Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2024

[zildja2007]

Howdy all,

I purchased a BP60NB10 with the intent to flash a MK firmware (1.02) on top. I've followed the guides, but I am running into one error after another. The Asus ODD tool immediately ejects the drive tray and returns the error, "Updating Failure #5." I also tried using the sdftool_flasher, but it also failed, this time with a program error: "Command produced error code 0x8f056103"

I'm running Windows 10 v2004

Any suggestions?

[ProNub]

Hey Billy and all,

I did the original hex hack Mike posted two years ago on my WH16NS60 and got it to 1.00. I see you recommend

WH16NS60 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK

Are there any advantages to 1.02MK over 1.00DE?

My guesses according to these MK properties from Mike:
Possible firmware improvements
WH16NS60 1.00DE should have all the vendor commands but maybe not
Inapplicable - WH16NS60 is allowed to read UHD discs
Probably but irrelevant - 1.00DE may still have the checks preventing firmware downgrades but it's the base firmware anyway
Inapplicable - "encrypted" downgrade check

The MK firmware has the following properties:
Made from the latest available official firmware.
Re-enabled vendor commands to update microcode in memory.
Re-enabled ability to read UHD discs (if drive was capable, and disabled in firmware).
Removed firmware downgrade check (if present in firmware).
Removed firmware "encrypted" downgrade check (if present in firmware).
No other changes.

Cheers

nah just stay on the firmware you are on

Hey Billy thanks for the reply. Remarkably, my WH16NS60 1.00DE now has the sleep bug or I somehow didn't notice it until now. I thought the sleep bug was nonexistent on this UHD official drive?

[Billycar11]

Howdy all,

I purchased a BP60NB10 with the intent to flash a MK firmware (1.02) on top. I've followed the guides, but I am running into one error after another. The Asus ODD tool immediately ejects the drive tray and returns the error, "Updating Failure #5." I also tried using the sdftool_flasher, but it also failed, this time with a program error: "Command produced error code 0x8f056103"

I'm running Windows 10 v2004

Any suggestions?

Use the command line or sdf tool likely with enc if your unsure ask me for an automated flasher.

[Billycar11]

Hey Billy and all,

I did the original hex hack Mike posted two years ago on my WH16NS60 and got it to 1.00. I see you recommend Are there any advantages to 1.02MK over 1.00DE?

My guesses according to these MK properties from Mike:
Possible firmware improvements
WH16NS60 1.00DE should have all the vendor commands but maybe not
Inapplicable - WH16NS60 is allowed to read UHD discs
Probably but irrelevant - 1.00DE may still have the checks preventing firmware downgrades but it's the base firmware anyway
Inapplicable - "encrypted" downgrade check



Cheers

nah just stay on the firmware you are on

Hey Billy thanks for the reply. Remarkably, my WH16NS60 1.00DE now has the sleep bug or I somehow didn't notice it until now. I thought the sleep bug was nonexistent on this UHD official drive?

Show me your makemkv drive info section

[zildja2007]

Howdy all,

I purchased a BP60NB10 with the intent to flash a MK firmware (1.02) on top. I've followed the guides, but I am running into one error after another. The Asus ODD tool immediately ejects the drive tray and returns the error, "Updating Failure #5." I also tried using the sdftool_flasher, but it also failed, this time with a program error: "Command produced error code 0x8f056103"

I'm running Windows 10 v2004

Any suggestions?

Use the command line or sdf tool likely with enc if your unsure ask me for an automated flasher.

The command line tool did the trick, BIllycar11. I'm testing now and it looks like it's going well. Thank you for your quick reply and your effort pulling all of this together!

[ProNub]

nah just stay on the firmware you are on

Hey Billy thanks for the reply. Remarkably, my WH16NS60 1.00DE now has the sleep bug or I somehow didn't notice it until now. I thought the sleep bug was nonexistent on this UHD official drive?

Show me your makemkv drive info section

Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry for the long response time.

My bug is not the exact same sleep bug we know of and fear. Letting the 4k disc sit in my drive for 2-5 minutes is not triggering this bug. I cannot consistently duplicate the bug but my strong suspicion is this new sleep bug is triggered when attempting to play directly from disc with MPC-BE+MakeMKV.

Drive Information
OS device name: E:
Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.00
Serial number: M6CIACB5515
Firmware date: 2117-04-25 17:56
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 68

[Billycar11]

Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry for the long response time.

My bug is not the exact same sleep bug we know of and fear. Letting the 4k disc sit in my drive for 2-5 minutes is not triggering this bug. I cannot consistently duplicate the bug but my strong suspicion is this new sleep bug is triggered when attempting to play directly from disc with MPC-BE+MakeMKV.

Drive Information
OS device name: E:
Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.00
Serial number: M6CIACB5515
Firmware date: 2117-04-25 17:56
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 68

what exactly does the drive do i don't think i have seen it happen i do still have a WH16NS60 on hand to test but mostly unused now because of the BU40Ns

[RedSwirl]

Just made an account because I just installed a WH16NS60, and even though it came with the CyberLink software, I still have to go through all this DRM-cracking (for movies I legally bought) because my processor is a Ryzen and CyberLink doesn't like Ryzen for some reason.

