[bamboo]

Ok, Had a Power outtage and my Sony UTV died i hear the drive clicking..

So this is my chance to upgrade. I know before anyone say anything, I did have it pluged in a power supply


1st: Well i've done the drive swap, i've installed the new drive and it seem to work, but while connected and downloading for the update it chockes ---- It doesn't matter where or what point the connection dies or something, i can't figure it out. So I have to start from the connection again.


2nd: NOw that said, I'm giving up on the dialup update... I found what I think is a 3.5 image which is a .bin file. 32mb file unzipped.


I've read where to start if your doing a image swap from 3.7 to 3.5, but nothing regarding just copying a 3.5 image or 3.7 image.

Can someone point me to the right direction ---- any help would greatly apricated! I Want my UTV back.


Can I just grab the 120gig drive WD i picked up, plug it in my computer and then use WinHex to transfer the image i found? Is there anything special I need to do?


I want to add, after reading more in this forum. I found my self asking what's the password all about? Does the image have a password or something? can someone explaing pls.



Thx for any help!!

 

[cyberbob25]

When you put a hard drive into your UTV, it marries it...ie, it uses ATA security to lock the hard drive with a password. This means that once a hard drive is put into a UTV, it will not work in anything else but another UTV without first being unlocked (by password). There is a utility you can download called MHD3 which can clear the security settings on a UTV locked hard drive and enable you to use it in your computer.


When you dial out for the software and you get disconnected, doe it not resume when you dial again? This is by far the easiest and most fool-proof method for getting the OS put back on your system. Sometimes, you have to move the unit next to where your phone line comes into your house to get a cleaner signal. Another option is configure your UTV to use your own dial-up ISP...just set up a free trial account at one of the many places that allow you to do so. This process is covered in detail several other places in this forum if you want to go this route.


Secondly, if you are going to use winhex to do this, unless you have good reason to be using 3.5, I would get the 3.7 image. It has many additional features and bugfixes that 3.5 doesn't, and you stand a better (albeit very slightly) chance of getting support from DirecTV. You can find this image at http://www.tivostuff.com

Quote:

Can I just grab the 120gig drive WD i picked up, plug it in my computer and then use WinHex to transfer the image i found? Is there anything special I need to do?

If the drive is brand new, then you can simply put it in your computer and copy over the OS. Just remember to unplug the drive before shutting down windows 2000 or XP. The process is the exact same for swapping the OS as it is for just copying a brand new image over. Just re-read herculito's post a few times so you get a good understand of what you are doing, and then do it. The link again is

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ight=herculito


Since you have a new drive, just skip the first part where you copy the old OS off of the drive.and zero out the hard drive, as your hard drive is already blank.

 

[lgodavid]

Hi,


RE: "power supply"


Many UPS systems offer $$$ if a device is damaged by a surge/power loss. If you willing to jump the hoops.


I would also agree you shouldn't give up on getting the download via the UTV modem.


There are various tricks to get a better Data Connection... Check the UTV FAQ for tips. CyberBob's tip of plugging into your home's telephone "test jack" might be bit extreme... but if your home's internal wires are bad the test jack allows you the best chance. (unless the line to the house isn't good either)


You might take it to another location and dial in...


Have you verified the drive is configured properly? When you do get the software installed you don't want more issues.

 

[bamboo]

Ok, I followed the instructions below:


Now that you have the file you can disconnect the drive and hook up your new drive. on the new drive select offset 0 as begining of block and 178c2fff as end of block.


From edit tab select fill file,select first option and type in 00 for hex value


(if the drive is already zeros you can skip this step)


after it zeros that chunk goto tools then disk tools then clone disk

on source file select read sectors from image file and select the file you saved from before. select your destination drive and start sector will be 631811 (this is lba 13480600 or sector 09a403 in hex...which is sector 631811 in decimal)(make sure you select copy entire source) and click ok it will write the sectors and you and the drive should be showing the data starting

at 13480600 now disconnect the drive install it in the utv plugin the power cord utv should now come up to the welcome to utv screen.


Now when I turn on UTV it tries to dialout again? and tries to download the update.


So I tried to connect to PC again, but now my pc won't detect the drive?

I tried to use Western Digital's boot disk to zero out the drive, but that won't even recognize the drive. My Bois however can see the drive..

