Bricked LG WH14NS40

[dsb1126]

I have an LG WH14NS40 (NS50, MT1959UWDN) that entered a no-optical-init state after an attempted revert from WH16NS60 1.02-MK back toward stock firmware.

I had initially flashed it with firmware to read UHD disks, which worked, but burns to all media subsequently failed. I stupidly tried to put the stock LG firmware on it directly without following recovery procedures. I was able to semi-unbrick it with DOSFlash using a VIA VT6421A SATA card but the firmware had no drive calibration settings it.

The drive still enumerates and accepts same-family firmware flashes (with makemkvcon64), but:

no LED activity at power-on,
no spin or laser init,
DOSFlash vendor intro always fails now,
RECOVER+bootloader in SDFTool succeeds but does not change behavior.

I still have my original SDFTool dump fragments:

rom_003000.bin
rom_1EC000.bin
rom_1F0000.bin
fd_sn.bin
fd_fwdate.bin
inq.bin

Attempts to build reconstructed images result in:

0x82052602 on mixed/NV-modified images
0x82052400 on older WH14NS40 firmware lineage attempts

Do you know whether this state is recoverable with non-public tooling or corrected NV/checksum reconstruction, or is this considered unrecoverable on embedded-flash MT1959 NS50 drives?

Thanks,

David.

Drive Information
OS device name: E:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.00
Serial number:
Firmware date: 2117-04-25 17:56
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 82

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.00
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

[Billycar11]

Email me I can send you a dos flash fw dump with cal data it will most likely work on your drive but there is also a way to build your original cal data from that backup but I don't think It was ever posted how.

Did you dona backup with dos flash that would make this easier?

[dsb1126]

Unfortunately, I didn't do a dos flash fw dump. Just the SDFTool dump fragments.

[Billycar11]

for anyone else that has this same issue here is a wh16ns60 1.00 fw dump
from one of my old backups i did this before on anydvd for a guy but now anydvd is gone so
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14Cbohg ... sp=sharing

[dsb1126]

I can't get DOSFlash to connect anymore. It fails at the vendor intro. I've tried all the tricks (power cycle whilst connect, VIA VT6421A SATA card, Intel IDE mode, etc) but nothing.

I did try flashing with makemkvcon64, and it said successful, but there's no change in behavior.

Serial number is still empty in the drive info so nothing took with the last flash. (ChatGPT said the NV ram was wiped/corrupt(?))

Confused as to why makemkvcon64 is able to get past the vendor intro but DOSFlash can't (or does it not even try that step?)

Is there anything left I can try to get this to flash to the drive?

Thanks,
David

Drive Information
OS device name: E:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.00
Serial number:
Firmware date: 2117-04-25 17:56
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 82

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.00
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

[Billycar11]

I can't get DOSFlash to connect anymore. It fails at the vendor intro. I've tried all the tricks (power cycle whilst connect, VIA VT6421A SATA card, Intel IDE mode, etc) but nothing.

I did try flashing with makemkvcon64, and it said successful, but there's no change in behavior.

Serial number is still empty in the drive info so nothing took with the last flash. (ChatGPT said the NV ram was wiped/corrupt(?))

Confused as to why makemkvcon64 is able to get past the vendor intro but DOSFlash can't (or does it not even try that step?)

Is there anything left I can try to get this to flash to the drive?

Thanks,
David

Drive Information
OS device name: E:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.00
Serial number:
Firmware date: 2117-04-25 17:56
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 82

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.00
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

Flash to wh16ns60 1.00 with the unlocked LG flasher you need the old bootloader for dos flash to work

[dsb1126]

I was able to get DOSFlash working and successfully flashed the FW you provided (Thanks!).
A serial number now shows in the makemkv drive info, which I think means the NV area was successfully updated(?)

Unfortunately, there is still no laser activity. The only LED light activity is when the tray is opened/closed. Nothing happens when a disk is inserted.
This drive is less than a year old, was hardly used, and was working fine before I flashed it incorrectly a few weeks ago.

Have you seen this behavior before?

Thanks again,

David

Drive Information
OS device name: E:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.00
Serial number: M61I9I90639
Firmware date: 2117-04-25 17:56
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 82

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.00
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

[Billycar11]

I was able to get DOSFlash working and successfully flashed the FW you provided (Thanks!).
A serial number now shows in the makemkv drive info, which I think means the NV area was successfully updated(?)

Unfortunately, there is still no laser activity. The only LED light activity is when the tray is opened/closed. Nothing happens when a disk is inserted.
This drive is less than a year old, was hardly used, and was working fine before I flashed it incorrectly a few weeks ago.

Have you seen this behavior before?

Thanks again,

David

Drive Information
OS device name: E:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.00
Serial number: M61I9I90639
Firmware date: 2117-04-25 17:56
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 82

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.00
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

you sure it once saw UHD discs after you flashed it originally?
are you sure its not a fake post a pic of the top case to imgur and link here.
i have seen this before but usually when it was crossflashed to a slim and left on for to long it dies.
it maybe that you have a fake and need to dos flash back to a mt1939 fw.
do you happen to remember what the drive info showed originally mt1959 or mt1939?

