Success Upgrading Archos 504 40gb to 160gb from Woot

[roja]

My archos 504 hard drive died.

In an attempt to replace the original faulty 80gb drive with a new one
of the exact make/model#, from what I've read in various forums you
need to have 1.4.xx firmware for the archos to take the new drive and
allow the archos OS. All I'm getting at the moment are options of USB
and Format Disk. Thankfully I can use the USB option to drop firmware
onto the drive and experiment.

I've successfully downgraded from the newest firmware 1.6.23 to 1.5.04
incrementally via all the available firmware updates listed on this site:

http://www.touslesdrivers.com/index.php ... v_code=125

I'm stuck now from downgrading from 1.5.04 to anything below it
(1.4.xx) as it wont take the older firmware. I've read here that people have had success with this.

Does anyone know if it's possible to downgrade from 1.5.04 to 1.4.xx
by clearing the rom? If so, would anyone be able to explain how that's
done?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I wish this thing still worked...

[PolloLoco]

"Does anyone know if it's possible to downgrade from 1.5.04 to 1.4.xx
by clearing the rom? If so, would anyone be able to explain how that's
done?"

The guy posting before you said he upgraded right up to 1.5.04 - I don't know if that means he USED 1.5.04.

Otherwise, no one else has been able to downgrade beyond 1.5.04. I don't expect that anyone will. The only viable possibility appears to be Roy Lovelock's suggestion to reset the mainboard.

[reisaru]

I also bought off woot, and immediately upgraded to 1.6.23 and purchased the Cinema plugin.

Four months later the HD died. I picked up a Fujitsu 80GB replacement, and got the same error as everyone else who tried to upgrade the HD with > 1.5.x.

I attempted roylovelock's idea, and desoldered the battery from the mainboard. I left it off for nearly an hour.

I put it back together with the new HD (just enough to turn it on), and was prompted with HDD recovery. I selected USB, and transferred the 1.6.23 image. No dice.

Should I leave it disconnected longer? Any other suggestions?

[Idefix]

were any settings resettet? was time dejusted?? (or cant you use your old hd any more because it died)

[PolloLoco]

I also bought off woot, and immediately upgraded to 1.6.23 and purchased the Cinema plugin.

Four months later the HD died. I picked up a Fujitsu 80GB replacement, and got the same error as everyone else who tried to upgrade the HD with > 1.5.x.

I attempted roylovelock's idea, and desoldered the battery from the mainboard. I left it off for nearly an hour.

I put it back together with the new HD (just enough to turn it on), and was prompted with HDD recovery. I selected USB, and transferred the 1.6.23 image. No dice.

Should I leave it disconnected longer? Any other suggestions?

Damn, that seemed like the most promising possibility. I don't think we'll ever get the Archos' hacked to where we can switch the hard drives.

[reisaru]

were any settings resettet? was time dejusted?? (or cant you use your old hd any more because it died)

Hmm, I didn't think to look at the settings. That WOULD be a good indicator of whether the reset worked.

Of course, it's entirely possible that the battery merely powers the clock.

I'll check it out after work when I get home (about 10 hours from now), and let you know. I'll remove the battery entirely, and leave it off for a few hours, as opposed to just desoldering the one connection.

The old HD didn't die completely, it seems to have suffered from some kind of shock or something. It works fine on boot-up, and I can transfer files to it, but as soon as I try to play a file the entire thing locks up, and I can hear the HD heads clicking.

[Idefix]

The old HD didn't die completely...

i guessed that! its normal

[Taffy]

Has anyone tried pressing the TV/LCD and Power at the same time when you turn it on and choosing format from the Recovery Screen? You will also need the correct firmware file on the hard drive when you format.

[reisaru]

Has anyone tried pressing the TV/LCD and Power at the same time when you turn it on and choosing format from the Recovery Screen? You will also need the correct firmware file on the hard drive when you format.

With the new HD in, the Archos automatically goes to the "HDD Recovery" mode, regardless of whether TV/LCD is held down at power on or not.

[arvwillnotdie]

HEy guys, I'm fairly new to the Archos World. I haven't really been a member of this forum for long but I have had my 80gb Archos since June of this year. I was just wondering if anybody can give me a step by step tutorial on how to properly downgrade my 80gb Archos 504 firmware from 1.6.23 to a firmware that I can swap my hard drive to a 200gb hard drive or even higher. Any advice on the subject would help because I had no idea you can swap hard drives until RIGHT NOW. I am d3finitely intrigued by this and I want a 200gb hard drive or more on my Archos 504.

