www.makemkv.com

Alright, so... yeah, let's start with some mild backstory.

AnyDVD HD is no longer around as of early July. Convenient timing as I have gotten some "new" Blu-rays that AnyDVD HD has no method of dealing with by itself. Did some research and now decided to finally start using MakeMKV for decryption. Decided to flash my 2019-01-09 model with the latest 3.10MK LibreDrive firmware using SDFtool using the "Write" option - it had on it the official 3.10 firmware that I had flashed onto it years ago shortly after buying it, so I thought the direct-flash method to the modified version instead of downgrading to an earlier version and then to the latest MK version would be unnecessary. I did not back up the firmware from the drive, thinking I could always just reflash it if need-be. Seeing it successfully flash, I thought, "Well, surely I don't need to restart my computer for this? I mean, it would be extra-safe, but I mean, I can always just reflash it, right?" (foreshadowing). Went ahead and started fleshing-out my process for decrypting, ripping, and storing Blu-ray rips with two discs before shutting-down my PC and going to bed.

I now wake up, only to find the drive non-functional in Windows! Driver Manager states the following: And, because Windows fails to initialize the drive, I cannot run SDFtool let alone the official Asus utility to reflash the drive....

To say I am angry is an understatement... but it's probably my fault.

The optical drive has always been located in my desktop machine, attached via SATA, but I have taken it out and hooked it up via USB using my StarTech adapter with the same issue.

-----

With all of that being said, I need answers. What did I do wrong? Is there a way to recover this situation? Is there a way to prevent this situation from happening again should I ever flash another optical drive with LibreDrive firmware?

I will appreciate any help you can offer. Thank you.

Can you flash with the makemkv cmds in guide or LG unlocked flasher?
If not drive is likely dead

Billycar11 wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 26, 2024 3:27 pm

Can you flash with the makemkv cmds in guide or LG unlocked flasher?
If not drive is likely dead

How would I go about flashing the driving with the MakeMKV console? Under Windows or Linux?

Also, update: installed Windows 7 on a Phenom II AM2+ test-bench I have in legacy IDE mode and the drive detects and initializes normally under 7, and it can at least read the Win7 setup disc just fine, so the drive is functional still, but gimped in AHCI perhaps?

Also, I ran the DOS version of DOSFLASH from here (viewtopic.php?f=16&t=17058) under FreeDOS on the same test-bench, and it complained that the and no amount of retrying helped, so I guess I can't use the program?

Also, another thought - perhaps installing Windows 10 on said test-bench in legacy IDE mode and flashing the drive with SDFtool would work, no?

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=34697

Follow the junk there and guide I just did this the other day.

Can't give individual help to everyone.

But if the drive sees discs then nothing is wrong with it really sometimes up on that other pc

So.... I figured it out.

It had "nothing" to do with the drive itself. The firmware flashes were all successful. The issue entirely lied with Windows.

Adobe of all companies documented this issue decades ago with their software.
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/ ... ation.html

AnyDVD HD, DVDFab Passkey, and Xreveal were listed in my registry as LowerFilters. I'm not sure exactly which program was the culprit, but deleting that registry key, uninstalling Passkey and Xreveal since I don't need them anymore and reinstalling AnyDVD HD on top of itself seemed to have resolved the driver conflict for now. If there are any other programs that cause issues, I can deal with them as they come up.

My guess is the software were looking for specific firmware signatures perhaps, and when I flashed the drive originally it screwed up whatever settings they had stored prior, resulting in an unrecoverable state for their drivers and thus preventing my optical drive from being initiated after restarting my machine post-flash (i.e. this morning).

MakeMKV, as it did before, recognizes the drive with the 3.10MK firmware flashed on it perfectly, even between restarts, and I was able to rip successfully another Blu-ray.

If anything else comes up later today I'll post again, but I think the matter is resolved.