Did You Manage to Reprogramme a Fake Flash Drive Bought on eBay?
Posted by KittyFireFlash on October 23, 2008
Are you a person who bought a fake flash drive on eBay and were able to find a way to programme it? Make it return to it’s real capacity size? If you have successfully managed to de-FrankenFlash a counterfeit drive on eBay, we want to hear from you! Why?
You have no idea how often we are asked at SOSFakeFlash if there is a way to return a counterfeit drive back to it’s real size!
The problem is…how! There is not one method that will do the job. There are a few programs that are pretty good, but in restoring the drive (when possible) they overwrite information that change the drive from a dynamic plug and play into a static drive. Or programs like Acronis Disk Director or Partition Magic will refuse to see it once it has been been restored.
So the only true way appears to identify the controller chip of the drive and then the flash drive chip. Depending on the controller, a different program has to be used to do a low level format to fix things. Usually the only way to identify the controller is to take the drive apart. Some fake drives can be taken apart easily, some not. In some cases the flash drive is secured with a jelly epoxy and so wiggles about after the taking apart.
Sadly there is no magic solution. One solution for all drives.
We would like to hear from anybody who has been able to return a drive back to it’s original size. We will publish your receipy.
To ensure safety for those who might like to follow your steps, and info to the download software you used, please review our mug shot report. We will need the following from you:
- eBay Item number of the drive you bought
- eBay Seller id
- Any information you have on the controller the drive has
- Any information on the flash drive (chip,real size)
- Steps you used to fix it.
- The software you used and any links you have to it.
please sent your receipy to sosfakeflashdrive@gmail.com
We will try to examine the ebay item listing, and then write up a post for everyone on what they need to do. You can also chose a nom de plume, that is the name you would like to be called on this site. We don’t use our real names and we discourage disclosure of our ebay id’s too. Privacy is important at SOSFakeFlash and we respect this.
Figuring out how to fix a drive is not easy. I am kittyfireflash and it was not easy for me to fix some of the fakes I got. I killed a lot of them in my rescue attempts and as I probed for solutions. This is why I know there is no one recipey for all fakes. I experimented to find one for everybody and learned the hard way there isn’t one. I did successfully repair the classic fake. But that was a long time ago.
We already have one person submitting a solution and hope to publish it soon for a drive. We would like to post by seller and the drive model listed. This would be a fabulous way to help fellow eBayers who would settle for the true size of the drive.
Frankly SOSFakeFlash is against trying to restore a drive as it is risky. It should only be done if the seller refuses to refund or has settled and a person wants to be adventurous.
If you found a solution for a fake flash drive, please share with your fellow eBayers
Update 20091023: Please consult the new FAQ at FixFakeFlash Inspectortech for important information on repairing fake flash memory items before you attempt to repair.
SOSFakeFlash 
electrostorm said
To restore most fake capacity USB flash memory devices.
Step 1:
Download chipgenius, this program will automatically detect an inserted flash drive and read out the 4 digit VID code and 4 digit PID code.
http://www.mydigit.cn/mytool/chipgenius.rar
Step 2:
Go to the iFlash website and search for a matching VID and PID, download the corresponding software from the site.
http://www.flashboot.ru/index.php?name=iflash
In most cases I have been able to use the software provided to reflash the controller chip and do a low level format and restore correct capacity.
Linnet said
I bought a “16Gb Samsung” from this qiongzhuzhijia. It turned out to only have a 4Gb chip on board (SpecTek FBNL52A32K3W2) with AU6983HL controller. I couldn’t get any of the Alcor MP tools to recognise it in order to re-flash it to the correct size.
I found a reference to a HP Tool, designed for their DriveKey sticks to make them bootable, which seems to have done the business for my stick.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=US&swItem=MTX-UNITY-I23839
I simply ran the HP Drive Key Boot Utility, and told it to make the stick bootable, and not only did it put a bunch of files on there (which I promptly deleted), but it changed the capacity of the device to it’s correct 4Gb (from 16Gb). I didn’t get the opportunity to specify the size, so it either works it out itself, or it always selects 4Gb, I’m afraid I don’t know.
