Help an idiot with a 1st gen WH14NS40

[dekedubya]

You cannot use the windows flashers to recover this drive. You must use dosflash which is on the recovery image. Download the recover iso and use rufus to write it to a USB thumbdrive.

Your PC needs to be in IDE mode (and drive connected to SATA port 0 or 1) to be able to use dosflash. No IDE mode means no drive recovery.
[/quote]

Even using these steps, the drive is not being recognized, most likely a complete brick, another hard-
school lesson learned-will have to get a new or used one as others are & do the downgrade steps, but CAREFULLY! Thanks.
[/quote]
UPDATE!!
After some diligent searching I found an eBay seller who mentioned the details of the UHD issue because it is what he specializes in, & then some!

I purchased one of this sellers' modified LGWH14NS40 burners, & as promised it works perfectly on my laptop connected by my Vantec Nextstar USB Enclosure, though I have no interest in 4K Blu Ray discs as I don't own any; salvaging my damaged regular Blu-Ray movie discs, & the ability to burn BD-RE discs on my windows, were my only intentions.

Since this new modified drive worked for me IF allowed, I am sharing the U.S. eBay seller's description with the link below the line in quotes (go to the link for described pics), to help other U.S. forum "idiots" who made the same mistake I did, resulting in an extra softbricked LG drive I now have serving as a paperweight!

I should note, that I know nothing about this seller other than what info is listed on eBay, or if the seller is/was ever affilated with this forum, but I can confirm the unit I got from this seller WORKS, & all of the downgrading work has been done for the customer, making it worth the extra investment & slightly higher price for it being an otherwise "bare drive". And if you go to the link as a logged in buyer you will see that the seller is "top rated" at 100%.
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Modified LGWH14NS40 listing by eBay seller phightinphan
(as of 9-14-20)

[/b] https://www.ebay.com/ipp/224102432739?t ... 675.l48352

"Brand new LG WH14NS40 that came from the factory with firmware 1.03 or 1.04, depending on date of manufacture. With 1.03 or 1.04 installed, these drives are not able to read a 4K disc, developed in an effort to further the anti-piracy movement. I have changed the firmware to that of the LG WH16NS40 version 1.02, the last stable version that makes these drives capable of reading 4K discs.

This drive will function as a regular WH14NS40 would. What makes my drive special is additionally it will READ a 4K disc, guaranteed. 4K was developed around anti-piracy, so PLAYING a 4K disc on your PC has a huge list of requirements. This is only one piece of the 4K chain. I CANNOT guarantee you will be able to plug this in and play a 4K disc on your PC. It will, however, READ a 4K disc. Therefore, with additional software (NOT included in this auction), this drive can provide you options to decrypt, rip, burn, copy, etc, giving the potential to change a 4K disc to a playable file format. Additionally, "official UHD" drives now come with a firmware installed that make them incompatible with copying software. You CANNOT just go out and buy a 4K drive and start ripping files! The ONLY solution is to have a drive like this that is "UHD friendly".

Works with DeUHD, DVDFab UHD, AnyDVD HD & MakeMKV (LibreDrive enabled). Reads 3D Blu-Ray. Works with BDXL. Compatible with Windows and Mac.

Pic #2 proves the drive reads a 4K disc. It shows the LG drive set as Drive K. Note the movie title and the size of the disc at 53.9GB, regular blu rays max out at 50GB. (PLEASE NOTE, the 4K movie pictured here is NOT included in this auction!)

Pic #3 shows the hardware IDs in My Computer showing the current firmware installed, firmware 1.02.

All drives are brand new and tested for 4K compatibility after the firmware has been changed. This drive has been removed from original packaging once, hooked to my PC to change the firmware, tested by inserting a 4K disc, and back in the original packaging. Other than that, it is absolutely brand new. The optical drive is the only item included in this listing. No additional cables, software, or mounting hardware is included.

Due to the nature of this listing, I guarantee the drive not to be DOA, that it will function as a regular WH14NS40 would, and additionally read 4K discs. Otherwise no returns are accepted. All drives are carefully packed to ensure safe arrival. In the unlikely event you should receive a damaged or defective drive (again, ALL drives are tested after changing firmware), a replacement drive will be sent in it's place.
Please note although I have multiple drives in this listing they are sold individually, as each, and the price listed is for ONE (1) drive.

Beware of newbies on here listing UHD friendly drives. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I am EXTREMELY flattered. Others love to copy my ideas and my listing, sometimes word for word. Rest assured, I am the original, trusted UHD friendly drive seller on eBay and have the history and feedback to prove it - no one else can back that statement up like I can. I am the ONLY Top Rated UHD seller and the ONLY UHD seller with 1,000+ feedback. I have been modifying and selling UHD drives since April, 2018 and have sold over 800 UHD friendly drives. Please take the time to read my feedback, I take great pride in what I sell. I have seen it all and done it all in the UHD friendly drive world!

I ship FAST, sometimes same day, usually within 1 business day. By this I mean your item will be dropped off at the shipping facility within this time frame. Additionally, your bid will be a confident one as I am an eBay member for over 20 years and have a 100% positive feedback score since day one. [/b]

Free priority shipping to the lower 48 states only. Feel free to contact me for a quote otherwise, or with any additional questions.

Thank you for reading and best of luck to you!!" [/b]

[Billycar11]

Beware of newbies on here listing UHD friendly drives.

just saying me marty and alex were here helping far more people then he ever has and he probably used firmware or flashers made by marty or me at some point.
just saying we sell the drives here to so do consider us

[lucbm]

I am trying to recover my WH14NS40 drive after updating with NS50 firmware. However, when I use the EEPROM DATA MOVER, the message "incorrect firmware file" appears. No matter what I do, it always shows the same error message. Any suggestion?

