NEW OPTION: 'UHD Friendly' Firmware Downgrade / Cross-Flash Using Official (Modified) ASUS Flasher for ASUS & LG Drives

[tribble]

I did a search before asking and only found a thread from July which said LG USB drives weren't supported at all yet.

MakeMKV 1.14.4 on an air-gapped Windows 10 device.

Product: BD-RE HL-DT-ST BP50NB40
Firmware: 21141216 10:16
SVC Code: NB40
Rom Ver.: 1.00 (1.00d)
Manufactured: 2015-02-12

This device appears to be listed in the latest sdf.bin, the product, firmware and ROM all match.

I get no LibreDrive information in MakeMKV but I think that's because I have an air-gapped machine.

1) Is this specific device supported by the modified Asus Flasher?
2) Where can I find the Drive Platform information on an air-gapped machine?
3) Are NB40 devices supported at all? The Ultimate UHD Drives Guide mentions only NS50 drives and later.

Please read the first post of this very thread. The BP50NB40 SVC: NB50 is supported. The SVC: NB40 is not guaranteed to be flashable but you can try it if you want to.

Cheers

What's the worst that can happen, I brick my drive? Or is it just going to fail and give me an error number? Just want to be sure.

[Tom899]

Hello, long time reader and first post.
I'm in the U.S. I just ordered an ASUS BW-16D1HT drive from Amazon to backup my 4K movies on my server.

I've read this whole thread and then some, it is very informative. Thanks for all your hard work and time making this possible.

I understand the new drive may come with v3.10 or v3.11. If this is the case, I found the 3.10 and 3.11 bin files to flash. I assume I pick which ever one matches my version?

Then, this drive is UHD Friendly? Should I then flash to v3.02 or just leave it?

Thanks again,
Tom

[Coopervid]

Pick the patched ASUS flasher and flash 3.10 MK. If you have critical discs to read you can always flash 3.02 or 3.03. And then even back to 3.10. No problem. For normal purposes there is no limit for flasing back and forth. However, cycles for flash cells are limited. But you don't do that a couple of times per day but once in a while. Or you can stay on 3.02 or 3.03. These are better for critical discs but once they have detected a read problem they don't speed up again like 3.10 does.

[Tom899]

Pick the patched ASUS flasher and flash 3.10 MK. If you have critical discs to read you can always flash 3.02 or 3.03. And then even back to 3.10. No problem. For normal purposes there is no limit for flasing back and forth. However, cycles for flash cells are limited. But you don't do that a couple of times per day but once in a while. Or you can stay on 3.02 or 3.03. These are better for critical discs but once they have detected a read problem they don't speed up again like 3.10 does.

Thanks, I appreciate the guidance. I believe I will get my drive tomorrow, and that's what I will do.

[MartyMcNuts]

I did a search before asking and only found a thread from July which said LG USB drives weren't supported at all yet.

MakeMKV 1.14.4 on an air-gapped Windows 10 device.

Product: BD-RE HL-DT-ST BP50NB40
Firmware: 21141216 10:16
SVC Code: NB40
Rom Ver.: 1.00 (1.00d)
Manufactured: 2015-02-12

This device appears to be listed in the latest sdf.bin, the product, firmware and ROM all match.

I get no LibreDrive information in MakeMKV but I think that's because I have an air-gapped machine.

1) Is this specific device supported by the modified Asus Flasher?
2) Where can I find the Drive Platform information on an air-gapped machine?
3) Are NB40 devices supported at all? The Ultimate UHD Drives Guide mentions only NS50 drives and later.

Please read the first post of this very thread. The BP50NB40 SVC: NB50 is supported. The SVC: NB40 is not guaranteed to be flashable but you can try it if you want to.

Cheers

What's the worst that can happen, I brick my drive? Or is it just going to fail and give me an error number? Just want to be sure.

