Hardware Looking for LG old firmwares for 4K disc read/play

[Little fruit fly]

Screw LG for preying on uninformed like me.

After updated the firmware to 1.02 for my BE16NU50 from 1.01, it doesn't read/play 4K BD disc any more. LG doesn't have 1.01 on its website to downgrade.

Any brother or sister who happens to own BE16NU50 can you please dump the 1.01 and send it to me or post it somewhere? There is an utility called WinBinFlash I heard can dump and flash firmware; I am looking for it too.

Also looking for firmware version 1.02 for WH16NS40 and BH16NS40. Yeah, I got too much time on hand to goof around this weekend, totally regret updating the firmware for all my BD drives.

[signals]

Correct, it will not. If you have a working firmware, do not ever update it. Just having the 1.01 firmware will not help--to reflash the drive, the firmware needs to contain the drive's digital signature, which a downloaded firmware will not have. The clean 1.01 firmware you have can be modified to include your drive's data, but obtaining it, modifying the firmware file and then reflashing it to your drive is a process not far from voodoo that few would undertake. One wrong step and you may have a doorstop. If you search on ebay you can find some that offer to take your drive and revert the firmware for a price but it may involve international shipping depending on your location. And don't be too mad at LG (except for not warning you that the update removed capabilities), It would not surprise me to learn they had been threatened with legal action by the studio devils if they failed to do this.

[cholla]

I will start with echoing signals advice.
Flashing the firmware incorrectly can "brick" your drive.
You shouldn't use the dump from another drive if you can avoid it.
The reason is the bus encryption & the correct laser calibration data and it is
specific for each drive.
However Little fruit fly has already flashed the BE16NU50 with the updated firmware.

I don't have a BE16NU50 but I have downgraded a WH16NS40 & a BH16NS55 successfully.
You need to check & make sure the procedure is the same for the BH16NS55 as the WH16NS40 & BH16NS55.
Another thing you need to check is for SVC Code NS50 on the WH16NS40 & BH16NS40.
The procedure won't work for a SVC Code NS40 .

Next you need a computer that you can set the BIOS to "Legacy" , "IDE" , or "ATA" .
Then test to see if the DOSFlash on a bootable USB flash drive will boot to DOS.
At that point you can do the read or "dump" with DOSFlash.exe .
It won't change anything on your drives to do that.
If that works then you should be able to do the rest.

Follow the guide here:

https://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=17058

This is the one I used.
I used the :
Steps for dumping firmware : (DOS Method)
Steps for importing data from backup firmwares : (Hex Editing)
Steps for flashing firmware : (DOSFLASH modified method)

These are not my work but they worked for my drives.

You might be able to use them for correcting the 1.02 firmware you flashed to the BE16NU50.
The HEX edit might correct the 1.02 firmware back to 1.01 .
I have no way to test this.Do this to the BE16NU50 at your own risk.

For the drives I did the procedure worked correctly.
I can view & play a 4K UHD BD disc .

Good luck if you decide to try this,

[Little fruit fly]

Correct, it will not. If you have a working firmware, do not ever update it. Just having the 1.01 firmware will not help--to reflash the drive, the firmware needs to contain the drive's digital signature, which a downloaded firmware will not have. The clean 1.01 firmware you have can be modified to include your drive's data, but obtaining it, modifying the firmware file and then reflashing it to your drive is a process not far from voodoo that few would undertake. One wrong step and you may have a doorstop. If you search on ebay you can find some that offer to take your drive and revert the firmware for a price but it may involve international shipping depending on your location. And don't be too mad at LG (except for not warning you that the update removed capabilities), It would not surprise me to learn they had been threatened with legal action by the studio devils if they failed to do this.

Thanks for the advice, but it is too late, all my drives (BE16NU50, WH16NS40 and BH16NS40) are updated without backing up the original firmware first.

[fengtao]

There is no easy way to downgrade firmware, but we are trying to find a solution to make it happen, please be patient.

[signals]

The Boss has spoken, keep hope alive.

[Little fruit fly]

I will start with echoing signals advice.
Flashing the firmware incorrectly can "brick" your drive.
You shouldn't use the dump from another drive if you can avoid it.
The reason is the bus encryption & the correct laser calibration data and it is
specific for each drive.
However Little fruit fly has already flashed the BE16NU50 with the updated firmware.

I don't have a BE16NU50 but I have downgraded a WH16NS40 & a BH16NS55 successfully.
You need to check & make sure the procedure is the same for the BH16NS55 as the WH16NS40 & BH16NS55.
Another thing you need to check is for SVC Code NS50 on the WH16NS40 & BH16NS40.
The procedure won't work for a SVC Code NS40 .

Next you need a computer that you can set the BIOS to "Legacy" , "IDE" , or "ATA" .
Then test to see if the DOSFlash on a bootable USB flash drive will boot to DOS.
At that point you can do the read or "dump" with DOSFlash.exe .
It won't change anything on your drives to do that.
If that works then you should be able to do the rest.

Follow the guide here:

https://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=17058

This is the one I used.
I used the :
Steps for dumping firmware : (DOS Method)
Steps for importing data from backup firmwares : (Hex Editing)
Steps for flashing firmware : (DOSFLASH modified method)

These are not my work but they worked for my drives.

You might be able to use them for correcting the 1.02 firmware you flashed to the BE16NU50.
The HEX edit might correct the 1.02 firmware back to 1.01 .
I have no way to test this.Do this to the BE16NU50 at your own risk.

For the drives I did the procedure worked correctly.
I can view & play a 4K UHD BD disc .

Good luck if you decide to try this,

Thanks, Bro!

I am ready to give the guide a try. But it is a little confusing since it offers many methods/choices.
For the methods you followed:
"Steps for dumping firmware : (DOS Method)
Steps for importing data from backup firmwares : (Hex Editing)
Steps for flashing firmware : (DOSFLASH modified method)"

1)the first step is for dumping the upgraded firmware, right? I don't have the original or backup of the old.
2)the step is to modify or downgrade the dumped firmware from step 1, right?
3)flash the downgraded firmware?


These are my systems/setup, which method in your opinion would be the easiest for me.

I have BE16NU50, WH16NS40 and BH16NS40, I probably try WH16NS40 first as I have 3 of them. All my drives are SVC Code NS50, made after 2015. And I have no firmware backup from the originals; so obviously I would need to dump and modify to downgrade what is on the drive now.

1) How to set the BIOS to "Legacy" , "IDE" , or "ATA"? from UEFI or BIOS? which one is better?

2)Windows XP running on Dell Dimension 2400, pentium 4, PATA interface only, no SATA, I use a PATA to SATA adapter for a SATA SSD drive to speed thing up. I would need to use another PATA to SATA adapter for the WH16NS40 for this. (2004 or earlier)
3)i7 6700k running on MSI Pro Series motherboard, Z270 chipset, Win 10. (2017)
4)i7 7700k running on Asus Z170 Premium motherboard, Win 10. (2016)
5)HP Elite, i7 870, SATA interface, Win 7. (2010 or 11)
6)out of state not here at the moment, Dell Inspiron,SATA interface, Intel QX9650 quad core running Win 7, (maybe 2009)

Ideally I want to try this with 2) and 3) above since they are my spares. I also have external enclosure, USB to SATA drive.

[Little fruit fly]

There is no easy way to downgrade firmware, but we are trying to find a solution to make it happen, please be patient.

THANK YOU, big BOSS/BRO!

[cholla]

@ Little fruit fly, I have only done this procedure to two drives but both worked afterwards.
Which is why I linked you to one of the people that developed the procedure.
I will help if I can .

Again I don't know if this works on a BE16NU50. You need to research that.
The WH16NS40 and BH16NS40 are the same drive the difference is B came with software.

To answer your questions:
1.The first step is to dump the upgraded firmware that is on the drive.
If you check in Device Manager it should show that the drive is now a v 1.03 .
The drives I did were v 1.03 when I bought them.
This is why I believe the procedure should work on the drives you upgraded.
2. Yes this is where you use a hex editor to copy the sections listed in the guide from the v 1.03 firmware & paste them into the patched firmware that matches your drive.
You will get the patched firmware from the "Clean_NS50_compatible_firmwares".
I used v 1.02 for the drives I flashed.
This is what matches the patched firmware to your specific drive.
The bus encryption & the correct laser calibration data
3. This is the write or flash of the patched (downgraded) firmware now specific to your drive.
Doing the Hex edit yourself keeps you from needing to do step 8 in the guide.
I don't know if TeddyRaspin is doing this for people any longer

To do the procedure correctly you need to do this for each drive.

Second set of answers:
Before I start the procedure doesn't work:
From a UEFI system.
From a ACHI system.
Except for using the hex editor the version of Windows shouldn't matter when using the DOS methods because all this is done outside of Windows.
Rufus is also done inside Windows but should work with most if not all versions of Windows.

