Yes like any disc drive re-partitioning will wipe all data off the disc (thats not the firmware thats not affected).

What is the reported size of the disc in MP3 Disc Utility?

ian

I installed the MP3 Player Utilities 4.18 and started MP3 Player Disk Manager

then i get 2 times the same error Not detected removeable disk!

afterwards the main Frame is visible with the Driveletter from my player and the capacity 1757 MB and 3598409 total sectors.
The area with Partition and encrypt is visible but not editable on all format-type settings

.

Are you on Vista/7 or XP?

I used XP first and today I tryed with Win 7. But ChkFlsh also don't show an existing partitiontable, and don't know anything from the real existing 4gb. The MP3 Player Disk Manager isn't available on Win 7 so I can't say if there is any different between this systems.

I think I need a tool like ChkFlsh to write a free edited partition down.

We have found chkflsh crashes on Vista at the point were you replug the player, verified on two different laptops and two different players. Does anyone know of a newer version of chkflsh? We tried chkflsh 1.11 and 1.13 but both crash at that point (BSOD).

ian

Also noted a strange artifact/effect with some players on chkflsh, probably due to the way the hack affects the disc info. When you go to re-partition to say 1.8GB you get a "real" size of 210-250MB. To get a "real" partition of 1.8GB you need to set the slider to 16GB. This was the sort of player with touch screen and camera sold as 32GB on ebay.

ian

When I open CheckFlash I see my MP4 player in the Drive: box, but as soon as I check 'As physical device' the Device box goes blank, even if I click on the little down arrow.

If I check 'Low level initialization' most the the page greys out and I still can't select anything in the Device: box.

Any suggestions??

Here is my player info:

2008/09/30
9.5.54
QS_AK2027
2009/09/01

When tested with h2testw is comes back as 1935 MB.

Alrighty, so I downloaded a new version of checkflash (i guess it was newer because it was slightly larger than the version i had), and I was able to create the partitions, but when I get to the part that I have to replug the device without dismounting my computer crashes as soon as I plug it back in. I tried it twice and twice it crashed and restarted.

What OS? It only works on XP as far as I know

GUYs
i recently got the 5th generation ipod nano close
its has a action controller 2025 and 16gigs tried to do everything in the site and plenty of others nothing works
i believe i got it working now
no FORMAT ERRORS or disk errors

this is how it got done.
using CHECK FLASH thanks to frozensoda
but instead of creating partitions simply delete everything there no partitions are required

when asked to disconnect after writing the changes then simply unplug and press okay

now connect u should have the disk being recognized as a flash drive format using the OS' Format utility Select "FAT32"..

disconnect after the format and reconnect the player should show the the memory on its screen

One big thing i noticed this player has a problem with playing anything higher than 160Kbps..
I converted all the mp3 to 128Kbps just to be safe .. YUP the same files are playing like a charm. :)
spent a week on this shit..

Hope this helps u guys TOO..
cheers

That does not work for the device I have which is similar, the same chips, when you delete the partition windows then says "insert disc" and therefore you cant format it.

It obviously works for some, maybe different version firmware. Cant see how it can partition the disc though, that would erase data if it did it every time you powered it on!

Some players will self-partition and format if the partition table is corrupted, or if there is no partition table at all (if partitions have been deleted). At least the ones i'm working on at the moment do that.

any happen to buy this one, and if so any problems? i waiting for mine to arrive, already bracing myself for a let down and ways of fixing it.... wont be online over xmas you see when im due to recieve it so knowing in advance means i can download whats needed and save the info i need to do it, dont worry though ill be back to praise whomever helped me after christmas haha ^^
http://i.ebayimg.com/23/%21B9uSPDgBG...%7E%7E0_12.JPG

Yeah it's hacked for sure, when you get it follow the steps of this guide. h2testw will tell you how much memory it really has. I'd guess a 4gb. 4gb is the max it could even possibly be due to the chip used to access the flash memory. BTW when you get it you have several options of recourse on eBay. I usually just ask for a 75% refund to avoid a long drawn out battle for the extra 25%.

it arrived today, its turned on which is a start, its charging, but when i plugged it in, it installed drivers for it and said i need to restart my PC, im gona do it now but it gives me TWO removeable disk drives when i plug it in which is wierd.

i ran h2testw and it says

no exsisting test data

all available space (15038 MByte)

so what do i do from here, or can i just use it as normal but obviously only be able to use a certain ammount of space?

ok so i do the h2test but it dosnt tell me whats ok and what isnt or anything.......

Warning: Only 34 of 15063 MByte tested.
Test finished without errors.
Reading speed: 6.48 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

EDIT

i have just fixed that by using the mp3s own format function, so now i open the h2testw and choose the drive and it tells me there 15063 MBytes

by run the test do you mean use "write and verify"? gona take THREE hours it says :( ahwell, i guess itll get there in the end haha.