[arvwillnotdie]

ok I managed to downgrade my firmware from 1.6.23 to a 1.5.04 thanks to Roja, what now? I'm going to try to downgrade even further, I just hope it works. As for hard drives, will any internal hard drive by any brand do? I'm eyeing a maxtor 200gb internal Hard Drive that I can get for 50 bucks. Somebody help me here.

[arvwillnotdie]

So I finally read everything in this thread and I realized that I am now caught between a rock and a hard place. So now my firmware is 1.5.04 (downgraded from a 1,6,23 firmware) and from what I'm reading, I can't swap my Archos 504 80gb hard drive unless I got a firmware that's 1.4.03 and lower. How do I get 1.5.03 firmware or lowerinstalled? does anybody have it available to download? I don't even have a spare hard drive yet but I do like the idea of having a 250gb HDD on my 80gb Archos. Not that 80gb isn't enough, it's just that I am a movie whore and I would love to have more movies on my Archos. Please guys, is there ANY way to get my Archos downgraded to work with other hard drives? Please help me out.

[reisaru]

Please guys, is there ANY way to get my Archos downgraded to work with other hard drives? Please help me out.

That's the question we're all trying to answer.

We can't help you until we're able to help ourselves.

[arvwillnotdie]

That's the question we're all trying to answer.

We can't help you until we're able to help ourselves. Confused

So am I really assed out here or what? Someone run this by me step by step. I got the 1.5.04 firmware running on my Archos 504 right now . If I buy a new lets say 250gb internal HDD and try to install it on there, whats going to happen? Will it let me install it? What exactly is going to happen?

[reisaru]

So am I really assed out here or what? Someone run this by me step by step. I got the 1.5.04 firmware running on my Archos 504 right now . If I buy a new lets say 250gb internal HDD and try to install it on there, whats going to happen? Will it let me install it? What exactly is going to happen?

What's going to happen is that the Archos is going to boot into "HDD Recovery" mode. It will give you the option of formatting the HD, which does nothing but blank it, or "USB Recovery". USB Recovery will allow you to transfer a firmware image to the device. Once you select "Done" on the Archos, it will install the image, then error out with Code 40 or Code 1, and boot right back into HDD Recovery mode.

So yes, like the rest of us, you are "assed out".

Note: Once you put the old HD back in, your device should work normally once more.

[arvwillnotdie]

I recently purchased a 504 40GB from Woot

I decided to try and upgrade the HD to a 160gb.

I bought a new Seagate 160gb from microcenter.com

The 504 shipped with firmware 1.5.04 I believe.

When I booted it up, it asked to repair, format, or do nothing.

I selected format.

It then said to connect to the computer and update.

I plugged it into the USB port on my WinXP machine.

I dumped the firmware 1.4.03 into the root directory.

http://www.archos.com/support/download/ ... 3/a504.aos

It rebooted and updated (backdated) the firmware.

It ran just fine! I dumped a bunch of files and music onto it.

I would now like to try and update the firmware to something newer.

Before I try to do this, does anyone know if there is a limit to which firmware I should go to?

Do any of the newer firmware revisions keep you from being able to back date?

I managed to downgrade my firmware to 1.5.04 like this person, if I format my 80gb hard drive and update it, can I downgrade it to 1.4.03 like this guy did? Has anyone else tried this?

[loic]

Hi everyboby,

I sorry for my poor english.

This forum is very cool . I bought archos 504, and i have a bad news with the firmware to change hardisk.

I have idea for a manipulation, I thought a xbox.

1. Remove battery and Start with the original disk with usb power only
, firware is not important

2. Humm , remove the harddisk (hot remove) with power and put the new harddisk (as hot plug hardisk)

3. Update the firmware copied on the news disque. the same firmware that the original hardisk.


what you think this ? It's dangerous to archos or hardisk ?

Thank for your reponses

[desitdt]

i read this whole thing and i dont see a post abot requirement for the harddrive. ..so what is required of the harddrive to work in the archos?

[shallowhal]

With USB power on, upon removing the battery the set goes dead.

Here's what I did:

remove the battery, there is a plate with the battery contacts tied with two screws, simply unscrew them turn the contacts plate 180 digrees, and screw down, now you can attach the battery backward so you have full access to Archos hard disk

set automatic hard disk sleep time and after the disk is going to sleep, you can safely replace it for the other disk

But this is all for success. After you wake up Archos with the replaced disk, you cannot navigate through folders, you will get hdd access error because the FAT table is probably different.

I tried to make exact mirror of the original disk, but this procedure did not come to success eighter ...

[loic]

Hi,


yes , you say right. Archos don't reconize the disque


For archos maintenance, techs must a soft to replace the disk. It's evident, in warranty, they can replace Hard disk.

Where is this soft ????