I have a Gigabyte motherboard with AMD AHCI controller set to IDE emulation mode. I have two ST3640323AS, one SD15 and one SD33. Both should be updated to avoid the catastrophic firmware bug. However, I have no success.

For the SD15 drive, I tried the firmware update SD1B on this page:
http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/s ... cId=207957

Both Windows and bootable ISO versions offered on that page result in a message: "Model matched, no firmware match".

I tried also the SD1A update, but the model doesn't match in that case.

For the SD33 drive, I found the SD3B update named Brinks-3D6H-SD3B.ISO but this appears to only work on the 1TB model, not the 640GB models.

Seagate forums are full of confusion and useless so I thought asking here might provide a clearer answer.

Sorry, I didn't see your post at Seagate's forum.

Short version:
=============

Allow the first pass of the CD ISO version of the SD1B updater to fail. Wait for the "Cycle power to continue..." message, and then type Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break to abort the batch. This should return you to the FreeDOS prompt.

Now type ...

sf -m BRINKS -f 4HBXR1B.LOD -i ST3640323AS -s -x -b -v -a 10

When the update completes, power cycle your computer.


Long version:
=============

Download http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/supp ... H-SD1B.ISO

Use ISObuster to extract the BootImage.img file from the CD ISO. This is a 1.44MB floppy diskette FreeDOS image.

Use WinImage to extract the files from BootImage.img, and then use 7-Zip to extract the files from 640SD1B.ZIP.

SF.EXE is the SeaFlash executable that performs the update. You can unpack it with UPX. Once unpacked, you can use a word processor to see the embedded documentation:

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/sf_usage.txt

The firmware image file is 4HBXR1B.LOD. Seagate's filenames appear to reflect the number of heads in the drive (4H), and the "BXR" appears to refer to Brinks, which is the model family of your drive. The other 7200.11 family is named Moose. Furthermore, the name of the CD ISO image, Brinks-2D4H-SD1B, also confirms that it is intended for a drive with 2 Discs and 4 Heads. Still more confirmation that this is the correct update is the "2" in your model number, ST36403(2)3AS, indicating that the drive has 2 platters.

The command line that performs the update is ...

sf -m BRINKS -f -s -x -b -v -a 10 -h 4hcfgpre.txs

This compares your drive's existing firmware "package version" against an update matrix in an encrypted configuration file, 4hcfgpre.txs. If your drive's firmware modules don't match, then the update doesn't proceed. However you can forcibly update the firmware by explicitly specifying the model number, family, and firmware image.

To do this, allow the first pass of the CD ISO version of the updater to fail. Wait for the "Cycle power to continue..." message, and then type Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break to abort the batch. This should return you to the FreeDOS prompt.

Now type ...

sf -m BRINKS -f 4HBXR1B.LOD -i ST3640323AS -s -x -b -v -a 10

When the update completes, power cycle your computer.

For information on how to decode the TXS file, and for information on how to forcibly flash other firmware, visit Seagate's forums where this procedure has been explained many times.

Downloads:

http://www.isobuster.com/isobusterdownload.php
http://www.winimage.com/download.htm
http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
http://upx.sourceforge.net/

Thank you for the exceptionally detailed reply. It worked perfectly to bypass their stupid frontend program and flash the drive directly.

Do you have any idea what the status of the update for the SD3x series is?

AIUI, the "frontend" is intended to limit the updates to those drives that need it. In fact, you need to be absolutely certain that the update is compatible with your existing firmware, otherwise you risk bricking your drive. This is what happens when you use SDxx firmware to update a drive that has CCxx firmware, for example. In fact there is at least one CD ISO version of Seagate's updater that doesn't perform such a firmware check.

The SD3x firmware, at least for the 1TB model, is available from Seagate Tech Support. It is not downloadable, but will be emailed to you. I don't know if there is an update for your model, though.

BTW, here is the decoded configuration file for your drive:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/4HCFGPRE.TXT

... and the Brinks SD3B configuration file for drives with 3 platters:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/Brinks_3D6H_SD3B.txt

BTW, the first file has references to another firmware image, 4HBXR3B.lod, but this is not supplied in the update package.

Here is the Brinks-2D4H-SD3B.ISO which cannot be found on Seagate's website and updated my 640GB ST3640323AS SD33 drive correctly.

Thanks.

Here's the update matrix.

#BRINKS SDD3 BRANCH RE-FRESH CODE DISTY BARRACUDA 7200.11 UPDATE CONFIGURATION FILE
#07-OCT-2010, SD3B

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/BR4HSD3B.TXT

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

ok guys ive performed the fix as per listed here and now the drive is spinning more normally than before...

it loaded the drivers and said it was installed and the device was working properly..

still not being seen in My Computer though... so into disk management next....

now then, although its now telling me in disk management that the drive is 'unknown' and 'Not initialized' this is strange as its obviously not a new disk...it ghas my data on it. is it ok to go ahead and initialize? it says something of partioning which worries me that it might overwrite my data or am i being a jack a** worrying there?!

Corky

You aren't listed in this thread prior to your post a few mins ago, so please supply a link to the thread where you were given advice similar to the above?

If you have just followed the above instructions without getting specific advice for your situaton, are you really sure that the above advice is correct for your drive?

Either way, readers will need to know what the original problem was, your exact drive model number, previous f/w version, your diagnosis which led you to performing some kind of f/w update (if you've done the same as the OP above), and a clear explanation of exactly what "fix" you performed e.g. the exact command line that you ran to do a f/w update or whatever.

Have you got a terminal output from the drive?


That sounds like the drive might be in an external USB enclosure - is it?


No.

I recommend that you stop further actions and supply the information above.

in my haste i posted to the wrong thread, as you may have realised... heres the one i should be in..help appreciated!

barracuda-7200-wont-start-not-bios-t18730.html

No, I didn't realise - it could have been that you followed the instructions given to the OP, without getting advice specific to your situation. At least my reply prompted you to clarify the situation, and has therefore saved other readers from wondering what the situation is - but what a waste of my time it was, to reply.