1. willie December 14, 2007 11:03 pm

   cool stuff. after this mission i dare u 2 dissect the cowon a3

2. Luck December 14, 2007 11:50 pm

   You’ve got balls, my friend.

   -Luck (Gadgetaholic)

3. Luck December 15, 2007 12:28 am

   Another burning question: does it blend?

4. Terry December 15, 2007 12:01 pm

   good luck! I always wondered why Cowon did not decide to offer larger disk spaces when there are drives like the Toshiba 1.8 HDD that will obviously fit. cheers,

   T

5. Q5W Fan December 15, 2007 12:18 pm

   Wow. You must have brass cojones! I figured having the Q5W in the first place was enough for bragging rights…

6. mymandarin123 December 15, 2007 4:23 pm

   Good work, look forward to your update. By the way I added a post to your article at the iaudiophiles forum(http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?p=156654). Hope it’s fine.

7. lush December 16, 2007 6:31 am

   The Q5 has an extendable antenna for the wifi but the FM radio uses the headphone wire for it’s signal. Maybe you can route these together from the inside?

8. rcgrabbag December 17, 2007 2:44 pm

   It is a mystery why Cowon only offers a max of 60gb storage with iPods and the like topping out at 160gb. I would have liked to purchased a 160gb drive, but I can’t find them anywhere for sale. Maybe Apple and Archos are bogartting them all. Also, the latest gen Ipod 160gb drives have a different type of connector than the Q5W’s drive, so I couldn’t use one of those anyway. Not sure about the Archos’ drive, but I suspect it’s the same story.

9. rmc December 19, 2007 2:01 pm

   Hello,

   Can you tell us what sound/video chip the Q5W have?

   Many thanks!

10. rcgrabbag December 19, 2007 4:17 pm

    There is material stuck to the chip that I don’t want to pull off because it may be some sort of thermal barrier. There is a website (it may be Cowon’s) that lists the processor specs. From what I recall, it’s an AMD processor. When I get home later tonight I’ll see if I can track it down.

11. rcgrabbag December 20, 2007 5:40 pm

    Here are specs on Cowon’s website:
    http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/q5w/tech_specs.html
    The processor is actually an Alchemy 1250. I’m not sure about any other applicable chips. Hope that helps.

12. Flam December 22, 2007 1:17 pm

    Hi rcgrabbag

    I think it should be quite easy to do the swap because the Win ce programmes are installed on the Rom and not an the Harddrive itself. If you change the harddrive just try do enter into the Recovery Mode of the Q5. Just check the manual and somewhere near the end it is written how to do that. After that it should easily work. Please let us know if it worked as I want to do the same but I’m just not sure if there is enough room for a 8mm drive.

13. rcgrabbag December 23, 2007 12:24 am

    Hi Flam,
    I think you’re right. I didn’t see a recovery mode in the manual, but I didn’t look that hard either. My plan is to either find the recovery mode (if not in the manual, perhaps a call to Cowon’s tech support), or, ghost the drive. I was hoping to get to it today, the hard drive was delivered, but I wasn’t at home to sign for it. Oh well, it’s being re-delivered on Monday, so I take a stab at it then. As far as room for the drive, I can’t imagine that would be a problem. If you look at the photos of the teardown and read my commentary, there are springy spacers that take up a good portion of the available drive space (thickness).

14. rcgrabbag December 23, 2007 12:53 pm

    Flam,
    The Cowon does have a recovery mode. It is done by pressing the Power On button and the Volume ‘+’ button at the same time for a few seconds. After a short wait, the recovery mode menu is displayed. I should be getting the hard drive tomorrow (Dec 24th), so we’ll see how it goes then. I’ll add my steps and findings to the article above.

15. DJSK January 2, 2008 9:41 pm

    Do you know if the Toshiba 120gb drive, MK1214GAH, is compatible? Seems to have the same interface as the MK1011GAH.

16. rcgrabbag January 3, 2008 8:41 am

    As long as it has the Zif ATA interface connector as pictured above, it will work.

