Bum drive? Firmware error? (BU40N, disc spins and spins and spins and...)

[meetthegrahams]

Basically what it says on the tin. I recently built a small living room HTPC for the purpose of ripping media/playing light PC games. The case has a slot for a laptop ODD, so I bought a BU40N internal drive, hooked it up, successfully flashed the firmware to DE_LG_BU40N_1.03_MK. Opened up MakeMKV and inserted a UHD disc (Ex Machina), and...

It spun, and spun, and kept spinning, sped up to max speed, kept spinning... etc. It would never successfully read the disc, just spin at an alarming speed.

I swapped out the UHD for a BD disc from the same box, and the same thing happened: it just kept spinning, non-stop, full-speed. The whole time the OS behaved exactly as I'd expect it to act when trying to read a disc - hanging in MakeMKV/file explorer, forcing me to "X" out of the window, etc.

Any other information needed/troubleshooting steps to take, or is that enough to point towards a hardware and/or software problem? Perhaps I flashed to the wrong firmware?

Thanks, everyone.

[MartyMcNuts]

Basically what it says on the tin. I recently built a small living room HTPC for the purpose of ripping media/playing light PC games. The case has a slot for a laptop ODD, so I bought a BU40N internal drive, hooked it up, successfully flashed the firmware to DE_LG_BU40N_1.03_MK. Opened up MakeMKV and inserted a UHD disc (Ex Machina), and...

It spun, and spun, and kept spinning, sped up to max speed, kept spinning... etc. It would never successfully read the disc, just spin at an alarming speed.

I swapped out the UHD for a BD disc from the same box, and the same thing happened: it just kept spinning, non-stop, full-speed. The whole time the OS behaved exactly as I'd expect it to act when trying to read a disc - hanging in MakeMKV/file explorer, forcing me to "X" out of the window, etc.

Any other information needed/troubleshooting steps to take, or is that enough to point towards a hardware and/or software problem? Perhaps I flashed to the wrong firmware?

Thanks, everyone.

First things first. Always insert the disc and let the OS initialize it before opening the MakeMKV application. Also, clean the disc. Just give it a wipe with a microfiber cloth. This is especially important with UHD discs as 95% of them have some sort of invisible film or gunk on them.

See how you go...

[Billycar11]

also make sure to use both USB plugs into the back of the pc if a desktop pc

[meetthegrahams]

First things first. Always insert the disc and let the OS initialize it before opening the MakeMKV application. Also, clean the disc. Just give it a wipe with a microfiber cloth. This is especially important with UHD discs as 95% of them have some sort of invisible film or gunk on them.

See how you go...

By Jove I can't believe that actually was all it took. (Letting OS initialize, I mean.) If I insert the disc, close the drive, and simply wait, it'll loop through the OS initialization seemingly indefinitely (spinning up, laser seeking/moving, ramping up/down spin speed, more laser movement, etc.). It never seems to power down. Is this normal behavior?

If I open MakeMKV at any time after inserting the disc, it'll eventually settle down to "just" keeping the disc spinning at a consistent (very audible) speed. Would this be the program preventing the drive from sleeping?

(The HTPC is entirely offline at the moment, by the way. Relevant to the following.)

Anyway, after I got past that and MakeMKV could read the disc, I ran into the "unable to decrypt and .tgz file generated" issue. As I understand it, if I had access to the outside world the program could download the latest hash keys automatically, but I can also manually update by downloading the latest SDF.BIN file at https://www.makemkv.com/svq/sdf.bin and copying it to the "%User%/.MakeMKV/" folder. Correct/incorrect?

I downloaded and moved said file, restarted MakeMKV, tried to open up the disc and ran into the same error again, indicating that 1) MakeMKV has successfully updated (navigating back to the .MakeMKV folder reveals the SDF.bin file is gone), and 2) this disc's hash keys remain unknown. At this point, I should email the generated .tgz file to svq@makemkv.com?

Thanks in advance for your patience.

also make sure to use both USB plugs into the back of the pc if a desktop pc

No worries, it's an internal drive connected to SATA data and power.

[MartyMcNuts]

First things first. Always insert the disc and let the OS initialize it before opening the MakeMKV application. Also, clean the disc. Just give it a wipe with a microfiber cloth. This is especially important with UHD discs as 95% of them have some sort of invisible film or gunk on them.

See how you go...

By Jove I can't believe that actually was all it took. (Letting OS initialize, I mean.) If I insert the disc, close the drive, and simply wait, it'll loop through the OS initialization seemingly indefinitely (spinning up, laser seeking/moving, ramping up/down spin speed, more laser movement, etc.). It never seems to power down. Is this normal behavior?

If I open MakeMKV at any time after inserting the disc, it'll eventually settle down to "just" keeping the disc spinning at a consistent (very audible) speed. Would this be the program preventing the drive from sleeping?

