Iriver H340 new hard drive will not ever boot up

[powysa]

After the old hard drive failed, I put in a Toshiba MK8007GAH 80gb hdd, which I believe is compatible. I've been able to format it on my laptop (FAT32), also scan it and transfer files, all seems ok. BUT the drive will not ever boot up in the player, either using the iriver firmware (CHECK HDD CONNECTION error) or the Rockbox software, which previously worked (various ATA errors, 1, 11 or 32).
The player FM radio still works. Have tried updating its firmware using the NAVI button menu - doesn't seem to work. The firmware on it now is H310 1.30 E. I've another identical machine, and its firmware is H340 1.29 J. Could this be the problem - and if so, how do I change to/transfer the correct firmware. I've tried the other player's hard drive in the 'faulty' player, and it works perfectly, so I don't think this is a hardware problem. Apologies, I'm not v.technical, don't really understand about patches/bootloaders etc. Many thanks.

[peteswensson]

I would try changing the firmware to 1.29J, by first putting the "good" player's hard drive into the "faulty" player, booting into the original iRiver firmware, then updating the firmware from off of the "good" player's hard drive.

Hope that works for you.

I would have got back to you sooner, but I don't visit this site as often as I used to, since there seem to be fewer fellow H340 users than there used to be.

--Pete

[powysa]

Hi, thanks for your response. There's a thread from abi forums which puts a bit more detail on what I've tried so far.

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?p=625974&posted=1#post625974

Different levels of firmware seem to make no difference either way. My 2 players both play the 40GB original HD, and neither plays the 80GB replacement (Toshiba MK8007GAH HDD1584 S ZL01).

Alan.

[peteswensson]

It is starting to sound like there is a problem with your 80GB hard drive.  I have swapped several higher capacity drives into several H340s with no issues whatsoever.  The one I am happiest with is a big 120GB ZIF drive (I really love all that capacity), which required an adaptor.  But I also have a Toshiba MK8007GAH in one of my players.  It was a simple and straightforward swap, so I am sorry to hear that yours isn't working.

[xian88]

Hi, I have also just upgraded my Hard drive H340 to a 120GB zif drive, but I also have the exact same problem that the Iriver wont boot up the hard drive in Rockbox mode and on original firmware it boots up it comes up but with a single folder with strange Eastern/Korean characters, and not showing any of the files on the hard drive at all, like you stated on http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?p=625974&posted=1#post625974

has anyone got any suggestions at all?

cheers.