17. Gregory House January 4, 2008 7:42 am

    Maybe this will shame cowon into offering a larger capacity drive version… or perhaps a trade-in upgrade path.

18. rcgrabbag January 4, 2008 8:02 am

    Yeah, I hope so. Hard to believe Cowon came out with only 40 and 60gb versions in this day and age when other devices are hitting 160gb. This is especially strange when you consider the kind of money they’re charging for either model.

19. frank January 22, 2008 9:50 am

    Nice!!! Can u tell me if there is any hard disk that fit with cowon q5w with more than 100gb?

20. rcgrabbag January 22, 2008 11:07 am

    Toshiba now makes a 120gb hard drive that will fit (Model No. MK1214GAH) . The 160′s are available, but they use a different interface. Maybe they’ll make the older interface available.

21. lfclai January 23, 2008 2:29 pm

    Hi,

    How about cowon A3 ?
    How can I upgrade the HD ?

    tnx

    Peter

22. rcgrabbag January 23, 2008 5:33 pm

    If it’s got a hard drive, there should be no reason you couldn’t upgrade it. The Cowon was the second device I upgraded. The first was a Creative Zen Vision W that I upgraded from 60 to 100gb. The important thing is to ensure the drive you are replacing has the same interface as the one in your A3. The new crop of 160gb drives, like those used in the iPod Classic, use the ZIF CE-ATA interface, which is relatively new. Devices like the Q5W, and probably your A3, use the older ZIF ATA-100 interface, so they are incompatible.

23. Timotee February 11, 2008 12:23 pm

    Very nice sir! Hopefully someone will try this with their A3.

24. citykids February 22, 2008 1:03 pm

    Great mod! I’m curious though – what online vendor did you use to order your replacement hard drive?

25. rcgrabbag February 22, 2008 1:46 pm

    I bought it off ebay. My drive is 100gb, although Toshiba makes a 120gb drive that is compatible for around $200. It is the TOSHIBA MK1214GAH.
    Here is a link: http://www.monstronix.com/mk1214gah-p-454132.html

26. sb February 24, 2008 2:20 am

    Does anyone know why they used such an old os?

27. rcgrabbag February 24, 2008 11:52 pm

    Nope, yet another mystery surrounding this device.

28. Chahk February 27, 2008 12:15 pm

    I will definitely upgrade when my 1 year extended warrantly expires. Thanks for an excellent guide!

29. Ned7077 March 25, 2008 10:57 am

    Samsung has a 160GB HDD with a compatible connector. Can’t seem to find a US distributor yet though:

    http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/productmodel.do?group=72&type=60&subtype=68&model_cd=344&ppmi=1160#

30. rcgrabbag March 28, 2008 8:19 am

    Hey Ned, thanks for the info. I noticed it took a while before the 120gb Toshiba to become available to consumers after it was announced.

31. revmike March 31, 2008 10:07 pm

    I’ll keep you in mind for the upgrade, The 60gb limit at this time is what is keeping me from buying one, plus the fact I need to pay off some bills first.
    You remind me of an old friend of mine, he would modify anything.

32. Zillium May 8, 2008 7:51 am

    Do you think changing drive can fix the ‘dead harddisk’ symptoms ? FYI it freezes at the end of cowon loading screen and not recognized when plugged in usb during a recovery mode (Linux kernel log keeps telling me that it ‘resets every 15 seconds).

    Any Ideas ?

    Anyway, nice try and you were the first (well you succeded first)

33. rcgrabbag May 8, 2008 10:01 am

    Funny thing you should mention that. I popped my Q5 in the GPS cradle, and the screen went black and the device froze. I hit the reset button and now it does what you described. It freezes at the end of the loading screen. I got another Q5 and put the dead Q5′s 100gb drive in it. I took the 60gb out of the new and put it in the old Q5, but no luck. Still freezes after loading screen. I think I fried a chip or something when I put it in the GPS cradle. The Q5 was powered on when I did it, so maybe I shorted something out when I put it in the cradle. In your case, it could be the hard drive, but maybe it’s something else. Difficult to say since I’m not an expert in electronic repair. I can break stuff easily enough…

34. Zillium May 14, 2008 10:50 am

    And if you put it back on the cradle and try to power on ? I met my first troubles with q5w when I started playing with the cradle, but on my side, I had problems if I switch it on in the cradle: no power on and no more power on after taking back from cradle luckily, I had to plug AC power for 5 mins and the LED went red again !?

