Amazing Region Free tool for ltd-165 and 163!

[cfitz]

I used forceaspi to revert to 4.60 on my main rig with the RAID controller without much hope of success, but lo-and-behold it worked... Assuming you used the same ASPI version in your tests, it seems there are a number of factors: External ASPI revision and native NT5.x driver revision. RAID controllers also appear to somewhat complicate the issue.

I have ASPI 4.60 on the original system with RAID and SP3 that has never been able to properly run Rpcde. The second system that doesn't have RAID and that ran Rpcde fine with SP2 but stopped working once I installed SP3, has ASPI 4.5.7 installed on it. I am still pretty sure that SP3 is an issue for Windows 2000 since installing it made a system that could run Rpcde into one that can not. Of course, as you point out, it may only be an issue with certain configurations (e.g. maybe if I had ASPI 4.60 my second system would still work even with SP3 - or would never have worked even with SP2). Too many variables to control them all...

I guess the one thing we can say, which may help Sakujuia who got this thread revived with his question, is that although we have found systems under which Rpcde doesn't work, we haven't found Liteon 163/163D/165H/166S DVD-ROM drives for which it doesn't work. It is just a matter of getting the system configured correctly. Of course, in some cases that may be accomplished most easily by moving the drive to a true Windows 98 system.

cfitz

[skinfreak]

I am running XP Pro SP1 with a Promise Fasttrack 133 RAID controller on my mobo and everything is fine...I do have a soft RAID function, but have to dissagree with the observation that the APSI layer is RAID affected.

Skinfreak

[mike_s104]

Okay, I got a chance to move my 166S to another computer, this one a system running Windows 98 natively rather than Windows 2000 with the Windows 98 Compatibility Layer. CDVDInfo Version 1.3.5 crashed and burned with an access violation - I didn't bother to investigate why - but Drive Region Info V2.2 continued to report that the drive was region locked. So I ran Rpcde once more, this time on the native Windows 98 machine. Rpcde again reported success, but in addition the drive spun a bit during the update. Viola, the drive now is reported as being region free on both Windows 98 and 2000!

My conclusion that Rpcde doesn't work on Windows 2000, even with the Windows 98 compatibility layer enabled. More specifically, it doesn't work on Windows 2000 Server with SP3.

So, Sakajuia, I would suggest that if you are running Windows 2000 you try what I did. Temporarily transfer the drive to a native Windows 98 or ME machine and run Rpcde there.

cfitz

this is going to be a stupid question....
how would one run, install or get the Windows 98 Compatibility Layer for Win2000 or WinXp?

[dimitri]

Dear Mike,

Even though I don't have Win2K or WinXP I have researched the subject thoroughly and, in order to save the effort of my dear visitors, I've put a detailed, step-by-step instructions for enabling the compatibility mode.

You will find it at the relevant place at my Region free page. In case you don't know, my sig contains direct links to my site.

See you there

[mike_s104]

OK, that worked fine for Win2000 SP3, but WinXP SP1 said the file could not be found. I tried copying it over from my Win2000 SP3 machine to the WinXP SP1 machine. it registered it but I don't get the compatability tab.

thanks for the help.

[cfitz]

Yes, I enabled the compatibility layer by following Dimitri's instructions.

cfitz

[mike_s104]

Yes, I enabled the compatibility layer by following Dimitri's instructions.

cfitz

are you running WinXP?

[cfitz]

No, sorry. I didn't mean to imply that. I am running Windows 2000.

cfitz

[cfitz]

mike_s104, did you make a shortcut to Rpcde first? The compatibility layer option only shows up on the properties tab for the shortcut, not the actual executable.

According to Dimitri's instructions, you don't need the slayerui.dll for XP.

cfitz

[mike_s104]

I see what I was doing wrong..thanks guys.

[europanorama]

i have been following this discusssion until some days before christmas. at that moment it was not possible cracking the code with w2k sp3. thats why i gave it up. the problem seem to be solved. does thiis procedure also help using other dvd-drives than liteon 165H?

[cfitz]

It works for the LiteOn 163, 163D, 165H and 166S drives.

cfitz