Unlike an MP Tools flash which properly “fixed” my other stick (an 8Gb, really 2Gb stick from Lianghk2007), the HP tool does things slightly differently. If you look at the drive with the windows Disk Management tool, it’s capacity is still set to 16Gb, however, it now has a 4Gb partition (with 12Gb unused space). The 4Gb partition passes the H2TestW test no problem. I wondered whether the HP format might be a good solution for those sticks that people can’t re-flash properly.
BTW – I got full refunds from both Lianghk2007, and qiongzhuzhijia as soon as I reported them to eBay/PayPal.
mad teacher said
Thanks, electrostorm! I may give this a go when I’ve got time.
kittyfireflash said
To Linnet.
The HP Tool is a good workaround in your case – as a last resort when as you pointed out there is no other tool. Another product that some times works like the HP Tool is Acronis Disk Director, but it doesn’t always work. What matters is that the tool you report is doing an important thing – making the usb bootable – some softwares, remove this and are not recommended as a result. However, people will have to keep in mind, never to touch the “Unused” Space part.
So everyone, if you can’t find a proper tool to do a low level format – this option is one you can try. Only remember never to touch the unused space part – ever! Never try to format the part that the HP tool chose to drop. Just use the partition it created, then run H2testw 1.4 to confirm you have a good partition to store data on.
It looks like this is a back up solution when you can’t find the tool you need.
nembokid said
Hi,I have a few fake USB flashpens,some of them I managed to repair, some other are (possibly) dead during the process of restoring: they show capacity zero, even if chipgenius programm still indicates the characteristics.Which way I might be certain that there are non chances of fixing?
Thks
KittyFireFlash said
To nembokid. I am in the same boat. I have repaired some but I have a lot in a jar, dead from my experiments to fix.
In the last 5 months we have been asked many times how to rescue drives. Unfortuantely it is hard to do so. You need to be able to identify the controller chip and usually the flash drive chip. To do this you need to find the right software – wrong software – a dead drive can result. It is why we have hesitated for so long on trying to provide information.
Still the demand is great for this information. If you do find the information you need and the right software to change your frankenflash drive back to it’s innocence – true capacity – the satisfaction can be wonderful. It can also be magical and fairly quick.
There are a few brute force tools but we will not publish the information here. Any mistake and you could end up reformatting your hard drive instead of the fake usb stick. They are just too dangerous for most people to use and for those who are tired or waver momentarily in concentration.
Information we will collect and gather for people will be the tools designed for the job. Actually most are those used by manufacturers to prepare their drives for sale.
If your drive went to showing zero probably one of too things happened:
Information on the controller chip was overwritten (wrong tool set) or the flash drive was incorrectly recognized.
This can happen when fake flash programmers get very dirty, putting in fake and incorrect pid and vid information when they carried out the initial reprogramming. It doesn’t affect the creation of a fake, only if one then tries to reprogamme again. Those are the nasties fakes of all and I have a jar full of them.
superman said
Hi, I have used themethodology explained by Linnet, and at the end I found the fake flashpen was fixed, without other partitions or other tricks.
Fixing the fake USB Flashpens to thir real capacity may represent a difficult problem , because of the need of identifying the techn. charasterics of the devices, and consequently the right tool to fix it thru the various programs available to thispurpose.
Not only that, but , sinche the chips have low quality, during the proccess of fixing them in this way, in some case you might “kill” the devices.
I would suggest another way of fixing the fake devices.
This method may not work in all cases, but there is no need of searching the characteristics of the devices, and you do not run the risk of killing them.
Download the program cp006049 (http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=US&swItem=MTX-UNITY-I23839)
and install it.
Then select the usb flashpen to fix, and then the option “create new or replace existing configuration”, then the option “hard drive”, and “create new file system”.
the program will format the USB flashpen.
At the end select the option “HP Firmware Flash package”.
Then close the program and go thru XP to format normally the device.
At the end you will find the fake USB Flashpen fixed to its real capacity.
kittyfireflash said
Yes Superman, the mysteries of identification is the biggest obstacle!