Is there away I can restore this drive? or should I just exchange this drive since there is a warranty on it?


thx

 

[TOJOEF]

I just did my sony with a wd 120 with the jb in the model number and mine did the same thing until I took all the jumpers off the back. I had set it to master but when I took them off all worked well.

 

[bamboo]

I didn't have and don't have any jumpers on mine. I took it off priror trying for it.


Now what i did I found the MHD3 cleared out the password, but now i still can't get into the drive from the PC. I'm going to try and disconnect now and try plugging it back in the UTV.


Is there anyway to salvage this drive or am I hosed?





Update:


I plugged it back to UTV and it tried to dial out again. Now i'm confused ?

 

[cyberbob25]

Your hard drive is fine. MHD3 is a great tool, however, some people find that for some reason, it doesn't clear the security settings each and every time. I've personally had to run it on a drive 3 times before I was able to get back in the drive again.


A common method of combatting this problem which I hadn't read about before doing mine is to wait a substantial amount of time after MHD3 says it's done before powering off the PC (I can't remember the recommended period of time off-hand).


After you put the hard drive back in the UTV, what, if anything, did the lights do? Did it simply boot straight to the dial up screen? When you copied the image over to your hard drive, did you verify that the OS was indeed written to offset 13480600?


Turn the unit off (standby mode), and hit menu 3 times, then type 411...see if it tells you anything about your hard drive info.

 

[bamboo]

Q: Your hard drive is fine. MHD3 is a great tool, however, some people find that for some reason, it doesn't clear the security settings each and every time. I've personally had to run it on a drive 3 times before I was able to get back in the drive again.


A: I only ran it once, and I thought it would be ok since i left it running and came back about an hour.. I was going to run again and see what happens.

**********************************************************

Q: After you put the hard drive back in the UTV, what, if anything, did the lights do? Did it simply boot straight to the dial up screen? When you copied the image over to your hard drive, did you verify that the OS was indeed written to offset 13480600?


A: My UTV just power up like normal then the yellow led blinked and then I see the trying to connect screen comes up. Then it connect and tries to download 297 updates which would take 110 minutes ---What a joke!

To answer the second second question, No i didn't verify if it was indeed written to offset 13480600, all I did was since this was a blank drive was zero the suggest block started from the very top where I found the FSNo is at.

**********************************************************

Q: Turn the unit off (standby mode), and hit menu 3 times, then type 411...see if it tells you anything about your hard drive info.


A: I'll wait on this, i already yanked out the drive and going to try the MHD3 utility again and see... I found the other software called atapwd.exe. I'm might as well try that and see if it cracks it....


Thx for all the suggestions..

 

[cyberbob25]

If you are able to get MHD3 to work, try the procedure again. There is no need to zero out anything, as MHD3 does this automatically.


Once you are able to get back in the drive, go ahead and follow the directions again step by step, but leave out the part of zeroing out anything at all. Just start at the part where you clone the image...be sure to select the image as the source, and be sure to use the SECTOR # listed in Herculito's post for destination. After it copies over the 32 bytes, check OFFSET 13480600. This is where your OS should now be located and where you should see the FSNo.


Don't know what might have gone wrong the first time. Only thing I can suggest is try again if you don't want to go with the dial-up method. Be sure not to confuse Offsets with Sectors.

 

[bamboo]

Thx cyberbob25! I think i finally got into the drive (I think) It took 3 tries with MHD3 to unlook it.


However before i read you post to not worry about Zeroing the drive I already used WD utility to try and Zero out the drive, so i left it running while i'm at work.


Anyway quick question, Do i have to have my UTV next to me and power it up with it and then grab the IDE cable? or just plug it in my computer as a second drive? BTW It does detect on my machine as a Master secondary.

 

[cyberbob25]

You only have to swap the IDE cable if the drive is locked and you aren't using MHD3. The purpose of this method is to allow the UTV to unlock it, and then while it's unlocked (not powering it off), unplug it from the UTV (IDE only, not power) and plugging it into your computer's IDE slot. But since this is a brand new drive, and you already have it unlocked, this is unneccessary.


I forgot to mention this in my last post (I did in my first, but I'll state it again just for the record). You must unplug the hard drive from your computer before shutting down windows. Windows 2000 and xP writes a signature to the drive, which from what I've read (haven't verified that this is a problem), causes it not to work in the UTV.

