Hd103uj firmware

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

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

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...

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/do [...] eid=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/ed [...] /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-m [...] 19214.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/H [...] LASH_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/H [...] A17AQM.D11
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/H [...] A17AQM.D17
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/H [...] A17AQM.D28
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/H [...] A17AQM.D38

I believe that the tail end of the EXE file has an encoded script file:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/H [...] _FW_17.EST

Here is the embedded documentation for Samsung's SFLASH firmware update utility:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/H [...] _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.

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

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/H [...] A17AQM.D38
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/H [...] _FW_17.EST
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/H [...] lash24.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

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/ed [...] /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.

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.

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

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

any progress?

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

Try ...

sf.exe -f 1aa17aqm.d38 -s -x -b -v -a 20 -i HD751LJ

The above command pauses for 20 seconds after the update is complete. You will need to power cycle the drive for the update to take effect.

BTW, I wonder if the "dangerous" warning for hdparm is still valid for drives whose file systems are not visible, and therfore not mountable.

Is the model number now HD751LJ or HD753LJ? I see very few Google hits for the HD751LJ.

does this help? - http://www.overclock.net/hard-driv [...] -boot.html

mine is showing up as the HD753LJ

It allows to sf to ignore the fact that it isn't a seagate drive.

Use -i SAMSUNG in order to get the utility to exept your drive.. Or even SAMSUNG HD753LJ if you so wish =)

AISI, there are two possible reasons for the original failure of Dell's update.

(1) Dell's OEM firmware is incompatible with Samsung's standard retail models, or

(2) Dell's updater applied the incorrect firmware image to your retail model.

We are hoping for (2), otherwise our efforts will be pointless.

Are you using my most recent upload for F1_FW_17.EST? I omitted to remove the zeros at the end of the file in my first upload, but I amended this a few hours later.

It appears that the drive identifies itself as a HD753LJ after Dell's F1 update, and subsequently as an HD751LJ after the retail F3 update. Since the 750GB F3 model is an HD754JJ, and since the first "J" denotes 4 heads rather than 6, ISTM that the drive determines its identity, not from the firmware code, but from some other code module, possibly in the serial flash memory chip on the PCB, or elsewhere in the reserved System Area on the platters.

BTW, here is the embedded documentation that I extracted from SeaFlash (sf.exe) after unpacking it with UPX:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/sf_usage.txt
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/sf.exe
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/sf.upx

Seagate's updater uses either of two methods.

(1) the model number, family, and firmware image are specified explicitly ...

sf -m BRINKS -f 4HBXR1B.LOD -i ST3640323AS -s -x -b -v -a 10

(2) ... or the drive's model number and existing firmware are compared against an update matrix in a configuration file.

sf -m BRINKS -f -s -x -b -v -a 10 -h 4hcfgpre.txs

The update matrix is encoded using a simple substitution cipher, ie whenever character X occurs, it is replaced with character Y.

Here are two examples:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/BR-SD1B.TXT
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/MS-SD1A.TXT

See the following thread for a more detailed explanation:
http://forum.hddguru.com/can-updat [...] 16855.html

I suspect that Samsung's EST file is also encoded. The file doesn't compress, so at first thought it would appear to be packed in some way. However, I have examined the EST files for the retail F3EG and F4EG firmware and I notice that the first 40 bytes are identical. AIUI, this would be extremely unlikely for two packed files.

58 C1 0D 45 EE C2 70 D6 10 DB 49 63 15 AB 15 50 FA E5 42 5C 7D B1 88 41 AE 85 76 5A 9F EC 84 74 95 03 95 19 5B D9 CE A5

Instead I suspect that the file may be encrypted with a Solitaire cipher. I believe this would have the effect of randomising the data so that it is rendered incompressible. But that's only wild speculation on my part.

BTW, the F3 update was a quick fix to an urgent problem. Samsung advises that the update doesn't change the firmware version reported by the drive, which means that in your case the drive continues to report the Dell version (1AA01117).

No, I have not been successfull.

I don't have any more suggestions, just some questions and observations.

(1) Does your drive still report its original serial number?

(2) SeaFlash may not be able to handle a drive which reports a model number with a space in the name, eg "Samsung HD751LJ".

(3) Why did Samsung's tech support advise you to try SpinPoint F3 firmware on an F1 model? Surely this was madness? Does this incorrect (?) advice now impose an obligation upon Samsung to make it right?

(4) The fact that Samsung's F3EG updater claimed to have updated your firmware begs the question, how was it able to circumvent the model screening (???) in the embedded script file? That is, why did you not receive an error such as "no applicable model found"? Have I misinterpreted the function of the script file???

(5) If Samsung identified a problem with Dell's OEM firmware, and if this same problem also exists in retail firmware, then why have Samsung not issued a similar fix to the retail channel?

One more idea.

How does your original board ID on your replacement drive, both when PUIS is enabled and disabled? If the drive rewrites the contents of flash memory, then perhaps your donor drive could transparently "repair" the flash contents on your original PCB. (???)

Once again, the above ideas are just wild speculation, so take care.

@Valheren: wich was your stock firmware? Perhaps 1AA01118? It seems that drives with that firmware are different from others...