I have a Rev. B PowerMac G5, got it about 4 months ago and it is a DVR-107D. I don't see why they would be any different then the one's on the selves now because it is a Rev. B. Here is the apple profiler info.
When one of Apple's suppliers runs out of stock of Apple's preferred device, Apple will often subsitute their preferred choice for the newer updated version of the device and then cripple any added features via a custom firmware patch.
This often happens with the SuperDrives in the Power Mac family.
I was working on a late Rev. A G5 a while back and I noticed that it had the 107 drive installed instead of the standard 106 drive. The Rev. A machines were only meant to offer 4X burning, but I knew that the 107 offered 8X. It turned out that Pioneer had depleted their stocks of the 106 drives, and that Apple had fitted a 107 instead. The 107 drive was disabled via 'A707' firmware and was to all intents and purposes now a 106. The irony was, that at that time the eMac was being assembled with exactly the same drive, but Apple weren't crippling it. For a while the Rev. A G5 and the eMac had exactly the same 107 mechanism installed, but the G5 only offered 4X burning whilst the eMac offered 8X burning.
Shortly after this, Apple announced the Rev. B G5, and they removed the firmware cripple. Hence you'll see a number of Rev. A and Rev. B machines have identical 107 drives, but the Rev. As can only burn at 4X.
I ditched the crippling 'A707' firmware and reflashed the drive with Pioneer's official firmware - hey presto a 8X drive that was recognised by ASP as "Apple Shipped/Supported". It hasn't burnt a coaster yet.
So why do I ask?
Well the 107 drive was discontinued in August, and I heard a rumour recently that the very latest G5s have the DVR-108 series SuperDrives installed. Guess Pioneer has depleted their stocks of the obsolete 107s and Apple has switched to the current 108 mechanisms. The 108 supports 16X burning and DL DVDs. The rumour stated that Apple had again crippled the 108 via firmware - as a result the 16X and DL DVD capabilities were disabled.
The 108 mechanism isn't officially supported by OS X, and neither is 16X or Dual Layer DVDs. I guess by the time we see the Rev. C machines Apple will be selling this drive as a 16X unit and OS X will support it. Short of another maintenance release I doubt we'll see 16X or Dual Layer support in Panther. Perhaps this will be something that Tiger will address?
It's also interesting to see that they're still using the A707 firmware rather than Pioneer's official firmware. There was another rumour doing the rounds a while back that the A707 firmware had something to do with the G5s cooling system. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that this is true, but you never know!
Anyway, there are a number of people trying to get the 108 mechanism to work natively in OS X (rather than through PatchBurn). I'm interested to see if Apple is indeed shipping G5s with crippled 108s installed. If so, it would be interesting to see which firmware and drivers they are using to enable native support withing OS X and the iApps.
For anybody that is interested in the 108 mechanism, I've got one running inside my G5 (thanks to PatchBurn) and it's burning DVDs at 16X, flawlessly.
One of the questions that keep getting asked but hasn't been responded to by 117 owners is if 10.3.7 has provided native support for all the features of the 108. Anyone?
One of the questions that keep getting asked but hasn't been responded to by 117 owners is if 10.3.7 has provided native support for all the features of the 108. Anyone?
haven't flashed my 117 yet, but will let you know. It was my impression that support for 108 was not expected until tiger was released. Question was: will the 117's firmware be bumped to 108 w/ tiger? Apple will, of course, not say this now, because they were/are mixing 107 and 117 drives in the current g5's (for whatever reason.. price,availability). Patchburn should work in the meantime.
One of the questions that keep getting asked but hasn't been responded to by 117 owners is if 10.3.7 has provided native support for all the features of the 108. Anyone?
Nope. The 108 isn't supported.
Still no native support for either 16x or DL DVD.
Something tells me that Apple'll want you to pony up for Tiger before you get that sort of functionality.
Bladerunner, go to System Profiler. If it says "Computer Model: PowerMac 11,2", then it's a DualCore G5. If not, it's an older version with two processors instead of one processor with two cores. The late 2005 models as a first had two Ethernet ports at the back (instead of one) and four PCI-e (Express) slots (instead of three PCI-X plus one AGP slots).
Gwoodpecker, Thanks for the reply DualCore it is! Definetly Machine model 11,2 and not one but two Ethernet Ports time to pull out some Cat 5 and make a network or two....
Comments
DVR-117D
Revsion B705
so.... what is the change?
HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4082B:
Manufacturer
Model
Revision
Serial Number
Drive Type
Disc Burning
Removable Media
Detachable Drive
Protocol
Unit Number
Socket Type
wtf?
Originally posted by dirk gently
mine is different...
DVR-117D
Revsion B705
so.... what is the change?
Interesting article here scroll down about 1/4 of the way, you can't miss the article.
This often happens with the SuperDrives in the Power Mac family.
