LG flashed to LibreDrive no longer recognize BluRay - Orig. Firmware lost

[kapqa]

Hello ,

i have a request please;

since have flashed a LG Drive NS55 to supported firmware for UHD NS60 with the shared firmware here on the Forum;
it functioned for 1-2 Bluray but was noisy from the start after the new firmware was applied;

now it seems, the Drive is no longer recognizing any Bluray discs at all; DVD are still recognized;

i would like to attempt to restore the original Firmware, but unfortunately cannot find the saved file any longer;


if any of you can help, would be glad, maybe the drive could retain functionality of reading normal non-UHD Bluray and writing to Bluray with the original Firmware;
otherwise, would have to consider the Bluray functionality as lost on this drive;


Thank you

[kapqa]

please move post to section "Libre Drive" thank you.

[Billycar11]

changing fw will not cause a change rebooting the drive could
turn it off for 5 mins then power backup and see if it works if not clean the lasers
if it still does not work after that the Blu-ray laser died lg/asus rebrand drives have been extremely unreliable

[kapqa]

sorry , i have made a mistake, the drive in question is a CH12NS40;
will attempt to restore original firmware.

edit> attempting to flash original firmware not succesful, since ODD app says it has alreaadyu latest firmware applied.


maybe someone can share the original firmware, file to flash for windows thanks,
it should be like

N1.01_CH12NS40_171121_only_NOBJ.exe

for some reason, download does not function at the moment.

https://hitachi-lg.com/jp/support/firmw ... load/?v=20

odd.PNG (122.56 KiB) Viewed 2065 times

[kapqa]

hello , thanks , i have found the backup file , but SPI flash cannot read it since it is TAR file and SPI flash attempting to read/write bin file.

when i extract tar file, getting several file, maybe you can help restore the proper firmware.

backup-tar.PNG (7.6 KiB) Viewed 2058 times

[kapqa]

Hello ,\

i would kindly need help with downgrading the firmware if possible<
have now found the original firmware .exe from LG for the drive,

but it would not allow me to use it since the drive is not recognized as CH12NS40 but now as WH16NS60

found the download links here
https://www.lg.com/de/support/produkt-h ... QZRzVYVbBT

Unbenannt1.PNG (54.41 KiB) Viewed 1512 times

also have the original dump firmware saved as tar which seems even earlier firmare from 2017.

thank you very much.

[kapqa]

nevermind, could flash back with the help of this firmware package here CH12NS40 1.01 or 1.03 included<

but would still not read any Bluray<

would it make a difference if could use DOSFLASH as shown here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgybNfHhcg


would like to restore 1.00 but donT know how since the dump is in .tar file and not .bin.



thanks.

[VA1DER]

The dump you made was of an encrypted firmware, so the actual original firmware is not in the dump . tar. What's in that dump are drive settings. Your original firmware is lost.

I agree with others that suggest your blue laser failed.

Recommend getting genuine WH16NS40, NS55 or NS60. You can find most of these on eBay or Ali Express. There are even some promising looking Pioneers on Ali Express from 2018 that likely have compatible firmware (look at post in drives for sale subforum) though there is a little risk associated with those.

[kapqa]

The dump you made was of an encrypted firmware, so the actual original firmware is not in the dump . tar. What's in that dump are drive settings. Your original firmware is lost.

I agree with others that suggest your blue laser failed.

Thanks, didnt know that;
how could i have averted the risk?^
the software has not averted me of the risk, unfortunately. maybe i just skipped the tutorial too fast.

the drive was just functioning so well previously, barely used; hardly the laser could have died without getting proper usage, but one never may know for sure with these technologyu.

thanks , for the tip, i was in market for a pioneer, but then found out that the retail price of 1''00 euro is actually for a "refurbished", so might aswell get on more LG drive; m
favorite would have been ASUS drive, but people seem to write they are even more loud and unrelialble at reading bluray disc , even just 1080p for playback.

[VA1DER]

how could i have averted the risk?

Knowing the drive and firmware you were putting on it is key.

There is no way, unless you happen to geta drive with unencrypted firmware (more later), to back up the original firmware. So check. Double check. Triple check before that first flash.

the drive was just functioning so well previously, barely used; hardly the laser could have died without getting proper usage, but one never may know for sure with these technologyu.

The CH12NS40 you have isn't the BH16NS55 you thought it was. It's not outside the realm of possibility that the blue lasers are different enough that the firmware you tried to put on it operated it outside its specs and burned it out. Or (more likely) burned out transistors in the controller chip.

the software has not averted me of the risk, unfortunately. maybe i just skipped the tutorial too fast.