You are also correct that flash drive chips are likely to be substandard or of a lower grade. You can see this when a 16GB fake reports 1.7 GB good using H2testw 1.4. If the real capacity was a 2GB drive for example it should report about 1.9 GB and not 1.7GB formatted. It could mean there were a lot of back sectors.
We have been looking for a good solution – that could be used for most fake drives – without having to find all the special information about the particular fake drive. I have some fakes that died and are sitting in a jar – hoping for rescue one day and a few that did do well. They are for a very obsure model. I will try to see if this program rescues and also what it does to the drives if I succeed.
If anyone has a number of fakes and is desperate please try what Superman advises and report back.
My concern is, will it later show up as a removable drive or appear as a fixed drive to the operating system. This is why some other tools were never mentioned.
Do we have brave souls to try out superman’s November 4, 2008 at 18:22 suggestions?
Shaun said
thanks Linnet / superman!
That program is very easy to use, I just followed superman’s instructions and it was all done in a couple of minutes. I now have a working USB stick. it was 32GB hacked, but is now at its correct size at 3.7GB. very happy that it’s now usable! 🙂
Shaun said
thanks Linnet / superman!
That program is very easy to use, I just followed superman’s instructions and it was all done in a couple of minutes. I now have a working USB stick. it was 32GB hacked, but is now at its correct size at 3.7GB. very happy that it’s now usable! 🙂
Dennis said
1. eBay item number: 200261654928
2. eBay Seller id: xiaotian_abc
I. My FAKE 8GB USB Drive is actually 1GB in capacity with a MW6208E controller and Toshiba TC58NVG3D4CTGI0 memory unit. VID=2001 PID=2008
II. You can fix your drive with an utility http://www.bloggybloggy.com/randomdownloads/UdTools1.0.4.0B_20080714.zip
just click on the button with your drive disk name (ex. “X:”)
Mine has been fixed with the substraction of some bad area, so it is now 946 MB available.
III. I have added the information to the iFlash list – you can check it out (http://flashboot.ru/iflash.html)
IV. Thanks people for this website – I was pleased and proud of you, you do the right thing, thanks again!
Dennis. 06/11/2008
Tom said
I did what Linnet suggested and it worked, will I be alright to use the stick asif it were a normal 4GB one now?
kittyfireflash said
To Tom and Everyone,
Once you have attempted a repair and it looks good, Please run the software H2testw 1.4 once more. If it worked well, you will get a report saying the drive is fine and that you can delete the test files. If you get this report, the drive should now be good and back to it’s real capacity and innocence.
Tom said
All is ok now 🙂 it is restored to its actual size of 4gb I ran the check too and it is fine, also the guy gave me a refund too so I got a free memory stick 😀
KittyFireFlash said
Glad to see the using the HP Tool worked for you Tom and that H2testw 1.4 validated your results.
Actually you did not exactly get a “free memory stick” – you had to earn it – consider the time you spend to rescue the drive and multiply by your hourly work rate!
The postitive is that you make a FAKE real capacity!
A great deal of time this week has been spent in looking at the HP Tools to rescue fakes that died – wrong flash information. “Virgin Fakes” – ones that have had any flash software attempts performed on them – as yet have not been tested.
Drives being tested are those with the MXT6208 controller chip. Not well known – with a variety of different flash chips – generally factory seconds. So far The HP Tools are not working to repair. Even with one that was fenced in (using acronis disk director to partition a good size) – the results were bad. The HP tools creates a 4 GB instead of the needed 2 GB.
This weekend a few fakes – still in their cello packages will be tested – to determine if they can be rescued. Same controller model. The objective is to verify the postive results coming in and answer an important question: HP Tools – best shot to repair? IF NO PREVIOUS FLASHING ATTEMPTS? This is a question that must be answered.
We have never seen such a hot topic – from eBayer victims and non eBayers. Almost exceeding trying to report fake flash sellers on ebay or getting refunds…..
WOW! Just how many people have bought counterfeit drives and are swinging in the wind out there?
mad teacher said
Absolutely thousands – and not all bought on eBay from my reading!
