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I know it's an old thread but I have pretty much the exact issue from the OP

- ASUS BC-12D2HT drive bought last week
- Flashed per instructions here
- Ripped maybe 6 UHDs absolutely fine
- Then put in Interstellar and it makes a few unpleasant sounds and both MakeMKV and Windows say 'no disc'
- Tried the BD of the same, same happened - also tried a few discs already ripped ok - same

I've tried cleaning the disc, but not the laser. I guess I try that then it is officially dead/warranty return?

imightbewrong wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 17, 2023 8:00 pm

I know it's an old thread but I have pretty much the exact issue from the OP

- ASUS BC-12D2HT drive bought last week
- Flashed per instructions here
- Ripped maybe 6 UHDs absolutely fine
- Then put in Interstellar and it makes a few unpleasant sounds and both MakeMKV and Windows say 'no disc'
- Tried the BD of the same, same happened - also tried a few discs already ripped ok - same

I've tried cleaning the disc, but not the laser. I guess I try that then it is officially dead/warranty return?

Have you tried power-cycling the drive?

If external, just switch off enclosure for a few seconds.

If internal, shut down (NOT just reboot) PC for a few seconds.

Sometimes, that's all it takes to set things right. YMMV

Thanks - it is internal - I've tried rebooting the PC - will try total shutdown next.

Ok I've done a bit more experimenting. If I start the PC from cold then the drive reads several 4K discs reliably. Mad Max Fury Road, The Greatest Showman, The Batman, Top Gun Maverick.

Then there is the Nolan collection - from there Dunkirk, Inception, Batman Begins, Batman TDK all fine.

Then it gets funky. Interstellar and The Prestige can't be read. Sometimes they aren't recognised as discs at all. Sometimes they are but give endless 'scsi error' messages in MakeMKV, and can't be browed with Windows File Explorer.

Once I've put in either of these, it then seems to be in some 'bad state' and can't read the earlier discs, until I reboot and the cycle starts again.

So my question is. Does it mean it is a bad drive - return? Are these 'problem' discs - maybe a different drive will recognise? The discs themselves look ok - should I try some sort of laser cleaner?

Thanks!

It has been my experience that some drives just don't like some discs. I currently have 3 different optical drives. On the unusual occasion when a disc doesn't work in my 'main' drive, I try the disc in a different drive. Often, but not always, it works fine in a different drive. If none of my drives work, I gently clean the disc, which usually fixes things. On very rare occasions, twice I think, I've had a disc that wouldn't work and had to exchange it. The replacement discs worked fine. Occasionally when a drive fails on a disc I have to power cycle the drive.

MakeMKV supports using multiple drives at the same time. There's an 'Ask for single drive mode' checkbox in preferences, then you can launch multiple instances of MakeMKV and they won't interfere with each other (assuming each instance is pointed at a different drive). This makes ripping a whole season of a TV show, for example, much faster.

I've never had to clean the laser on one of my drives. However, others (who would know) on this forum have suggested that most laser cleaning discs are junk. They recommend if you're going to clean the laser to take the case apart and do it gently 'by hand'. Personally, I wouldn't mess with trying to clean the laser until the drive's disc failure rate was very high and I was on the edge of junking it. Your drive seems to work well enough to be useful, especially when coupled with a different second drive. Perhaps a highly regarded LG BU40N or a doesn't-have-to-be-flashed Pioneer.