KBVB, or KCVB. This can be done by going to the Apple Menu>About This Mac>More Info. This will open up System Profiler. Click on ATA and the Model number and Revision number will be listed. If it looks OK proceed to step 3.

2. If you have a UJ-857(D) drive but the revision number is NOT one of the four listed (HAEA, HBEA, KBVB, or KCVB), then you have not applied the Superdrive Update 2.1 which Apple released in June. You will need to apply this update BEFORE PROCEEDING. This update is no longer available from Apple so you can download it here. Once you have done so, proceed to step 3.

3. Download DVDInfoX to check whether you have a region set. YOU MUST HAVE PLAYED A DVD IN THIS DRIVE AND SET A REGION IN ORDER TO PROCEED. A correctly set drive will produce something along the lines of this using DVDInfoX:

Vendor: MATSHITA
Model: DVD-R UJ-857D
Firmware: KBVB
RPC-2 (region locked)
State is SET
4 vendor resets left
3 region changes left
Region 2
Click to expand...

If "State" is "SET", you are ready to flash your drive.

4. Download the correct RPC-1 (Region-Free) update.

UJ-857 Revision HAEA

UJ-857 Revision HBEA

UJ-857D Revision KBVB

UJ-857D Revision KCVB.

5. Read the included README and then proceed to opening the "Update to region free" application. The process will start immediately. DO NOT INTERRUPT THE FLASHING IN ANY WAY - it will result in a broken drive. Also, there are only a certain number of times the drive can be flashed so be very very careful. I suggest you restart the computer and shut down any other application that is running before you run the update - just to be safe.

One note: the flashing will probably hang at 60%, and then again at 90%. This is normal. Just be patient and let it finish. Do not panic and do anything stupid.

6. If everything goes well, the flashing will finish and it will ask you to restart. Once you have done that, you can open DVDInfoX and check that the drive has been flashed. A correctly flashed drive will show something along these lines:

Vendor: MATSHITA
Model: DVD-R UJ-857
Firmware: HBEA
RPC-1 (region free)
Click to expand...

7. That's it. Make sure to download Region X to change the region of the drive before you play DVDs. The drive is region-free, but you must still change the region manually to play DVDs from different regions.

Hope that helps, I know I'm glad that this is now available. I can confirm that it worked successfully on my Rev.A BlackBook.

Happy flashing!



irmongoose
 
matshita uj 857e

Hi.

i recently purchased a white intel macbook and the details say that the drive is a matshita uj 857e... will the firmware upgrade work on this drive too?

thanks.
Dave
 
irmongoose said:
Simply put, no one has yet put the time to make an upgrade for that drive yet.



irmongoose
Click to expand...
Doesn't the absolute genius who creates the patch need a firmware update from Apple first to create the patch? The next time Apple issues a firmware update for your drive, ben11 will probably (hopefully) issue a new patcher for it. AFAIK, the firmware cannot be read from the drive.
 
Hi, can i confirm with you guys that MBP with MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857E don't work with this update right? and my revision is ZA0E.
 
Wow, congratulations to everyone who was involved in this patch. As mentioned in the first post, it's a notorious drive.
 
so is there a chance that a firmware update for the uj-857e will be released in the near future? or do we think this is something that will take a while?
 
I have put up DVDInfoX on my iDisk. Download it here.


To answer others' questions: There is no RPC-1 update available for the 857E at this time. One thing that made the update for the 857(D) possible is that Apple released a firmware update (an update for technical issues, not to flash to region-free) for those drives, giving a base for ben11 to work off of to create the region-free flash. Unless someone has devoted an extensive amount of time to create the flash from scratch, or unless Apple releases an official firmware upgrade, the 857E probably won't see an RPC-1 update.



irmongoose
 
Help me download Super Drive 2.1

Hey guys,

I need to update my Superdrive and can't find the software anywhere??? The link posted above goes to Rapidshare and it says that the download limit has been reached for the day. Is there another website that I can download Superdrive 2.1 from? I've searched google but to no avail?

I would sincerely appreciate anyones assistance. Thanks! :)

My drive details are as follows:

Vendor: MATSHITA
Model: DVD-R UJ-857D
Firmware: KBV9 (needs to be updated to KBVB)

Much appreciated!
 
Installing the KBVB Firmware

Guys,

Ok, I finally downloaded that SuperDrive Update 2.1. Yay! Now, before I begin, I want all my info at hand. I downloaded the KBVB firmware. How do I go about installing it? I dont see a APP or DMG file? Anyone?

Thanks a mill ya'll! ;)
 
I ran DVDinfoX and it just said that drives must have write capabilities and must have no media inserted to list the drives. That said, my drive was empty and it listing nothing on my MBP 2.33 C2D.

Also, when I go into system info, it doesn't tell me the vendor. It just says the following and sees it as a DVDRW hanging off of the ATA:


HL-DT-ST DVDRW GWA4080MA:

Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GWA4080MA
Revision: AE39
Serial Number: K546CND4959
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
 
preyan:

Did you download the zip file called SuperDriveFWUpdate.dmg.zip ?

Uncompress it... leaves a .dmg file, and from there execute the only application...

I hope it works... It did for me :-D :apple:
 
netdog said:
Also, when I go into system info, it doesn't tell me the vendor. It just says the following and sees it as a DVDRW hanging off of the ATA:


HL-DT-ST DVDRW GWA4080MA:

Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GWA4080MA
Revision: AE39
Serial Number: K546CND4959
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
Click to expand...

Netdog, your drive isn't a Matsushita drive. It's a HL (Hitachi-LG) drive... so you'd have to look elsewhere for a region-free hack.
 
ale500 said:
preyan:

Did you download the zip file called SuperDriveFWUpdate.dmg.zip ?

Uncompress it... leaves a .dmg file, and from there execute the only application...

I hope it works... It did for me :-D :apple:
Click to expand...

Apologies, was me getting frantic for nothing. Mine worked like a charm!:)
Thanks to ben11!!! We luuurv you man!:cool:
Oh, and thanks to irmongoose as well for the step by step guide!!! My Macbook is now officially everything I've ever wanteD!!!
 
When I have applied Superdriver Firmware Update 2.1, it have killed my superdrive. My sistem profiler says:

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857D:

Modello: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857D
Revisione: 0032
Numero di serie:
Unità amovibile: No
Protocollo: ATAPI
Numero unità: 0
Tipo di socket: Interno
Polling a bassa potenza: No

Can I force flash rpc-1 firmware? How can I know my revision?
Thank you

PS: excuse me for my bad english...
 
Thanks

Thanks for the instructions, my Macbook drive is now flashed and region free which is fantastic as I travel a lot and get really pissed off not being able to buy DVDs wherever I want! Don't see the point of those restrictions at all since it drives people into having to download stuff illegally (e.g. not all Films are released in all countries!). And many many thanks to those people who take the time to write these codes. You are my heros!

:apple:

Happy DVD shopping - world wide!
 
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