I have a 30GB drive out of an AVIC-Z2 and am unable to disable security with MHDD. Anytime I try, I get "Device Error".

I know I'm not doing something wrong because I have 2 drives out of AVIC-Z1's and they work fine to disable security. In fact, I can toggle it back and forth no problem. I even tried each drive sequentially and it always works fine with the Z1 drives, never with the Z2 drive. I tried on 3 different PCs, all work fine with the Z1 drives, none work with the Z2 drive.

All 3 drives are identical in all markings except for serial #. Firmware is the same on all, RB102A. The only other difference is the Z1 drives have a sticker with "PU1-1-E" while the Z2 drive has "PU1-2-D".

I even pulled the logic board off one of the Z1 drives and the Z2 drives to examine closely for differences. All screen printed numbers match. All part #'s on the chips seem to match. I noticed an ATMEL 45DB04 serial EEPROM and even went so far as to pull up its WP (Write Protect) pin and connect it to VCC (it is active low). No difference. Any ideas?

I had this problem once before and I used MHDD to fix the problem. It's been awhile, but I basically had to manually change one of the hard drive parameters. I loaded a working 30gb drive, and copied all the specs, then updated the problem drive. the problem was fixed and I was able to disable the security. Sorry I can't provide more, I just don't remember. I hope this atleast gets you looking in the right place. Good luck.

Thanks, that was it! I had to use NHPA to "Uncut the drive" and set LBA to 58605119. Originally it was 58603007. Strange that it was different. Thanks for the help!

Yep, that's it! I had to change the LBA to factory specs.