Acid24 said
I HAVE MANAGED TO FIX 2 FRANKENFLASHES RECENTLY. THIS WAS ALL THANKS TO THE INFORMATION I GAINED FROM THIS WEBSITE! THANKS A MILLION!
I BASICALLY USED CHIPGENIUS AS DIRECTED ABOVE TO GET THE VID & PID NR’S OF THE FLASH DRIVES, AND SEARCHED ON THE FLASHBOOT.RU SITE FOR THE CORRECT PROGRAM TO FLASH THE CHIP WITH (ENGLISH TRANSLATED VERSION OF THE SITE). THOUGH NOT ALL THE SOFTWARE IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD FROM THE SITE, GOOGLE DOES WONDERS FOR FINDING PLACES TO DOWNLOAD IT FROM. I USED AlcorMP(08092401) TO FIX THE “SAMSUNG 16GB” DRIVE BOUGHT FROM ORIENTCURIO999 (WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE 4GB), AND A MICOV PROGRAM FOR THE NONAME “16GB” CRAP BOUGHT FROM FUKKEE (WHICH ENDED UP AS 1.80GB).
AS SOON AS THE PROGRAM REGOCNISES THE FLASH AND GIVES YOU THE “START” OPTION, IT SHOULD DO ITS THING. THAT IS TO LOW LEVEL FORMAT THE DRIVE. AFTERWARDS I FORMATTED THE FLASH DRIVE IN XP AND RAN THE H2TESTW PROGRAM AGAIN TO MAKE SURE. EVERYTHING WORKS FINE.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK GUYS! THANX FOR A VERY INFORMATIVE SITE!
marinattack said
I have a flash drive, recently purchased off ebay seller’s email was moompp@126.com, when I got the drive I tried to copy a large file to it, it locked up during the transfer and since then I have not been able to get into the drive at all, windows nor ubuntu recognise the drive when its inserted, the controller chip is the alcor AU6983HL storage chip is a samsung, drive was suppose to be 16gb. Is there anyway of getting this drive to be detected so that some software can be used to formate it.
Dennis said
Try this utility: AlcorMP(081010)
Can be downloaded from: http://www.flashboot.ru/uploads/files/public/AlcorMP(081010).rar
Zack said
I bought 16gb fake from sincerefriend200888. I could store file up to 16gb, how ever after the second gigabyte it would to read. It turned out to be 2gb Kingston TravelStar
PnP Device ID: VID = 0000 PID = 0000
Serial Number: 2008112201160981
Revision: 2.20
Product Vendor: samsung
Product Model: Flash disk
How I fixed it?
I simply attempted NTFS fromat but Windows failed to format the drive, in result the drive became with RAW partition and after secondary FAT32 format, I’ve managed to restore the original 1.95gb size, which now works great.
This site helped me a lot.
Thanks.
InspectorTech said
Zak, make sure to run H2testw 1.4 on the drive after “fixing” the drive to be sure it is ok.
Zack said
@InspectorTech
I did, it works flawlessly. It writes with 11MBs and reads with 16MBs.
Thanks again to this web site for all the guidance and help!
Makinus said
Acid24: an you point to me where i can download the Micov program you used? i think i got an 16gb fake micov here…
George Cruz said
I bought a fake 8GB drive off ebay. It was the following:
Origin: China
Seller: Don’t Remember
Stated Capacity: 8 Gb
VID: 1221
PID: 3234
Chip Part No. MXT8208
Chip Vendor: micov
The program to fix it is located here:
http://forum.flashboot.ru/uploads/files/public/UdTools1_0_4_6_20081010.rar
Works perfectly now, at 4GB. Its real capacity. Now I can actually format it in NTFS too.
eazy said
I tried superman’s instructions with a 8GB sdhc card wich had a fake capicity according to the H2testw.
Capicty: 1.9GB
Formated with hp tool : 3.8GB
Run H2TESTW again, still the test fails.
a big F U to all china scammers !
kittyfireflash said
See a neat example of what we can have produced when people send their solutions to sosfakeflashdrive@gmail.com
Now when people search the net they will be finding a quick solution soon at the bots and spiders get a hold of it!