(The HTPC is entirely offline at the moment, by the way. Relevant to the following.)

Anyway, after I got past that and MakeMKV could read the disc, I ran into the "unable to decrypt and .tgz file generated" issue. As I understand it, if I had access to the outside world the program could download the latest hash keys automatically, but I can also manually update by downloading the latest SDF.BIN file at https://www.makemkv.com/svq/sdf.bin and copying it to the "%User%/.MakeMKV/" folder. Correct/incorrect?

I downloaded and moved said file, restarted MakeMKV, tried to open up the disc and ran into the same error again, indicating that 1) MakeMKV has successfully updated (navigating back to the .MakeMKV folder reveals the SDF.bin file is gone), and 2) this disc's hash keys remain unknown. At this point, I should email the generated .tgz file to svq@makemkv.com?

Thanks in advance for your patience.

also make sure to use both USB plugs into the back of the pc if a desktop pc

No worries, it's an internal drive connected to SATA data and power.

In my experience the drive should stop spinning the disc after a minute if no software is actually reading the disc and remain idle until you open MakeMKV.

Did you clean the disc? It sounds like the drive is having trouble reading the disc therefore keeps spinning.

What movie disc is it? If a new release then it's likely that the key isn't yet available. If that's the case, yes please email the dump to svq@makemkv.com.

Also search the forum for a thread for that title and add a post with the dump file name so we all can see which dump has been submitted.

[jinx100]

I downloaded and moved said file, restarted MakeMKV, tried to open up the disc and ran into the same error again, indicating that 1) MakeMKV has successfully updated (navigating back to the .MakeMKV folder reveals the SDF.bin file is gone), and 2) this disc's hash keys remain unknown. At this point, I should email the generated .tgz file to svq@makemkv.com?

The downloaded sdf.bin file is now in the compressed folder within the .MakeMKV folder and the one you placed directly there was deleted. Yes, send the .tgz file to svq@makemkv.com. Maybe the decryption key will be in the next sdf.bin file you download in a week or two.

[meetthegrahams]

In my experience the drive should stop spinning the disc after a minute if no software is actually reading the disc and remain idle until you open MakeMKV.

I've inserted three discs, with three different behaviors:
1) Ex Machina UHD: aforementioned spinning, laser seeking, spinning, etc. It will eventually come to a stop, but it takes several minutes. When I open MakeMKV, it spins at a consistent and loud speed but throws no errors. Once I click to open the disc, it shows the "unable to decrypt" error and aborts.
2) Ex Machina HD: constant starts and stops. It comes to a stop only after trying to read the disc and failing for several minutes. When I open MakeMKV, the program throws several errors including "Logic Unit Timeout," "Java not installed," and "node fe/efe failed", but eventually opens the disc after ~4 minutes. I'm currently in the process of attempting a rip, read rate is stuck at 2.0x. (EDIT: Rip failed. Will include log if needed.)
3) Macross Frontier: The False Songstress: seems like what should be the normal experience. Drive briefly reads disc, comes to a stop after successfully doing so. When I open MakeMKV, the program reads the BD without issue. Ripped the movie, read rate steadily ramped up to 6.0x.
(4) Face/Off: Regular 1080p BD. MakeMKV shows the same timeout and node failed errors as with the Ex Machina HD disc, but eventually did read the disc. Am attempting to rip now. Still at "Analyzing seamless segments" roughly 6 minutes in, zero progress whatsoever. Will attempt another anime title, "Macross Plus Movie Edition" next. EDIT: Manually closed program and ejected disc after 11 minutes of zero activity, just spinning.)
(5) Macross Plus Movie Edition: Regular 1080p BD. Like Macross Frontier, disc was read almost instantly, no problem. Ripping right now, currently no problems. Read rate slowly ramping up, currently at 3.4x.)

Did you clean the disc? It sounds like the drive is having trouble reading the disc therefore keeps spinning.

Last night, no. Just now, yes, both the Ex Machina UHD and HD discs. The behavior was as described above. (The Macross Frontier: The False Songstress disc read and ripped with no prep.)

What movie disc is it? If a new release then it's likely that the key isn't yet available. If that's the case, yes please email the dump to svq@makemkv.com.

Also search the forum for a thread for that title and add a post with the dump file name so we all can see which dump has been submitted.

Ex Machina.

Looking around, it appears it's common to have issues. I found a few threads talking about it, with some of the same problems I am. Just my luck that the title I pick up at random to test things out is so faulty.
viewtopic.php?t=22017
viewtopic.php?t=9614
viewtopic.php?t=9387
viewtopic.php?p=135234
viewtopic.php?t=20676

The downloaded sdf.bin file is now in the compressed folder within the .MakeMKV folder and the one you placed directly there was deleted. Yes, send the .tgz file to svq@makemkv.com. Maybe the decryption key will be in the next sdf.bin file you download in a week or two.

