Can't format on FAT after accidentaly format in FAT32

[xaieta]

Accidentaly i formated my iriver iFP-190TC with the 1.22 UMS firmware in FAT32.

Now I'm trying to format on FAT but I can't: the quick format says "Format Complete", but when you start the player, theres a FAT SUPPORT ONLY message on it, and if I try the long format, in the end windows raises an error saying "Windows was unable to complete the format", and the same message (FAT SUPPORT ONLY) appears on the player.

I have tried with another formatting application, and the same happened in the end. Just to add some more info, after formating on FAT32 I uploaded lots of mp3 on the player and now when I click on the joystick, thought it says the FAT ONLY msg, the file manager appears and shows a list of songs with strange strange simbols as names.

Windows is able to see the player and even upload things to it. And what's more, it says that is a FAT16 device!

I would much appreciate any help! Thanks.

Cris.

[Astec]

What you have tried seems to be all the options. I can think of no others, bung off an email to iRiver and try to get it sorted that way is my only suggestion. Have you tried formatting from the command line. Its not something to do if your not good with PCs but worth a shot. Other than that call up iRiver. Unless others have ideas. In which case Bump.

[mozetti]

You could try to format in NTFS, then re-format it as FAT. Maybe the change from a FAT file system to an NTFS will force it into submission when you re-format as basic FAT.

I'm not sure if there are any repercussions to formatting as NTFS, but if it's unusable now, then you don't have much to lose.

Good luck!

[dimitri_souza]

My digital camera has the same problem. It only works if you format the flash memory using the embedded FORMAT option. That's because Windows XP formats FAT16 using a different allocation size.

My iFP-799 (UMS) has a FORMAT option under the GENERAL menu. Have you aleready tried this?

As a last alternative, try formatting your device using FAT on Windows 2000 (or WinME). I've already noticed that Windows XP and Windows 2000 uses a different allocation size when formatting FAT16.

Good luck and let me know if it works!

Dimitri

[pbkirk]

Hi!

I have the EXACT same issue with my IFP-390T player, except I was using an older UMS version, 1.0b. I tried reverting to IRiver Manager (native format) by copying the non-UMS .HEX file back and hitting firmware upgrade on the player, but it obviously didn't take - the player still shows the FAT SUPPORT ONLY message in MP3 mode. IRiver Manager can't see it, even though MS WinXP can see the drive and manage files on it. A quick format completes, but a full format doesn't. Is there anything else I can try? IRiver told me they couldn't help me, and that it was unrecoverable. Please advise if you can think of anything else.

[pbkirk]

I tried formatting the player from both MS WinXP and 2000, no difference. The player itself doesn't have a format option, and the IRiver Manager format won't work because it can't see the device. IRiver doesn't have another format utility that runs standalone under Windows.

[n8mack33]

Originally Posted by pbkirk

Hi!

I have the EXACT same issue with my IFP-390T player, except I was using an older UMS version, 1.0b. I tried reverting to IRiver Manager (native format) by copying the non-UMS .HEX file back and hitting firmware upgrade on the player, but it obviously didn't take - the player still shows the FAT SUPPORT ONLY message in MP3 mode. IRiver Manager can't see it, even though MS WinXP can see the drive and manage files on it. A quick format completes, but a full format doesn't. Is there anything else I can try? IRiver told me they couldn't help me, and that it was unrecoverable. Please advise if you can think of anything else.

I have the exact same problem with my 390T when I tried to revert back now the player is no longer accessible. When I shut down it says 380T instead of 390T. Am I totally screwed here? Did you ever solve this problem? I am mad because I followed the instructions exactly and ended up in this spot. I formatted for FAT just like the directions said and tried to revert back just like the directions said. Everything the iriver support site told me to do made things worse. Please don't say this thing is useless now!

[LAB DESIGN]

Hi, try this.. Delpart Partitioning Tool not sure if it will work. I have used it successfully on my HD's a few times when things have gone wrong. (think this will only apply to HD's - Don't know about flash).

