"No Disk" error message

[psuKinger]

Hi folks, long-time user first-time poster here. Been a user/supporter/fan of MakeMKV for quite a while now (7-8 years, at least?). I'm trying to troubleshoot a pretty odd-ball problem and I thought I'd ask the community for some help. FWIW, I did try to read both the FAQ and the "If you're experiencing rip errors, please read this first" post BEFORE posting this and didn't find anything that helps; apologies if I missed it, I did try....

Hardware: LG BE16NU50 external USB blu ray R/W drive running latest firmware (2116-03-17)
Software: Latest version (1.15.0) of MakeMKV

Backstory
I tried to rip a 4K UHD disc (Frozen II, FWIW) and had some oddball problems. MakeMKV opened the disc, but the rip didn't succeed. I don't recall what message(s) popped up, but the drive started making some cycling sounds, so I aborted the attempt.

Since then
I can't "open" any Blu Rays or 4K UHD blu rays via MakeMKV. It just says "no disc", for any blu ray or 4K UHD blu ray I insert. Including blu rays and 4k UHD blu rays that I previously ripped with this drive.
I can open DVDs in MakeMKV, and CDs in Exact Audio Copy, so the drive isn't completely dead.


I have rebooted.
I have removed the device and reinstalled the device.
I have unplugged and replugged the USB connection, at both ends of the wire.
I have power cycled the LG.
I did a system restore on my main windows desktop.
I unhooked the external USB drive and hooked it up to a Windows 10 laptop I have; it couldn't open a standard blu ray there either.
Sometimes windows doesn't recognize the drive as "Drive E", and sometimes it does. Whether it does or doesn't see it as Drive E doesn't change the "no disc" result within MakeMKV.

If it was a hardware drive failure I could understand that, but I am confused and confounded about the fact that CDs and DVDs continue to open and be read (and ripped)...

Anybody have any troubleshooting thoughts or opinions on what's wrong and why I can't get MakeMKV to "see" Blu Rays (4K UHD and other)?

[Billycar11]

The drive has separate lasers for Blu-ray and dvd/cd
So your Blu-ray laser is either dead or dirty

[psuKinger]

The drive has separate lasers for Blu-ray and dvd/cd
So your Blu-ray laser is either dead or dirty

Hi, thanks for the response. That is my fear. I've gotten one of two different forms of feedback on this:
1) What you said above; different lasers for different tasks. Hardware failure. If so, I want/need to buy a new drive.
2) Is it possible (and if so, how likely?) that I've run into a situation where an aggressive form of anti-piracy has locked my drive, and I need a new firmware on the drive and a key to unlock? Frozen II is fairly new...

I'm currently reading up and trying to determine what drive to order if it's #1... in fact what I think i want to do is order a new drive regardless, but what I'm trying to do is determine if there's any reason to also hold onto this current drive or just discard it as permanently defunct. If you or anyone else has any thoughts or opinions on the liklihood that #2 is what has happened to me, I'd appreciate any input. In the meantime I'm perusing various threads on drive recommendations...