Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2024

[Billycar11]

Hi all
could you please help me a bit, I have a new lg BH16NS55, with fw 1.05, which I would like to downgrade/ flash, but my problem is thatI do not understand the guide to do the flashing on mac....
I have read the the guide, and it says:

Mac/linux commands to flash.

1. download sdf.bin
2. download the all you need firmware pack

3. Extract the file you need for your drive from the all you need firmware pack pick from the recommended firmware section.

4. then in terminal on the Mac
copy sdf.bin and the firmware file extracted from theall you need firmware pack into /tmp folder.

5. in terminal change directory "cd /Applications/MakeMKV.app/Contents/MacOS"

6. type "./makemkvcon f -l"

But where do I find the sdf.bin ?
even better, is there a flashing tool for mac I could use, instead of writing commands ?

linked in first post
no gui flasher for mac yet
the makemkv official flasher gui may still come one day

[runnernorth]

Thx Billy, found it - I'll give it a shot, though I'm a TOTAL noob in using commands/terminal

[John117]

Would someone mind double checking me? I have some older drives, tried flashing one of them today.
I wasn't sure if I should use SDFtool or Billy's cmd line YouTube method.
Also the "all you need firmware pack" vs the one here
https://www.makemkv.com/download/mk-fir ... 200720.zip
Or if I even needed to flash.

I ended up using SDFtool and the "all you need firmware pack" to flash to from WH14NS40 to WH16NS60. I think it went well.

Drive label

IMG_3467.jpeg (1.55 MiB) Viewed 9036 times

Before flash

Screen Shot 2022-01-28 at 5.29.53 PM.png (399.61 KiB) Viewed 9036 times

After flash

Screen Shot 2022-01-28 at 5.29.53 PM.png (399.61 KiB) Viewed 9036 times

[Billycar11]

Would someone mind double checking me? I have some older drives, tried flashing one of them today.
I wasn't sure if I should use SDFtool or Billy's cmd line YouTube method.
Also the "all you need firmware pack" vs the one here
https://www.makemkv.com/download/mk-fir ... 200720.zip
Or if I even needed to flash.

I ended up using SDFtool and the "all you need firmware pack" to flash to from WH14NS40 to WH16NS60. I think it went well.


IMG_3467.jpeg

Screen Shot 2022-01-28 at 5.29.53 PM.png

Screen Shot 2022-01-28 at 5.29.53 PM.png

yeah your fien but you should have went to WH16NS60 1.02mk or 1.00 for faster reads speeds and no sleep bug like the guide says but also if your drive originally had 1.02 you didnt even need to flash it

[John117]

Would someone mind double checking me? I have some older drives, tried flashing one of them today.
I wasn't sure if I should use SDFtool or Billy's cmd line YouTube method.
Also the "all you need firmware pack" vs the one here
https://www.makemkv.com/download/mk-fir ... 200720.zip
Or if I even needed to flash.

I ended up using SDFtool and the "all you need firmware pack" to flash to from WH14NS40 to WH16NS60. I think it went well.


IMG_3467.jpeg

Screen Shot 2022-01-28 at 5.29.53 PM.png

Screen Shot 2022-01-28 at 5.29.53 PM.png

yeah your fien but you should have went to WH16NS60 1.02mk or 1.00 for faster reads speeds and no sleep bug like the guide says but also if your drive originally had 1.02 you didnt even need to flash it

I think I might have flashed it a long time ago, not sure. I have looked at the guide several times but I am confused about where to find the the WH16NS60 1.02MK firmware. The file I used was from the "all you need firmware pack" with name:
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936
I also looked in Mike's MK firmware pack and under the WH16NS60 folder is the same file:
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936

[Billycar11]

Yeah those are the mks

[John117]

Yeah those are the mks

I don't understand what you meant by this then

yeah your fien but you should have went to WH16NS60 1.02mk or 1.00 for faster reads speeds and no sleep bug like the guide says

I thought I did flash to WH16NS60 1.02mk. Or are you saying in this case 1.00 would be better?

[Billycar11]

Yeah those are the mks

I don't understand what you meant by this then

yeah your fien but you should have went to WH16NS60 1.02mk or 1.00 for faster reads speeds and no sleep bug like the guide says

I thought I did flash to WH16NS60 1.02mk. Or are you saying in this case 1.00 would be better?

HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936 is WH16NS60 1.02mk
ill rename them in the pack later to many are confused by this i dont see the need for the long name anyway

[John117]

Yeah those are the mks

I don't understand what you meant by this then

yeah your fien but you should have went to WH16NS60 1.02mk or 1.00 for faster reads speeds and no sleep bug like the guide says

I thought I did flash to WH16NS60 1.02mk. Or are you saying in this case 1.00 would be better?

HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936 is WH16NS60 1.02mk
ill rename them in the pack later to many are confused by this i dont see the need for the long name anyway

ok last question.
is there any reason for me to downgrade to 1.00?