I'm hoping there's some way I can play Blu-Rays and UHD Blu-Rays off the disc through VLC but in any case it sounds like I'm gonna have to change the firmware, and I'm just posting here to make absolutely sure I'm doing everything right. I already tried installing the AACS files into VLC and it didn't work for playing a FHD Blu-Ray.

The two things I'm concerned about in the OP post are where it says "Drive Platform MT1959" and "SVC NS50+ LG only." How do you check the drive platform? And does "NS50+" mean an actual model called NS50+ or everything NS50 and newer? Because my SVC model is NS60.

Drive: LG WH16NS60
SVC Code: NS60
ROM VER: 1.03
Manufactured: November 2020

Update: I've gotten things worked out to the point where I can rip a UHD Blu-Ray perfectly fine. Directly playing Blu-Rays and UHD discs through VLC is still a bit of crapshoot, and I can only suspect as to why.

Most Blu-Rays seem to work fine. A couple though -- the Patlabor movies to be specific, give me a message in VLC saying something about the AACS certificate being revoked. Maybe it's because the codes I added into VLC don't include those movies because they're not as well-known? Running one of them through DVDFab got me to a region code warning on the disc even though the disc is Region A, and both DVDFab and VLC are set to Region A. I had to bypass the menus in VLC to get to the movie.

UHD Blu-Rays though just seem to freeze during initial loading. Each one I try gets to that little rectangular splash screen you usually see when first loading up a Blu-Ray, and then just stays there. I used MakeMKV to rip my Tenet UHD disc and after that VLC would load up that rip after using the disc for the menus. I know this because once I moved the rip to a different drive the disc stopped working in VLC.

[Billycar11]

Just made an account because I just installed a WH16NS60, and even though it came with the CyberLink software, I still have to go through all this DRM-cracking (for movies I legally bought) because my processor is a Ryzen and CyberLink doesn't like Ryzen for some reason.

I'm hoping there's some way I can play Blu-Rays and UHD Blu-Rays off the disc through VLC but in any case it sounds like I'm gonna have to change the firmware, and I'm just posting here to make absolutely sure I'm doing everything right. I already tried installing the AACS files into VLC and it didn't work for playing a FHD Blu-Ray.

The two things I'm concerned about in the OP post are where it says "Drive Platform MT1959" and "SVC NS50+ LG only." How do you check the drive platform? And does "NS50+" mean an actual model called NS50+ or everything NS50 and newer? Because my SVC model is NS60.

Drive: LG WH16NS60
SVC Code: NS60
ROM VER: 1.03
Manufactured: November 2020

Update: I've gotten things worked out to the point where I can rip a UHD Blu-Ray perfectly fine. Directly playing Blu-Rays and UHD discs through VLC is still a bit of crapshoot, and I can only suspect as to why.

Most Blu-Rays seem to work fine. A couple though -- the Patlabor movies to be specific, give me a message in VLC saying something about the AACS certificate being revoked. Maybe it's because the codes I added into VLC don't include those movies because they're not as well-known? Running one of them through DVDFab got me to a region code warning on the disc even though the disc is Region A, and both DVDFab and VLC are set to Region A. I had to bypass the menus in VLC to get to the movie.

UHD Blu-Rays though just seem to freeze during initial loading. Each one I try gets to that little rectangular splash screen you usually see when first loading up a Blu-Ray, and then just stays there. I used MakeMKV to rip my Tenet UHD disc and after that VLC would load up that rip after using the disc for the menus. I know this because once I moved the rip to a different drive the disc stopped working in VLC.

use makemkv integration in vlc and you will be able to play uhd

[ben_uk]

I am considering buying a;

LG WH14NS40

I presume this drive is still a good one to buy and flash to rip UHDs?

Sorry I dont know a lot about this. The last time I flashed a drive was back in 2004 to play multi-region DVDs...

[Billycar11]

I am considering buying a;

LG WH14NS40

I presume this drive is still a good one to buy and flash to rip UHDs?

Sorry I dont know a lot about this. The last time I flashed a drive was back in 2004 to play multi-region DVDs...

It's ok if you get a Good one you have about a 75% chance of getting a good one I recommend the BU40N you have about a 98% chance of getting a good one of those

[ben_uk]

I am considering buying a;

LG WH14NS40

I presume this drive is still a good one to buy and flash to rip UHDs?

Sorry I dont know a lot about this. The last time I flashed a drive was back in 2004 to play multi-region DVDs...

It's ok if you get a Good one you have about a 75% chance of getting a good one I recommend the BU40N you have about a 98% chance of getting a good one of those

Thanks for the reply. Can you expand on your post a bit? What constitutes "a good one" and what are the implications of not getting a good one? Thanks!

[Billycar11]

Thanks for the reply. Can you expand on your post a bit? What constitutes "a good one" and what are the implications of not getting a good one? Thanks!

A good one to me means no read errors if you don't get one of those you won't be able to rip like half of UHD disc you will be playing the disc exchange game

[ben_uk]

How do the Asus drives compare? Are they generally any better or worse than the LG ones?

[Billycar11]

How do the Asus drives compare? Are they generally any better or worse than the LG ones?

They are rebranded LG drives so exactly the same