I have flashed a BP50NB40 (SVC: NB40) before for a customer. I warned him that the SVC: NB40 hadn't been flash tested before but he wanted me to have a go anyway. It worked just fine. The only thing I can say is to make sure that MakeMKV says "Drive platform: MT1959" before attempting to flash it.

The very worst that could happen is that you would brick the drive but as I said, it worked just fine when I did it.

[Tom899]

Pick the patched ASUS flasher and flash 3.10 MK. If you have critical discs to read you can always flash 3.02 or 3.03. And then even back to 3.10. No problem. For normal purposes there is no limit for flasing back and forth. However, cycles for flash cells are limited. But you don't do that a couple of times per day but once in a while. Or you can stay on 3.02 or 3.03. These are better for critical discs but once they have detected a read problem they don't speed up again like 3.10 does.

Thanks, I appreciate the guidance. I believe I will get my drive tomorrow, and that's what I will do.

My drive came, it had 3.10, I flashed it with the MK 3.10 version. The tray didn't close. I left it open for about five minutes, then pushed the close button, hoping it was done. As it turned out it was successfully flashed and works fine.
Thanks,
Tom

[blackjack4494]

My LG BU40N was 1.03 when it arrived. However I could rip a blu ray without modifying anything.
AACS version was 65.
Is this supposed to happen with official firmware?

Anyway I upgraded my drive to 1.03mk now it's libredrive enabled. therefore it was not libredrive enabled.

[MartyMcNuts]

My LG BU40N was 1.03 when it arrived. However I could rip a blu ray without modifying anything.
AACS version was 65.
Is this supposed to happen with official firmware?

Anyway I upgraded my drive to 1.03mk now it's libredrive enabled. therefore it was not libredrive enabled.

Yes, but you can't rip a UHD on the default 1.03.

[Dashflyer65]

I received my WH16NS60 ROM 1.02 yesterday (manufactured 2019) , and have it installed in a Vantec NST-536S3-BK. I attempted to flash to 1.0 the drive opens then I get an error #4. Is the issue the enclosure?

[Bluntman]

I received my WH16NS60 ROM 1.02 yesterday (manufactured 2019) , and have it installed in a Vantec NST-536S3-BK. I attempted to flash to 1.0 the drive opens then I get an error #4. Is the issue the enclosure?

When I got error #4 it was the rig I was using. I changed computers and tried again and it worked flawlessly.


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[Billycar11]

I received my WH16NS60 ROM 1.02 yesterday (manufactured 2019) , and have it installed in a Vantec NST-536S3-BK. I attempted to flash to 1.0 the drive opens then I get an error #4. Is the issue the enclosure?

Flash WH16NS60 1.02 mk first before the de 1.00

[Noego]

When I try to run this I get "Updating Failure #4". Does anybody know how to fix this?

[MartyMcNuts]

When I try to run this I get "Updating Failure #4". Does anybody know how to fix this?

Let me just read your mind.....aaargh! C'mon dude! You need to give us more info.

machine, drive model, firmware installed, firmware trying to flash etc....

[Noego]

When I try to run this I get "Updating Failure #4". Does anybody know how to fix this?

Let me just read your mind.....aaargh! C'mon dude! You need to give us more info.

machine, drive model, firmware installed, firmware trying to flash etc....

Ye sorry about that. It was regarding Asus BW-16D1HT and I was trying to go to 3.01.
I did manage to do it by going from 3.10 which was on it, to the 3.10 in the folder from the original post, and then going to 3.01.

[MartyMcNuts]

When I try to run this I get "Updating Failure #4". Does anybody know how to fix this?

Let me just read your mind.....aaargh! C'mon dude! You need to give us more info.

machine, drive model, firmware installed, firmware trying to flash etc....

Ye sorry about that. It was regarding Asus BW-16D1HT and I was trying to go to 3.01.
I did manage to do it by going from 3.10 which was on it, to the 3.10 in the folder from the original post, and then going to 3.01.

Yep, that's the way to do it!! Glad you are all sorted.