Hazar said
I managed to get mine to work, so that I could copy files onto a 64gb Sony microvault, even though it is fake and didn’t work when I got it.
1. open the case, pull the piece of plastic which is holding the chip in place out (just lever it out)
2. Wiggle the actual USB until it snaps off the LED at the end, you should get a chip out of it, if the chip is broken then you have screwed up and its completely stuffed
3. Put the chip back in the case and reassemble, now that it is disconnected from the LED it seems to work.
After a while it will fail, and all your data will be lost and it won’t work again.
To prevent or fix this you can:
1. Simply reformat the Disk and it should work, if it does not then continue to step 2
2. Get a Gparted Live CD (not sure where to get them now, I just found mine among a stack of stuff I have)
WARNING: DO NOT MESS WITH YOUR COMPUTERS HARD DRIVE, you run the risk of wiping everything
3. Boot using Gparted and find the USB
4. It should be all unallocated space (hence why it needed to be formated) if this is not so then I’m not sure what to do, but with the unallocated space you should reformat it into NTFS format
5. Reboot your computer
6. Find the USB in My Computer and attempt to open it
7. If it does open then congratulations you now have a working USB if it does not the continue to step 8
8. Right click and select format
9. You will not be able to format the disk into NTFS, instead at the drop down menu select exFAT Formatting the disk this way will allow you to use it.
10. After doing this I recommend that you scan for errors (right click>properties>Tools>Check now)
And there you have it: A very dodgy USB which could break at any moment =D
Afonso said
Hi,
I also bought a 16GB AU6983HL pen drive which turned out to be a 4GB one, in spite of being refunded, thanks to HP tool I managed to ‘re-new’ this USB pen drive.
Furthermore since I got a bit annoyed (to say the least) I threw the pen drive against the wall and cracked the case, right now I have a ‘brand new’ 4GB ‘post-modern design’ (i.e. no case at all) pen drive, which competes in size with those little ones from Sony.
Thanks SOSFakeFlash.
Mike said
Hi, I bought a fake 16Gb from ebay. It was advertised as “16GB Flash Drive Memory Pen Stick THUMB usb 2.0” from Seller zhujunpeibay and item no 280298349950.
When viewed in “MY COMPUTER” showed Size as 16Gb.
Ran test using “H2testw v1.4” results showed only 1.9Gb ok so asssumed it must really be 2Gb.
Then i stumbled upon this site thank to ebay seller “Flashymemory”
Used Chipgenius to find:
Device Name: +[J:]+USB Mass Storage Device(USB2.0 Flash Disk USB Device)
PnP Device ID: VID = 1221 PID = 3234
Serial Number: 100000000000055C
Revision: 2.20
Device Type: Standard USB device – USB2.0 High-Speed
Product Vendor: USB2.0
Product Model: Flash Disk
Disasembled the drive and found that
MEMORY Chip samsung K9GAG08UOM (PCB0 FCKC77XS)
AND
CONTROLLER Chip MW6208E (250001-3 08HLT0814)
Then spent hours downloading various versions of UDtools only to find that none of them detected the drive, then found in a comment on this site that UdTools1.0.4.0B_20080714 is the correct program for the drive, again spent ages trying to detect drive. Then stumbled upon a suggestion that udtools will not work with Vista. Tried running the above version of udtools on XP and detected drive and fixed to 2Gb.
Still getting errors though when trying to format in windows, but will hopefully iron out problems.
InspectorTech said
Hi Mike,
The chip MW6208E actually falls under the AMECO family. Please see this post:
see the software at the bottom. If you did not use this one, you might like to download it and reflash. It is the most recent up to date version. In a number of cases it also formatted the drive for instant use.
Let us know the results. And of course to make sure, the test has to be done again to make sure it passes.
Mike said
Hi
Finally have a fault free working 2Gb flash drive.
Down loaded UdTools1_0_4_6_20081010 as advised in the above thread. I had already tried this version on my Vista PC with no luck.
Ran on my XP PC detected drive and re-flashed no problems.
Ran test again using “H2testw v1.4″ this time report came back with no faults.
