Custom firmware discussion

[SamuriHL]

When I open a disc MakeMKV says that Libredrive mode would be supported with patched firmware. I'm sure that this is true given that it's just a software limitation preventing me from opening these discs in Libredrive mode. I am convinced that it has something to do with the MK patched firmware not playing nice with the patched LG flasher from the video description. All the DE firmware that came with the patcher seems to work just fine for people with compatible drives, but because my drive's firmware was written by the MakeMKV team and not the people who cracked the LG flasher, something is not working right. I have yet to find anyone on these forum's that has successfully flashed a drive to the MK firmware using the patched flasher tool. Right now I'm trying to contact the people who built the unlocked flasher to see if they could build a tool that works with the MK firmware, but the chances of that happening are pretty slim.

Some USB enclosures don't pass all required commands through to the drive. Yours is probably one of them.

Myself, @Billycar11, @SamuriHL and many others have flashed MK firmware to many drives without any issue. Personally I use the modfied ASUS flasher but I'm sure the patched LG flasher would also work.

Cheers

You beat me to it. I was typing while you posted. Yes I didn't think about incompatible USB cases or adapters causing problems but that's definitely possible. My drives are internal.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[st4evr]

When I open a disc MakeMKV says that Libredrive mode would be supported with patched firmware. I'm sure that this is true given that it's just a software limitation preventing me from opening these discs in Libredrive mode. I am convinced that it has something to do with the MK patched firmware not playing nice with the patched LG flasher from the video description. All the DE firmware that came with the patcher seems to work just fine for people with compatible drives, but because my drive's firmware was written by the MakeMKV team and not the people who cracked the LG flasher, something is not working right. I have yet to find anyone on these forum's that has successfully flashed a drive to the MK firmware using the patched flasher tool. Right now I'm trying to contact the people who built the unlocked flasher to see if they could build a tool that works with the MK firmware, but the chances of that happening are pretty slim.

Yeah, I’m going to be the third person to say it. Both versions of firmwares and flashers work just fine.

You made so many incorrect assumptions that your whole post makes zero logic or sense and it’s not how any of this works at all. It’s hard to even choose where or how to begin making corrections to all that nonsense. You’re going down some strange rabbit hole unnecessarily. So, as Marty advised, your limitations are somewhere else and have absolutely nothing to do with the flashers or firmware being discussed and used in this forum. You should heed his advise to avoid wasting time on something completely irrelevant, unless you have nothing better to do.

Anyone looking for valid/useful information regarding this topic/original post by Mike should definitely disregard that member’s post as it only provides misinformation on the process.

[mike admin]

Tried to flash my BC-12B1ST b 1.00.
Successfully bricked the drive.

Did you brick the drive while flashing MK firmware using an "official" patched flasher, not a dosflash? I really would like to know how it happened, that's odd. The last thing I would like to see is a broken MK firmware...

[GyroDragona]

Tried to flash my BC-12B1ST b 1.00.
Successfully bricked the drive.

Did you brick the drive while flashing MK firmware using an "official" patched flasher, not a dosflash? I really would like to know how it happened, that's odd. The last thing I would like to see is a broken MK firmware...

I used ASUS_ODD_FW_Changer_(Modified) with your ASUS-BC-12B1ST_b-3.01-WM00900-211711291725.bin. I could zip up the exe and send it to you in a PM if you like. I figured I just screwed up somehow. I did look into this stuff before going forward with it. I know firmware flashing is risky on any hardware and have flashed many things (mostly routers) and even done some JTAG flashing in the past. I also use a UPS on my computers just for an extra safety net.

Really I'm new to optical drive flashing. Though recently I was able to flash a RAID controller though UEFI terminal. That was fun and the instructions were wrong on some steps but included information about what was happening so I knew enough to know what to do to fill in the holes and was able to do it correctly.

Really there is not enough info in once place for the optical drive flashing to be clear enough. There is a lot of "go to this link" and "watch this" and "use this but not this" without much info on why or what is the best method. It's a mess of links that are not always about the drive you are specifically working with leaving people that may be new to it confused and misinformed.

Would it be possible to use a different flashing method with your firmware to repair the drive to a working state?

[GyroDragona]

Do you know of any UHD drives that don't need the firmware messed with to work with LibreDrive as-is out of the box? I have tried searching about online but have not really had any luck finding such information due to LibreDrive just being so new and not many details being posted just yet.

I picked up a BU50N that is a UHD drive that works with LibreDrive out of the box.

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-BU50N-Bl ... B07BF5LY5Z

Is the one you are talking about the same as in that link there?

[BlueMac77]

Just a suggestion to avoid confusions on downgrading custom firmwares, maybe we can have just one “Wiki” thread dedicated to discussing firmware usages. And all the firmwares can be downloaded from that one thread. In other forums, they would have a “Wiki” thread dedicated to a specific topic.

[SamuriHL]

There's really only 3 posts on this forum that people need in order to flash a drive. And 2 of them are a choice of which flash tool to use.

Patched LG Flasher:
https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 284#p70284

Patched ASUS Flasher:
https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 766#p70766

Patched MK firmware:
https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 880#p71880

The LG and ASUS flashers both work under Windows with no SATA IDE nonsense. They both work to flash LG and ASUS drives. They both work to cross-flash drives. They can both be used to flash a DE (Downgrade Enabled) or MK firmware.

