BP50NB40 (SVC NB40, MT1959) - rawflash says "Done successfully" but firmware stays at 1.03, tray dead

[powerbot]

Hello Marty,

I'm trying to recover an LG BP50NB40 drive and I'm out of ideas.

Drive information

* Model: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BP50NB40
* SVC: NB40
* Manufacture date: December 2016
* Original firmware: 1.00
* Platform: MT1959

What happened

1. Read original firmware successfully.
2. Flashed BP50NB40 NB50 1.03 MK successfully.
3. Tried to convert to BP60.
4. BP60 write appeared to succeed, but MakeMKV still reported BP50NB40 firmware 1.03.
5. I mistakenly ran Recovery afterwards.
6. Since then, the tray no longer works.

Current symptoms

* Windows detects the drive normally.
* MakeMKV detects the drive normally.
* Firmware version is always reported as 1.03.
* Pressing the eject button only flashes the LED about 10 times.
* The tray motor never moves.

LibreDrive information

Platform: MT1959

Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled)

Firmware version: 1.03

GUI Recovery

I tried Recovery with:

BP50NB40-NB40-1.00-Clean.bin

The GUI finishes in about 2 seconds with no error, but nothing changes.

Command line test

Command:

sdftool64.exe --all-yes -d G: rawflash -i "BP50NB40-NB40-1.00-Clean.bin"

Output:

Reading input file BP50NB40-NB40-1.00-Clean.bin

Flashing flags = 0x0

Current Drive ID: HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_BP50NB40_1.03_212005070917_MZ1H12D4814

Ready to write drive flash memory.

Operation started: Sending flash image to drive

100% Operation finished

Operation started: Programming flash

100% Operation finished

Done successfully

After unplugging and reconnecting

* Firmware is still 1.03
* Tray still does not move
* LED flashes only
* No motor activity

Additional diagnostics

Command:

sdftool64.exe -d G: dump auto -o C:\dump

Result:

dump_user_HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_BP50NB40_1.03_212005070917_MZ1H12D4814.tar

Only a 70 KB user dump is produced.

Command:

sdftool64.exe -d G: dump full -o C:\dump

Result:

Error: full dump is disabled in this firmware version

My questions:

1. Is there a recovery procedure specific to MT1959 / NB40?
2. Is the bootloader likely damaged?
3. Should I try rawflash with boot=MT1959 Boot BUP1 or any other flags?
4. Or does this indicate a hardware failure?

I can run any additional diagnostic commands or provide more information if needed.

Thank you very much.

[powerbot]

Additional test results:

I also tested the command line tool.

```
sdftool64.exe --all-yes -d G: rawflash -i "BP50NB40-NB40-1.00-Clean.bin"
```

The command completed with:

* Sending flash image to drive
* Programming flash
* Done successfully

However, after disconnecting and reconnecting the USB cable:

* Firmware is still reported as 1.03
* The tray still does not move
* Only the LED flashes approximately 10 times
* No motor activity at all

I also ran:

```
sdftool64.exe -d G: dump auto -o C:\dump
```

Result:

```
dump_user_HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_BP50NB40_1.03_212005070917_MZ1H12D4814.tar
```

(Only a 70 KB user dump was created.)

And:

```
sdftool64.exe -d G: dump full -o C:\dump
```

Result:

```
Error: full dump is disabled in this firmware version
```

[Billycar11]

Hello Marty,

I'm trying to recover an LG BP50NB40 drive and I'm out of ideas.

Drive information

* Model: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BP50NB40
* SVC: NB40
* Manufacture date: December 2016
* Original firmware: 1.00
* Platform: MT1959

What happened

1. Read original firmware successfully.
2. Flashed BP50NB40 NB50 1.03 MK successfully.
3. Tried to convert to BP60.
4. BP60 write appeared to succeed, but MakeMKV still reported BP50NB40 firmware 1.03.
5. I mistakenly ran Recovery afterwards.
6. Since then, the tray no longer works.

Current symptoms

* Windows detects the drive normally.
* MakeMKV detects the drive normally.
* Firmware version is always reported as 1.03.
* Pressing the eject button only flashes the LED about 10 times.
* The tray motor never moves.