Great Site, I was one of the lucky one’s i had a refund and i’ve fixed the flash drive.
Would not have wasted so much time if i’d tried XP machine earlier.
Rolf van Gorp said
To repair mine 2GB Flash drive, i followed the instructions on this site:
http://www.myblog.bloggybloggy.com/usb-key-fix-mptools-11-05-2008/
kittyfireflash said
For Rolf van Gorp’s, fix the usb flash drive was : Brand New 16GB Pen Stick Drive Flash Memory USB 2.0 L2 from ebay Fake Flash Seller rongcle.
Woody said
I bought fake 8G drive off Ebay it turned out to be 4G. One
funny thing afout this was a place for another memory chip.
It used onFlash 5188b and k9lbgo8uom chips well couldn’t find how to do it the right way but found a workaround.
Using the free version of HDclone I cloned a blank formated4g drive to the fake 8g drive. When asked if I wanted to expand the file system I chose no. So now Windows just sees this a a 4g drive. I coppied files till it was full and can read all the files.
fightflashfraud said
Hi Woody,
If you didn’t submit the test result and details of the transaction to sosfakeflash please do so. Sosfakeflash needs to gather as much evidence as possible against these fraudsters.
Raven2000 said
My situation is sort of unique~
I bought an eee pc (a small laptop) off ebay which came with a 16gb sdhc card. After a while i noticed that after filling it up, only some files would work. Then i found SOSfakeflash and fixfakeflash ~~ I then ran h2testw and found out it was actually 8gb.
Using chipgenius didn’t work(the VID and PID were matching with a 2gb kingston??) Using UDtools didn’t work (it didn’t come up) The HP tool formatted it to 4gb, so that was out of the question too. Then i discovered a very useful program, “Mkdosfs” (get it from here: http://www1.mager.org/mkdosfs ), which allows you to set a number of blocks to format on a drive (using this with h2testw will let you know what number of blocks to format)
This isn’t as easy to use as HP formatting tool, UDtools, etc. So only use this as a last resort if everything else doesn’t work for you, like it didn’t for me!!
Anyway, this is what you do:
1- Download and run h2testw, and write down the line which tells you how many Gbyte’s are ok [for me it looked like: 7.7GByte OK (16347825 sectors)]
2-Download “Mkdosfs” from the link provided above. Extract it to c drive. (MAKE SURE Mkdosfs.exe is in the root of c drive)
3-Go to start -> Run (or windowskey + R), and type in cmd
4-write in C:\mkdosfs -v -f 32 -n SDHC(or any other name for your flash drive/card) D: 16347825(copy paste the number of OK sectors you got from H2testw previously)
NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT GET THE LETTER (D:) WRONG. If your flash drive is H:, then put H! If you get this wrong, you could format your harddrive. Check in MY Computer what letter your flash drive is.
Thats it folks!
Im sure that 99% of people can use Chipgenius, UDtools, HP formatting tool and all the others. But i have written this in the hope that some of the 1% of people like me will be able to benefit from this and fix their flash drive or sd card!
PS:I dont know how the other methods fix your flash drive, but what this one(and HP formatting tool) do is, format only a portion of your flash drive, and leave the rest unpartitioned/unformatted. What this means is, in My computer it will show up as the fixed capacity (8gb in my case), and if you format it, it will still be 8gb. However, if you do a low level format (such as through device manager), it will show up and be formatted to its fake capacity. So basically, avoid low level formats (i doubt anyone would need to do them anyway)
Raven2000 said
Hmmmmmmm.
I just realised something. A drive formatted using the above steps gets: “Test finished without errors”, you cant format it in ANY OTHER WAY except for mkdosfs, otherwise it goes back to its fake state. (previously i said only a low level format would do that)
Still, its a viable alternative. Just delete your files, and if by chance you need to format it, just use mkdosfs again~
InspectorTech said
To Raven2000
Trying to fix memory cards is very difficult. It looks like mkdosfs is behaving a lot like HP tool – resizing the flash drive but not fixing whatever is the wrong info in an controller chip. It’s difficult and nasty.
