Can't read Hobbit - Unexpected Journey

[flashp]

My disc arrived today and not for the first time I'm having trouble with my Asus BC-12D2HT in that sometimes it fails to open the disc at all and on other occasions it'll open it then report errors and not cooperate with MakeMKV. This problem comes and goes, it can sometimes be overcome by simply re-inserting the disc.

Apparently flashed with F/W 3.11 ?
I bought it ready to play UHD discs so didn't go through this process for myself.

Do I have a firmware problem or should I buy a specific 4K drive rather than trying to use a modified BD drive?

I'm using the latest version of MakeMKV also.

Any advice gratefully received

[Billycar11]

Clean disc
Clean laser
Replace disc
Replace drive with BU40N

Firmware will likely have no effect

[flashp]

Clean disc
Clean laser
Replace disc
Replace drive with BU40N

Firmware will likely have no effect

Thanks for your reply.
Is the BU40N a slim Hitachi drive?
Does this work without modification or will it need modified F/W?

I've done all that it possible from the list above. The drive is relatively new, it was sold as BNIB so wasn't a secondhand drive when I bought it not long ago. I could open it and break the seals to clean the lens since the warranty is probably irrelevant. I have only used it a handful if times so not sure what I'd find if I opened up for cleaning.

[Billycar11]

Thanks for your reply.
Is the BU40N a slim Hitachi drive?
Does this work without modification or will it need modified F/W?

I've done all that it possible from the list above. The drive is relatively new, it was sold as BNIB so wasn't a secondhand drive when I bought it not long ago. I could open it and break the seals to clean the lens since the warranty is probably irrelevant. I have only used it a handful if times so not sure what I'd find if I opened up for cleaning.

Yes the BU40N is a slim drive lg/hitachi you can make it work with anything desktop 5.25 bays usb cases or right in a laptop with a 9.5 mm bay.

It will need a firmware flash to be able to rip UHD like all new drives will now

I don't think warranty can be void by you opening something anymore in the USA as long as you don't damage the drive. I believe those stickers are now nothing more than a scare tactic.

I have had cleaning the laser work but I never trusted it enough to sell one I did that on when it's your own personal drive you have room to play

[flashp]

Thanks for your reply.
Is the BU40N a slim Hitachi drive?
Does this work without modification or will it need modified F/W?

I've done all that it possible from the list above. The drive is relatively new, it was sold as BNIB so wasn't a secondhand drive when I bought it not long ago. I could open it and break the seals to clean the lens since the warranty is probably irrelevant. I have only used it a handful if times so not sure what I'd find if I opened up for cleaning.

Yes the BU40N is a slim drive lg/hitachi you can make it work with anything desktop 5.25 bays usb cases or right in a laptop with a 9.5 mm bay.

It will need a firmware flash to be able to rip UHD like all new drives will now

I don't think warranty can be void by you opening something anymore in the USA as long as you don't damage the drive. I believe those stickers are now nothing more than a scare tactic.

I have had cleaning the laser work but I never trusted it enough to sell one I did that on when it's your own personal drive you have room to play

I just cleaned the lasers, since you had some success I figured I had nothing to lose. I found some old Chamois tipped VCR head cleaning swabs (clue to my age here) and used one with some magnetic head cleaner. Whether or not this is a coincidence I don't know but after I re-fitted the drive Windows correctly identified the disc and MakeMKV is reading without errors

Fingers crossed, thanks for your input

[flashp]

Well that didn't last long. I managed to have these discs read 4 times after I got the MKV file made but today i thought I'd check to see what it feels like doing and it's not having any of it.

[Billycar11]

Well that didn't last long. I managed to have these discs read 4 times after I got the MKV file made but today i thought I'd check to see what it feels like doing and it's not having any of it.

sorry man i know how it feels i really do hate those drives.
hopefully your drive is new and you can just return it and buy a BU40N
and if you really think about it the BU40N fits in the most drive bays it can fit in 5.25 with adapter it can be external usb and can fit in laptop 9.5mm bay

[flashp]

The plot thickens..........
I just switched SATA leads with another drive in my machine which effectively plugs my drive into another port on the Motherboard and the disc loaded correctly without error.

