All,
After struggling with my LG Drive (LG WH16NS40 flashed to 1.02MK), and having numerous theories as to why mine was making a HORRID grinding noise, I finally figured out why the noise was happening, which was causing it also to stop reading many discs.
A Small Ribbon Cable inside of the drive is about a quarter-inch too long and was interfering with the laser sled.
To fix this, take the drive apart (I followed this guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cNFGK2GF0E, yes it's an old video, and yes, the disassembly process is essentially identical to a 20 year-old drive), and I scotch-taped the smaller ribbon cable to the adjacent larger ribbon cable to get it out of the way of the laser sled. It has since been working flawlessly on discs it previously wouldn't read.
I would recommend against pulling it taut, but rather just getting the cable out of the way as you don't want the cable pulling against the clasp connectors, which you would need soldering skills to fix.
Hopefully this topic finds someone out there and fixes their issues as well.
To help people find this topic, I am including various search terms below for SEO purposes:
LG Drive HORRIBLE NOISE
LG WH16NS40 HORRIBLE NOISE
LG Drive GRINDING NOISE
LG WH16NS40 GRIDNING NOISE
LG Blue Ray Drive WON'T READ DISCS
M2TS Error
M2TS corrupt or invalid
The source file '/BDMV/STREAM/00000.m2ts' is corrupt or invalid at offset XXXXXXXX, attempting to work around
LG BD Drives - HORRIBLE NOISE FIXED
Re: LG BD Drives - HORRIBLE NOISE FIXED
I just wanted to say thanks for this post. As shown in the before/after photos, I did a similar fix based on what you described. When the bottom plate is put back on the drive, it seems to do well keeping the cables off of the brass screw that moves the laser sled.
As an extra bonus, I placed some grease very lightly along the brass screw as well as on the plastic where the sled contacts the rails. I think it'll lube itself over time. I placed a dab of 90% isopropyl alcohol on the laser lenses to clean them but in these drives they are suspended on little wires so there's no scrubbing possible AT ALL. I guess that's the usefulness of cleaning discs, I'll have to get one.
No more grinding noise! When I initially opened the case, it was pretty easy to see how the ribbon cable would come into contact with the brass screw that runs the sled. It runs nice and quiet now, and fast.
A different issue, but... I suspect the drive is failing unfortunately, b/c it's giving a lot more M2TS errors on blu-rays especially on the last track it tries to read. But it's good to know how to work on these a little bit. I'll try it just for DVDs and probably need to get a new drive for blu-ray.
Before: After:
As an extra bonus, I placed some grease very lightly along the brass screw as well as on the plastic where the sled contacts the rails. I think it'll lube itself over time. I placed a dab of 90% isopropyl alcohol on the laser lenses to clean them but in these drives they are suspended on little wires so there's no scrubbing possible AT ALL. I guess that's the usefulness of cleaning discs, I'll have to get one.
No more grinding noise! When I initially opened the case, it was pretty easy to see how the ribbon cable would come into contact with the brass screw that runs the sled. It runs nice and quiet now, and fast.
A different issue, but... I suspect the drive is failing unfortunately, b/c it's giving a lot more M2TS errors on blu-rays especially on the last track it tries to read. But it's good to know how to work on these a little bit. I'll try it just for DVDs and probably need to get a new drive for blu-ray.
Before: After: