LG BH16NS55 Firmware 1.04 (and possibly other new drives)

[MartyMcNuts]

Hi all,

Just a heads up. I just purchased a BH16NS55 which has a manufactured date of Feb 2019 and comes with firmware revision 1.04 installed. This firmware is nasty!

Currently unable to flash with either the modified ASUS fw changer (updating failure #4) or the LG patched flasher (write DRAM NG 05/26/03).

Also unable to use the old DOSFLASH method. (MTK Vendor Intro Failed!).

It looks like LG has managed to stop us (for now!) with firmware 1.04.

GGGRRRR.....

PS: The 1.04 firmware is not yet available on LG's website. The download is still for 1.03.

[SamuriHL]

So the games have begun huh? Let's see what Mike has to say once they make this thing available or someone figures out a way to extract the firmware. Does MakeMKV give you a discatt file for the drive? If so, you may want to send it to Mike.

[Billycar11]

Try flashing Mike's 3.10 he has the additional downgrades done in that maybe that will work and then you can put whatever firmware you want let's us know I haven't gotten any like that yet

[MartyMcNuts]

Good idea Billy!

I had tried:

LG 1.02 = failed
LG 1.03 = failed
LG 1.03-MK = failed
ASUS 3.03-MK = failed

Just grabbed the latest MK pack and tried ASUS 3.10-MK. SUCCESS!!!

Now running a UHD test to see if it works as expected.

It's a bit unfortunate that currently I am unable to extract the 1.04 firmware to look at.

[SamuriHL]

That just means it adopted the additional protection that ASUS put in 3.10 and that it's LIKELY that Mike can work around it. I wish you had been able to extract it before flashing the drive. Would have been fun to look at.

[Billycar11]

Well glad we can work around it for now thanks for the info glad I could give you ideas to try

[SamuriHL]

DEFINITELY good to be able to work around it for sure. Cause now that you have MK 3.10 you can cross flash back to 1.03 if you so desire. Which is nice.

[mike admin]

That just means it adopted the additional protection that ASUS put in 3.10 and that it's LIKELY that Mike can work around it. I wish you had been able to extract it before flashing the drive. Would have been fun to look at.

Yes, most certainly. This likely means that the dosflash code in 3.10 is disabled in the same way. Can you please try dosflash on 3.10MK and see if it fails the same way? If it does, it is only a matter of time to figure out if ATA flash access is disabled completely or just changed to be different from current dosflash.

[SamuriHL]

Yes, most certainly. This likely means that the dosflash code in 3.10 is disabled in the same way. Can you please try dosflash on 3.10MK and see if it fails the same way? If it does, it is only a matter of time to figure out if ATA flash access is disabled completely or just changed to be different from current dosflash.

Oh hell are you saying that even though he was able to flash MK 3.10 that dosflash may still be disabled? Uhhhh, Marty, maybe try to do a read with dosflash with MK 3.10 on there?? Please?

[MartyMcNuts]

I'll have a go when I get a chance.

[SamuriHL]

That would be awesome. If you can't dosflash with MK 3.10 that would rather suck. Not that we should necessarily NEED to if Mike is able to MKify the firmware, but, you know, it's nice to have the option as a backup.

[MartyMcNuts]

@mike admin, @SamuriHL,

Nope. DOSFLASH does not work with ASUS 3.10-MK. Get the same (MTK Vendor Intro Failed!) error.

[SamuriHL]

Well that rather sucks then doesn't it... I hope this isn't the start of something bad. I'm truly glad I have two drives now that both work in libre mode. Thanks for testing. Hopefully Mike has some ideas.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[TeddyRaspin]

Dosflash can be modded for specific MediaTEK chipset as well as for specific bank reading (the same for writing) and for vendor commands.

I can't find BH16NS55 device already shipped with 1.04 firmware onboard, but if someone could point me an amazon shop (in Europe) I'll buy one
to be able to extract 1.04 fw.

[MartyMcNuts]

Dosflash can be modded for specific MediaTEK chipset as well as for specific bank reading (the same for writing) and for vendor commands.

I can't find BH16NS55 device already shipped with 1.04 firmware onboard, but if someone could point me an amazon shop (in Europe) I'll buy one
to be able to extract 1.04 fw.

The firmware was released on drives from Feb 2019. Any drive with this month should be firmware 1.04. (My drive was dated 13 Feb 2019 with 1.04). You just may have to ask the seller/s before purchasing. Most PC stores should be on the newer stock by now.