100% Firmware Downgrade for ASUS BW-16D1HT and LG BH16NS55

[brandonw]

I've developed a patented fool proof way to avoid having to flash drives.

you have peaked my interest

[d00zah]

i finally decided to bite the bullet on the procedure to flash my asus drive from 3.02 to a clean version but it seems like the link for the window 7 portable iso is no longer working. Is there a way to get this fix or another way to go about it?

It's available in many places...

https://www.google.com/search?q=win7pe+ ... 83&bih=690

[karmal]

Sorry for the bump. First of all I want to say thanks for creating this guide, but I must admit that I'm a bit overwhelmed by the idea of doing hex edit and what not to try and do this (I got to a certain point through the guide and then just kind of paused thinking "what am I doing? Can I do this?"). Mike was saying something that perhaps this will be easier in the future, has there been anything to this end? I bought a BW-16D1HT in June from Amazon totally for the purpose of backing up my 4K blurays so I could watch them (don't have a player and figured I'd rather do it that way anyway), but apparently they now ship with 3.02 already applied.

[BDestroyer8418]

Thanks TeddyRaspin for the easy to follow Windows method and doing the mod to my dump.

Had an old i3-530 system in the closet and worked just fine on that system.

Also thanks to d00zah to pointing out my original BW-16D1HT that had 1.01 Firmware would not work not UHD friendly. Grabbed one at Frys with 3.03 and did the Downgrade.

[STENDEC]

Hi. I'm looking at grabbing an ASUS BW-16D1HT PRO (such as this one: https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Opt ... 16D1HT-PRO). I know it's listed as a UHD Friendly drive, but I wanted to verify the situation with its firmware before purchasing.

Specifically, if I were to buy it and it came with a non-UHD friendly firmware like 3.03, is it still possible to flash the clean firmware using the same method as the BW-16D1HT? The two drives look almost identical, but does anyone know if the firmwares are cross-compatible?

I don't want to buy it and then immediately brick it by flashing the wrong firmware.

==UPDATE==

So I took the plunge anyway and bought a BW-16D1HT PRO. Turns out, yes, it is identical to the BW-16D1HT. In fact, the model number on the drive itself doesn't mention the PRO suffix, nor is it mentioned in MakeMKV, so it seems it's just a marketing thing for whatever reason. The one I got was manufactured in January 2018 and came with 3.02. Out of the box it wouldn't read UHD disks, so I downgraded the firmware to a cleaned 3.01 and have just finished dumping Deadpool.

Thanks hugely to TeddyRaspin for the guide!

[ZwischenStuck]

Sorry for the bump. First of all I want to say thanks for creating this guide, but I must admit that I'm a bit overwhelmed by the idea of doing hex edit and what not to try and do this (I got to a certain point through the guide and then just kind of paused thinking "what am I doing? Can I do this?"). Mike was saying something that perhaps this will be easier in the future, has there been anything to this end? I bought a BW-16D1HT in June from Amazon totally for the purpose of backing up my 4K blurays so I could watch them (don't have a player and figured I'd rather do it that way anyway), but apparently they now ship with 3.02 already applied.

The EEPROM Data Mover auto method is instead of hex editing yourself. As d00zah confirmed to me. Some people would rather do the DIY manual method of hex editing.

Take all the steps listed with great care and you will be fine. It seems more complex than it is. I felt the same as you did before I tried it. Especially at the thought of making an error with hex edit.

Now I'm going to buy more drives and do exactly the same.. So I can also backup my 4k discs. I don't own a UHD capable player either. Using Plex with Infuse on ATV to enjoy all those extra pixels!

[GrayPockets]

Fist bump for the walkthrough. I almost despaired at finding a motherboard with SATA IDE until I found one in the corner of my garage.

Sad that this is such an issue to make digital copies to play on my Plex server for my own enjoyment.

[LuisP]

I am trying to downgrade the ASUS 16D1HT 3.02 firmware to 3.01. I successfully dumped my firmware, but keep hitting a brick wall when I try to use the Windows method of combining the data with the clean firmware and I get an error message in the EEPROM Data Mover program. I also tried the hex editing, but the editor wouldn't let me save the file.

@TeddyRaspin, in your original post, you offered to do the hex editing if I send you the dump file. Is that offer still open?

[jonghotti]

..

[Psilox]

I just wanted to post saying thanks to Teddy! I bought a BW-16D1HT, manufactured Feb. 2018 with 3.02 installed. Unfortunately, though, it must've been a patched version since it wouldn't read any UHD disks. Followed your very clear instructions and was able to flash a working version of 3.02. I'm happy to report I was able to back up my first UHD disk! Very easy, very simple. It's so nice having a safe, high definition, digital copy of my movies and not worrying about when the hardware to read them is going to be obsolete. Great stuff!

[Chipless]

Would anyone within the lower 48 of the USA who has successfully downgraded an ASUS BW-16D1HT be willing to do so for me if I were to ship them the drive along with some money for time involved? I only own a laptop, so I cannot downgrade the firmware via USB I also attempted to upgrade my LG WH16NS40 from 1.00 to 1.02 using LG's updater program, but that failed as well for the same issues of being non-IDE/SATA.

[shanedag]

Hey - New here, and sincere apologies if this is posted else where as I haven't been able to find it. I purchased the Asus BW-16D1HT and am in the process of downgrading the firmware from 3.03 (that it shipped with). Can anyone point me to where I find the 3.02 firmware? I followed the link from Teddy at the beginning of the thread, but it seems to direct me to a suspect site that isn't downloading clean files. Just redirects to other suspect sites

[shanedag]

Please disregard my previous post. After creating an account on zippy share I was able to download the file without redirects.

[mmaslar]

I recently purchased a new ASUS BW-16D1HT as my prior drive's blu ray laser quit on me. Unfortunately, the new drive shipped with 3.03 already installed. With my old drive, I was able to downgrade the firmware using this method; however, my new drive cannot be found by DOSFLASH. I tried running it multiple times with no luck. I suspect the issue is with my SATA controller, as I'm not able to use IDE mode (my mobo only allows me to select AHCI or RAID... not sure how I was able to successfully flash the prior drive, but this one just will not show up in DOSFLASH. Does anyone know of any other way to flash the firmware? I'd even be willing to ship it off and have it sent back, if necessary.

[jonghotti]

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