How to downflash ASUS BW-16D1HT on macOS?

[ShortKatz]

Hi all,
today I received my new ASUS BW-16D1HT drive. It is listed as good drive for UHD. But it does not accept any of my UHD blurays. I found out in this forum my firmware 3.03d might me the reason and its better to downflash to firmware 3.02. I found a lot of steps to do so for Windows. But I have a MacBook with macOS. Can anyone help me on how to downflash my ASUS BW-16D1HT on macOS? Thanks!

[SamuriHL]

There's no getting around the fact that it's going to have to be done in Windows. A Windows VM is probably the easiest way.

http://osxdaily.com/2015/03/25/install- ... lbox-os-x/

That should give you an idea of what it takes to get one set up. Then you can run the firmware tool, select the 3.02 image for your drive, and downgrade it.

[ShortKatz]

Thank you for your reply. I once installed Windows 10 via Virtual Box on my Mac. Which worked. Not perfect, but it worked. There are different methods in this forum for downflashing a drive, but I think in a VR this method seems the best: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18873
So, the plan so far:
- I install Virtual Box on my MacBook
- I install Windows (which version??) on Virtual Box
- I connect the drive via USB to my Mac
- I flash the drive back to 3.02 via this method: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18873

You think this could work? In some tutorials it is recommended to remove the internal drive, which I can not do on my MacBook. Would this be a problem? Which version of Windows is recommended?

[MartyMcNuts]

Or maybe get someone with windows to create a Windows PE USB stick with the required flasher + firmware and boot from that?

[SamuriHL]

Or maybe get someone with windows to create a Windows PE USB stick with the required flasher + firmware and boot from that?

I looked at that as an option for them cause I thought the same thing but that appears to require bootcamp stuff.

[MartyMcNuts]

Or maybe get someone with windows to create a Windows PE USB stick with the required flasher + firmware and boot from that?

I looked at that as an option for them cause I thought the same thing but that appears to require bootcamp stuff.

Fair enough. I don't really know much about MacOS. I had an iphone years ago (which was crap!) but now I try to steer clear of Apple products! Far too many restrictions for my liking...

[SamuriHL]

Right there with you but I did a little research to see what options they had. Vm seems to be the easiest which is counter intuitive for us. I'd have thought winpe too.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[ShortKatz]

Thanks all for your help. I can report back, that the method was working and I currently backing up my first UHD Blu-Ray in MakeMKV on my Mac.
For anyone else having the same issue. This is how I downflashed my drive on macOS.

1. Download VirtualBox and install it on macOS
2. Download the "VirtualBox Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack" and install it as well
3. Start VB and create a new machine, Win10 64 bit
4. Open the setting of the new machine, go to the USB setting and set them to USB 3.
4. From Microsoft download the Win10 x64 ISO
5. Start your virtual machine, select the Win10 x64 ISO as your install CD and follow the instructions to install Win10. I used the offline install method.
6. On your new Windows installation open Edge and download all needed things for this method: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18873
7. Connect the Blu-ray drive to the Mac. In Virtual Box, check that it is recognized (it needs to be black and not greyed out if you click on the USB symbol of Virtual Box). If it is not recognized you can try to add the drive with the "+" symbol.
8. Follow the steps from viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18873
9. Shut down Windows and Virtual Box
10. Start MakeMKV on your Mac to see if the drive is now working as expected.

[SamuriHL]

Hey that's awesome! Glad you got it to work!

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[MartyMcNuts]

That's fantastic news! Glad it's working for you and thanks for providing the info on what to do. I'm sure there are others with macOS that would need this info.

[bachelorbob]

6. On your new Windows installation open Edge and download all needed things for this method: https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=18873

There is nothing in the linked thread about "Edge." What is that "method?"

[dcoke22]

There is nothing in the linked thread about "Edge." What is that "method?"

Edge is the name of Microsoft's web browser. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge

[bachelorbob]

I successfully flashed a BU40N on a MacBook Pro (OS X.13.6) in an external enclosure down to firmware 1.00 (*without* a VM, Windows, etc.). You can read about it, starting at about post #25 here:

https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 3&start=17