I've tried to upgrade my DRW1004 in DOS to fw0050 with MTKFLASH because windows update tool DOESN'T work.

At the second HEX file MtkFlash said it couldn't init my IDE cable argh!

Drive is dead. Tried every trick in the book the reactivate it.

I'm so angry now I can throw it out of the window!

Anyone ANY idea?? PLEASE!! whaaahè!

You may find some useful stuff in this:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/archive/topic/86857.html

Ok this is what you do and follow it to a T k

1 Get a dos version of the flash update

2. Connect a Working drive to the system before the system starts up so that the bios will report that there is a drive present.

3. After startup, remove the power and data cable from the working drive WHILE THE SYSTEM IS ON (!) and replace it with the "DEAD " drive

4. do the (DOS) flash update as usual

*note* -Make sure to startup using a DOS formatted disc (don't update in Windows DOS prompt!)

Make sure you set the live and dead jumper on master and put them on the Seconday IDE cable. I repeat the Secondary IDE cable, again i say the Secondary IDE cable

Most likely your drive is not dead, but the firmware needs to be reflashed using a DOS environment from a boot disk.

You can download an image from http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm if you do not have one on hand.

Delete all visible files from the bootdisk. Then you need a recent MTKFLASH and a firmware file such as one from the Dangerous Brothers (they provide region free versions of firmware) http://www.firmware-flash.com/~tdb/. The BTC section has one based on the recent 50 level FW. The FW file should be a .BIN type.

Copy both the MTKFLASH and .BIN file to the floppy.

Boot your PC with the floppy in the reader. When you get the command prompt A:, type in

MTKFLASH # w /b /m fwname.bin

-Where # is 3 if your BTC is the Secondary Master; 4 if it is the Secondary Slave.

-fwname.bin is the name of your firmware file

When done flashing, power off and then reboot.

I've tried flashing with a BIN file but MTKFlash immediately stops responding and I have to do CTRL + BREAK.

fluffster

What MTKFLASH version would you suggest?

I read somewhere that /b is not to be used with v1.80.1.
Do you confer?

Are there any differences between Win98 and XP when flashing
in DOS? (i.e., same boot disk for both OS's ...)

worraps

Any recent version will do. The BTC site http://www.drvupdate.com/htm/User_Gu...ure%20Recovery has a firmware recovery download that contains a suitable version in the package.

According to http://dhc014.rpc1.org/howto.htm#mtkflash, that is true. However, I don't think it causes permanent damage if you do use that switch; just reflash and omit it.

I did use the /b switch on mine but I think I had an older version of MTKFLASH.

No. When you boot from a DOS disk, you invoke only DOS supported commands. The only issue is that you cannot access any data that is on FAT32 or NTFS formatted drives with a DOS environment.

Here's what works for me:
DOS bootdisk: 6.21
MTKFLASH: Version 1.80
FW file: RPC1V050.BIN (from previously mentioned Dangerous Brothers download) - this is a region free mod of the BTC 50 level firmware
Command syntax: MTKFLASH 4 w /m /b RPC1V050.BIN

I have my BTC as Secondary Slave, hence the value of 4 for the first parameter.

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You may want to jumper your BTC as the Secondary Master, temporarily remove any other drives on the Secondary IDE cable, configure in your motherboard BIOS as such, reset your system and boot up with the DOS bootdisk. This eliminates the possibility that some kind of quirk involving the presence of two drives on the IDE channel is causing your problem.

This might also be a good time to make sure your IDE cable to the drive is properly seated on both ends, and/or substitute a known good cable just to preclude that a bad cable is contributing to the problem.

If you do this, your command syntax would be:

MTKFLASH 3 w /m /b RPC1V050.BIN

where 3 indicates it is the Secondary Master drive

fluffster

Thank you for your info.

I found it very helpful. When the time comes for me to FLASH
my 1004, I will hopefully have no problems.

Peace.

I recommend using the Liveupdate application provided by BTC whenever possible if you want just the plain vanilla updates.

The DOS bootdisk/MTKFLASH should be reserved for non-standard firmware flashes (the Dangerous Brothers) and/or when you have a bad flash process that renders the drive nonfunctional.

The Windows based flash application that comes as part of Liveupdating works well in my experience.