The big warning and caveat is to make sure you know what you're flashing to your drive. E.G. NS40 owners *MUST* make sure they have a SVC code of NS50 and that the drive is mfg'd after 2015 before flashing anything.

[BlueMac77]

The big warning and caveat is to make sure you know what you're flashing to your drive. E.G. NS40 owners *MUST* make sure they have a SVC code of NS50 and that the drive is mfg'd after 2015 before flashing anything.

Thank you @SamuriHL for the links and explanation. About the patched MK Firmware, to my understanding unless I'm wrong, Mike modified the MK Firmware so it can By-Pass the Downgrade Restriction on the newer Asus BW-16D1HT drives that comes with the 3.10FW manufactured this 2019? For example, if I purchased an Asus BW-16D1HT made in June 2019 that came with the 3.10 firmware, applying the patched MK Firmware will enable this Asus drive to read 4K UHD discs and no further actions are needed?

[SamuriHL]

Thank you @SamuriHL for the links and explanation. About the patched MK Firmware, to my understanding unless I'm wrong, Mike modified the MK Firmware so it can By-Pass the Downgrade Restriction on the newer Asus BW-16D1HT drives that comes with the 3.10FW manufactured this 2019? For example, if I purchased an Asus BW-16D1HT made in June 2019 that came with the 3.10 firmware, applying the patched MK Firmware will enable this Asus drive to read 4K UHD discs and no further actions are needed?

That's correct, yes. In the case of the MK 3.10 it's more of a "reflash" than a downgrade, but, Mike enabled that firmware to be downgradable to previous firmware version such as 3.02 should you decide for some reason to go back. All of that can be done with either of the 2 tools i linked to.

[archermoo]

Do you know of any UHD drives that don't need the firmware messed with to work with LibreDrive as-is out of the box? I have tried searching about online but have not really had any luck finding such information due to LibreDrive just being so new and not many details being posted just yet.

I picked up a BU50N that is a UHD drive that works with LibreDrive out of the box.

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-BU50N-Bl ... B07BF5LY5Z

Is the one you are talking about the same as in that link there?

Yes, that's the one.

[BlueMac77]

Thank you @SamuriHL for the links and explanation. About the patched MK Firmware, to my understanding unless I'm wrong, Mike modified the MK Firmware so it can By-Pass the Downgrade Restriction on the newer Asus BW-16D1HT drives that comes with the 3.10FW manufactured this 2019? For example, if I purchased an Asus BW-16D1HT made in June 2019 that came with the 3.10 firmware, applying the patched MK Firmware will enable this Asus drive to read 4K UHD discs and no further actions are needed?

That's correct, yes. In the case of the MK 3.10 it's more of a "reflash" than a downgrade, but, Mike enabled that firmware to be downgradable to previous firmware version such as 3.02 should you decide for some reason to go back. All of that can be done with either of the 2 tools i linked to.

Thanks SamuriHL for the clarification. Appreciate your taking the time to explain the process.

[spl147]

When I open a disc MakeMKV says that Libredrive mode would be supported with patched firmware. I'm sure that this is true given that it's just a software limitation preventing me from opening these discs in Libredrive mode. I am convinced that it has something to do with the MK patched firmware not playing nice with the patched LG flasher from the video description. All the DE firmware that came with the patcher seems to work just fine for people with compatible drives, but because my drive's firmware was written by the MakeMKV team and not the people who cracked the LG flasher, something is not working right. I have yet to find anyone on these forum's that has successfully flashed a drive to the MK firmware using the patched flasher tool. Right now I'm trying to contact the people who built the unlocked flasher to see if they could build a tool that works with the MK firmware, but the chances of that happening are pretty slim.

Some USB enclosures don't pass all required commands through to the drive. Yours is probably one of them.

Myself, @Billycar11, @SamuriHL and many others have flashed MK firmware to many drives without any issue. Personally I use the modfied ASUS flasher but I'm sure the patched LG flasher would also work.

Cheers

Maybe we should start a list of working/non working USB enclosures?

sounds like some are using cheap/ no name enclosures!

[jonghotti]

Do you know of any UHD drives that don't need the firmware messed with to work with LibreDrive as-is out of the box? I have tried searching about online but have not really had any luck finding such information due to LibreDrive just being so new and not many details being posted just yet.

I picked up a BU50N that is a UHD drive that works with LibreDrive out of the box.

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-BU50N-Bl ... B07BF5LY5Z

Is the one you are talking about the same as in that link there?

Please keep in mind that those drives were built almost 3 years ago. The price is too good to believe those are brand new, but that is just my opinion so yeah know, we've all got one.

[archermoo]

I picked up a BU50N that is a UHD drive that works with LibreDrive out of the box.

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-BU50N-Bl ... B07BF5LY5Z

Is the one you are talking about the same as in that link there?

Please keep in mind that those drives were built almost 3 years ago. The price is too good to believe those are brand new, but that is just my opinion so yeah know, we've all got one.

Mine was manufactured in October of 2017. So more like a year and a half ago. It certainly appeared to be a new drive, and I've had no issues with it so far.

[jonghotti]

Thank you for clarifying. I was going by the picture he posted.