Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2026

[sjd101]

Are you based in the UK?

If so we could take a look at this drive. It is possible that the communications PCB has developed a fault.

Asmcom

Yes, based in Aylesbury in Bucks. It would be amazing if you were able to look at it. Just let me know what to do
Thanks

Hello sjd101,

I received your drive today and decided just to plug it in and test it with some of my scratched discs. I have backed up the first two discs with no problem, and it works fine on my system. I will test five more BD100 discs and then BD66 discs. If it all works, I will clean the lens and parcel and return it. There is no charge at my end, just the postage to England. When you receive it, I will be happy to connect with Teamviewer remotely to sort out any issues with your system. The good news is that Pioneer Drive is working fine so far. Please contact me by email.

Regards Asmcom

Hi Asmcom
Thank you so much for testing the drive. Very odd that it stopped working for me. I just assumed it was something I had done trying to flash it (unnecessarily as it appears).

I look forward to receiving the drive back and some TeamViewer assistance to get it working.

On a separate note for anyone reading this thread, I cannot fault the service and assistance that I have received. Absolutely first class and would not hesitate to recommend using them.
Regards
Simon

[asmcom]

Yes, based in Aylesbury in Bucks. It would be amazing if you were able to look at it. Just let me know what to do
Thanks

Hello sjd101,

I received your drive today and decided just to plug it in and test it with some of my scratched discs. I have backed up the first two discs with no problem, and it works fine on my system. I will test five more BD100 discs and then BD66 discs. If it all works, I will clean the lens and parcel and return it. There is no charge at my end, just the postage to England. When you receive it, I will be happy to connect with Teamviewer remotely to sort out any issues with your system. The good news is that Pioneer Drive is working fine so far. Please contact me by email.

Regards Asmcom

Hi Asmcom
Thank you so much for testing the drive. Very odd that it stopped working for me. I just assumed it was something I had done trying to flash it (unnecessarily as it appears).

I look forward to receiving the drive back and some TeamViewer assistance to get it working.

On a separate note for anyone reading this thread, I cannot fault the service and assistance that I have received. Absolutely first class and would not hesitate to recommend using them.
Regards
Simon

Hell Simon,

I am sending a powered USB hub with your drive. Please uninstall MakeMkV and shut down your computer, restart and reinstall the latest version of MakeMKV. Connect the hub and powered supply to your computer and then the Archgon drive to the hub. You can let me know how it goes.

Unfortunately, Archgon will never again supply this model with pioneer drives fitted internally. Pioneer has decided to shut down operations in Taiwan and no longer supply Pioneer drives in this region. It is bad news that Pioneer has decided to cease operations in Taiwan. The pioneer drive is very reliable, and now it is more difficult to source these fantastic slimline internal drives.

Asmcom

[asmcom]

Shut down computer and restart it.

No effect. I flashed it a few months back and have rebooted many times since then.

Is this the expected behavior in a "bricked" scenario, though? Drive is recognized by the system, opens & closes, but makes no effort to read inserted discs?

We would be happy to look at this drive if you send us it. We can repair these drives no problem and replace most parts.

It is hard to diagnose this type of issue remotely. We will look at the drive free of charge and advise what is the issue. What happens if you put a stand audio cd in the drive does it read the CD or DVD

See our email below to further.

uhdfriendlydrives@gmail.com

Asmcom

[jymotion]

What firmware was on it before you flashed it? It sounds like it could be one of those old MT1939 versions that have been refurbished and a new sticker put on it.... Anyway, it doesn't sound like you can do anything with it.

I didn't write it down, but I did save a backup through SDFtool before flashing and those files suggest it was on 3.10 when I got it. One of the bin files says "MT1959" when I open it in Notebook.

We would be happy to look at this drive if you send us it. We can repair these drives no problem and replace most parts.

It is hard to diagnose this type of issue remotely. We will look at the drive free of charge and advise what is the issue. What happens if you put a stand audio cd in the drive does it read the CD or DVD

I appreciate the offer, but since I'm US-based and you appear to be in the UK, it's probably not worth it. I don't have an audio CD here to test with, but DVD was the same as BR or 4KBR - tray opens and closes then immediately says "No Disc".

[sebus46]

Is there any reason why first post still states:

BU40N on any Firmware directly to > BU40N 1.03MK

1.04MK firmware was available since July 2020 - viewtopic.php?f=19&t=19113

sebus

[Billycar11]

Is there any reason why first post still states:

BU40N on any Firmware directly to > BU40N 1.03MK

1.04MK firmware was available since July 2020 - viewtopic.php?f=19&t=19113

sebus

because that's what i tested with and we all now it works i only post things i have tested

[RangerEnn]

Hi everyone, hope you're doing great. Pardon me if this is not the right thread to post this.

I'm having problems flashing newer firmware to my BU40N drive. I have followed the awesome guide you guys have here viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19634 but I'm having trouble with the makemkvcon call.