[st4evr]

I am trying to recover my WH14NS40 drive after updating with NS50 firmware. However, when I use the EEPROM DATA MOVER, the message "incorrect firmware file" appears. No matter what I do, it always shows the same error message. Any suggestion?

Have you by any chance already tried the recovery mode found in the SDFTool as also discussed and linked in the following thread?

https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... ked#p99438

And as it’s also advised there, be sure to take the time to carefully read the instructions to possibly avoid further breaking/bricking your drive and leave it completely unfixable. If that tool nor the DOS flashing method works, then in fact it may be too late and you should just move on and buy a new drive.

[lucbm]

My drive is recognized by the applications. I can read, erase and write firmware. However, the firmware extracted from the unit always gives the error message on the EEPROM DATA MOVER: incorrect firmware file !!!

[MartyMcNuts]

My drive is recognized by the applications. I can read, erase and write firmware. However, the firmware extracted from the unit always gives the error message on the EEPROM DATA MOVER: incorrect firmware file !!!

What did you use to extract your current firmware and can you tell us the size of the output file.

[jonghotti]

Beware of newbies on here listing UHD friendly drives.

just saying me marty and alex were here helping far more people then he ever has and he probably used firmware or flashers made by marty or me at some point.
just saying we sell the drives here to so do consider us

What did I miss?

[lucbm]

My drive is recognized by the applications. I can read, erase and write firmware. However, the firmware extracted from the unit always gives the error message on the EEPROM DATA MOVER: incorrect firmware file !!!

What did you use to extract your current firmware and can you tell us the size of the output file.

I used 2 applications: dosflash32 and sdftool flasher.
Both firmwares had an error in the EEPROM Data Mover.
Output file size: both 2048 kb, but generated different files.

[MartyMcNuts]

My drive is recognized by the applications. I can read, erase and write firmware. However, the firmware extracted from the unit always gives the error message on the EEPROM DATA MOVER: incorrect firmware file !!!

What did you use to extract your current firmware and can you tell us the size of the output file.

I used 2 applications: dosflash32 and sdftool flasher.
Both firmwares had an error in the EEPROM Data Mover.
Output file size: both 2048 kb, but generated different files.

You're the first person I've ever heard of that is having trouble with EEPROM data mover!!

Ok, don't use the file from sdftool with eeprom data mover. Only use the dosflash one. Also, when using eeprom data mover, are you selecting the 2 files the right way around?

[lucbm]

What did you use to extract your current firmware and can you tell us the size of the output file.

I used 2 applications: dosflash32 and sdftool flasher.
Both firmwares had an error in the EEPROM Data Mover.
Output file size: both 2048 kb, but generated different files.

You're the first person I've ever heard of that is having trouble with EEPROM data mover!!

Ok, don't use the file from sdftool with eeprom data mover. Only use the dosflash one. Also, when using eeprom data mover, are you selecting the 2 files the right way around?

In fact, I cannot continue the process, as the first file requested is the extracted firmware.
The error message appears and I cannot proceed.
I believe my driver is dead.

Sorry for English...

[jonghotti]

Beware of newbies on here listing UHD friendly drives.

just saying me marty and alex were here helping far more people then he ever has and he probably used firmware or flashers made by marty or me at some point.
just saying we sell the drives here to so do consider us

Yes I'm not sure why it was necessary to paste that guy's drivel here.

[cruissoi]

Hi guys,

I have been catching up on this forum left and right.. the reason I ended up here will be interesting/funny to some of you specially those who helped the original OP deal with his semi-bricked drive...

Comes out that LG's support site, actually does not specify whether a firmware update is for the old revision or the new revision of the WH14NS40...
I had been using my old revision drive for a long time with a mac with an external enclosure (I know i know.... ) and honestly had not gotten into the UHDs yet. I recently built a PC after more than 2 decades of being off windows... naively I went ahead and updated the firmware thinking it would make the drive work better with windows 10. So basically I updated using THEIR firmware updater to version 1.05 (this one: https://gscs-b2c.lge.com/downloadFile?f ... Ide9MsXnSA) found in this page: https://www.lg.com/us/support/software- ... 40.AUSU10B and ended up bricking my drive because that firmware is for the new revision of the drive (NS50). I am not sure what can be done here... Obviously the procedure outlined here using dosflash will probably work. My problem is that my new PC's box doesn't have a drive bay and this procedure requires connecting the drive internally through SATA in IDE mode, so this is more trouble than I want to deal with right now... I will just buy another drive, but I thought it would be worth while telling the story and perhaps maybe finding a way to warn others with old drives NOT TO UPDATE the firmware from LG's website....

Thanks guys

[jonghotti]

Yeah it sort of goes without saying that no one from this site should be going to either ASUS or LG's website for anything firmware related...

[ametalslimedrawsnear]

I too made the mistake of updating my drive with the official firmware from the LG site (for the older drive). It was not until after doing so, that I found out about the steps on this forum (and the SVC code variations).
As the other user said, I created the USB with Rufus and had a firmware error while using the move over tool.

[brucehvn]

Count me in to that group that got suckered by the LG website. I read their readme files from top to bottom and they never mention anything about the different models. Almost like they want to forget the NS40 versions ever existed though they won't change the stupid model number. Even if they've discontinued support for the NS40s, they should at least post some kind of a warning about it.

So, in my case, I can still flash the drive successfully using makemkvcon on Linux (NS50 firmwares). Can I attempt to flash the NS40 firmware with that or do I still need to use the dosflash method? I'm trying to be very careful about my next step now that I know what happened. The drive is currently in a USB enclosure (Mercury Pro), but I could find an old computer to put it in if necessary.