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Downgrade HD-A30 from firmware 4.0 to 1.3/2.0?

post #1 of 14
10/31/08 at 8:50pm
Thread Starter 
I just updated my A30 to 4.0 and now it won't play any HD DVDs. It starts to stutter and then freezes up. Looking to roll it back to either 1.3 or 2.0. Is there a modified firmware out there for that?

And if not, how do I edit the firmware for the A30 (using a hex editor) to roll back the firmware? What settings need to be changed?

Thanks
Mark Santora
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post #2 of 14
11/1/08 at 1:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by santora View Post

I just updated my A30 to 4.0 and now it won't play any HD DVDs. It starts to stutter and then freezes up. Looking to roll it back to either 1.3 or 2.0. Is there a modified firmware out there for that?

And if not, how do I edit the firmware for the A30 (using a hex editor) to roll back the firmware? What settings need to be changed?

Thanks
Mark Santora

  1. Download the 1.3 firmware file
  2. Open the ISO file in a hex editor
  3. Change the value in 26/27 from 05 14 to 0f a1
  4. Save the ISO file and make a firmware CD from it
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post #3 of 14
11/1/08 at 8:53am
Thread Starter 
Thanks Viking61. I'll give that a shot. Quick question though - this is the mod for the A30 and not the A3, right? It looks similar to other mods I've already seen.

Thanks
Mark Santora
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post #4 of 14
11/1/08 at 9:31am
It's the same procedure for all Toshiba HD DVD players.

Inside the firmware there is a value that functions as "run if current firmware version is lower than". Your current firmware version is 4000 (after installing 4.0), and all you actually do is to set this "run if lower than" value to 4001 (hex 0f a1).

Btw, have you tried emptying the "Persistent Storage". I have seen others report it cured similar problems.
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post #5 of 14
11/2/08 at 4:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by santora View Post

I just updated my A30 to 4.0 and now it won't play any HD DVDs. It starts to stutter and then freezes up. Looking to roll it back to either 1.3 or 2.0. Is there a modified firmware out there for that?

And if not, how do I edit the firmware for the A30 (using a hex editor) to roll back the firmware? What settings need to be changed?

Thanks
Mark Santora

That's really unfortunate. Firmware 4.0 has been a blessing for the majority of people who have applied it.
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post #6 of 14
11/2/08 at 12:38pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Electone View Post

That's really unfortunate. Firmware 4.0 has been a blessing for the majority of people who have applied it.

I know. I've read a lot about how great it was. Unfortunately it just seems to have played havok with my machine. I'm going to downgrade today and then see if I can go back up to 4.0 in the future.

Apperantly there are a small number of players that get stuck during boot up with 4.0. Mine plays then starts giving me problems. Strangely - no problems with DVDs. And the HD DVDs are in excellent condition - no scratches.

Mark Santora
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post #7 of 14
11/2/08 at 12:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Viking61 View Post

It's the same procedure for all Toshiba HD DVD players.

Inside the firmware there is a value that functions as "run if current firmware version is lower than". Your current firmware version is 4000 (after installing 4.0), and all you actually do is to set this "run if lower than" value to 4001 (hex 0f a1).

Btw, have you tried emptying the "Persistent Storage". I have seen others report it cured similar problems.

Good to know. I will be trying it this afternoon. Thanks again.

Mark Santora
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post #8 of 14
11/4/08 at 3:03pm
I upgrade my a30 today and all is well. As soon as I get a chance I'll upgrade my a20.
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post #9 of 14
8/28/11 at 12:59pm
I know this is an old post but does anyone happen to have any firmware before the 4.0 for the Hd-A30 that they could upload and send me a link to. I have been looking everywhere but toshiba deleted it from their site.

I was stupid and just did a 4.0 Upgrade and now no Warner Brothers HD-DVDs will play without glitches and pauses which wreck the movies especially on the Matrix and 300 movies
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post #10 of 14
8/29/11 at 7:29am
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=6948f...0BDD190C%21294

Look under the 'Rollback firmware' folder if you want a ready modified firmware file to roll back to ver. 1.3 or under 'Original firmware' if you want modify it by yourself for another version.
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post #11 of 14
11/23/11 at 8:09pm
ok i burned the already modified version to a disc and insterted it into my hd dvd a-2 player and it takes a few minutes and goes to ver up and then i click yes and tells me that cannot find server. i then tried to change the hex myself and same thing. what am i doing wrong. Trying to rollback to a lower version than 4.0 preferably something lower than 3.0. Anyhelp would be hot. thanks!!!!
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post #12 of 14
11/27/11 at 12:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ou82mutch View Post

ok i burned the already modified version to a disc and insterted it into my hd dvd a-2 player and it takes a few minutes and goes to ver up and then i click yes and tells me that cannot find server. i then tried to change the hex myself and same thing. what am i doing wrong. Trying to rollback to a lower version than 4.0 preferably something lower than 3.0. Anyhelp would be hot. thanks!!!!

Sounds like you tried to start the update from inside the Setup menu. That is not the way to do it. You shall just put the CD in, and the update should start by itself. Did you burn the iso-file to a CD as an image? You can use the free software ImgBurn (www.imgburn.com) or similar. And you have to use a CD-R or CD-RW. You can't use a DVD.
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post #13 of 14
12/3/11 at 1:02pm
Thanks used the imgburn and it is now going. i needed to get it back to where it was before as my wb movies are not playing correctly and it is getting me hulk mad....lol. The software is was using before did not burn as an image.
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post #14 of 14
12/4/11 at 5:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ou82mutch View Post

Thanks used the imgburn and it is now going. i needed to get it back to where it was before as my wb movies are not playing correctly and it is getting me hulk mad....lol. The software is was using before did not burn as an image.

There are a fair number of Warner HD-DVDs failing on many of us - so let us know if this firmware change improves matters or not.
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