must say:

- no disk inserted
- push eject and hold it until the diodes blinks three times
- release button
- tray eject
- insert disk, bypass-speed enable
- bypass-speed deseable by
* no disc inserted.
* eject button press one time.

NOW, THIS IS TO BE USED CAREFULLY. this is know to work only for this plextor model.

More valuable informations:

Knowed harware to fail creting/reading starforce protected disk:

# EAC CD-W552E (firmware T016) - this latest drive from TEAC reads data on a very high quality level, but it refused to record any data on the disc. The recorder can't identify the disc as suitable for recording.
# DVD-ROM LG GCC-4120B Combo (firmware 2.02) - it identifies blank StarForce CD-R media only every two times; its reading is unstable and slow.
# CD-ROM CyberDrive CD486D (firmware 150J) - it reads StarForce CD-R discs quite slow, the speed doesn't make operation comfortable.


source: http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/starforcecdr/

Firstly thanks for opening this thread again.

We have had a lot of good points mentioned, I removed SF from my system including the hidden files, I was having problems with both my DVD-RW and DVD-Rom.
I may be one of the lucky ones but now they both seem to be working fine.
I was having problems writing disk, getting errors I never had before and on the DVD-Rom I kept getting the no disk in drive message when there was.
I watch a lot of my WW1/2 DVD's on the PC and a lot of time it wouldn't play even after numerous re-boots, now they do.

I did mention in one of my earlier posts, go to Google search and type in "starforce problems" I will ask you just to look on some of the other forums in the links, guys just like us having problems since they installed games that included SF.
Obviously the odd link takes you to a pirate site but a lot are genuine forums.

Have you ever tried the SF driver update?

@Gizzmoe,

To be honest no, I didn't want to risk it, I think I know what your reply will be, it's like having a game and complaining about the bugs when there is an update to fix them.
It's just that I've read so much about this SF I would rather not.

Stratege
Wanted to let you know that your info has been forwarded to Aaron and we hope that Toms will study this theory too. No promises. But I wanted to let you know.

Soulcommander

Actually when I spoke to Mr Resovich with Plextor I did mention this as my Toshiba drive has no flashable firmware and was not affected. Of course the toshiba drive can not burn either...So we talked about the goal of Starforce in general and of course we all know that SF will not allow you to make a backup copy of the game which contains its protection so indeed it focuses on the writers.

The conclusion of that conversation...And I have to think way back...was something like this::: It;s possible for any drive with flashable firmware to be flashed but any program that could accomplish that would be a very intrusive piece of software.

Thats how it was left with me....I had this same talk with a Plextor tech too although he lacked knowledge in that dept.

SC

GIZ this is exactly what we talked about on the phone. I do beleive its possible to reach an overated rpm as I never heard my plextor drive operate like that before SF was installed.

THIS is like a high pitched,cd shattering speed! Its not the norm is what Im trying to get accross here.

I did try it though and it didn;t make a difference. I did this when I was conducting tests and reformats as instructed by ubi.

Yes, but the Mandrake example has shown that in this case a standard ATAPI command plus a faulty firmware was enough to cause such a problem.

Call the Plextor guys, they should be able to tell you if it´s possible to over-rev their drives. If it´s possible then they can probably also tell you why it´s possible. As I said, please also ask them to reflash your drive (if they still have it), then we would know if a killed firmware was the reason why your drive has stopped working. All this is very important information.

[edit]I will reserve final jugdement on SF t ill I hear more about this.

Oh it was years ago!
I have NO idea what it was called... I can ask my bud's though...

S

@Serverdaemon

I think it was the old CIH virus from 1998 that over-wrote your harddrive and then tried to zap the bios.

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/cih.html



For more info about what SF does in the hidden driver department and how this could potentially let a virus like the above harm your computer, do a google on StarForce and ring-0. If the information found is correct, is however open for discussion.

Could be!...

S

IIRC that problem no longer exists. But even if it still would, it´s irrelevant, because the vast majority of gamers logs into Windows with admin rights. Viruses and other harmful pieces of software don´t need Starforce to kill a Windows installation or to delete other important files.

Don´t open email attachments from unknown senders, keep Windows updated, use antivirus/anti-spyware software, a firewall, a decent browser and email client and make regular backups, then there is not much that can happen to your system.

They've answered a few questions. The default answer seems to be "this is not a SF problem." :down:

Cpt W. :ahoy:

Of course they say that if they say anything different then they become liable.

I've tested both of my burners - both are working with music CDs.

Never had a problem with Starforce, in fact I burned an audio CD last week with no problems...
Wanted to burn an audio CD again this evening and it didn't work? Same settings... same kind of CD. I started thinking what had changed in the past week and the only thing was that I installed the King Kong demo which also installed (new) SF drivers (the idea of installing bloody SF with a demo is beyond me anyway), so I did the SF removal tool and voila! Works again...

This really p'ed me off though, those idiots install something with a bloody DEMO that renders some of your hardware useless!!! I almost threw away one of my CD's because I thought it was broken!!! This is really going TOO FAR. I don't just blame SF for this, but I also blame UBI for putting this in their software... go on like this and they loose another customer...

@ FesterShinetop,

That is one of my points I mentioned earlier, ok it may stop or deter pirates but soon it will deter the customers.
Again I said earlier, read the posts on other forums, lots are or have had problems since SF was on their machines.
I know some up to now haven't had any, but a lot have, it's like a shop selling a bad product, people will start using a different shop.

If a person gets ill on your street with a disease, then others get it, just because you haven't got it yet doesn't mean the disease isn't there.
I just can't understand why so many are having these problems yet still people can't or won't accept it till it happens to them.