MakeMKV above v1.17.7 still broken on Linux

[WoodenCheese]

I haven't found a solution, but I can also confirm that 1.17.7 worked for me first try whereas I'd been struggling with 1.18.3.

I was wondering if the issue was with my installation of Linux Mint, so I spun up an Ubuntu VM which appeared to work (aside from some VM-specific issues). Feeling good, I did a live boot of Ubuntu, installed MakeMKV via Snap, and then immediately ran into the same issue.

Someone on Reddit suggested I do the LibreDrive firmware, but I don't know how to do that on Linux and I don't have another Windows machine (this desktop now running Mint was my last).

[Sayaka]

As far as I know, flashing firmware and dumping firmware are broken on Linux with any version newer than 1.17.7. This might be why MakeMKV hangs - I believe it's trying to get the firmware dump, but due to the bug with the newer versions, it can't.

Do you need to download that manually?

I believe the "firmware tar file" should start with "dump_FW" and is actually a tgz file (so a tar/gzip archive, basically). It can be obtained by downgrading MakeMKV to a version that supports firmware dumping, or by using MakeMKV on Windows and then copying the file into your Linux MakeMKV config folder, for example.

I think I had to insert a Blu-ray disc in order to get the firmware dump.

If you get it downloaded using 1.17.7 does that mean you can then install a later version and it will work?

To the best of my knowledge ? Yes, it will work. Just having the firmware dump tgz file inside the right folder certainly fixed the issue for me.

(Note that when downgrading, you don't need to downgrade the GUI, AFAIK. Just downgrading makemkv-bin should work.)

[nuts_fulgurates]

Version 1.18.3 works for me after flashing my drive with LibreDrive firmware on Debian 13.

Before flashing with LibreDrive I got the infinite spin. After flashing it works fine.