Countermeasure for formatted CF-cards

************************* WARNING: ************************

FAILURE TO FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY AS SPECIFIED IN
THIS DOCUMENT, MAY AND WILL RESULT IN DAMAGE TO THE CF
CARD WHICH IF USED TO PROGRAM THE FIRMWARE ON THE MFP, MAY
RENDER THE MFP UNUSABLE.

THE SSD and KMBS HOLD NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE USE OR MIS-
USE OF THIS PROCEDURE AND THE SOFTWARE IT REFERENCES.

*************************************************************
Issue:
When CF cards are formatted under an Operating System, they no longer can be used to
flash MFP’s.

Symptom:
During firmware update, the following message or similar message is displayed on the
MFP:

Firmware update

Error
This is invalid card
Please make sure the card.

Cause:
When CF cards are formatted they take on properties of a disk that can be accessed by
compatible Operating Systems. Properties are in the form of partition and format data.

This data takes space up on the CF-card that the MFP can not read and therefore creates a
disk size error on the MFP.

Recovery:
The following procedure can be used to remove the partition and format data from the
CF-card.

Install CF-card reader on Windows XP or 2000 Machine and insert the formatted card
into the reader.

Find HxDen.zip that accompanies this procedure. This is a disk editor that is freeware
and can be distributed as long as it is done so as a complete package.

HxD is a standalone application and does not need to be installed in the usual sense of
needing an installer. The utility can be extracted to any folder and launched by double
clicking the Icon.
Extract the files in an empty folder and launch the HxD.exe. The Main screen opens.

Select the Extras menu choice and Select Open disk…

This may take a while. The Open disk selection dialog box is displayed.

This is important:

Selection of the wrong device can render the data on

your Hard Drive destroyed.

As in the screen shot above, select the Removable Disk

media selection that holds your CF-card. Be sure to
select the drive under the Physical disks selection.

Also, unselect the Open as Readonly option.

Unselect

Select OK and the following warning is displayed.

Click OK to continue.

The following screen appears:

This is the data on the physical drive. On the left is the binary data on the drive
represented in HEX and the right side the data is represented in ASCII.

Perform a ‘Select All’ by holding down the Control key and selecting the A key.
Alternatively, you can select the Edit menu and Click on the ‘Select all’ option.
The entire HEX side should become highlighted.

To remove the data, select Edit and choose Fill selection. The following dialog box will be
displayed.

This will fill the selection, in this case the entire disk, with zero’s, which effectively will
unformat and unpartition the disk.

Accept the defaults and select the OK button. The following screen will be displayed.

These are the changes ready to be written to the CF card -- they are not yet on the CF card.
This is a preview of the changes to be made.
To write the changes, select the File menu and choose the Save option. The following
dialog box will be displayed.
Click the Yes button to continue and write the changes.

DO NOT TOUCH THE MACHINE

After some time the red zeros should turn to black, representing that the data has been
changed.

After the Red Zeros turn Black, remove the CF card from the reader. You must
remove the CF card from the reader so the connection to the card is closed.

That’s it. Now you can reprogram the CF-card using your favorite firmware writing utility
and then program the MFP.

Close the application by selecting the right-most X, or select File from the menu and
choose Exit.