Dvd stuck on zone 1 when i am a zone 4

The laptop would only give me three goes to lock the dvd region code, problem was it would not except anything other than region/zone code 1. I can't use the dvd to watch any dvd's as I live in a zone/region 4, so all my dvd's are this zone. Yes I could buy region 1 dvd's but then I can only watch them on the laptop. I have been told you can flash the hard drive? but when researching this find out you can bugger your hard drive if you dont do it right or have the right flash?,
Have looked at sites to do this but none seems to work, downloaded some dvd region free program, but that didnt work either, (Or I didnt fiqure it out right). Apart from spending a fortune on paying someone to fix this, are there any other ways?? The laptop dvd is three years old now, and have put up with it for this long, but thought their might be someone out there who knows what to do about this problem.Yes I could trade it and upgrade but money issues are the problem, yes i could sell it but who going to buy old laptop with faulty dvd player, and I kinda like my laptop.
I have an Asus PRO31E Series and I cant change my regional codes. I put in an imported DVD and it asked me to change it to the correct zone to allow it to play. So I did. Now I cant change it back and NOTHING will play. Not my VLC player, not my Windows Media, nothing!! What do I do?