You might like to see:
That seems to have the best success, but WARNING! be very very careful. Use a laptop to do it and yes you need the operating system install CD. If you don’t have find a friend who does.
Raven2000 said
Hmm.
That will probably do the same thing.. But in my opinion mkdosfs is easier and more viable than the method you said. Your one is longer and requires having the windows installation cd, and removing your computers hdd.
In the case of mkdosfs, all you need to do is just copy it to your computer and run a command through dos ~~
InspectorTech said
To Raven2000
You raise a good point. mkdosfs is definately the shorter route and one for those who may not have a windows cd (those preinstalled computers with only a recovery build image).
I don’t have any fake memory cards to do a comparision myself between the two methods.
The question is, does the long route completely restore the memory card? That is, can you from that point onward – reformat at will using the OS? If so, that would be the prefered method for a complete recovery – making the memory card what it once was. mkdosfs seems to work around the issue, but doesn’t fix the incorrect information that some how remains – small controller chip?
If the long method runs into the same problem…can’t reformat at will in the operating system. after repair then your solution would be the easiest preferred method for all. Less difficult and time consuming too.
If there is someone out there with a bunch of fake memory cards and the needed equipment (laptop, windows cd and comfort level to remove the hd) and could do a comparision – validate whether the long method has issues when reformatting at will in the os later – we could sort out which method or method(s) is the best or which one people could consider (depending on the above).
It would be a good thing to find out…
Raven2000 said
Hmmm. While i dont have proof to back me up, im 100% that what HP tools, Mkdosfs, and Windows CD formatting do, is just simply make only the REAL capacity available for usage. So in windows when you right click- > properties, the total space will be the REAL capacity. However, when you try to format, the fake capacity will come up. This because what you did was just partition the REAL capacity and leave the fake capacity alone.
For windows to recognise it as its real capacity, you would need to mess with the controller chip, which in my opinion is not needed. I mean how often do you format your USB? Just delete everything… + If you do need to format, once you know how to do it, mkdosfs is very fast.
Ben-G said
Recently bought a dozen 8gb Sony Memory Stick Pro Duos. Everything looked okay, till i tried loading more than 3.8gb… apparently these are 4gb sticks and after tryint to write more than 3.8gb everything that was initially inside went corrupt… everything else i tried wouldn’t work, nothing detected my MSPD in the PSP Usb mode.
ChipGenius got some info off my card as follows:
Device Name: +[D:]+USB Mass Storage Device(Sony PSP USB Device)
PnP Device ID: VID = 054C PID = 01C8
Serial Number: 5&&2DE49E62&&0&&3
Revision: 1.00
Device Type: Standard USB device – USB2.0 High-Speed
Chip Vendor: Sony(??)
Chip Part-Number: MIPS R4000
Product Vendor: SONY(??)
Product Model: PSP Type A
Tools on Web: (N/A)
However the other recommended programs such as UDTools, Test_SM32x_H1029_1_17_42, iFormat2, MpTool, i5127-PDV.08B3 all didn’t detect my MSPD so knowing the specs didn’t help much.
Then i saw Superman’s post on the program cp006049 (http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=US&swItem=MTX-UNITY-I23839)
It was really easy to use, took about 10minutes and my MSPD is now 3.67gb and at least the risk of overwriting those important save games is now significantly lower!
Thanks for the great help!!!
db889 said
Supermans cure works a treat. Spent hours trying to find a fix for fake Kingston 64GB drive. Has standard samsung memory and standard mw6208e controller. Link to chipgenius no longer works. checked drive with the german site which reported 1.8GB usable. used the HP solution and drive now reconised as 3.26GB. I have reformatted the drive twice and 3.26GB is still the size with no partitions, So was probable originaly a 4GB drive. So my advice try the hp cure, only took ten mins. including downloading a 45MB file, or spend countless hours and get nowhere. No need to be a geek if you dont have to, unless you have plenty of time to waste which I dont.
db889 said
I have now revamped a second 64GB Kingstone drive, even quicker now I have the program installed. exactly the same results as the first time. Will now recheck both drives with the german site and report back.