Delete the partition - create a new partition - format as FAT.. Hope it works, let me know.

[n8mack33]

Thanks for the help. Before I could read your post I tried a reformat in dos mode. I typed format g: /q /FS:FAT /x and it worked! I am now able to transfer files and play them and everything. At first I did not do /q (quick format) and it did not work. Hope this helps anyone who makes this same mistake...

[LAB DESIGN]

Kewl.. glad you got it fixed.

[Amiroquai]

Originally Posted by n8mack33

Thanks for the help. Before I could read your post I tried a reformat in dos mode. I typed format g: /q /FS:FAT /x and it worked! I am now able to transfer files and play them and everything. At first I did not do /q (quick format) and it did not work. Hope this helps anyone who makes this same mistake...

Excellent! you just saved me a heart attack, thanks a bunch!

[musichound]

Originally Posted by Amiroquai

I had recently put the IFP 390T up for an auction on ebay, already got payment and was going to ship it today.
I tried formatting it with Windows XP and now I'm getting that exact annoying FAT message on the screen and music files won't play on it.
I'm ignorant when it comes to computers , would anyone please explain this dos command thing to me step by step and write down the command for me so I can just copy and paste it.
It's recognized as a removable disk ( E: ) on my machine.
I don't even know how to access the dos command on the XP...
PLEASE HELP ME WITH THIS , I'm expected to ship it out today!

Go to the start menu, choose the run command, then type CMD, then hit the enter key. A black box will appear. Then type format e: /q /FS:FAT /x.

That should do it.

[Amiroquai]

Originally Posted by musichound

Go to the start menu, choose the run command, then type CMD, then hit the enter key. A black box will appear. Then type format e: /q /FS:FAT /x.

That should do it.

It worked!!! thanks a lot!!!! I was getting so worried...

[unpocoloco]

lol.
I find it amusing how iRiver official support said it was dead.
Lesson: NEVER trust tech. support, anywhere! You know more than they do (or, the collective wisdom of a forum always does, in any case!)

[CurtDawg77]

I did somewhat the same thing that everyones else did to screw up my ifp-599t. I found what some found to be the fix, but it didn't work for me since I had totally deleted the partition and everything. This is the answer to about 6 months of headache and so i am posting it so if someone else has the problem they will know how to do it. So i deleted my partition during and install of WinXP by accident. Not sure exactly how, but I did. To make a long story short, you have to get a program that will let you see all the partitions. Now this is a little complicated, but if you used Partition Manager, or whatever software you want and repartition the damn thing, for some reason it seems not to take. I then booted into Active@ Kill Disk, which is free on the net, and it showed me that there was unassigned disk space that was leading the partition. So I then booted using the mp3 player so that I could run fdisk (get bootdisk.com and HP Utility to make it bootable). Now here is the tricky thing. You use fdisk to delete the old partitions, but you have to use the Large Disk Support. I know this sounds wrong because of the FAT16 thing, but it did not work when I used the opposite option. You then create the max size partition and exit. You can't use format here, it wont work. After that, boot again with Active@ Kill Disk, and select to write over the whole partition with the zeros method. After done, unplug from the USB and the player should tell you Format before using. Now plug it back into the usb and use the DOS prompt window in XP to format as it says in the above posts. Now it should work. It takes a little time, but I thought mine would never work again and was so happy when I unpluged it and it said No File....Yeah baby....Jammin again....

[pizzavernichta]

Originally Posted by CurtDawg77

I did somewhat the same thing that everyones else did to screw up my ifp-599t. I found what some found to be the fix, but it didn't work for me since I had totally deleted the partition and everything. This is the answer to about 6 months of headache and so i am posting it so if someone else has the problem they will know how to do it. So i deleted my partition during and install of WinXP by accident. Not sure exactly how, but I did. To make a long story short, you have to get a program that will let you see all the partitions. Now this is a little complicated, but if you used Partition Manager, or whatever software you want...

so complicated?
if you have UMS firmware on your iFP...just look @ the Menue -> General -> Format
this should work...the player will be formated in FAT (16)
or: use an Partition Manager...WinXP has something like this in the SystemControls
(i have only winXP german...there is something that sounds "Datenträgerverwaltu ng" ..sorry.)
with that one you can make/delete partitions in FAT/FAT32/NTFS ...

