Hd103uj firmware

[valheren]

Hello,

I have a Samsung F1 1TB HD103UJ hdd. I have read in all kinds of forums that these drives have problems due to bad firmware's.

Since I've never been satisfied with my drive I thought I should flash the drive with a newer firmware found at DELL. It is the only downloadable firmware that I've found.

The problem is after the upgrade my bios tells me that I've got a HD753LJ @ 750GB instead of HD103UJ 1TB and my harddrive no longer operate properly (cannot read/boot from it).

Does anyone know if it's possible to roll-back the upgrade or where to find the original firmware and apply it?

/Jimmy

 

[DXRick]

Try this.

 

[valheren]

Thank you for your reply.

Sadly this file/firmware is the one that wrecked my drive. It was after I used this upgrade my hdd transformed into a hd753lj

 

[Guest]

Hey dude

Try this - Samsung HDD site...

www.samsunghdd.com

It doesn't list any firmware, but, it does list a Samsung Diagnostic/Configuration utility you can download.

Hope it helps

Rich

 

[marco324]

make an account here https://account.samsungdive.com/account/check.do or here actually
http://www.samsung.com/uk/
it's an international samsung registration doesn"t matter where your from then register your drive and then you can see if samsung has an official firmware upgrade

 

[valheren]

Rich: Thank you for taking time. Their diagnostic utility isn't helping me I'm affraid. It informs me that I've got a defect harddrive 8)

 

[valheren]

Registration at samsung didn't provide any more information/downloads
Thanks for the tip though!

I've also mailed Samsung for help but they just ask me to fill out RMA forms. I'm really losing hope...

 

[valheren]

Does anybody have a contact at samsunghdd division? Perhaps if I get in touch with the right person they might give me an original firmware for my harddrive.

 

[fzabkar]

Short answer:

If the OP is desperate, and is willing to try anything, even at the risk of losing his data, then he could try forcibly updating his drive using the 1AA17AQM.D38 firmware image.


Long answer:

I've been trying to make sense of what went wrong, so I've used a hex editor to examine the update's EXE file.

Here is a direct link:
http://ftp.dell.com/sata/R220314.exe

This is Dell's support page:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R220314&fileid=313702

The details for the update are ...

Release Date: 5/12/2009
Version: 1AC00017, A00

This firmware prevents a potential "hang" condition with the following Dell hard drives.

Samsung HD502IJ 500GB - DP/N XT518 (I = 3 heads)
Samsung HD103UJ 1TB - DP/N FY878 (U = 6 heads)

The first thing I noticed is that the HD753LJ (L = 6 heads) and HD103UJ models have the same number of heads.

The following Dell page lists the specifications for the SpinPoint F1 models that Dell supplies:

Specifications: SAMSUNG SpinPoint F1 Series Hard-Disk Drive User's Guide:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/storage/p158782/specs.htm

Description HD251HJ HD322HJ HD502IJ HD103UJ
---------------------------------------------------------------
Number of disks 1 1 2 3
Number of read/write heads 2 2 4* 6

It would appear that the HD251HJ, HD502IJ, and HD753LJ models have data densities of 250GB per platter, whereas the HD322HJ and HD103UJ appear to have 333GB per platter. This appears to account for the difference between the HD753LJ and HD103UJ, ie same number of heads, but different data density.

(* I suspect that the HD502IJ actually has 3 heads, which would give it a data density of 333GB/platter --- I = 3 heads)

FYI, I have done some investigation into Samsung's model nomenclature here:
http://forum.hddguru.com/samsung-model-numbers-t19214.html

To get an idea of how Samsung's updates work, I examined earlier Dell updates for other Samsung models, eg ...

http://ftp.dell.com/ide/R139989.EXE

The update package includes the following:

1107.EST - an encoded script file
tk09m.DN2 - the firmware image
sflash24.exe - the flash utility
UPDATE.BAT - contains the line "sflash24 /run:1107.est /auto"

Samsung's later updates appear to pack all the above files into a single EXE.

After poking about with a hex editor, I believe that the first part of the F1_FW_17.EXE file is the SFLASH executable.

Further on, we find a "header" section:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/F1_FW_17/MFLASH_H.bin

This header lists the starting offset and size of 4 embedded firmware images. I have extracted them here:

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/F1_FW_17/1AA17AQM.D11
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/F1_FW_17/1AA17AQM.D17
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/F1_FW_17/1AA17AQM.D28
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/F1_FW_17/1AA17AQM.D38

I believe that the tail end of the EXE file has an encoded script file:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/F1_FW_17/F1_FW_17.EST

Here is the embedded documentation for Samsung's SFLASH firmware update utility:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/F1_FW_17/SFLASH_Usage.txt

I believe the script file contains instructions for matching the various firmware images against the detected model numbers. Seagate also does it this way. I have managed to decipher Seagate's scripts, but I haven't been able to do the same for Samsung.

Comparing the firmware image files against Dell's table of model numbers, ISTM that the first numeric character in the Dnn file extensions indicates the number of platters for the drive to which it applies. So this would suggest that both the HD753LJ and HD103UJ models would receive the same 1AA17AQM.D38 update.

ISTM, that if the OP is desperate, and is willing to try anything, even at the risk of losing his data, then he could try forcibly updating his drive using the 1AA17AQM.D38 firmware image.

 

[fzabkar]

I should add that the script file's offset, 0x00147400, and size, 0x00000375, are stored at the start of the MFLASH header, in little endian format.

 

[valheren]

Oh my god, thank you for betting so much effort into my troubles!

After reading your input I'm not really sure how to flash my drive. I cannot get the flash utility to use the firmware file you pointed out to the most likely to work. It seems that it would need a script file.