LibreDrive information

Platform: MT1959

Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled)

Firmware version: 1.03

GUI Recovery

I tried Recovery with:

BP50NB40-NB40-1.00-Clean.bin

The GUI finishes in about 2 seconds with no error, but nothing changes.

Command line test

Command:

sdftool64.exe --all-yes -d G: rawflash -i "BP50NB40-NB40-1.00-Clean.bin"

Output:

Reading input file BP50NB40-NB40-1.00-Clean.bin

Flashing flags = 0x0

Current Drive ID: HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_BP50NB40_1.03_212005070917_MZ1H12D4814

Ready to write drive flash memory.

Operation started: Sending flash image to drive

100% Operation finished

Operation started: Programming flash

100% Operation finished

Done successfully

After unplugging and reconnecting

* Firmware is still 1.03
* Tray still does not move
* LED flashes only
* No motor activity

Additional diagnostics

Command:

sdftool64.exe -d G: dump auto -o C:\dump

Result:

dump_user_HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_BP50NB40_1.03_212005070917_MZ1H12D4814.tar

Only a 70 KB user dump is produced.

Command:

sdftool64.exe -d G: dump full -o C:\dump

Result:

Error: full dump is disabled in this firmware version

My questions:

1. Is there a recovery procedure specific to MT1959 / NB40?
2. Is the bootloader likely damaged?
3. Should I try rawflash with boot=MT1959 Boot BUP1 or any other flags?
4. Or does this indicate a hardware failure?

I can run any additional diagnostic commands or provide more information if needed.

Thank you very much.

Your drive was to old you need nb50/nb52
Recover with the old nb40 fw
Leave the drive unplugged untill you do the longer it's on with the wrong fw the more likely it is to be dead

[Sayaka]

Leave the drive unplugged untill you do the longer it's on with the wrong fw the more likely it is to be dead

Quoting this because it's important.

Recover with the old nb40 fw

That's what they did and it failed, apparently :

I tried Recovery with:

BP50NB40-NB40-1.00-Clean.bin

The GUI finishes in about 2 seconds with no error, but nothing changes.

I would suggest trying this (Billy, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) :

Code: Select all

sdftool64.exe --all-yes -d G: rawflash nocheck,boot="MT1959 Boot BUP3" -i "BP50NB40-NB40-1.00-Clean.bin"

[powerbot]

Thank you.

My drive identifies itself as:

mtk:19:59:BUP1

Wouldn't boot="MT1959 Boot BUP3" be for a different hardware revision?

Should I use BUP1 instead, or should I wait for Billy's recommendation?

[Sayaka]

You should use the boot ID of the firmware you want to replace, not the boot ID of the firmware you want to flash or the boot ID "of the drive" (this last one is the one that will likely be in the firmware dump if you do a firmware dump, for example).

When I read the boot ID of the firmware you wish to replace (BP50NB40 NB50 1.03 MK), at offset 0x3000 (you can check this by opening the bin file of this firmware you flashed, such as DE_LG_BP50NB40-NB50_1.03_MK.bin, with a hex editor), it says "MT1959 Boot BUP3".

So, it is very likely that "MT1959 Boot BUP3" is the boot code you should use for this command.

The worst case scenario with your situation if the wrong boot code is used, is likely that the flash will just fail with an error message, and in that case you can (and should) try the same command with "MT1959 Boot BUP1".

EDIT : if none of those two work, try doing a

Code: Select all

sdftool64.exe --all-yes -d G: rawflash "main,nowait,nocheck,boot=MT1959 Boot BUP3" -i "BP50NB40-NB40-1.00-Clean.bin"

and if that doesn't work a

Code: Select all

sdftool64.exe --all-yes -d G: rawflash "main,nowait,nocheck,boot=MT1959 Boot BUP1" -i "BP50NB40-NB40-1.00-Clean.bin"

instead. These are kind of the "ultimate recovery" commands for this drive.

For those, note the quotes around the entire command line argument and not just the boot ID.

If none of these work then this issue would be outside my range of knowledge, but I think your drive would likely be done for.

EDIT 2 : And to clarify, I was asking Billy for confirmation not because I was unsure about which boot ID you should be trying first, but because I was unsure if it was best to try rawflash nocheck,boot="[boot ID]" first or do the full recovery command rawflash "main,nowait,nocheck,boot=[boot ID]" right away.