And it won't often warn you. The software is designed to do things the manufacturer didn't intend, to operate outside of "rules", and to allow one to experiment. It assumes you know what you want to do is correct. It might seem that people here casually flash all the time, but it's inherently risky and unless you really understand the electronics in each model, people only put well known firmware on well known compatible drives.

thanks , for the tip, i was in market for a pioneer, but then found out that the retail price of 1''00 euro is actually for a "refurbished", so might aswell get on more LG drive; m
favorite would have been ASUS drive, but people seem to write they are even more loud and unrelialble at reading bluray disc , even just 1080p for playback.

One option is an actual WH16NS60: https://www.ebay.ca/p/7025081230

I ordered one from that listing and have it on my desk. It came with an UNencrypted v1.0 firmware that is MakeMKV ready out of the box. Meaning you can back up the original firmware (backs up into a .bin), and reflash it with MK later ones, or even scanning firmware like WH16NS58. But as it's an UHD official drive with Libredrive support, you don't have to flash it at all.

[kapqa]

One option is an actual WH16NS60: https://www.ebay.ca/p/7025081230

I ordered one from that listing and have it on my desk. It came with an UNencrypted v1.0 firmware that is MakeMKV ready out of the box. Meaning you can back up the original firmware (backs up into a .bin), and reflash it with MK later ones, or even scanning firmware like WH16NS58. But as it's an UHD official drive with Libredrive support, you don't have to flash it at all.

Thank you for the support<
what do you mean by "scanning firmware"?

dont know if it would be easily import to Europe/
for such price you can now get also like Pioneer Drives new on Ebay, but i understand that those drives are not yet ready for UHD Firmware, that should come later.
would not mind, most important thing is reliability and ability to read/burn different media without hiccups or too much noise.
what do you think of such an offer like this
https://www.ebay.it/itm/156810626913?_t ... p_homepage

[VA1DER]

what do you think of such an offer like this
https://www.ebay.it/itm/156810626913?_t ... p_homepage

It's a good drive. Essentially the same hardware as a BDR-S12EBK. However it doesn't have UHD firmware. It should work with MakeMKD for non-UHD discs. If the date on the photo is accurate, then it should be cross-flashable. Just know that almost everyone on this forum who have cross-flash firmware for it will want to soak you money for it. I don't know if the announcement that all Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported extends to ripping UHD off of drives without a UHD firmware, but I suspect not.

If you don't want UHD, or are willing to bribe someone here that has a cross-flash firmware to send it to you, then the drive should be good.

[EDIT]

what do you mean by "scanning firmware"

Sorry, forgot to address that. Disc scanning is where a drive with diagnostic commands enabled (like an LG WH16NS58 which is intended for people who do bulk disc duplication burning) is used to scan a disc for its burn quality. You may have seen disc scans like this:



It shows how much a drive's error correction is being used to make the disc readable - there isn't an error free optical disc on the planet, and without diagnostic software you can't tell if a burn is really good, or marginal. The error correction masks a marginal burn because you can't tell how close to the error correction's edges a disc is at. If you do a lot of burns, or are into hobbyist media scanning, it can use useful/fun. It's somewhat handy for UHD ripping because it can help you see if a rip problem is due to a flaw on the disc or not. There used to be a bigger hobbyist scene for this than there is now. I like to have the capability, but not everyone is interested.

[kapqa]

thank you for clarifying;

i have ripped some UHD Bluray now with help of Makemkv software , and those have functioned well for playback;

but i have made copies of DVD in the past, and after some years with nearly no playback, they already fail to be playbacked properly, so such a scanning software/firmware seems a handy thing;
would be a pity if also Bluray copies would stop being recognized after some years of "no-use";
but it seems most Blruay media are all M-Disc? and for DVD, M-Disc is something special only?

for now , have one drive left that is NS55 flashed to NS60 with the suggested "all-in-one"Firmware here from the forum, that could serve as the UHD-ripping drive, so i would not mind buying a non-UHD Pioneer drive;

the WH16NS60 link you shared amounts after shipping and taxes to around 170 euro, which i consider excessive at the moment.

could you think of another Pioneer drive that could already be UHD-enabled? but the ones have seen on a list are all 200+ euro if i am not mistaken;

is this scanning software thing exclusive to LG drives? was thinking also of ASUS drive since those are easily available via Amazon or similar for around 85 eruro.