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Anyone have any experience with upgrading firmware on a Lite-On that came with a Gateway? The firmware on this drive does not match any of the firmware versions on Lite-On's site for the same model drive.

Model: LTR-48246S
Firmware: SGS3

Lite-On's latest firmware for this drive is SS0E and all previous revisions are in the format SS0x. I have no idea if the firmware on this drive is equivalent to the latest version. I also don't want to flash it to SS0E if it will create a problem. FYI, I checked Gateway's site and there are no firmware updates for this drive under my computer's serial number.

Any help appreciated.

This is normal. All LiteOn drives shipped through computer manufacturers have different firmware names...

xGxx == Gateway
xFxx == Sony Vaio
xPxx == HP
xDxx == Dell
xAxx == Apple
...etc...

First, make a backup copy of your current firmware, in case you ever find that you want to flash back to it for any reason. You can make a backup using LtnFW: http://dhc014.rpc1.org/howto.htm#LtnFW

Second, the LiteOn firmware flashers will not let people with these OEM drives to flash using retail LiteOn firmware, even though the firmwares are perfectly compatible (this is a common practice with many drive manufacturers and how they treat their OEM drives vs. retail drives). To get around this, you have two options...
* Flash to a retail LTR-48246S, SS0E
* Flash to a retail LTR-52246S, 6S0F (yes, you can do this)
In either case, download the latest SS0E or 6S0F flasher from LiteOn, and download a tool called FlashFix. FlashFix the firmware flasher, and it'll let you update.

Wonderful, thanks for the informative reply! I'll give it a try as soon as I can.