Dear all,
I'm pretty new to the BD-Rabbithole and seem to have bricked my new Verbatim 43888 drive. Is there any way to unbrick this device?
I did the following:
1) before doing anything I read and dumped the original FW using the SDFTool Flasher. The flash seemed somewhat small in size, but I decided to move on (can't seem to post screenshots yet, see directory listing at the end)
The original FW was 1.05 encrypted.
2) I reflashed to 1.03 I got from a link in this forum. This worked without a hitch, and libre-drive was active and functional.
3) I was having problem with a 1st disk I wanted to play - this was the 1984 Dune in BlueRay I bought off Amazon for this purpose. The backup and the reading process stopped at the same time, at about 1:02:20 into the film. No visible damage on the disk. For playback I used VLC - I can not say if there was some sort of protection on the BD, but there probably is. I could not jump forward during playback after this point. "Assumed" disk was faulty and asked for a replacement.
4) Tried to reflash the BD again with the "original" LG flasher with 1.05 FW. https://www.lg.com/us/support/product/lg-BU40N.AVAA10B
The flashing process started and got to 48% then crashed. After this, my device is essentially bricked and only the "boot" tag is shown in both MakeMKV and in Windows. The drive is totally unresponsive, won't open, and is not registered as a "1959" flashable drive.
I tried forcing a flash with the makemkvcon64.exe but this failed and reported a standard bin error for this case.
My question:
Is dosflash worth trying in my case?
Since the drive is a USB drive, I'm not sure how the backward compatibility can be solved (the examples on the internet warn to use IDE modes for drives), in an instance of Windows 7 PE I started, the usb drive was not visible. Can you recommend any specific drivers or software that is required to do this?
The firmware dump in my case is as following:
Volume in drive C is Boot
Volume Serial Number is 7C97-0E1E
Directory of C:\Users\icer_\Downloads\Firmware_Dumps\dump_user_HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_BU40N
23.12.2025 16:16 <DIR> .
23.12.2025 16:16 <DIR> ..
23.12.2025 16:16 0 dir.txt
18.12.2025 20:51 28 fd_fwdate.bin
18.12.2025 20:51 28 fd_sn.bin
18.12.2025 20:51 96 inq.bin
18.12.2025 20:51 32 rom_003000.bin
18.12.2025 20:51 256 rom_1EC000.bin
18.12.2025 20:51 65.536 rom_1F0000.bin
7 File(s) 65.976 bytes
2 Dir(s) 147.692.539.904 bytes free
The dump made is a few KB in size at most. Is this a failed FW dump or is this data actually usable for reviving a drive via dosflash? I would at least reflash to the 1.03 that worked before.
Thank you in advance!
Nick
Unbricking yet another bricked BU40N
Re: Unbricking yet another bricked BU40N
1) This only saves the calibration data and NOT the whole firmware
2) Try again with SDFTool or the LG original flasher. If both fail try the modified ASUS flasher from here in the "Unlocked flashers" section:
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19634
If successful don't panick next time. Most likely your drive didn't get enough power. Use an USB-C port or connect both USB-A connectors.
2) Try again with SDFTool or the LG original flasher. If both fail try the modified ASUS flasher from here in the "Unlocked flashers" section:
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19634
If successful don't panick next time. Most likely your drive didn't get enough power. Use an USB-C port or connect both USB-A connectors.
Re: Unbricking yet another bricked BU40N
Hi - I ran into a similar situation, but my 43888 suddenly decided to stop reading discs altogether. In trying to prep it for a possible warranty return, I too tried to flash it back to the original 1.05 firmware using the same, crappy LG firmware updater. I had the exact same issue where it would just freeze at 48% and then my 43888 became a unresponsive brick and showed BOOT firmware. I tried some of the other firmware updaters but none would get beyond the fact that the 43888 was not recognized as an MT1959 platform drive.
I did a little searching this morning and found this firmware updater from Dell: https://www.dell.com/support/home/pl-pl ... erid=hn7y6
To my surprise, this updater worked and unbricked my 43888 back to where it was before! It's basically the same updater as the LG, but it actually works. It flashes to firmware 1.03, where it was when the drive was working. I'm not sure if I want to try the 1.05 one again but maybe I will if I'm feeling a bit daring!
Give it a try and see if it works for you. At this point, it can't hurt!
Let us know if you're able to unbrick yours.
I did a little searching this morning and found this firmware updater from Dell: https://www.dell.com/support/home/pl-pl ... erid=hn7y6
To my surprise, this updater worked and unbricked my 43888 back to where it was before! It's basically the same updater as the LG, but it actually works. It flashes to firmware 1.03, where it was when the drive was working. I'm not sure if I want to try the 1.05 one again but maybe I will if I'm feeling a bit daring!
Give it a try and see if it works for you. At this point, it can't hurt!
Let us know if you're able to unbrick yours.
Re: Unbricking yet another bricked BU40N
Update: I tried using the LG flasher again and this time it worked successfully. So my drive is now back to firmware v1.05.
Things I did a bit differently this time: 1) I used a different PC (Windows 10 vs Windows 11 originally); 2) I took the firmware back to v1.00 before using the LG flasher. Maybe it can't go from 1.03 to 1.05? Doesn't seem logical, but who knows. All I know is that it's back to its original firmware version so I can try opening a warranty case with Verbatim.
Things I did a bit differently this time: 1) I used a different PC (Windows 10 vs Windows 11 originally); 2) I took the firmware back to v1.00 before using the LG flasher. Maybe it can't go from 1.03 to 1.05? Doesn't seem logical, but who knows. All I know is that it's back to its original firmware version so I can try opening a warranty case with Verbatim.