Seagate HD Firmware upgrade.

Rickster

Rickster

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So my pc is blue screening very often and Ive suspected it to one of my hard drives. (0x4F stop code if you are interested)

SMART indicates all drives are in perfect condition, but Seagate tells my that the firmware of the suspected drive is rather old.


Do you guys recommend I go a head with the update? Have any of you successfully done a HD FW update and do you have tips to share with me?

Thanks.
 
Unless you have done it before I recommend that you do NOT proceed.

If it is still under warranty, take it back to the supplier and ask them to do it.
 
Its not under warranty, the latest firmware was released on 2011/03/11, so my current FW is old.
 
I've done FW upgrades on seagate drives before without issue.
 
Don't do firmware upgrade if you suspect blue screens are caused by the drive. It is not like flashing router. If reading service area is problematic, you can lose access to the entire drive.
So, before upgrading firmware do full backup then try to stabilise drive by writing entire surface with zeros.
 
Dump:

17e0120c53.png
 
I formatted my C drive last night because i couldn't even get into windows that well, now when i try install BF4 on the suspected drive it bluescreens, also bluescreens when i run a virus scan on that drive.


Ill PM southbit, maybe they have seen this issue before.
 
sajunky said:
Don't do firmware upgrade if you suspect blue screens are caused by the drive. It is not like flashing router. If reading service area is problematic, you can lose access to the entire drive.
So, before upgrading firmware do full backup then try to stabilise drive by writing entire surface with zeros.
Click to expand...

If i try copy something from that drive it bluescreens, unless i try put it in another PC and clone it.
 
Silly question: have you tried the drive on a different SATA port with a different SATA cable that you know for a fact works?
 
in my experience when it begins to blue screen you either have a drive that is on it's way out, or some issue on your PC - I don't see the firmware suddenly getting "old" and causing blue screens. I would begin by placing the drive in a test PC for a number of days and doing some read / write tests to rule out the faulty drive - obviously make a backup of what you can before doing anything further if it konks out at least you have your data.....
 
Rickster said:
If i try copy something from that drive it bluescreens, unless i try put it in another PC and clone it.
Click to expand...
I see you don't need to backup anymore, as drive is already formatted. But yes, to copy the stuff you need to boot from healthy media device (linux live, Hiren's Boot CD, or specialised tools).
I assume you want to determine condition of the drive. In that order:
1. Post SMART.
2. Do full surface scan for delays and post results. Use tools like MHDD (switch controller to compatibility mode) or Victoria for DOS/Windows.
3. Post SMART.
 
sajunky said:
I see you don't need to backup anymore, as drive is already formatted. But yes, to copy the stuff you need to boot from healthy media device (linux live, Hiren's Boot CD, or specialised tools).
I assume you want to determine condition of the drive. In that order:
1. Post SMART.
2. Do full surface scan for delays and post results. Use tools like MHDD (switch controller to compatibility mode) or Victoria for DOS/Windows.
3. Post SMART.
Click to expand...

The drive isnt formatted, and here is the prescan SMART, do you have a link to a proper version of victoria, i have 4.46b but it looks very buggy.


40e03b00e5.png
 
Drive looks perfect. There are some DMA errors, so re-seat connectors and continue with scan.
Yip 4.46b is the same as on Hiren's Boot CD. Don't play with option. Just boot from external media, select drive (use Windows API), select right tab (don't remember the name) and press start scan button.
Leave it alone, otherwise it will pickup delays at random. :)
 
sajunky said:
Drive looks perfect. There are some DMA errors, so re-seat connectors and continue with scan.
Yip 4.46b is the same as on Hiren's Boot CD. Don't play with option. Just boot from external media, select drive (use Windows API), select right tab (don't remember the name) and press start scan button.
Leave it alone, otherwise it will pickup delays at random. :)
Click to expand...

Ok im using the web browser on Hirens Boot CD, currently running a scan, what should i look for?


At 50% of the scan there is 4 warnings saying 4 blocks took 500>ms seconds to access.


Should I tick Ignore/Remap/Restore?
 
Finish the scan, it could be more. We already know that drive has problem with remaping and has high number of h/w ECC recovered (unless these are fake indicators, as you didn't leave it alone as advised...). I don't like remaping, as errors tend to come back in different locations.
Better try: backup your data and do firmware upgrade, then zero-fill. It should help if it was firmware problem. After that repeat SMART - scan - SMART to see if you can trust the drive or heads are worn.
 
Rickster said:
Whats this Hard drive calibration? (10 Hours?)
Click to expand...
Don't really know... If it is a message during firmware upgrade, you just started factory certification tests. Under no circumstance do not power off, even it takes 20 hours or more...
 
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