Hard Drive Firmware Won't Take

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#1 Post by **shfawaz** » Sun May 30, 2004 9:46 am

I've downloaded and installed the 7k60 firmware update several times and gone thru the procedure sucessfully only to come back and find out that the firmware update did not take. I run the diskinfo utility and it says I still have the old firmware. I'm using the diskless version. Anyone have any Ideas? I have a T41 with 1.2Ghz of RAM. I'm thinking about running the disk version or removing extra memory, but don't want to go thru the trouble there is another solution.

Nabeel · #2 Post by **Nabeel** » Sun May 30, 2004 6:50 pm

Did you lower the resolution and all that stuff that it said?

#3 Post by **shfawaz** » Sun May 30, 2004 6:54 pm

Nabeel wrote:Did you lower the resolution and all that stuff that it said?

That is only required when you have less than 512Mb memory. Besides, I don't get any errors or error messages. As far as the process is concerned, it goes off without a hitch, but when I check to see if the firmware has updated, it still shows the old version.

kiig · #4 Post by **kiig** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 3:32 pm

shfawaz, - for what it's worth, - I'm having the same problem, - updating my A31p... no problems during update, - but it's still at the old firmware relase. I have 512 Mb. ram, - and have tried both the diskette-version and diskette-less.

Nabeel · #5 Post by **Nabeel** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 3:49 pm

Try doing that though even though you have 512mb..

kiig · #6 Post by **kiig** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 4:29 pm

I remember seing something about changing resolution, - but what exactly could I try (where did I see this info..)...

must have been something besides the resolution change, - I just thought "what impact will that have on the DR Dos boot sequence,... hummm".. and I let it alone....

#7 Post by **shfawaz** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 5:05 pm

Lowered the resolution, tried, no go. Created the disk, tried again, no go. Removed upgraded memory, tried again, still same firmware. All the while it tells me the hard drive has been upgraded. Anyone else having problems or have a solution?

planetf1 · #8 Post by **planetf1** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 11:32 am

Did you ever get this fixed. I see this too, but am trying to apply upgrade to a detail drive at A69A

#9 Post by **shfawaz** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 11:59 am

Nope, never did.

johniii · #10 Post by **johniii** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 12:38 pm

Did you remove the hard drive password prior to the update? Instructions within the update utility say this is necessary.....

planetf1 · #11 Post by **planetf1** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 2:54 pm

interesting. i never removed password. I'll try again!

#12 Post by **aamsel** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 6:47 pm

Did your 7K60 originally ship with a Thinkpad???
Mine didn't, and I had the identical "failure".
I contacted Hitachi, and they told me that retail or OEM versions of the 7K60 other than those that IBM ships are not firmware upgradeable.
I tried to upgrade my 7K60, which I bought last year on the web, about 10 times, and the firmware never upgraded.
My call to Hitachi got the reason posted above...it won't upgrade.
They also told me that there is no real reason to upgrade or change a retail 7K60 if it is working ok.

Andrew
Austin, TX

shfawaz wrote:I've downloaded and installed the 7k60 firmware update several times and gone thru the procedure sucessfully only to come back and find out that the firmware update did not take. I run the diskinfo utility and it says I still have the old firmware. I'm using the diskless version. Anyone have any Ideas? I have a T41 with 1.2Ghz of RAM. I'm thinking about running the disk version or removing extra memory, but don't want to go thru the trouble there is another solution.

baraider · #13 Post by **baraider** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:44 pm

i got the 7k60 from one of the sale from Dell last year and had no problem with it...wonder if i should/can upgrade it...better to be on the safe side..

what software you use to identify your firmware?

#14 Post by **aamsel** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:45 pm

No reason to identify the firmware.
As I said...if the drive did not come directly from IBM, the firmware will NOT upgrade. That is what Hitachi told me.

IBM (which formerly owned Hitachi) made their version of the drive's firmware flashable...the retail and other versions of the drive do not have flashable firmware.

Like mine...you will think that you are flashing it with new firmware, but you won't be...it won't take the flash.

Just use the drive as is, and you should be fine.

Andrew
Austin, TX

baraider wrote:i got the 7k60 from one of the sale from Dell last year and had no problem with it...wonder if i should/can upgrade it...better to be on the safe side..

what software you use to identify your firmware?

planetf1 · #15 Post by **planetf1** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 2:54 am

I cannot believe the drive is unflashable (although it's possible), but I can believe there is some check made against a product origin code or checksum perhaps.

Anyway even with no password, the retail drive does not flash.

I went back to this as I was getting lots of "delayed writes failed" under XP. Thinking it may be some data transfer issue, and knowing there had been fw issues I thought it worth a go.

That was using the original Intel drive provided with XP. I've since (another dodgy tack...) used the driver indicated here http://www.highlandsun.com/hyc/centrino/dma.html
(I actually used the 3.3 version after unpacking)

Just to see if this works any differently.

akhavan · #16 Post by **akhavan** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:35 am

Hi

Check my response here.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... c&start=30

Jarno · #17 Post by **Jarno** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 6:37 am

The same problem here. Concretely with hdd Hitachi HTS726060M9AT00.
Dont know if there is some solution

Leon · #18 Post by **Leon** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 10:30 am

I would call Technical Support. In Denmark, the number is 7010-5150. Let us know what happens.

#19 Post by **aamsel** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 12:31 pm

If you are referring to Hitachi Technical Support, I have called them.
I will call them again Monday, just to get a "best two out of three" answer if anyone wants, but...
What they essentially told me is that they never intended for the retail 7K60 to be flashable.

Technically:
It could be as simple as them spec'ing a PROM instead of an EEPROM for holding the firmware. (the PROM is non-flashable, read-only, the EEPROM is eraseable, flashable read-only). Since PROM's are cheaper, they may have used them on the retail drives, and IBM may have spec'd an EEPROM for their version.

It could be that simple.

Let me know if anyone wants me to double-check with Hitachi.

One question: my 7k60 has worked fine. I have used it in several systems. Why would I need to update the firmware??

The only known issues (that I am aware of) were with T41's and Active Protection.

Newly released hard drive firmware is not something that you ought to "jump" to apply the day it is released (or maybe ever).

Same with system BIOS releases. If your notebook is running fine, why go with new firmware?

I used to work in a PC engineering department with software and hardware engineers. Every firmware release has new fixes and new bugs.

Bottom line...if your system is working fine, and if a firmware release does not claim to fix a problem that you are currently experiencing...leave it alone!!

My $.02

Andrew
Austin, TX

Leon wrote:I would call Technical Support. In Denmark, the number is 7010-5150. Let us know what happens.

planetf1 · #20 Post by **planetf1** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 1:00 pm

In my case I was getting problems (dma) which prompted this course of action.

If you can find anything out, great!

Thanks
Nigel.

Hard Drive Firmware Won't Take

Hard Drive Firmware Won't Take

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