I was working on a late Rev. A G5 a while back and I noticed that it had the 107 drive installed instead of the standard 106 drive. The Rev. A machines were only meant to offer 4X burning, but I knew that the 107 offered 8X. It turned out that Pioneer had depleted their stocks of the 106 drives, and that Apple had fitted a 107 instead. The 107 drive was disabled via 'A707' firmware and was to all intents and purposes now a 106. The irony was, that at that time the eMac was being assembled with exactly the same drive, but Apple weren't crippling it. For a while the Rev. A G5 and the eMac had exactly the same 107 mechanism installed, but the G5 only offered 4X burning whilst the eMac offered 8X burning.
Shortly after this, Apple announced the Rev. B G5, and they removed the firmware cripple. Hence you'll see a number of Rev. A and Rev. B machines have identical 107 drives, but the Rev. As can only burn at 4X.
I ditched the crippling 'A707' firmware and reflashed the drive with Pioneer's official firmware - hey presto a 8X drive that was recognised by ASP as "Apple Shipped/Supported". It hasn't burnt a coaster yet.
So why do I ask?
Well the 107 drive was discontinued in August, and I heard a rumour recently that the very latest G5s have the DVR-108 series SuperDrives installed. Guess Pioneer has depleted their stocks of the obsolete 107s and Apple has switched to the current 108 mechanisms. The 108 supports 16X burning and DL DVDs. The rumour stated that Apple had again crippled the 108 via firmware - as a result the 16X and DL DVD capabilities were disabled.
The 108 mechanism isn't officially supported by OS X, and neither is 16X or Dual Layer DVDs. I guess by the time we see the Rev. C machines Apple will be selling this drive as a 16X unit and OS X will support it. Short of another maintenance release I doubt we'll see 16X or Dual Layer support in Panther. Perhaps this will be something that Tiger will address?
It's also interesting to see that they're still using the A707 firmware rather than Pioneer's official firmware. There was another rumour doing the rounds a while back that the A707 firmware had something to do with the G5s cooling system. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that this is true, but you never know!
Anyway, there are a number of people trying to get the 108 mechanism to work natively in OS X (rather than through PatchBurn). I'm interested to see if Apple is indeed shipping G5s with crippled 108s installed. If so, it would be interesting to see which firmware and drivers they are using to enable native support withing OS X and the iApps.
For anybody that is interested in the 108 mechanism, I've got one running inside my G5 (thanks to PatchBurn) and it's burning DVDs at 16X, flawlessly.
Originally posted by O4BlackWRX
Interesting article here scroll down about 1/4 of the way, you can't miss the article.
Yep, that's what I'm talking about. I must have missed that posting...
so the 117d is actually a 108aa (on the label)
apple cripples the 16x and dual layer support via firmware.
cool, now just gotta hack the firmware
http://www.hardmac.com/article.php?id=44&page=1
how to do it on a mac (i'm allergic to PCs)?
http://www.hardmac.com/niouzcontenu....004-12-07#3340
dvrflash and working 108 firmware.
damn, and 10.3.7 is out now too.
Originally posted by OldCodger73
One of the questions that keep getting asked but hasn't been responded to by 117 owners is if 10.3.7 has provided native support for all the features of the 108. Anyone?
haven't flashed my 117 yet, but will let you know. It was my impression that support for 108 was not expected until tiger was released. Question was: will the 117's firmware be bumped to 108 w/ tiger? Apple will, of course, not say this now, because they were/are mixing 107 and 117 drives in the current g5's (for whatever reason.. price,availability). Patchburn should work in the meantime.
Originally posted by OldCodger73
One of the questions that keep getting asked but hasn't been responded to by 117 owners is if 10.3.7 has provided native support for all the features of the 108. Anyone?
Nope. The 108 isn't supported.
Still no native support for either 16x or DL DVD.
Something tells me that Apple'll want you to pony up for Tiger before you get that sort of functionality.
PatchBurn & Toast to the rescue!!!
Originally posted by ipodandimac
why does my rev b pmac have a bunch of random numbers and letters rather than saying "Pioneer 107D"? :
HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4082B:
Manufacturer
Model
Revision
Serial Number
Drive Type
Disc Burning
Removable Media
Detachable Drive
Protocol
Unit Number
Socket Type
wtf?
now that the smoke has cleared, way up above i posted that ^^^^. any clues as to what im dealing with (like what drive it is)?
Originally posted by ipodandimac
now that the smoke has cleared, way up above i posted that ^^^^. any clues as to what im dealing with (like what drive it is)?
Basically a LG GSA-4028 8X burner.
Basically a LG GSA-4028 8X burner.
This is the drive I have as well.
Does anyone here know about this drive?
I'm trying to find out if it will do
a) Burn 90 min. CD-R's.
b) Play MiniDiscs
c) Can (and how) the firmware be updated?
All My Best,
Jeffrey
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-110D.
P.S. A Pioneer DVR-111 works like a charm inside my father's old 450 MHz G4 from 1999. DVD burning: no problem, everything else works too.
One thing am curious about System Profiler just says:
Dual 2 Ghz PowerPc G5
Does it not say anything about "Dual Core" in the profiler?
Also as for Superdrive I get:
HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4165B:
Model
Revision
Any thoughts or comments welcomed
Danke.