Hi I need to unlock the region setting on my nec laptop with the
nd-6500a dvd drive.   Its so stupid.  I spent $3000 on this 3 months
ago and bought extra batterys and good headphones.  Im in America and
Fly alot.  It is locked on Austrlia region now as I have a few of
there dvds and I go there alot.  There must be a way of unlocking it. 
NEC wont help.  Ive searched everywhere to find out the organisation
that makes these rules but have failed.  NEC wont help.  There service
department is 12 hrs drive away so thats out of the question.  I would
just like a crack to unlock it.  Its not illegal for me to buy
american dvds at walmart and watch them is it?  I am flying 18hrs to
Australia next week and if I cant use my laptop Im going to be so
Pissed off.  I spent so much money on it and the extra batterys and
noise cancelling headphones.  Im so frustrated right now Im even
paying for a solution through this..  Hope you can help me!

Thanks

A rewritten firmware for your drive can be found here:

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1920

This will void your warranty though, and may not get around software
DVD region locks, but this will remove the hardware region lock
capability. Thank you for your question, and I'm glad I could help.

skermit-ga

The links were good and so far it works!!

You may encounter other problems with software locks too. If so, check
out a program called DVD region free. from dvdidle.com
It works great. No need for manualy changing regions, just plays any DVDs.

http://www.dvd43.com/ (DVD43Free) is what I use. It runs in the
background and allows you to watch any DVD region, without actually
changing the drive's region. It's free, too.