But I'm not bright enough to use the above information and flash my drive

I'm most desperate, I'll take any chances

 

[Guest]

Hi, today i have done exactly the same thing as the thread starter... please can someone help to fix this problem, i might just end up losing years and years of family photos and data

 

[fzabkar]

I'm thinking that maybe Dell's firmware, or Dell's updater, didn't correctly identify your model, in which case it may have applied the wrong file out of the four that I extracted.

My first approach would be to create a bootable floppy or USB flash drive, and then copy only the desired files. I would also use an earlier SFLASH utility, ie one that has been separately packaged, rather than packed into a single EXE.

Copy the following files to the root directory of your USB drive:

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/F1_FW_17/1AA17AQM.D38
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/F1_FW_17/F1_FW_17.EST
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/F1_FW_17/sflash24.exe

Reconfigure the SATA controller in your BIOS for compatibility or legacy IDE mode. Install your drive on the first SATA port, and disconnect all other drives.

Boot your flash drive (promote it to the first position in the boot order), and then type the following command at the DOS prompt:

sflash24 /run:F1_FW_17.EST /auto

If the updater doesn't complain and proceeds with the update, then this would suggest that the .D38 file was selected by the script. Otherwise, if the updater complains that a particular file is missing, then you could fool it by renaming your .D38 file accordingly.

BTW, I suspect that the script file contains commands like ...

if model = x, then file = 1AA17AQM.Dnn

 

[Guest]

Thanks for a fast reply!, is your understanding that the D38 file will contain the model identification information for our drives? is the D38 the corrent one for 1TB HD103UJ drives? Thanks in advance.

 

[fzabkar]

I suspect that the "3" in the "D38" file extension indicates the number of platters.

I arrived at this conclusion by comparing the file extensions against the specs at the following page:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/storage/p158782/specs.htm

I could be wrong, though.

I also examined each firmware image for likely text strings, but every file had the same solitary reference to "HD102UJ", so this was inconclusive.

BTW, if the updater complains that it requires the D28 file, say, then you can rename your D38 file, from the DOS prompt, as follows:

ren 1AA17AQM.D38 1AA17AQM.D28

This will fool the updater into using your D38 firmware, even though it believes that your drive requires the D28 firmware.

 

[valheren]

For me it doesn't do anything. If I skip the /auto command it output a text "Error: Command fail".

It never says anything about missing files. Either it just jump back to the prompt or saying Error: Command fail.

Will this force the update upon the drive? Just wondered since my drive is named HD751LJ after earlier update from Dell.

 

[valheren]

Exact output:

C:\SFLASH24 /RUN:F1_FW_17.EST /AUTO

SFLASH Ver SF4.24

{0} [SAMSUNG HD751LJ (1AA01117)] found on Primary Master

Error : Command fail.

 

[fzabkar]

The error message is not very informative. :-(

Perhaps it fails because ...

(1) the HD751LJ model number doesn't appear in the script file, or

(2) it can't find the firmware image that it thinks it requires, or

(3) it detects that the drive's firmware is already up to date.

You could add the remaining 3 firmware images to your root directory, one at a time, and try again. That will at least eliminate (2). If the update now goes ahead, then that would suggest that the updater may be using the wrong firmware image. You will then know which file it requires, or thinks it requires. If you get this far, then delete the 3 extra files, keep the D38 file and rename it appropriately.

If the above doesn't work, then you could still forcibly update your firmware by using the "fwdownload" command option for hdparm under Linux.
http://www.unix.com/man-page/Linux/8/hdparm

Tim Small documents two successful Seagate firmware updates:
https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Talk:Known_issues

However, he cautions that "you have to be pretty sure that Linux isn't going to access the drive, or it will issue a bus reset during the firmware update process. e.g. if you need to carry out the update on a boot drive, then you could prepare the files, then reboot into single user mode, with all filesystems remounted read-only".

The man page has the following warning:

"This command (--fwdownload) is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS and HAS NEVER BEEN PROVEN TO WORK and will probably destroy both the drive and all data on it. DO NOT USE THIS COMMAND."

An alternative idea would be to use another HDD manufacturer's firmware updater (eg Seagate's SeaFlash), and force it to update the Samsung drive. SeaFlash allows you to specify the model number and firmware file. I don't know whether it will reject your Samsung drive, though. Let me know if you wish to try it.

 

[valheren]

Thanks for all your help!

Copying the other firmware files didn't help. I guess there is something wrong/not matching in the F1_FW_17.EST script file.

I've tried the seagate flash utility but I cannot make it work. It doesn't give any error messages so I'm not sure if I used it corrrectly.

I've received an answer from Samsung telling me to try a update for F3 hdd's, and one of the update files (F3EG) informs me that it has updated my firmware, but it isn't so. It still claims my hdd to be 751LJ =(

Thanks for all your support and patience, if you encounter any more tips or infos please tell me

 

[Guest]

Interesting, i wonder if updating to the F3 firmware will work for me?

 

[valheren]

After a bit of toying with Seagate's flash utility I have come so far as it tries to save the firmware to the drive, but after a while I get errors..

I tried: sf.exe -f 1aa17aqm.d38 -x -s -b -v -z -i SAMSUNG

I will work further on and see if I can get sf.exe to work with a samsung hdd

 

[Guest]

IF you get it working please post a step by step of what you did... thanks

 

[Guest]

any progress?

 

[valheren]

No. But I get no error message. Seagate's utility says "Completing firmware download" and nothing else happen.

Perhaps it will work bettter for you

It would be best to use Samsungs sflash utility with a script/est file that would identify 751LJ drive and re-program it with the firmware we have for 103UJ. But I have no idea how to alter or even read out any information from those EST files.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the update. How do i edit the EST file? or how do i read it?