    Will still buy the MK1214GAH, change it and supposing that you’re also stuck with a dead device I’ll keep you in touch with further experimentation.

    As you opened the unit, can you tell me if there’s à JTAG port available ?

35. WildMoodSwings May 16, 2008 5:09 pm

    Just like to say thanks to rcgrabbag–you maverick (warranty, me arse)–and other contributors. Was able to upgrade to the Toshiba 120gb.

36. rcgrabbag May 17, 2008 5:36 pm

    Zillium, yes, it acts strangely with the GPS cradle in the way that you described.

    WildMS, thanx for the props. Yeah, I agree, warranties are nice, but I’d rather have more storage space. I’ll take the risk.

37. Zillium May 21, 2008 8:45 am

    As you may have already read in forum, I managed to fix my device, It was the zif connector that was slightly unplugged -> re-plug and power on.

    Now for those who sent it back to germany or corea just for that: grrr !

38. rcgrabbag May 21, 2008 4:22 pm

    Grrr is right!!! I just pulled open my Q5 for laughs, thinking it couldn’t be a loose connector. Lo and behold, the connector wasn’t loose at the hard drive end, but it was loose at the OTHER end where it connects to the system board. DOH!!! Plugged it in proper like and she works like a charm.

39. IceBerg May 30, 2008 7:38 pm

    Are teh screws T-4? my t6 is a bit too big so I am guessing they are but before I go buy a t-4 I thought I’d ask.

40. rcgrabbag May 31, 2008 8:35 am

    The screws are T-5. See my list of tools needed at the top of this article. Cheers and good luck!

41. revmike June 17, 2008 4:00 pm

    nowdirect.com has the samsung 1.8 160gb hard drive, the Samsung SpinPoint N2 HS160JB – hard drive – 160 GB – ATA-100 for 165.00 free shipping. I thought those considering upgrading their Cowon Q5W would be glad to here this.

42. Jay July 6, 2008 5:55 pm

    When you say ZIF ATA, is that the same thing as PATA (I see this more commonly when looking at the spec sheets/pages). I looked at the toshiba site and they had two categories, PATA and SATA. Which one is the ZIF ATA?

    Thanks for this guide. Very informative.

43. rcgrabbag July 6, 2008 10:01 pm

    ZIF ATA is also known as ATA-100. I’m not sure what PATA and SATA are.

44. Jay July 7, 2008 12:51 am

    I guess what I mean is the hard drive you installed is this: Toshiba MK1011GAH

    Which is listed on toshiba’s website here: http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=StorageSolutions/1.8-inchHardDiskDrives/

    On that website there are two categories for the HDD, “SATA” and “PATA”. So I was wondering if the ZIF ATA is also under PATA. (obviously it is, but I want to make sure it matches what you have anyway)

    Also, the hard drive you got has an added “CE PMR” compared to the 120GB they have right above the MK1011GAH. I heard SATA is more modern than PATA, but i’m guessing it wont work. Would you happen to know if the CE PMR is better than the ones without it?

    Thanks.

45. rcgrabbag July 7, 2008 2:10 pm

    It’s a little over my head. I simply focused on the connector type that I needed. I’m unfamiliar with CE PMR. SATA I believe is Serial ATA vs. PATA which is probably parallel. Most hard drives today are SATA, at least in the computers I use.

46. Jay July 7, 2008 5:34 pm

    Do you think the 120 gb toshiba drive from the link I posted will work? the MK1214GAH?

    Sorry for your troubles, it just seems that when i’m looking for these hard drives, the connectors you mentioned just don’t match what i’m looking at.

    How did you know that the MK1011GAH had ZIF ATA, because the toshiba site I just linked to, does not even have “ZIF.” I am curious how you identified the toshiba hard drive to have ZIF ATA.