I've seen this before but forgotten I'd had that experience. So this has me thinking there's a poor interaction between the on-board SATA controller/interface and the optical drive. I think I'd like to try connecting this drive via an internal controller card so as to put a barrier between the drive and the Motherboard.

I won't get anywhere with a warranty claim here in the UK. I've been inside the drive and trying to convince anybody here that I have valid claim in spite of flashing the drive with firmware to make the drive do something that the manufacturer never designed it do is never going to fly here. We're just not that liberal in the UK

[Woodstock]

There are some motherboards that treat the first two SATA ports (0 and 1) like the legacy IDE ports, which can affect how the operating system deals with them. This can usually be set in the BIOS, as "IDE mode" and "ACHD mode". The problem is, if you change the mode after the operating system is installed, it takes some special work to get the operating system straightened around afterward... been there, done that.

More likely, though, I'd suspect the cable. If you have spares, change out the one the UHD drive WAS on, because it might cause problems with the drive you swapped it to.

[flashp]

There are some motherboards that treat the first two SATA ports (0 and 1) like the legacy IDE ports, which can affect how the operating system deals with them. This can usually be set in the BIOS, as "IDE mode" and "ACHD mode". The problem is, if you change the mode after the operating system is installed, it takes some special work to get the operating system straightened around afterward... been there, done that.

More likely, though, I'd suspect the cable. If you have spares, change out the one the UHD drive WAS on, because it might cause problems with the drive you swapped it to.

I had look at which ports this is plugged into and the drive has now been in both 0 and 1, I have others I could switch it out with. I'd put a new (read 'different', not brand new) lead in and all seemed well for a while but it's throwing a wobbly again.

I may try another port in a bit although I have ordered a controller card so that would isolate the drive from the motherboard and hopefully its idiosyncrasies. This won't be here until Sunday so I may have a look at changing the port it's plugged into again.

My machine has been built for 5 years or so now and I'm certain the SATA modes in the BIOS have been changed since. Where does the work that is required to straighten this out focussed? I could also check for an updated BIOS file, not done that for a while.

[Woodstock]

The difference between "IDE mode" and "AHCI mode" (had the wrong acronym) is seen during boot-up. If the drive was set up as IDE mode, and you switch the controller to AHCI, Windows (and Linux, as I recall... it's been a few years since I had to change things) get confused for a couple of boot cycles.

AHCI allows you to have hot-swap drives, but most people don't need that, so it mostly doesn't matter which you use, so long as you don't change.

This article looks to cover how to change, if you are still interested.

[flashp]

The difference between "IDE mode" and "AHCI mode" (had the wrong acronym) is seen during boot-up. If the drive was set up as IDE mode, and you switch the controller to AHCI, Windows (and Linux, as I recall... it's been a few years since I had to change things) get confused for a couple of boot cycles.

AHCI allows you to have hot-swap drives, but most people don't need that, so it mostly doesn't matter which you use, so long as you don't change.

This article looks to cover how to change, if you are still interested.

Thanks for the info and the link, I'll read it for the sake of understanding even if I don't do anything with it.
Interestingly, I just flashed my board with a new BIOS file (mine was one revision old) and things have returned to normal, for now at least.

[flashp]

The difference between "IDE mode" and "AHCI mode" (had the wrong acronym) is seen during boot-up. If the drive was set up as IDE mode, and you switch the controller to AHCI, Windows (and Linux, as I recall... it's been a few years since I had to change things) get confused for a couple of boot cycles.

AHCI allows you to have hot-swap drives, but most people don't need that, so it mostly doesn't matter which you use, so long as you don't change.

This article looks to cover how to change, if you are still interested.

Thanks for the info and the link, I'll read it for the sake of understanding even if I don't do anything with it.
Interestingly, I just flashed my board with a new BIOS file (mine was one revision old) and things have returned to normal, for now at least.

That didn't last long

[Billycar11]

I had a feeling it would come back like I said just return it to the store if it's new. forget warranty they will just give you a refurbished drive get a better drive like the BU40N

[flashp]

I had a feeling it would come back like I said just return it to the store if it's new. forget warranty they will just give you a refurbished drive get a better drive like the BU40N

I haven't looked yet but is preparing the BU40N a straightforward process?
I've found the pinned posts here, I'll see how I get on with them as somebody who's never done this before. It seems like there's lots of whys and wherefores involved and there is plenty to be aware of