Something I never knew until today.

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September 27th, 2007, 18:44
VampDude

Something I never knew until today.

DVD Players/Recorders can "BRICK"

I downloaded an official firmware for my DVD player/recorder (from the manufacturers site) earlier and followed all the steps (even for making the CD image and burning), then I placed the CD in the disc tray and it went through the process of upgrading the firmware.

The screen showed that it was upgrading and then showed it had successfully finished, but when I inserted a DVD disc it showed an error message saying "Put Cd In" and I though to myself that it meant the upgrade firmware CD I had created. But it wasn't, and my DVD player/recorder then refused to show any output whatsoever so I came to the conclusion it had bricked...

...But to my suprise when I Googled it, it had also happened to other people. I then went to think why the company didn't fix the firmware (it's just over a year old), but thankfully due to the manufacturers neglect a group of hackers had made a program to hack and customize the official firmwares within seconds which then with my new firmware I re-followed the steps of creating the disc image and burning. And to my total amazement, the firmware I had customized with the software unbricked my DVD player/recorder.

Firmwares are everywhere thesedays, and hackers who do their own things to these firmwares. Those hackers saved me from having to send my DVD player/recorder (which is past it's warranty) away to be repaired, it's cool how hackers help us more than the manufacturers on lots of things :)
September 27th, 2007, 19:00
TeenDev

that sucks... I wonder if I can 'BRICK' my router and modem?
September 27th, 2007, 19:09
Elmarco

I might have bricked my toaster...... :eek: i better check...
September 27th, 2007, 20:54
VampDude

Quote:

Originally Posted by TeenDev

that sucks... I wonder if I can 'BRICK' my router and modem?

You can, by trying to uncap the bandwidth limit (for faster downloads) which is somewhat illegal (but as is just about any hardware alteration).

Read This: *

Quote:

Of course, the cable industry has it's own impossible dreams, which include preventing smart coders with lots of time and restless passion from hacking the next generation of cable modems. "What you're talking about only affects the DOCSIS 1.0 modems," says CableLabs' Marcia of the Surfboard hack. The DOCSIS 1.1 and 2.0 specifications only accept firmware that's been digitally signed by the cable company. "Once you move to a DOCSIS 1.1, and we already have some cable operators deploying 1.1, this hack is not a viable hack any more.... One mistake, and it turns the modem into a brick
September 27th, 2007, 20:59
steve520

Actually you can brick your router ive installed a custom firmware on mine. as long it has built in flash it can brick.
September 27th, 2007, 21:07
wolfpack

i should BRICK MY MICROWAVE! :p
September 27th, 2007, 23:34
kcajblue

lol, vamp.
i though you knew stuff like this.
even i knew you could brick.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TeenDev

that sucks... I wonder if I can 'BRICK' my router and modem?

lol yes you can.
September 27th, 2007, 23:37
Shrygue

@ wolfpack and Elmarco: I don't think you can brick a microwave or a toster as kitchen appliances don't have flash memory in them. It really applies to other electonic gadgets such as the PSP, iPod, possibly a computer BIOS and others that have onboard NAND flash memory.

As for CD/DVD drives, I had already long known that they could be rendered unfunctional by bad firmware updates as many have flash memory in them.
September 27th, 2007, 23:39
kcajblue

lol ykb.
i cant tell if youre serious or not.
but i dont think that they both were serious.
September 28th, 2007, 00:01
VampDude

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcajblue

lol, vamp.
i though you knew stuff like this.
even i knew you could brick.
lol yes you can.

Nah, some things I just take for granted. After all it is a DVD player/recorder, they just seem like everyday non-technical household appliances (for playing and recording DVD's).

Quote:

Originally Posted by YKB

As for CD/DVD drives, I had already long known that they could be rendered unfunctional by bad firmware updates as many have flash memory in them.

Xbox 360's disc drive has flash memory.
September 28th, 2007, 00:07
NoQuarter

Our electronics are not meant to last forever.We have planned obsolescence in almost every facet of our society.Hey a chance of brickage is just a chance for more money in a manufacturers pocket.This is where it pays to spend the extra money and buy high quality products,you generally get what you pay for.I agree it is cool how hackers save our backsides.
September 28th, 2007, 00:43
dejkirkby

Vampdude, why don't you try coding a custom firmware for your DVD player, with a recovery menu!!
September 28th, 2007, 01:02
pibs

Quote:

Originally Posted by VampDude

Xbox 360's disc drive has flash memory.

yep with a lil effort u can flash custom fw on it to run your legal backups;) it's also a nice way to get banned from live haha

btw some dvd players have region lock so custom fw helps with unlocking your dvd player.
September 28th, 2007, 01:26
lmtlmt

i wish the ps3 disc drive had flash memory to let me play *legal* backups..........
September 28th, 2007, 07:00
VampDude

Quote:

Originally Posted by dejkirkby

Vampdude, why don't you try coding a custom firmware for your DVD player, with a recovery menu!!

I made a recovery disc thou dude, I used a cool program called ILO / LiteOn Firmware Hacker - Version 1.5b to not only unbrick my machine (strangely it's not an unbricker - but it unbricked my DVD) but to enable multiregion (which I had already done ages ago by pressing 2, 9, 6, 0 in the setup menu and selecting Region 0) and to unlock an extra recording time (LP - 3 hour) as my former record times were HQ (1 hour) SP (2 hours) EP (4 hours) and SLP (6 hours). It also removed Macrovision, which is cool (but not needed unless I wanna backup my old video cassettes) :)

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...edFirmware.png

Quote:

Originally Posted by pibster

yep with a lil effort u can flash custom fw on it to run your legal backups;) it's also a nice way to get banned from live haha

btw some dvd players have region lock so custom fw helps with unlocking your dvd player.

Flashing the Xbox 360's drive at the has no real use at the moment, except for getting banned from LIVE. When the Xbox 360 has homebrew the flash process will have more use for people as it's cheaper than a mod-chip, well if you do it yourself. :p

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmtlmt

i wish the ps3 disc drive had flash memory to let me play *legal* backups..........

lol, believe me that oneday the PS3 will have it's disc drive hacked...

...Hopefully not to enable backups, but for playing cool emu's! :D :cool:
September 28th, 2007, 21:11
wolfpack

Quote:

Originally Posted by YKB

@ wolfpack and Elmarco: I don't think you can brick a microwave or a toster as kitchen appliances don't have flash memory in them. It really applies to other electonic gadgets such as the PSP, iPod, possibly a computer BIOS and others that have onboard NAND flash memory.

I was only kidding, sheesh
no one can take a joke around here anymore
September 28th, 2007, 21:23
VampDude

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfpack

I was only kidding, sheesh
no one can take a joke around here anymore

This isn't the JUNK Forum thou dude...

...I'm wondering if it's possible to brick a PS2, cause the PS2 uses a firmware (thou no custom firmwares).