LG WH16NS40

[tensign]

Hey guys & Gals

I have been looking at the hardware on the LG Drives WH16NS40 WH14NS40 ,WH16NS50 , wh16ns60. It Seems all the hardware chips laser have the same Codes.
So would this mean that you could convert a low end cheap drive as in WH16NS40 to the wh16ns60 UHD Just by using a Firmware Drive platform MT1959 ?

[Billycar11]

Yes kind of
You wont gain official UHD support though
All this is posted in the uhd guide from me in the uhd section

[tensign]

Yes kind of
You wont gain official UHD support though
All this is posted in the uhd guide from me in the uhd section

Love This software, also bought a Lic

[zimberto]

Hey guys & Gals

I have been looking at the hardware on the LG Drives WH16NS40 WH14NS40 ,WH16NS50 , wh16ns60. It Seems all the hardware chips laser have the same Codes.
So would this mean that you could convert a low end cheap drive as in WH16NS40 to the wh16ns60 UHD Just by using a Firmware Drive platform MT1959 ?

My guess is that WH16NS40 --> WH16NS60 is probably OK, but my experience is that WH14NS40 --> WH16NS60 is probably not.

[Billycar11]

Hey guys & Gals

I have been looking at the hardware on the LG Drives WH16NS40 WH14NS40 ,WH16NS50 , wh16ns60. It Seems all the hardware chips laser have the same Codes.
So would this mean that you could convert a low end cheap drive as in WH16NS40 to the wh16ns60 UHD Just by using a Firmware Drive platform MT1959 ?

My guess is that WH16NS40 --> WH16NS60 is probably OK, but my experience is that WH14NS40 --> WH16NS60 is probably not.

wrong WH14NS40 can go to WH16NS60 no problem if it is 2015 plus and MT1959 please dont spread wrong info

[zimberto]

Hey guys & Gals

I have been looking at the hardware on the LG Drives WH16NS40 WH14NS40 ,WH16NS50 , wh16ns60. It Seems all the hardware chips laser have the same Codes.
So would this mean that you could convert a low end cheap drive as in WH16NS40 to the wh16ns60 UHD Just by using a Firmware Drive platform MT1959 ?

My guess is that WH16NS40 --> WH16NS60 is probably OK, but my experience is that WH14NS40 --> WH16NS60 is probably not.

wrong WH14NS40 can go to WH16NS60 no problem if it is 2015 plus and MT1959 please dont spread wrong info

My experience is not wrong. The WH16NS60 1.02 MK firmware on my new WH14NS40 (v1.04, manufactured 2020/02, SVC: NS50) resulted in UHD rips with lots of errors. Switching to the WH14NS40 v1.04 MK firmware resulted in 100% clean rips. Did I do something wrong with the WH16NS60 firmware?

[Billycar11]

My experience is not wrong. The WH16NS60 1.02 MK firmware on my new WH14NS40 (v1.04, manufactured 2020/02, SVC: NS50) resulted in UHD rips with lots of errors. Switching to the WH14NS40 v1.04 MK firmware resulted in 100% clean rips. Did I do something wrong with the WH16NS60 firmware?

it is wrong your drive or disc is defective i have flashed 100s of WH14NS40 to WH16NS60 with no read errors
and defective drives are not uncommon i have gotten 50+ defective lg and asus desktop drives
swapped to slims only now only 1 bad out of 150+

[zimberto]

My experience is not wrong. The WH16NS60 1.02 MK firmware on my new WH14NS40 (v1.04, manufactured 2020/02, SVC: NS50) resulted in UHD rips with lots of errors. Switching to the WH14NS40 v1.04 MK firmware resulted in 100% clean rips. Did I do something wrong with the WH16NS60 firmware?

it is wrong your drive or disc is defective i have flashed 100s of WH14NS40 to WH16NS60 with no read errors
and defective drives are not uncommon i have gotten 50+ defective lg and asus desktop drives
swapped to slims only now only 1 bad out of 150+

I don't see how it is defective if it performs perfectly with the correct firmware. You can't put super-charged firmware in a bog standard drive and say that the drive is defective if it misses a beat. Doesn't seem fair. And based on both our experiences it would seem that the best advice for the average user is to use the same model/version firmware . If people want to try the super-charger then that's their choice but they should understand that they may have one of those "defective" drives.

Good to know about the slims.