    If you are interested, I came across this interesting post: http://www.mail-archive.com/rockbox-dev@cool.haxx.se/msg03339.html

    Thanks again.

47. rcgrabbag July 8, 2008 5:43 pm

    ZIF ATA was what it was called on another website of some guy who upgraded his Creative ZEN to 100gb. At that time, CE-ATA hadn’t hit the mainstream yet, so ZIF was just a generic term for Zero Insertion Force and ATA was a generic term for the interface. I think the correct interface type is ATA-100, but I can’t really be sure. Everyone seems to call it something different. If you go further up this page to post #41 from revmike, you will see the 160gb drive that I ordered. On two different sites, one lists the interface as PATA/ZIF (nowdirect.com), the other site lists it as ATA-100 (cdw.com). As far as the 120gb drive you mention, it has an interface listed as ATA-7 so again, I have no idea. If I were you, I’d go with any 1.8″ drive that does not have a CE-ATA interface from a reputable retailer (one that accepts returns) and return it if it is not the right interface.

48. revmike July 11, 2008 5:28 pm

    I just received an e-mail from nowdirect that they are unable to fill my order for the 160gb hard drive due to problems with the manufacturer. They have the samsung 120gb for 180.00 shipped and offered that instead. I declined I’ll wait until the 160′s are available.

49. rcgrabbag July 13, 2008 10:44 am

    Yeah, I got the same email. Not sure why the 120gb would be more expensive though. The price on the 160gb was $164 when I ordered.

50. revmike July 15, 2008 3:57 pm

    I know, I was really looking forward to the upgrade. At least I still have plenty of space available. Hopefully the 160′s will be out within the next few months.

51. Charles July 20, 2008 5:54 am

    Here is the link for the Samsung 160 gig.
    Too much $ for my taste.

    http://www.upgradebay.com/c1_itemdetail.asp?rid=gg&itemid=168760047&gclid=CPXArL6mzpQCFQ4RnQodqE95rA

52. rcgrabbag July 20, 2008 8:10 am

    Yeah, I called upgradebay earlier in the week and they didn’t have it in stock. It was around $250 then, now they jacked it up over $300. A bit much for me too.

53. DigitalDeviant July 21, 2008 10:50 am

    EXCELLENT! Cheers to you my friend!

    Ive had major internal dialog for some time now deciding weather to splurge the cash on a 60GB/80GB q5. Now i know i can save my ££ and upgrade a much cheaper 40GB version later on. Thanks for braving the front line and showing us this is possible.

54. Chris D July 25, 2008 10:09 am

    Hi just changed mine to the 120gb drive, thanks to your article. Went without hitch and very quick. A useful note: I tried installing it in an external 1.8 enclosure, intending to add external storage to the q5w, but it wasn’t too happy – maybe a power issue – not even with the ac adapter in, although worked OK in a regular laptop. So had to go for the swap, but far more convenient in the end. Have the 40gb in the external enclosure now.
    BTW I have flacs of all my collection, hence the size. But anyone wanting for audiophile use it’s not so good as spdif is upsampled to 48khz, not bitperfect and the sound is a tad rounded and flat as a result. Great for portable quality headphone use though with a Monica dac and quality class a opamp headphone amp.

55. Justin August 1, 2008 3:04 am

    I’m definitely gonna try this ^^ Just a quick question, does the Cowon have unicode support? Specifically, I’m wondering if it can display Japanese characters…

    And, is it possible to buy a 40GB model and upgrade it in the way you’re discussing, or do you need to buy the 60GB model?

56. rcgrabbag August 1, 2008 11:05 am

    It can be either the 40gb or 60gb model. I chose the 60gb originally just in case the hard drive swap didn’t work and I had to go back to the original hard drive. In that case, I would want the larger 60gb drive. But since the swap DID work, save yourself some cash and get the 40gb model.

