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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: mikesalvo on April 02, 2009, 02:54:28 PM

Title: iRiver: "check HDD"
Post by: mikesalvo on April 02, 2009, 02:54:28 PM
getting this message, and all of a sudden my iriver doesnt seem to be rockboxed, and wont connect via USB to my computer.

I cant imagine this is any kind of good.....Anyone know how to fix this?  Main concern is getting the gig I recorded last night off the HD...
Title: Re: iRiver: "check HDD"
Post by: SmokinJoe on April 02, 2009, 04:37:22 PM
My gut feeling is your drive is dead.  When it can't boot into rockbox it reverts to original firmware.

Suggestion 1: buy a new hard drive off ebay, or think about doing the flash card mod.
Suggestion 2: Put the iRiver in the freezer overnight, next day apply power and computer and see if you can get that one gig off there.  This applies to computer hard drives in general... sometime it will let them spin up one more time.
Title: Re: iRiver: "check HDD"
Post by: mikesalvo on April 02, 2009, 05:47:12 PM
My gut feeling is your drive is dead.  When it can't boot into rockbox it reverts to original firmware.

Suggestion 1: buy a new hard drive off ebay, or think about doing the flash card mod.
Suggestion 2: Put the iRiver in the freezer overnight, next day apply power and computer and see if you can get that one gig off there.  This applies to computer hard drives in general... sometime it will let them spin up one more time.

literally put it in the freezer??? also, how hard is it to swap out the drive? I cant solder for shit...
Title: Re: iRiver: "check HDD"
Post by: Ziggz on April 02, 2009, 07:20:53 PM
I've frozen 2 IDE drives for data recovery purposes! I placed them in an anti-static bag, then in a sealed plastic bag. I only left them in the freezer for 30mins though. Both worked after that, well, long enough to make a drive image.

The iRiver drives are fairly easy to remove, no soldering required. I did the CF mod to mine when the hard drive died.
Title: Re: iRiver: "check HDD"
Post by: sunjan on April 03, 2009, 06:05:00 AM
literally put it in the freezer??? also, how hard is it to swap out the drive? I cant solder for shit...

Yup.
Even if you resurrect it, this is the cue for you to do the CF mod. Drives will eventually die on.
A T5 torx, CF adapter and a 16GB card and you're good. 15 minutes assembly time, no soldering, no sweat.
Title: Re: iRiver: "check HDD"
Post by: mikesalvo on April 03, 2009, 07:56:48 AM
ya, guess Ill have to do the CF MOD. blows.....Where can I get these parts retail? I have a gig tonight, and def. wanna tape it....
Title: Re: iRiver: "check HDD"
Post by: petur on April 03, 2009, 02:22:14 PM
It could just as well be that the soldering of the daughterboard (which hosts usb and hdd connector) is broken, and the disk 100% ok...
Title: Re: iRiver: "check HDD"
Post by: sunjan on April 03, 2009, 02:46:29 PM
ya, guess Ill have to do the CF MOD. blows.....Where can I get these parts retail? I have a gig tonight, and def. wanna tape it....

Depending on where you live, maybe there's someone in the gear loaner section that could help out?
Title: Re: iRiver: "check HDD"
Post by: mikesalvo on April 03, 2009, 05:58:59 PM
ya, guess Ill have to do the CF MOD. blows.....Where can I get these parts retail? I have a gig tonight, and def. wanna tape it....

Depending on where you live, maybe there's someone in the gear loaner section that could help out?

well, I took it upon myself to hit a friend up locally and borrow his Microtrack (thanks fellow TS'er and friend Rhyss Hermann!). HOWEVER, I got home and decided I was gonna try the hard drive in the freezer trick, and low and behold, the damn hard drive was barely on the connectors! I popped that fucker in, and VOILA! Works like a charm. So dumb! I shoulda opened it up sooner!
Title: Re: iRiver: "check HDD"
Post by: EarlyMorningRain on April 11, 2009, 09:34:57 AM
great to hear you got it working!

I'd also like to chime in that the only time I've ever gotten this error message on boot up with my H320, was because the CF card "IDE connection" inside the machine had come loose (due to a 2 foot fall). So I had to open it up and reseat the CF card and the adapter and away I went.

Title: Re: iRiver: "check HDD"
Post by: George on April 11, 2009, 09:48:25 PM
WTF...how can the connector get loose in there?  I was always under the assumption everything is packed pretty tight in the H100/300 series.