[Billycar11]

I don't see how it is defective if it performs perfectly with the correct firmware. You can't put super-charged firmware in a bog standard drive and say that the drive is defective if it misses a beat. Doesn't seem fair. And based on both our experiences it would seem that the best advice for the average user is to use the same model/version firmware . If people want to try the super-charger then that's their choice but they should understand that they may have one of those "defective" drives.

Good to know about the slims.

i went down the firmware rabbit hole thinking the same thing maybe this drive just cant have this fw flashed back to other fw it would always fail after a disc or 2 again.
and to boot the overwhelming majority of my defective drives were the ASUS BW-16D1HT and LG WH16NS60 and these were on their own firmware i had very few defective WH14NS40s flashed to WH16NS60 and all of the defect ones were defective back on the original stuff to.

[zimberto]

I'll take your word for it. It sounds like you wouldn't want to use some of those drives for data backup using BD-XL discs.

BTW I got this drive from Amazon Warehouse. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a return from a firmware hacker who wasn't happy with its performance. That said, it seems to be working perfectly fine so I'll be keeping it.

[tensign]

Just to clear things up.. I bought 1 of each drive and when I took them apart the controller on the PCB are the same Revision. I have also Replaced a laser from AliExpress with the near or close to the same part number. I used to Hack xbox 360 drives using Via chipset when backing up the DVD Discs

[zimberto]

Just to clear things up.. I bought 1 of each drive and when I took them apart the controller on the PCB are the same Revision. I have also Replaced a laser from AliExpress with the near or close to the same part number. I used to Hack xbox 360 drives using Via chipset when backing up the DVD Discs

I'm not sure I'm clear. So...

You bought a WH16NS40 and a WH16NS60 and opened both of them. You confirmed that the controller boards were the same but the lasers were different. You replaced the laser in the WH16NS40 with one similar to the one in the WH16NS60. Have I got that right? I don't understand why you did this. I assume you broke the warranty seal on the WH16NS60 so returning it is not really an option so you're out the cost of that anyway. You also replaced the laser when that probably wasn't necessary. You could have bought just the WH16NS40 and flashed it to a WH16NS60 and been done. Am I missing something?

[tensign]

the laser was burnt. So I replaced with the same product Line LG WH14NS40, To a WH16NS40, you can find replacement at Aliexpress China. The PCB Mainboard Controller on the drive is the same on all the products. Just Flash the firmware to make it WH16NS60.
The Replacement Laser was only 20.00 USD with shipping it takes 2 to 3 weeks china post. And the funny part is there OEM Drives with no warranty stickers, You can find the drives at Newegg.com

[Coopervid]

Can you provide a link to buy the laser unit? My LG BH16NS55 has most likely a dead one. Worked till the end , flashing is possible but doesn't read any CD / DVD /BD.

[ZoeyMithra]

Hi, a little late to the party, but enthusiastic none the less.

I have a Product: BD-RE WH16NS40 Revision: 1.03 in a Vantec NST-536S3-BK case. It's definitely Drive platform: MT1959, and I confirmed made in 2018. I've been running it for years on MakeMkv 1.12 (Register'd and proudly paid for) but last week it got grumpy on a new Blu-Ray. I updated to MakeMkv 1.15.bla-latest, and it seems to be running fine again. But I thought hey, maybe I should flash it so it can do LibreDrive stuff.

I did a bunch of reading on the forums, and it seems like the current Mk firmware for a WH16NS40 is HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS40-NS50-1.05-NM00900-212005061440, Found in the mk-firmware-pack-20200720, however I could also go to DE_flash_HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_WH16NS40_1.02_NS50 and then to DE_LG WH16NS60_1.00, so I'm trying to figure out what the best path to take is. There was a thread about a WH16NHS40 on 1.04 that required a side-flash to Asus to be then down-gradable , but I'm not sure if I'm in that boat or not. I know I read something about a 1.03 version being a special case, but that may have been a BU drive, and I can't remember where I read it.

Any words of experience will be cherished, and appreciated.

MakeMkv has this to say about the drive;

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible (with patched firmware)
Drive platform: MT1959
Harware support: Yes
Firmware support: No
Firmware type: Original (patched version available)
Firmware version: 1.03
DVD all regions: Possible (with patched firmware)
BD raw data read: Possible (with patched firmware)
BD raw metadata read: Possible (with patched firmware)
Unrestricted read speed: Possible (with patched firmware)

So it seems like I'm in the game, but my actual path seems murky. Perhaps I read too forum posts. Heh. ;___;

-Zoey