Who made the HiVal CDWRITER IDE 4816?

[georgeg]

The title pretty much says it all. This is a 48x16x48 burner I put in my wife's computer. I've always kind of wondered who made it. It would be interesting to read some reviews of the thing.

[TheWizard]

Sounds like it is the BenQ 4816P. Overall, a par to sub-par burner.

[jase]

Possibly a BTC. BTC title their drives "CDWRITER IDExxxx" in the firmware if they're going to an OEM. I have a BTC here and would say it's an above-average, but not exactly stellar drive. Burn quality and media compatibility is pretty good but certain facilities (CDRW reading, DAE performance) is quite slow.

[georgeg]

Thanks guys. Your comments re: performance back up my experience. While its faster than my own Plextor 8432, its numbers on the Nero speed test are really low (starting at 16x and going down to 10x as the burn ends) and thats burning to TY disks.

[dhc014]

It is definately a BTC BCE4816IM. What firmware is currently on it?

[georgeg]

It is definately a BTC BCE4816IM. What firmware is currently on it?

Firmware Rev 482E. Is there a later firmware and if so, where is their web site?

[dhc014]

First of all, Can you please back up your current firmware using mtkflash in real DOS and send it to me? See the instructions on the mtkflash page on my website.

482S is on the BTC Website: www.btcusa.com

You may have to get the hexadecimal (.hex) firmware from that update with MTK WinFlash to flash your drive...

[georgeg]

First of all, Can you please back up your current firmware using mtkflash in real DOS and send it to me?

Still trying. I'll get it yet!

You may have to get the hexadecimal (.hex) firmware from that update with MTK WinFlash to flash your drive...

How do I do that? I downloaded the firmware update from the BTC site and ran it, thinking it was a self extracting file. Actually, its a firmware update program, presumable with the flash update internal. When I ran it, it said I had the wrong model, but I downloaded the version for the 4816.

FWIW, I went to the HiVal site and found out they don't list a 4816 model in their current drives.

[dhc014]

Make a backup first and send it to me. What you download from BTC is a self-extracting zip file I think. You can use winzip to open it, otherwise it is extracted to your TEMP folder into its own directory.

[georgeg]

I dug up the box for this burner and on it, the drive is listed as model H481648A-15R. Does this change the idea that its a BTC drive? I still think its strange that Hi-Val doesn't list a 48/16/48 burner on their web site.

I've tried backing up the firmware using mtkflash versions 1.09, 1.46, 1.55 and 1.62, all to no effect altho running 1.09 did generate the menu of command line options you show on your website. Anyway, I've downloaded all the various versions and I'll work my way thru the list but somehow, I don't think they're going to work.

[dhc014]

I am 100% sure that it is a BTC from the ID string and the firmware version. It is compatible with mtkflash. Please post the exact command are you using. The problem likely lies there.

Should be something like

Code: Select all

mtkflash # r /b /m 482E.bin

replacing '#' with a number 1-4 corresponding to your drive's location of course.

[georgeg]

I am 100% sure that it is a BTC from the ID string and the firmware version. It is compatible with mtkflash. Please post the exact command are you using. The problem likely lies there.

Should be something like

Code: Select all

mtkflash # r /b /m 482E.bin

replacing '#' with a number 1-4 corresponding to your drive's location of course.

Here is the exact string I'm using:

mtkflash 2 r /b /m test.bin

I'm using #2 since CDinfo reports the drive as being 0:1 which I'm told is generally Primary Slave.