Thanks for the confirmation. I'll get to it tonight.

[MartyMcNuts]

In my experience the drive should stop spinning the disc after a minute if no software is actually reading the disc and remain idle until you open MakeMKV.

I've inserted three discs, with three different behaviors:
1) Ex Machina UHD: aforementioned spinning, laser seeking, spinning, etc. It will eventually come to a stop, but it takes several minutes. When I open MakeMKV, it spins at a consistent and loud speed but throws no errors. Once I click to open the disc, it shows the "unable to decrypt" error and aborts.
2) Ex Machina HD: constant starts and stops. It comes to a stop only after trying to read the disc and failing for several minutes. When I open MakeMKV, the program throws several errors including "Logic Unit Timeout," "Java not installed," and "node fe/efe failed", but eventually opens the disc after ~4 minutes. I'm currently in the process of attempting a rip, read rate is stuck at 2.0x. (EDIT: Rip failed. Will include log if needed.)
3) Macross Frontier: The False Songstress: seems like what should be the normal experience. Drive briefly reads disc, comes to a stop after successfully doing so. When I open MakeMKV, the program reads the BD without issue. Ripped the movie, read rate steadily ramped up to 6.0x.
(4) Face/Off: Regular 1080p BD. MakeMKV shows the same timeout and node failed errors as with the Ex Machina HD disc, but eventually did read the disc. Am attempting to rip now. Still at "Analyzing seamless segments" roughly 6 minutes in, zero progress whatsoever. Will attempt another anime title, "Macross Plus Movie Edition" next. EDIT: Manually closed program and ejected disc after 11 minutes of zero activity, just spinning.)
(5) Macross Plus Movie Edition: Regular 1080p BD. Like Macross Frontier, disc was read almost instantly, no problem. Ripping right now, currently no problems. Read rate slowly ramping up, currently at 3.4x.)

Did you clean the disc? It sounds like the drive is having trouble reading the disc therefore keeps spinning.

Last night, no. Just now, yes, both the Ex Machina UHD and HD discs. The behavior was as described above. (The Macross Frontier: The False Songstress disc read and ripped with no prep.)

What movie disc is it? If a new release then it's likely that the key isn't yet available. If that's the case, yes please email the dump to svq@makemkv.com.

Also search the forum for a thread for that title and add a post with the dump file name so we all can see which dump has been submitted.

Ex Machina.

Looking around, it appears it's common to have issues. I found a few threads talking about it, with some of the same problems I am. Just my luck that the title I pick up at random to test things out is so faulty.
viewtopic.php?t=22017
viewtopic.php?t=9614
viewtopic.php?t=9387
viewtopic.php?p=135234
viewtopic.php?t=20676

The downloaded sdf.bin file is now in the compressed folder within the .MakeMKV folder and the one you placed directly there was deleted. Yes, send the .tgz file to svq@makemkv.com. Maybe the decryption key will be in the next sdf.bin file you download in a week or two.

Thanks for the confirmation. I'll get to it tonight.

So the drive could be the issue. You really need to rest a few more different UHD and BD discs to be sure. If you have the same issue with a lot of discs, then the drive is most likely the issue.

[meetthegrahams]

So the drive could be the issue. You really need to rest a few more different UHD and BD discs to be sure. If you have the same issue with a lot of discs, then the drive is most likely the issue.

I see. Thanks for the insight. Is this generally how this process goes, then? Run different discs through different drives, try to get a pair that work well together? Or have people been able to find one drive that works with everything?

If the pre-flashed drives being sold here are guaranteed to work with most any HD/UHD BD, then it may be worth it to go for them instead of trying my luck with random cheaper but potentially less reliable drives...

[MartyMcNuts]

So the drive could be the issue. You really need to rest a few more different UHD and BD discs to be sure. If you have the same issue with a lot of discs, then the drive is most likely the issue.

I see. Thanks for the insight. Is this generally how this process goes, then? Run different discs through different drives, try to get a pair that work well together? Or have people been able to find one drive that works with everything?

If the pre-flashed drives being sold here are guaranteed to work with most any HD/UHD BD, then it may be worth it to go for them instead of trying my luck with random cheaper but potentially less reliable drives...

Well, some people have just one drive, at least to start with. I guess it depends on how many discs/ how often they rip to how many drives they have. I have a pretty decent BD / UHD movie collection going myself and was using 3 different drives (2 x LG and a Pioneer but now, only a couple of weeks ago, switched to using just 2 Pioneer drives). Between the 3 drives, I was able to rip all of my discs without issue.

It doesn happen occasionally that a drive just won't want to read a certain disc. This is where it is handy having 2 or 3 different drives on hand.