I have done what I read it has to be done:
1. Download latest firmware pack and locate the firmware for my drive. In my case I think it is "HL-DT-ST\BU40N-N-Main\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.04-NM00500-212005061142.bin".
2. Determine whether the firmware is encrypted or not. I'm not 100% sure on this, but given it is very new firmware, I assumed it is encrypted.
3. Download latest sdf.bin from https://makemkv.com/svq/sdf.bin or https://makemkv.com/sdf.bin, they're the same.
4. Follow the guide and run the makemkvcon call.

I've tried both normal and 64 executable variants. Also tried cmd and powershell, both with admin privileges. My drive is mounted on F:, and E:\Descargas is my downloads directory where I have all the things needed for the flash.

Then, I get the following message:

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files (x86)\MakeMKV>makemkvcon.exe f --all-yes -d F: -f E:\Descargas\sdf.bin rawflash enc -i E:\Descargas\mk-firmware-pack-20200720\MK\HL-DT-ST\BU40N-N-Main\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.04-NM00500-212005061142.bin
No drive tool logic found in SDF.bin
Internal error 0x8d000000

Tried on latest MakeMKV 1.17.4 and on 1.16.7.

What am I doing wrong?

Thank you all, you're doing an outstanding job with this community.

[Billycar11]

Hi everyone, hope you're doing great. Pardon me if this is not the right thread to post this.

I'm having problems flashing newer firmware to my BU40N drive. I have followed the awesome guide you guys have here viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19634 but I'm having trouble with the makemkvcon call.

I have done what I read it has to be done:
1. Download latest firmware pack and locate the firmware for my drive. In my case I think it is "HL-DT-ST\BU40N-N-Main\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.04-NM00500-212005061142.bin".
2. Determine whether the firmware is encrypted or not. I'm not 100% sure on this, but given it is very new firmware, I assumed it is encrypted.
3. Download latest sdf.bin from https://makemkv.com/svq/sdf.bin or https://makemkv.com/sdf.bin, they're the same.
4. Follow the guide and run the makemkvcon call.

I've tried both normal and 64 executable variants. Also tried cmd and powershell, both with admin privileges. My drive is mounted on F:, and E:\Descargas is my downloads directory where I have all the things needed for the flash.

Then, I get the following message:

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files (x86)\MakeMKV>makemkvcon.exe f --all-yes -d F: -f E:\Descargas\sdf.bin rawflash enc -i E:\Descargas\mk-firmware-pack-20200720\MK\HL-DT-ST\BU40N-N-Main\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.04-NM00500-212005061142.bin
No drive tool logic found in SDF.bin
Internal error 0x8d000000

Tried on latest MakeMKV 1.17.4 and on 1.16.7.

What am I doing wrong?

Thank you all, you're doing an outstanding job with this community.

what usb case are you using that is likely not passing through the flashing commands

[asmcom]

Is there any reason why first post still states:

BU40N on any Firmware directly to > BU40N 1.03MK

1.04MK firmware was available since July 2020 - viewtopic.php?f=19&t=19113

sebus

We have also tested 1-04, and it is not good firmware compared to 1-03mk.

Too many read errors and failures on BD100 discs.

UHD Friendly Drives

Asmcom

[RangerEnn]

Is there any reason why first post still states:

BU40N on any Firmware directly to > BU40N 1.03MK

1.04MK firmware was available since July 2020 - viewtopic.php?f=19&t=19113

sebus

We have also tested 1-04, and it is not good firmware compared to 1-03mk.

Where can I find a download link for 1.03MK. I tried to find it earlier without success.

[RangerEnn]

what usb case are you using that is likely not passing through the flashing commands

That doesn't sound good. Is there a way to debug this so I can confirm that the problem is in fact the enclosure?

It's a weird TechPulse120 UHD reader that has little to no information about it on the Internet. I bought it because it was relatively cheap comapred to alternatives, but I'm starting to think that I'll be better off getting a well known model instead of this.

If there's no way to circumvent this limitation without dissasembly I'm returing the unit since it's still under 30 day return period.

[asmcom]

Is there any reason why first post still states:

BU40N on any Firmware directly to > BU40N 1.03MK

1.04MK firmware was available since July 2020 - viewtopic.php?f=19&t=19113

sebus

We have also tested 1-04, and it is not good firmware compared to 1-03mk.

Where can I find a download link for 1.03MK. I tried to find it earlier without success.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ldlp4W ... p=drivesdk

[sebus46]

It is already in the linked above post in:

mk-firmware-pack-20200720.zip\mk-firmware-pack-20200720\MK\old\

(if it is better than latest firmware, it is confusing to have it in folder called old)

[sebus46]

Thanks, ad advised, went back to 1.03 (from patched 1.04)

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: E:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BU40N
Revision: 1.03
Serial number: MO5N37J5120
Firmware date: 2118-10-24 19:34
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 53

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled)
Firmware version: 1.03
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

[bdawg77]

hello I have been on this forum for over 2 hrs trying to figure out how to get my BDR-XD07UHD to work with Libredrive, I downloaded marks flasher, It wouldn't recognize my drive, I downloaded the firmware zip no pioneers are in there. Trying to get UHD4K to read, makemkv updated, tried on two different systems, same message on both systems:

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: Pioneer RS8E21
Firmware version: ID05

How would I enable it?