[Billycar11]

I don't understand what you meant by this then

I thought I did flash to WH16NS60 1.02mk. Or are you saying in this case 1.00 would be better?

HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936 is WH16NS60 1.02mk
ill rename them in the pack later to many are confused by this i dont see the need for the long name anyway

ok last question.
is there any reason for me to downgrade to 1.00?

only if you use other rippers besides makemkv/anydvd with libredrive

[hamsterdance]

7. to perform the flash, type "./makemkvcon f -d '/IOBDServices/D5D25996' -f /tmp/sdf.bin rawflash main -i /tmp/your firmware filename here

This didn't work for me. I picked up a brand new BP50NB40, with what turned out to be the encrypted firmware version and tried to flash it using the above command, without success.

What did work was to use the options "rawflash enc" (instead of "rawflash main") for the first firmware flash (to HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BP50NB40-NB50-1.03-NM00800-212005070917.bin), which gave me a drive that was capable of ripping regular (1080p) blu-ray disks, but ejected UHD disks out of hand. I then used the rawflash main command to sidegrade to HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BP60NB10-1.02-NM00800-21200507935.bin. The drive now takes the UHD disk I was testing with, and I'm validating it by doing a rip.

11 GB down out of 52 GB. I don't expect it to fail.

Just wanted to give this feedback so that others who aren't as experienced in reading between the lines (and checking the Windows commands to see if there's anything that might help out ) can do the job themselves.

[ijomun]

Hi, I just purchased a WH14NS40 drive and tried to downgrade the firmware to 1.02 but ran into some problems. It's a MT1959 drive that came with the 1.05 firmware (Image 1)

At first, I tried the Unlock Flasher Tool from @blackened2687 and the YouTube Guide. But when I ran the flasher, I got an error saying "CheckSum is mismatched," followed by a Windows "Program Compatibility" error on the Flasher (Image 2). After doing a little more reading, I came to the conclusion that the firmware on my drive might be encrypted. So I decided to try the Command line approach (the V2 version of the YouTube guide).

This time, it actually went most of the way through the flash but then stopped at 98% and gave me the error: "Command produced error code 0x8f052603." (Image 3). So, now I'm at a loss. Seems like others are doing fine with the tool, but I'm not having any luck either way. I'm including some images of the drive info and the error codes. I'd really appreciate any help, thank you.

[Billycar11]

Hi, I just purchased a WH14NS40 drive and tried to downgrade the firmware to 1.02 but ran into some problems. It's a MT1959 drive that came with the 1.05 firmware (Image 1)

At first, I tried the Unlock Flasher Tool from @blackened2687 and the YouTube Guide. But when I ran the flasher, I got an error saying "CheckSum is mismatched," followed by a Windows "Program Compatibility" error on the Flasher (Image 2). After doing a little more reading, I came to the conclusion that the firmware on my drive might be encrypted. So I decided to try the Command line approach (the V2 version of the YouTube guide).

This time, it actually went most of the way through the flash but then stopped at 98% and gave me the error: "Command produced error code 0x8f052603." (Image 3). So, now I'm at a loss. Seems like others are doing fine with the tool, but I'm not having any luck either way. I'm including some images of the drive info and the error codes. I'd really appreciate any help, thank you.

Read the guide your flashing to the wrong firmware

[Coopervid]

First flash the same that is on the drive. Means 1.05 MK. Afterwards you can down- or sidegrade.

Billy - the guide is in this regards not easy to understand for someone who is new to the party.

[ijomun]

Hi, I just purchased a WH14NS40 drive and tried to downgrade the firmware to 1.02 but ran into some problems. It's a MT1959 drive that came with the 1.05 firmware (Image 1)

At first, I tried the Unlock Flasher Tool from @blackened2687 and the YouTube Guide. But when I ran the flasher, I got an error saying "CheckSum is mismatched," followed by a Windows "Program Compatibility" error on the Flasher (Image 2). After doing a little more reading, I came to the conclusion that the firmware on my drive might be encrypted. So I decided to try the Command line approach (the V2 version of the YouTube guide).

This time, it actually went most of the way through the flash but then stopped at 98% and gave me the error: "Command produced error code 0x8f052603." (Image 3). So, now I'm at a loss. Seems like others are doing fine with the tool, but I'm not having any luck either way. I'm including some images of the drive info and the error codes. I'd really appreciate any help, thank you.

Read the guide your flashing to the wrong firmware

Hi Billy. Thank you for the reply. I read your guide at the beginning of this thread as well as MartyMcNut's guide on the SDFtool Flasher thread. I downloaded the Flasher and the "all you need" firmware pack. It only had firmware for the WH16NS60. Also reading your recommended list of firmware to flash to I saw this: "WH14NS40 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK." So I'm now a thoroughly confused. Should I be flashing the WH14NS40 to the WH16NS60 1.02MK, or is there something quite obvious that I'm missing?