[dsb1126]

I was able to get DOSFlash working and successfully flashed the FW you provided (Thanks!).
A serial number now shows in the makemkv drive info, which I think means the NV area was successfully updated(?)

Unfortunately, there is still no laser activity. The only LED light activity is when the tray is opened/closed. Nothing happens when a disk is inserted.
This drive is less than a year old, was hardly used, and was working fine before I flashed it incorrectly a few weeks ago.

Have you seen this behavior before?

Thanks again,

David

Drive Information
OS device name: E:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.00
Serial number: M61I9I90639
Firmware date: 2117-04-25 17:56
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 82

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.00
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

you sure it once saw UHD discs after you flashed it originally?
are you sure its not a fake post a pic of the top case to imgur and link here.
i have seen this before but usually when it was crossflashed to a slim and left on for to long it dies.
it maybe that you have a fake and need to dos flash back to a mt1939 fw.
do you happen to remember what the drive info showed originally mt1959 or mt1939?

- Yes I ripped a couple of UHD disks when I first flashed it.
- I'm not sure what you mean by "fake post a pic..."
I bought this drive new off Amazon.
- I don't remember what the drive showed before I first flashed it, but I took the cover off to see if it had EEPROM I could directly flash to with a kit when I thought it was really "bricked". The chip is MT1959UWDN (the one with internal flash). SDFtool Flasher did show MT1959 as that's what I used to flash with originally.

Is it possible to modify the firmware you provided to put my calibration data in it or will it fail to flash due to the checksum verification?

[dsb1126]

I was able to get DOSFlash working and successfully flashed the FW you provided (Thanks!).
A serial number now shows in the makemkv drive info, which I think means the NV area was successfully updated(?)

Unfortunately, there is still no laser activity. The only LED light activity is when the tray is opened/closed. Nothing happens when a disk is inserted.
This drive is less than a year old, was hardly used, and was working fine before I flashed it incorrectly a few weeks ago.

Have you seen this behavior before?

Thanks again,

David

Drive Information
OS device name: E:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.00
Serial number: M61I9I90639
Firmware date: 2117-04-25 17:56
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 82

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.00
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

you sure it once saw UHD discs after you flashed it originally?
are you sure its not a fake post a pic of the top case to imgur and link here.
i have seen this before but usually when it was crossflashed to a slim and left on for to long it dies.
it maybe that you have a fake and need to dos flash back to a mt1939 fw.
do you happen to remember what the drive info showed originally mt1959 or mt1939?

- Yes I ripped a couple of UHD disks when I first flashed it.
- I'm not sure what you mean by "fake post a pic..."
I bought this drive new off Amazon.
- I don't remember what the drive showed before I first flashed it, but I took the cover off to see if it had EEPROM I could directly flash to with a kit when I thought it was really "bricked". The chip is MT1959UWDN (the one with internal flash). SDFtool Flasher did show MT1959 as that's what I used to flash with originally.

Is it possible to modify the firmware you provided to put my calibration data in it or will it fail to flash due to the checksum verification?

Well, I feel silly. Apparently I had swapped the position of the two LG drives I have in my PC and forgot about it. So when one started failing writing DVDs I assumed it was the newer one that I had flashed to get UHD disks to read. Once I realized what I had done I followed the instructions to recover with the NS40 firmware and it started working again. (What threw me is the physical chip has MT1959UWDN on it, so I assumed was MT1959 system.)
I then crossed flashed to BH16NS40 with firmware HLDS_JB7_BRAND_1.03-A0_NOBJ.bin to get to V1.03, which I need for the Optical Quantum disks I have been using. It still fails to read some OQ DVD+R DLs and I haven't tried writing any as it made 8 coasters before. OQ BD-DLs are fine so the DVD laser is probably going out. I'll just use this drive for reading disks and (maybe) writing BDs.

Anyway, thanks for your help Billycar11. I was still able to use the firmware you provided to copying the calibration data across.

Although now I think of it, would different calibration data be better as it's not an MT1959, or is it OK with what was flashed?

UPDATE:
I also just noticed something:
Before I restored to the NS40 firmware, the serial number was M61I9I90639. Now it's 1I9I90639, missing the first 2 characters. So that means the data mover has probably copied incorrect data. I'm surprised it's even working at all.

Perhaps it be better to just flash the NS40 recovery firmware without doing any data moving?

Drive Information
OS device name: E:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BH16NS40
Revision: 1.03
Serial number: 1I9I90639
Firmware date: 2114-03-26 11:15
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 82

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1939
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.03
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Partial
Unrestricted read speed: Yes


Thanks,
David

[Coopervid]

Jeez, what a mess! If Murphy would be still alive he would be laughing and dying from.

[Billycar11]

Yeah I sent cal data for mt1959
As that's what you said you had.
But I don't have cal data for mt1939

So I guess if it works it works.