Your issue though is not common nor normal. I only suggest you test a couple more different UHD and BD discs to be sure the drive is the issue. Can you return it and get another BU40N to try? The BU40N is generally the best drive available from LG and is usually pretty good, so it would be worth trying another if you can.

The sellers here, including myself, prepare and test our drives for UHD readability and are guaranteed UHD ready so you can just install / plug in and start ripping. No one can say with 100% certainty that a drive will read all discs but should read the majority. Just FYI, the Pioneer models are far superior in every way compared to the LG and ASUS drives but for your enclosure, you are limited to the slim drive, thus the LG BU40N is really the only option. If you don't mind connecting a drive externally when you need to rip a disc, I would highly recommend a Pioneer. If you want to go this route, check out the seller threads.

[meetthegrahams]

Your issue though is not common nor normal. I only suggest you test a couple more different UHD and BD discs to be sure the drive is the issue. Can you return it and get another BU40N to try? The BU40N is generally the best drive available from LG and is usually pretty good, so it would be worth trying another if you can.

The sellers here, including myself, prepare and test our drives for UHD readability and are guaranteed UHD ready so you can just install / plug in and start ripping. No one can say with 100% certainty that a drive will read all discs but should read the majority. Just FYI, the Pioneer models are far superior in every way compared to the LG and ASUS drives but for your enclosure, you are limited to the slim drive, thus the LG BU40N is really the only option. If you don't mind connecting a drive externally when you need to rip a disc, I would highly recommend a Pioneer. If you want to go this route, check out the seller threads.

Updating a couple days late, apologies and thanks for the further insight.

The drive I bought is a used BU40N off Craigslist that I got for cheap, so it's not worth the effort to try and get my money back. I've resumed ripping and will look into getting another drive or two to supplement it. Having gone through a handful more discs tonight (all standard BDs, all successful), I think I see more clearly how a "normal" disc-playing/-ripping experience should go and how those failures this past weekend are out of the ordinary.

Speaking of supplemental drives, I'm currently looking at a few options:

- new BU40N
- BP60NB10, and either use it externally or remove it from its enclosure and see if it's the same 9.5mm form factor
- BDR-XS07UHD, see if I can likewise fit it into the laptop drive slot or else use it externally as well

Any recommendation between the three? (They're all fairly pricey new, especially the XS07UHD, and even used ones aren't going for much cheaper.) The last is a Pioneer, which you and others have vouched for... though I wonder if I'd end up with an unflashable drive if I bought a new one now.

[MartyMcNuts]

Your issue though is not common nor normal. I only suggest you test a couple more different UHD and BD discs to be sure the drive is the issue. Can you return it and get another BU40N to try? The BU40N is generally the best drive available from LG and is usually pretty good, so it would be worth trying another if you can.

The sellers here, including myself, prepare and test our drives for UHD readability and are guaranteed UHD ready so you can just install / plug in and start ripping. No one can say with 100% certainty that a drive will read all discs but should read the majority. Just FYI, the Pioneer models are far superior in every way compared to the LG and ASUS drives but for your enclosure, you are limited to the slim drive, thus the LG BU40N is really the only option. If you don't mind connecting a drive externally when you need to rip a disc, I would highly recommend a Pioneer. If you want to go this route, check out the seller threads.

Updating a couple days late, apologies and thanks for the further insight.

The drive I bought is a used BU40N off Craigslist that I got for cheap, so it's not worth the effort to try and get my money back. I've resumed ripping and will look into getting another drive or two to supplement it. Having gone through a handful more discs tonight (all standard BDs, all successful), I think I see more clearly how a "normal" disc-playing/-ripping experience should go and how those failures this past weekend are out of the ordinary.

Speaking of supplemental drives, I'm currently looking at a few options:

- new BU40N
- BP60NB10, and either use it externally or remove it from its enclosure and see if it's the same 9.5mm form factor
- BDR-XS07UHD, see if I can likewise fit it into the laptop drive slot or else use it externally as well

Any recommendation between the three? (They're all fairly pricey new, especially the XS07UHD, and even used ones aren't going for much cheaper.) The last is a Pioneer, which you and others have vouched for... though I wonder if I'd end up with an unflashable drive if I bought a new one now.

The BU40N and the BP60NB10 are essentially the same hardware, so I wouldn't bother getting the BP60NB10 unless you are going to use it externally as a bare BU40N would be cheaper than removing the BP60NB10 from it's enclosure.

The only way to get a compatible Pioneer drive is to get a new one with old firmware from a seller on this forum or a used one that has old firmware. You can't buy new ones from a store as they all come with newer non downgradable firmware. You want a drive with a firmware version prior to Dec 2022. That rules out the BDR-XS07UHD unless you can find an old one. The sellers here only have the internal Pioneer models.