Bricked WH14NS40 NS50 with DVDFAB

[slomo]

I used DVDFab Drivetool to downgrade my 3.03 firmware to 3.01 on my LG WH14NS40, and DVDFAB Bricked the drive. It doesn't show up as a device on windows 10 or on my Mac. Is there a way to resurrect the drive with a tools such as dosflash ...?

[slomo]

Sorry it's 1.03 to 1.01 firmware downgrade. My other drive is a asus bt16, got them temporarily swapped in my brain. Also note the DVDFAB drivetool worked well on my Asus drive.

[SamuriHL]

Does that highly overpriced dosflash ripoff export the original firmware before it completely screws up your drive? If you have an extracted firmware it's probably possible to fix the drive. If not, um, it still MIGHT be depending on what the hell they did to it.

P.S. For the ridiculous price you paid for that tool, I would expect them to fly out to your house and fix the drive for you.

[slomo]

I have worked with DVDFAB via email for over a week with no result. Yesterday I requested a refund of my donation to them. I already bought a new LG wh14ns40 from amazon. Which firmware is best to flash to the wh14ns40 using the modified Asus flasher?

[SamuriHL]

Check the SVC code on the sticker on the new drive when you get it and make ABSOLUTELY SURE that it has an SVC code of NS50 and has a mfg date later than 2015. Otherwise you'll find yourself with another bricked drive and no one wants that. Once you've verified the SVC code is correct, you can flash either one of the DE (Downgrade Enabled) firmware for your drive such at 1.02 or you can flash the MK 1.03 firmware for your drive. Either of those will work great for you.

As for recovering your previous drive, it's potentially possible. It would require doing so with dosflash. Since you used the DVDFab solution, it's safe to say you have a sata ports on your motherboard that allow you to switch to IDE mode. So basically, if you create a WinPE image with dosflash and the datamover tool, you could try the following:

o) Change the sata port to IDE
o) Boot the WInPE boot drive
o) Use dosflash to perform a read to extract the current botched firmware
o) Use the datamover tool to copy the encryption and calibration data to a fresh WH14NS50 firmware to create a new firmware bin
o) Write the new firmware bin to the drive
o) Hope for the best?

You can find all the tools you need on this forum. Just do a search. I would have attached them to this post but I'm feeling lazy this morning. Seriously, though, if you want to try to resurrect that drive and need help with any of the steps I just outlined, don't hesitate to ask.

[slomo]

Just tried to resurrect the drive. For my win 7 system with ide enabled, It won't allow the system to boot when it is hooked up with the sata connectors. This is also true with the win pe system I put on a thumb drive. I am sure the drive is kaput. Both os's work well without the drive hooked up. Thanks for the help and a very good forum!

[d00zah]

Just tried to resurrect the drive. For my win 7 system with ide enabled, It won't allow the system to boot when it is hooked up with the sata connectors. This is also true with the win pe system I put on a thumb drive. I am sure the drive is kaput. Both os's work well without the drive hooked up. Thanks for the help and a very good forum!

Is the drive listed as a boot device & the system is getting hung up there? Try removing/disabling it as a boot option (BIOS).

[SamuriHL]

That sounds like potentially it physically was damaged somehow. Yikes. But I agree, does it show up in the bios as connected?

[mike admin]

In theory it is possible. With dosflash method it is possible to flash only the boot area, no matter how bricked is the drive. Then the drive will recognize as "wh14ns40 boot" and won't read any disc. But from this state it would be possible to backup the rest of the flash. Then, having a bootable drive and backup one could "stich" the proper image the usual way.

I have no clue if any public tools allow this, specifically if dosflash can be used only to flash the boot area. MakeMKV should be able to dump the rest of firmware (making dump_sd_xxx.tgz) once you have a bootable drive.

[spl147]

I used DVDFab Drivetool to downgrade my 3.03 firmware to 3.01 on my LG WH14NS40, and DVDFAB Bricked the drive. It doesn't show up as a device on windows 10 or on my Mac. Is there a way to resurrect the drive with a tools such as dosflash ...?

WHY i the world would you pay for a rebranded non the less old outdated method of flashing when the solution here is foolproof and FREE?????

[asmcom]

Please do not use DVDfab to downgrade drive without taking a copy of the original firmware. Dvdfab downgrade tool crashes a lot and if this happens in the middle of a downgrade your drive will be bricked. It is much safer to use the new method of flashing. https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=18933

Using the new method with the ASUS modified flasher is the safest way to change firmware. Dos-flash is only for experience users with the proper computer setup.

I am sorry to hear you have bricked your drive. Send me the drive and I will look free of charge. PM me