Martin Pedder said
I used http://forum.flashboot.ru/uploads/files/public/Ameco_UdTools(1.0.4.9)_20081119.rar The link may not display correctly but you need all of it up to and including “.rar”. The download should start straight away. I have just fixed several 2GB sold as 8GB sticks in a leather and metal case that were sold on eBay. They had all failed after a few months use, presumably when the users first hit the 2GB ceiling of what they thought was their 8GB memory stick. The drives all said they needed formatting but failed to format. In no case was I able to recover any data for the users. ChipGenius reported VID 2001 and PID 2008 and MXT8208. The chip inside is actually MW6208E. Firstly, you must use a PC with XP. Vista just did not seem to find the memory sticks. I also found that only 2 of the 3 USB sockets on my XP laptop were recognised, so try different sockets if you struggle to get your stick seen. My Vista machine never saw any stick in any socket. I tried several versions of UDtools including UdTools1_0_4_6_20081010 with no success. Even though it could see the correct memory chip, I kept getting “Download Scan Code Failed”. Eventually I found the Ameco version of UDtools 1.0.4.9 that worked immediately with the default settings of VID 1221 and PID 3234. It appears that the vendor had programmed incorrect VID and PID values. A few notes about UDtools: Each row is for a separate memory stick, so many can be programmed at once with the same settings, or individually with the buttons on the left. It permits sequential serial numbers. There are three .ini files included with the distribution. The first one has the definitions of the chips in it and UDtools will complain if it is missing. The second one I did not investigate. UDtools remembers most of the settings you make in the third .ini. You can reset some of them by renaming (or deleting if you are brave) this one. It will make a new one next time it is run. You can enter your own vendor name, but only the first 8 characters will be programmed. Likewise, you can enter your own model name. I used USB2.0 Stick. The serial number looks like it must be numeric as it will fill lots of zeroes before the number you enter. If you choose the increment option and are programming several sticks together, and enter for example 123401, the second stick will be 123402, the third 123403 and so on. After reprogramming the memory sticks all work perfectly at the correct 2GB size. ChipGenius now sees VID 1221 and PID 3234 but still reckons the controller is MXT8208. I suspect that MW6208E may be an equivalent of MXT8208.
thank superman said
its working
Fraud Fixed By Superman said
Thanks Superman.
I searched for days and downloaded many utilities to fix my flash. None but ChipGenius and H2Testw recognized my drive (even though windows recognized it). By downloading the HP program and following your directions I was able to fix my drive in 5 minutes.
I bought a 16 gb Sony Vsio drive on EBay from
Seller’s name: Liu XiuRui
Seller’s email: lele.goodgirl@hotmail.com
I sent the H2Testw information to PayPal and reported this sale as a fraud. I was told to return the product with shipping that included tracking information and that “We may not be able to give you a full refund — the refund amount is based on the terms of our buyer protection programs.”
I didn’t want to invest any more on this in postage because I was not certain how much money I would get on a refund so I reprogrammed it using your directions.
Thanks for sharing. You made this drive usable. It is now 4 GB and usable.
jpez said
Thanks superman
worked for me aswell good work
jon said
this sucks! this just happened to me, and i purchased TWO of them! man, what a shame.
same seller…
name: Liu XiuRui
email: lele.goodgirl@hotmail.com
Luis Fernandez said
(HP Drive Key Boot Utility was OK (Windows XP is required. Thanks Superman)
I purchase a supposed 16GB pendrive who results to be only 4GB.
1- eBay item number: 220404687369
2- eBay Seller id: yeweijie_store (16GB 16 GB USB 2.0 Memory Stick Thumb Drive Flash Pen G)
ChechUDisk reported the following characteristics:
VID&PID: Vid_1221&Pid_3234
Speed: high speed
VendorID: USB2.0
ProductID: Flash Disk
Product Revision: 2.50
Vendor Description: USB2.0
Product Description: Flash Disk
Serial Number: 100000000000097C
I recovered the 4G with HP Drive Key Boot Utility as recommended by Superman Note that the applications only run in Windows XP. Here again the utility link:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?swItem=MTX-UNITY-I23839&lang=en&cc=us&idx=1&mode=4&
Luis