57. revmike August 1, 2008 2:45 pm

    I’m having a problem with the harddrive upgrade. I’m at the point to where I’ve in recovery mode, but my computer does not recognize the new drive. I’ve left it on the first recovery screen and I’ve selected backup and format, when I select that it goes to the next screen where it lists 01 connect adapter, 02 connect USB, 03 Move Hard disk, 04 Harddrive format. It will not let me select either. can you offer any help, Thanks. I can hear xp give it’s beep when I connect the q5 with the usb cord, but nothing shows up in explorer.

58. rcgrabbag August 1, 2008 3:16 pm

    I know this sounds overly simplistic, but it sounds like you may have dislodged the drive’s ribbon cable from either the drive itself, or, where it connects to Cowon’s “motherboard” (under a piece of adhesive covering). This can happen quite easily when you’re monkeying around with the hard drive replacement and I’ve done it myself. Upon powering up the Cowon, put your ear to the device and you should hear the hard drive spool up. If not, the hard drive ribbon became dislodged. Even if you do hear it spool up, check the ribbon anyway, and on both ends.

59. revmike August 4, 2008 4:16 pm

    A computer friend of mine checked both cables and still the computer recognizes with a beep, but no drive letter. Even when it was connected to his computer it recognizes the new drive, it even listed it as cowon q5 as new hardware found, but still no drive letter in explorer.

60. rcgrabbag August 5, 2008 6:45 am

    Can you hear the hard drive spinning on boot-up of the Q5?

61. revmike August 5, 2008 10:20 am

    No, I’ve listened and my friend Alan has listened, nothing.

62. rcgrabbag August 5, 2008 3:35 pm

    Hmmm, that’s a tough one. It could be a defective hard drive, defective Q5 firmware, or a defective Q5. It could also be that although the drive is connected, that the ribbon cable is connected backwards. That is, pin 1 is lined up with pin 16 (I think its 16) and vice versa. Have you tried putting the old drive back in and seeing if that works?

63. revmike August 5, 2008 3:59 pm

    Yes I have and it does the same as the new one, the computer recognizes, but no drive letter.

64. rcgrabbag August 5, 2008 4:22 pm

    That’s strange. You did mention you broke the connectors on both drives, so that could be it. Other than that, I’m at a loss. It might need Cowon tech support to repair. Otherwise, you could chance getting a new drive, and letting me have a look at it.

65. revmike August 5, 2008 5:08 pm

    I’ve already ordered a new drive, it should be here today or tomorrow, I’ll e-mail you when it does. Thanks for all your help.

66. DIGITALDEVIANCE August 5, 2008 6:04 pm

    Hi there
    Rg revmike and disk detection problem.

    Some new disks need to be ‘initialized’ when new – it may also need a drive letter to be manually assigned. Any road your first port of call should be disk manager. right click my computer icon>select ‘manage’>choose ‘disk manager’ snapin on the left, near the bottom.
    If the disk is working [and the xp beep you mention tells me it is] it will be listed in disk manager – it may require action to get it going, uninitialized disks and volumes without drive letters assigned will not show in explorer…

    good luck

67. revmike August 5, 2008 8:50 pm

    DIGITALDEVIANCE
    Thanks for the suggestion, but I tried that last night and although it beeps, it does not show in disk manager either. There is a listing for it under device manager for usb controllers and clicking on properties shows that it is the cowon q5, but there is an exclaimation point and clicking on properties for the q5 it takes you to the general page where it says, This device cannot start. (Code 10). I tried to install new driver by letting the computer seach and I’ve tried deleting the driver, but nothing at this time works.

68. DIGITALDEVIANCE August 7, 2008 3:16 pm

    Hello.

    Attempted to upgrade my 40gb unit today with a 80gb drive, also failed with the same problem as revmike. Im sure this can be overcome by preparing the disk before installing it into the Q5 – i think its due to the disk file system and cluster size, the Q5 just wont play ball with it. Unfortunately i cant test any further until my 1.8″ ZIF USB caddy arrives sometime next week!
    During my adventure around my Q5 inards i didnt notice any warranty seals/stickers or chasis intrusion mechanisms – im confident cowon will still honor my warranty should i need it. I sugest upgraders just keep the original Q5 disk to be re-fitted in the event they need the warranty.