[nbigaouette]

Hi,

I had twice that problem. I'm posting the solution I used.

I'm using linux so no Windows. Generally, I'm using GParted (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/) which use parted. But the fat16 partition I created with it wasn't working. It gives me "FAT support only" error. So the bottom line : DON'T USE GPARTED/PARTED TO FORMAT THE DEVICE!!!

I then tryed with a Windows XP computer, without luck. I tryed the command line (format e: /q /x /fs:fat), the GUI and from the Administrative Tools / Computer Management / Disk Management without any luck. I always got "FAT support only".

I then connected the iFP-180T to linux box, then ran "fdisk" on it:

> sudo fdisk /dev/sda
Commande (m pour l'aide): p

Disque /dev/sda: 114 Mo, 114688000 octets
255 têtes, 63 secteurs/piste, 13 cylindres
Unités = cylindres de 16065 * 512 = 8225280 octets

Périphérique Amorce Début Fin Blocs Id Système
/dev/sda1 1 13 104391 6 FAT16
Commande (m pour l'aide): d
Partition sélectionnée 1

Commande (m pour l'aide): p

Disque /dev/sda: 114 Mo, 114688000 octets
255 têtes, 63 secteurs/piste, 13 cylindres
Unités = cylindres de 16065 * 512 = 8225280 octets

Périphérique Amorce Début Fin Blocs Id Système

Commande (m pour l'aide): n
Action de commande
e étendue
p partition primaire (1-4)
p
Numéro de partition (1-4): 1
Premier cylindre (1-13, par défaut 1):
Utilisation de la valeur par défaut 1
Dernier cylindre ou +taille or +tailleM ou +tailleK (1-13, par défaut 13):
Utilisation de la valeur par défaut 13

Commande (m pour l'aide): p

Disque /dev/sda: 114 Mo, 114688000 octets
255 têtes, 63 secteurs/piste, 13 cylindres
Unités = cylindres de 16065 * 512 = 8225280 octets

Périphérique Amorce Début Fin Blocs Id Système
/dev/sda1 1 13 104391 83 Linux

Commande (m pour l'aide): t
Partition sélectionnée 1
Code Hex (taper L pour lister les codes): 6
Type de partition système modifié de 1 à 6 (FAT16)

Commande (m pour l'aide): p

Disque /dev/sda: 114 Mo, 114688000 octets
4 têtes, 55 secteurs/piste, 1018 cylindres
Unités = cylindres de 220 * 512 = 112640 octets

Périphérique Amorce Début Fin Blocs Id Système
/dev/sda1 1 1018 111952+ 6 FAT16

Commande (m pour l'aide): w
La table de partitions a été altérée!

Appel de ioctl() pour relire la table de partitions.

AVERTISSEMENT: si vous avez créé ou modifié une partition DOS 6.x,
svp consulter les pages du manuel de fdisk pour des informations
additionnelles.
Synchronisation des disques.

>

What I did was to delete the existing partition (command "d"), create a new one (command "n"), convert it to FAT16 (command "t" followed by "6"). I write the modification to the device (command "w") and disconnect the device.

On the device's screen, I get "FORMATTING", then I can use it normally.

Hope it will help some people.

[carlosflange]

In Linux you don't need to use parted, because the entire drive needs to be formatted (actually it cannot have partitions). Using option "-I" with "mkfs" forces the formatting of the entire device. Here is how I did it (assuming UMS firmware):
> su
> mount
(check which device was used to mount the device, say "/dev/sda")
> umount /dev/sda
> mkfs -V -t vfat -c -I /dev/sda

Then unplug and turn off and on. That's it.