djdiskino

Nice work Elco! Now if we could only get the password to the hdd to unlock the drive and make a sector by sector copy of it to another drive. Not aware of any IDE SSD's but I could see nice power savings and speed/shock resistance improvements. I wonder if our menus would move quicker. I'm sure if we had the password one of us could get this project completed and maybe open up other options like re-skin the GUI and make customizations! I would love a black updated theme.

White_2013_G37x

[QUOTE=Elco;4078355]Ok. let's bring this thread up again.
So i removed the AV/Navigation unit from my sedan today.
Removing the unit from the car... easy.
Removing the HDD from the unit... incredibly hard.
I never encounter such a complicated unit in my life... and i have more than 15 years experience working with electronic devices... an industrial computer dissansemble is a piece of cake comparing with this "clarion" unit.

OK. so i toke out the HDD. Is a regular Toshiba 40GB 2.5' IDE HDD. Nothing special about it till now.
I assembled the unit back, without HDD and puth it back on the car.

SURPRISE!!!
No more fuel indication,
the dashboard lights were on night mode, no matter what i do, engine CEL light, Immobiliser light on,
popup hood (airbag) light on,
radio works, but can't change stations
no radio info on the screen,
Climate controll works but climate display have different graphics.
Now, the best one: can turn on the engine, but when i turn off the car, the dash board turn off, but the engine does NOT TURN OFF!!!

After i unplugged the unit from the dash, the engine went off.

Ok. Now let's take a luck at the HDD:
My intention, to replace the HDD with a IDE SSD

Connected the HDD to windows PC:
-windows ask for HDD initialization MBR of GPT.. HELL NO!!!!

So i switched to my Linux PC.
Linux detected the HDD ok.
Then i tried to make a image from that HDD.
Asked for the HDD password...
Search... found this: CompactFlash Music Player / Music Box limitation - Page 5 - Electronics & A/V Systems - GT-R Life
HDD password on GTR: "046-259-1300" + 20 spaces

Not so fast... G37x use a different password

Interesting the password is the phone number of the company that makes the Navi software. Xanavi Informatics Corp

https://www.google.com/search?q=046-259-1300&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

The default toshiba hard drive password is 32 spaces. So the GTR password is 12 for the phone number and 20 spaces as the default. Have you tried 32 spaces?

Elco

Yes. i did tried 32 spaces.
My car is European version. The AV menus are different than the US spec G37 AV unit and it don't have the XM radio.
I updated the navigation software using dvd's from navteq.
The EU navigation version can be updated by the user, no need to go to dealer to update like the US version.
Navigation update use a licence key that is dependent on the AV unit ID.
The licence key is 16 bytes hex.
Maybe this is the hdd password i will get the hdd out again in few days and give it a try

re-skin the GUI won't be such a problem... i have some lot of experience with linux/unix programming and posix can't be that different.

Oh... i just ordered an US av unit from e-bay to make some experiments on it.
I will post here the results

djdiskino

I'll be the next to try if you are successful at getting the password, definitely would like to copy the drive to an ssd and play with the UI elements.. maybe update it to look more modern 😊 would be cool to put own custom logos and such. Should be pretty simple to replace some png or jpg files

Elco

I don't think they use png files... i checked the navigation dvd's content and they use some proprietary file extensions there...
Anyway, modding might be doable...

jpowersjr2

iTrader: (1)

Oh man I'm glad you guys revived this. I'm liking where your heads are at Elco and dj. I'm an IT geek at heart and am a network analyst. I like the idea of swapping out the old HDD to a SSD. Curious to know if they make IDE SSDs or maybe there is some sort of adapter for SATA? Guess some googling is in order, keep us updated!

Elco

There is not enough space to fit an IDE to sata adapter.
Will have to use an IDE ssd.
I just hope the system will use the 4096 block assignment recommended for SSD... Hdd don't care much about the block size assignment.
Also the only IDE SSD available are some obscure chinese made SSD's. I just hope it use some advanced garbage collector system similar to new Samsung ssd's. I don't think Posix from G37 AV use any trim functions...

djdiskino

I think we'd unfortunately need to look at older model ssd's something like this

32GB Transcend PSD330 2.5-inch IDE Internal SSD Solid State Disk (MLC Flash) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AQT2LCU..._uyn9xbPAA6WDQ

Either way, it's scary to think that once the hard drive does all our functions are gone and the car won't shut off 🙈

kiseliok

iTrader: (11)

Great discussion! Sub'd for sure.
And I agree, the reliance on a standard hdd for primary functions is indeed scary af.

White_2013_G37x

Wait so if the little IDE laptop hard disk fails inside my stereo my car won't start or shutoff? That can't be true. If so its a terrible design.

Elco

Ok. i managed to remove the password from HDD and right now i am making am inage from entire HDD.
The HDD contain 4 partitions:
"ITM HDD1" 1.3 GB FAT32
"ITM HDD2" 29 GB FAT32
"ITM HDD3" 9.5 GB FAT32
"ITM HDD4" 666 Mb FAT32

The graphic files on partitions are proprietary extension files. It don't use BMP, JPG or other known file extensions for images.

Let's see if the unit power on with HDD password removed

Elco

I think the problem is on CAN bus. I think the AV unit flood the CAN bus with error messages and other modules from the car can't communicate between them on CAN because the CAN is flooded the the AV unit.

I don't think Nissan ever tried to run the car with a damaged HDD it some AV unit "screaming" errors over the CAN

Elco

Restoring image on new drive and the test will fallow soon.

jpowersjr2

iTrader: (1)

Sweeet!! Thanks for the updates!!

Elco

IS ALIVE!!!!

It Work's!

I removed the HDD password from G37x HDD
I made an image from G37x HDD
I restored the image to a new drive and changed the user partition size. Now i have 80GB for music lol!
Installed the new HDD without password.
The new setup work's perfectly. The navigation boot up waaaay faster. Also the voice recognition is instant ready when i turn on the car.

I checked the data on hdd. Luck's like the OS core is stored on unit flash memory. The HDD hold's the user interface, voice recognition system, Navigation data and some user data: Bluetooth data, call logs, music, etc...

Anyone interested on modding the infiniti UI, i can send you the files from G37 HDD.