 

[bamboo]

I'll review the steps again, but what i did was unplug the close winhex and all other porgrams.. and then unplug the ide cable and the power.


I think that's where i made the mistake.. I'll try agian tonight.


Thx again..

 

[bamboo]

Ok, My saga continues... So far i've done this about 3 times and everytime i've done it, well you'll get the picture..


I follow the instructions herculito and i get the same results..... My UTV dials out.


Here's the steps i've done for recap.... Since this is a new drive I select offset 0 as the biggining and end block of 178cfff as end of the block..

After that I 00 (in hex) the block.

then i go to disk tools then clone disk, I select the image i download from tivostuff it's a (bin file) then select the drive (which btw is a 120bb-00caa1)


Note: Which is weird it says it's 120, but when i see it, it reads about 170 gig...I did format it as 120 and not format it as 120 tried it ether way and got the same results.... dialing out...


Ok, after i clone the disk from image i do make sure that the starting point is at 13480600 (it states at the bottom of winhex)


Now after all these steps i've tried the following..I've close out winhex first then i've either unplug the IDE cable leaving the power cable plugged in then i've tried just shutting down via the power supply power.

I've also tried just taking out the IDE cable and the power...


What am I doing wrong here? Can someone point it out? Is there away that i'm suppose to close winhex? what i do is file then exit...


I must be missing a step that i don't know about...





Since my drive died and I don't know the exact jump point to start off is there any other jump points i should be looking for?

 

[cyberbob25]

Quote:

Note: Which is weird it says it's 120, but when i see it, it reads about 170 gig...I did format it as 120 and not format it as 120 tried it ether way and got the same results.... dialing out

What do you mean formatted it? Formatted it with what? If you are formatting it using windows (either FAT32 or NTFS), then that is your problem right there. When using Winhex, you do not need to format the drive first.

 

[bamboo]

After i run mhd3 to unlock it, my machine boots up bios sees the drive then my OS doesn't, i go to disk manager and select the drive that got then enable it so i can see the drive and so win hex...


How can WinHex or my system see the drive after unloocking it with MHD3? unless you format it?


I've read that some folks did format there drive and then followed the instructions listed and they got it to work so I tried it..

 

[cyberbob25]

If you format the drive, when you put it into your UTV, the UTV will then again format it, as it can't read the OS. It will then download the OS from the MSN servers. This is why it works for them...because they are downloading the software again.


UTV uses it's own proprietary file system and can't read FAT, and definitely not NTFS.


When using Winhex, your operating system does not need to know how to access the drive...just has to know it's there. Winhex writes to the drive at bit level, not using a file table.

 

[bamboo]

That was it, I thought the this whole time that in order for winhex to see the drive i had to have windows detect the drive..

cyberbob25 Thx for the help... I'm up and running again!!


Thx!

 

[cyberbob25]

No problem. Glad to be of help!


Can you verify, just so I know without a shadow of a doubt, that you do indeed have all UTV functionality (no demo mode problems)? I haven't seen anybody yet conclusively state that they have upgraded their hard drives with an online image and not had any problems. I expect that it works, just want to know for sure.

 

[bamboo]

Yes!! I was able to upgrade from the image found @ tivostuff.com site..


The snag i was running too the whole time is me having windows trying to recognize the drive first, I was thinking that winhex needed windows (I'm using XP) needed to be verfied first... I don't know winhex enought except the steps that was written..


The entire time that was my problem.. When I got it up and running, i verfied that I can record and play back my shows and I have both Tuners hooked up and both can record like a charm..


I did notice a difference from before, now when I power the UTV on all the lights will bling for a hot second and turn off and then I can turn the power on again. That never hand before?


Now on with the Show!! Thx again cyber for the help... I'm going to make an edit on the how to section later on this week when I have time, I might even create screen shots and post it here if the Admin won't mind it...


Oh btw, I did just one guy posted here did After I was done with winhex i closed all the app and just power off the power supply to shut the machine down.. ( I had nothing important really in my comptuer, i can always rebuild it) ;-) That's what I do best!!

 

[DigitalWeiner]

Cyberbob25 or bamboo, i have a drive that i was using in my server but now i will put it into my ULT since the HD in there is dead. I have the image file that i downloaded but what has to be down to the new drive first?


I did format through windows which i just read was the wrong thing to do what has to happen now to the drive? How do i get it ready for WinHex?


Thanks,

Dig