EDIT

i did the write and verify and it crashed when it said it had an hour left and the screen on the mp3 went white......... hmmmm what can i do?

the h2testw takes a long long time. Run it again and see if it crashes again, it might have been something in your computer. The two disks is because one is a "protected" partition, that's how you do the fix for the ak2025 type players, sometimes. The firmware is generic and you never know which fix will work. After you run h2testw again if it crashes go ahed and do the chkflash fix, then report back on what happened. I assume that it is a 4GB but if the test doesnt tell you be safe and make it 2GB because you can always change it later. I hope it all works out for you and dont give up. Whatever you do do NOT try to replace the firmware.

ah ok man thanks again for the reply, i have a feeling that it is because it had no battery, it sounds wierd but it dosnt seem to actually charge the battery unless i press the middle button to bring up the battery icon saying charging, but ill give it another go tonight while im watching a movie or something, if that fails ill try it once more on my laptop incase it is my pc and then ill go ahead with what you said. and sure ill go for 2gb first, no harm in testing lower to make sure

EDIT

same things again, half way through verifying it says

Error reading file 'F:\4.h2w', offset 0x21f00000.
(Data error (cyclic redundancy check). Code 23)
Writing speed: 2.74 MByte/s
Reading speed: 6.57 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

It failed on the fourth file and it checks it in 1GB files, so i assume once again that it is a 4gb Try doing the process with 3.5GB because the chips are sometimes finicky anyway. If that works just keep it there. also idk about your player but there should be one or two very small screws holding it together, if you want ery carefully open it and check for a battery. It will most likely be a package wrapped in plastic with something like 3.6V printed on it. Blue or Grey plastic is most common. It will also likely have a red and a black wire protruding form under the plastic.

edit
some very unfortunate people (i.e. me) have received players which contain no real memory at all and only a hacked controller chip. Opening would verify the size of the chips via serial number.

yeah it stops basically at around 3.6gb when verifying so i was thinking that maybe that was the limit, also i put some music on it earlier which played, but only a few albums where working, i tried putting 5gb on it just to see what happened to the info added past the full capacity.


i cant open it as i have reccently moved into my own place and dont have any tools other than a hammer and a pair of scissors....... and that might not go well hahaha. so do you think i should try working with 4gb? or 3.5 to make sure?

yeah go ahed and try th chkflash with ~3,400,000 bytes

Everything went well until I replugged the reader during the last part

Then, vista fatal bluescreen...

Anyone else experienced it?

I noticed my player display something like creating database after I unplug it, does it have something to do with it?

done, although im a little confused, when i did the format part it was still telling me the mp3 player was 14.5 gb (meant to be 16 i know, dont ask lol its always said it was just under anyway) so does this mean that it will still accept data past 3.5gb but it will corrupt it like before, or will this stop me adding anything past the real memory capacity?

thanks again for your help dude.

yeah, @ vista problem try running in compatibility mode for windows SP2 with admin on, for the 14.5gb problem, i assume that it didnt work correctly. Try again carefully and see if it happens again, if it does, you might have the same problem as some of the others on here, i haven't had any mpx players latley so i don't know how to fix the newest generation of hacked crap. Sorry. You can try some of the other guides on this site.

im running xp professiion sp3 64bit, but yeah i decided to use it as it is for the moment and just not go over 4gb, ill probably get an sd card for it and still use it, its actually not a bad mp3, bit slow at times and the touchscreen unlock can be a pain haha but the guy has offered to refund my money already as i had told him it never arrived before i got it so seein as he offered i decided not to bother telling him i got it and then having to go through arguing to get only some money back. i might give the unhacking another go after xmas, but for now its all good, thanks again for your help and merry christmas, i may be back after christmas when i try again to let you know how it went.

Alright, the player will be fine as long as you dont overload it, keep it under 3.5GB for safety, but keep in mind that the hacked memory can cause a disk error at any time if something goes into the hacked memory. Common symptoms include duplicating files with no information in them and files apearing empty with only the first couple letter of the name followed by gibberish. Also 64 bit might be part of the problem, i use VMware to emulate a 32 bit windows xp to unhack them.

about safe2star
 

well, after telling me i could have a refund or replacement i asked for a refund.... he then messaged me to tell me he would send another one out straight away, so i messaged him again stating i didnt want a replacement as it was meant to be a christmas present and its way too late now and that i had already bought another from somewhere else for the christmas gift, so he replied stating that he couldnt pay me yet and i would have to wait because paypal have a limit on his account, so i stated i would wait a week but after that i would get ebay involved and inform them of whats going on because im not waiting around forever for my money when this is his mistake not mine, he has not replied in 4 days now, so if it gets to 30 days im just going to go through paypal as i know how quickly they will get my money to me for an item that has not arrived, probably better than waiting for this guy.

the only thing these guys care about is feedback, so mention it. You havent left any yet right? thats your only bargaining chip they will do whatever you want for it. and btw if ebay or paypal ever tell you to ship it back DONT. and he probably already sent you another one. just simply state that he will get a good feedback when you get a full refund.

i havnt left feedback yet no, i told him already that if i dont get a refund asap then i will have to go through ebay and paypal to forcefully get my money back which will leave me with no option but to leave very negative feedback. and dont worry i wouldnt send it back to him haha

safe2star a real peice of work
 

ok, so now safe2star is telling me that i have to wait till he/she has sold more items to refund me, but there not SELLING anything anymore????? i messaged them but they keep saying they are on holiday, as soon as they are supposed to be back they go on holiday again.... what should i do? gettin silly now and my 45 day limit on opening a case is getting close, any ideas?

Can this get stickied? ;)

I tried, your instruction but same result as meerkat8472 my player is , here ebay 8GB 2.2" TFT LCD Shakable MP4 MP3 FM 5th Video Player | eBay

Thanks

I am now fairly certain that this guide is directed at AK2025 type players and certain other ones such as a few of the touchscreen models. The new devices are somehow protected from this fix. This guide was the limit of my knowledge and it seems that i can no longer help.

BIG UPDATE!!! I just 20 minutes ago figured out the problem that every one has been having. To fix the BIG FLOPPY error you simply press no when the error dialog comes up, then you will see 4 partitions with random memorys, check the box that says 'show corrupted' then delete each partition one at a time with the delete button. After that follow the guide as you normally would after opening the partition table.

I will update the guide with pictures as soon as i figure out how. It wont let me.

bumping so this post doesnt get lost.. it still might help some people.