One thing I noticed about flashfloppy, which I'm not entirely sure I like, is that it seems to constantly access the USB stick while the drive has power. If it's managed to find any files on your stick it should save a text file in the root directory with the name of the last loaded image. One thing I got wrong is the orientation of the floppy data cable - initially connected it the wrong way up which meant the green (drive activity) LED on the gotek was permanently lit (despite this the drive still displayed F-F) If you insert a USB stick with some images on it, the drive should then scan the USB stick and give you a 00 for the first image. If you're seeing F-F that usually means the drive is ready for action. If you've flashed the drive you shouldn't need to update the firmware, I think. I am no expert with this but I did manage to get a spare Gotek working last week with my master using flashfloppy.