If there is newer firmware for the drive it doesn't seem too bad of an idea to flash it. But I'm less confident than you that this is the real source of the problem.

Other things that you can try include other cheat codes. I think I would always include the dma option as well, but try acpi=off as well, and read through the cheat codes section of the wiki for more. and I again suggest booting in expert mode and taking good notes on how you answer the hardware questions.