1. It depends on the computer which of these "Legacy" , "IDE" , or "ATA" are correct.
On the Dell Optiplex I used ATA was the correct setting.
The way to test if you have chosen the correct one you need to boot from the bootable USB flash drive.
You need to set your "BIOS" boot order to boot first from a USB drive.
Then try to "Read" the firmware.
As the guide I linked states this may take several attempts.
Make sure your drive is the one listed.
In my case this was 3 attempts before the "Read" was correctly matched.
If it shows "unknown" for the drive enter a false number & this will start back to where you try the read again.
I know that last sentence is a bit confusing but you will understand when doing the procedure.
As long as the "Read" attempt works you have the BIOS set correctly.
(make note of the way you normally have your BIOS set so you can change it back.
2. There are some side notes for which computer.
The procedure won't work from an External Enclosue.
I haven't tried a PATA to SATA adapter for the procedure but I would try not to.
The PATA to SATA adapter probably has some chipset & that might cause a problem.
I believe this answers which computer as best as I can.

You need a computer that has a BIOS that will allow the bootable USB flash drive to work.
When doing this you need all SATA drives unplugged from the motherboard except the optical drive you are flashing.
That optical drive needs to be plugged into the main 1 SATA usually.
That is probably the SATA jack your main OS hard drive is now plugged into.
You will need these:

https://www99.zippyshare.com/v/k7ZbMprP/file.html

https://www.makemkv.com/forum/downlo...88dae657ccfcbd

Other than a Hex editor & Rufus(To create a bootable flash drive) I don't believe you will need anything else.
There are trials of paid Hex editors you can use.
I used this freeware Hex editor portable version:

https://mh-nexus.de/downloads/HxDen.zip

This is for Rufus:

https://rufus.ie/en_IE.html

I would have posted them as an attachment here but they are larger than allowed on this forum

I hope I have stayed within forum rules as DVDFab doesn't sell any of the software like what I linked.

[Little fruit fly]

Thanks for all the helps/suggestions/links, Bro Cholla!

After making pretty much all the mistakes anyone could make, I finally got 2 drives downgraded to WH16NS40 1.02 from the 1.03 upgrade from LG's website, but still none can read BD disc with DVDFab 10, burned single and double layer discs fine. Both drives are clearly "SVC Code:NS50". After the earlier mistakes, I think I have the whole process streamlined and correct. It helps to have at least 2 computers for this, use the old computer with IDE support to dump/flash the firmware and the newer computer to download tools and edit/modify the downgrade firmware and testing the downgraded drive. Z170 and Z270 motherboards support only RAID and AHCI at least for my ASUS Premium Z170 and MSI Z270 SLI Plus motherboards.

For those who want to try it, don't bother with the Win 7 method as it simply doesn't work/read/detect the drive, stick with the DOS method. Disconnect all SDD/HDs/CD/DVD/other BD drives and connect primary master channel, the 1st one or SATA0 to save yourself a lot of headaches. When DOSFLASH prompts for "the relative number of the detected device", enter '0'. Occasionally when DOSFLASH fails, enter 'N' to not resend/retry as it would hang, and simply type DOSFLASH to start all over again.

I think this mod should work but the firmwares from LG's website messed things up.

[october262]

hmm, I clicked Post Reply once, why 4 of the same posts??

did you see this - https://www.myce.com/news/user-posts...ebadges-83379/
and this - https://www.myce.com/news/user-posts...y-discs-83372/

[cholla]

@ Little fruit fly,
I don't have DVDFab for BD so I can't check to see if it will read BD discs.
I have Passkey for BD & DVD so I can take a look with it & see what it detects.
I can view UHD BD discs in Windows Explorer.
I can play them using a media player that can play them.
Playing them is the main reason I did the downgrade.
I will test later today & see how Passkey does with a UHD BD.
The instructions I gave said to disconnect all other drives.
I beiieve I wrote SATA but that is usually all the drives are now.
But yes a very necessary step

@ october262,
I also read the topics at myce.
Their main focus was on doing the downgrade from inside Windows.
If that works for anyone that's fine with me.
I prefer to use the DOS method.
I also believe the Hex edit to match the downgrade to a specific drive works better.

[signals]

I think this has run its course, so the thread will be closed. As Fengtao noted above, DVDFab is working on a more realistic solution.