    I request rcgrabbag share further info on the Q5 upgraded. Hardware revision (stamped on internal PCB) bootloader and firmware versions in user during upgrade.

    thanks, ill let ya know how i get on next week.

69. rcgrabbag August 7, 2008 9:00 pm

    The drive I purchased was already pre-formatted with the NTFS file system. I’m wondering if the drives you purchased were not pre-formatted and have no file system. If that’s the case, maybe that’s why your computers don’t see the Q5 as a drive. revmike is sending me his Q5 and new drive so I can attempt the upgrade. We’ll see how that goes. I have a 1.8 inch hard drive enclosure that I’ll put his new drive in first and see if it has a file system. If not, I can pre-format it before doing the upgrade. I’ll keep you posted…

70. rcgrabbag August 8, 2008 12:55 pm

    DIGITALDEVIANCE,

    Did you try putting your old drive back in and did it work? revmike tried to put his old drive back in and had the same problem as with the new drive (Q5 booted in recovery mode but no drive letter assigned in Windows when connected to Q5 via USB). That is especially troubling and leads me to believe that it is more of a drive initializing or formatting issue.

71. DIGITALDEVIANCE August 12, 2008 9:11 am

    Hi,

    Yes i re-installed the original disk and it was fully working again.
    I cant vouch for the origin of this disk im using, it was just one we had floating around the office. I think it maybe from an IPDOD gen 5 – perhaps they are somehow different.

72. rcgrabbag August 12, 2008 1:40 pm

    Yeah, I fixed revmike’s Q5 after he sent it to me. Turns out it was a bad hard drive ribbon cable in the Q5. I made this determination after putting his drive in my Q5 and booting up successfully. I inspected his Q5′s hard drive cable and found some of the connectors at the end were damaged. I trimmed off a tiny amount of the end of the cable and was able to get it to seat more deeply in the drive’s connector, past the damaged part on the cable. Once I did this, his Q5 booted successfully with the new drive.

73. DIGITALDEVIANCE August 14, 2008 12:03 pm

    Hi there

    I successfully upgraded my Q5 today using a 60GB disk, i guess the 80 i had was faulty. I couldnt just copy the files accross from the old disk to the new, the Q5 would fail to boot for some reason. I tried using a snapshot util to clone the disk over, it then booted but weirdly i ended up with a 40GB patition on a 60GB disk, even though the util should have expanded it. I had to install the disk, and use th Q5 recovery menu to restore and get it going again. Still, it worked and was quite easy.
    Just waiting for cheap 120GB disks now, 60GB will suffice till then.

    cheers

74. Andy August 16, 2008 10:57 am

    Nice work!
    I’m currently picking between a q5w and an Archos 605 160gb. I was about to rule out the q5w but this has ruled it straight back in. How do you find the interface? I might in the future, when I have enough money, email you about you upgrading the q5w to 100gb.
    Thanks,
    Andy

75. Chris September 21, 2008 2:59 pm

    Hello,
    I think I might try this out when I have enough cash for the player and drive, or if I can get a drive from my computer class since my teacher lets me take a lot of crap from the class. Anyhow, would a 160gb drive actually work, cause I though that the FAT32 file system would only go to 120gb? Or would you be able to have two partitions? Also, a couple of other things: How does this affect the battery life and is it possible to also upgrade the battery?
    Thank you.

76. diagram-p November 10, 2008 12:21 pm

    Hi All,

    This is a great walk-through and thread. I am looking at buying either the Archos 5 or the Cowon Q5W. The storage size is a large determining factor in my decision. Chris, you should be able to format a large drive over 160GB. I have a 160GB 2.5″ drive and formatted it with FAT32 in Mac OS X. Has anyone tried the 160GB Samsung drive?

    PATA type drives are the ones you need. 40 pin ATA connector. Not sure whether the connector is ATA-100 or ATA-133. Drive should still work I beleive. Toshiba have released a 240GB two platten drive MK2431GAH but I can’t find it on any sites yet. Anyone had any luck with their upgrades?

77. salestron December 14, 2008 5:43 pm

    Is there any way to stick windows 2000 or XP on this? Preferably keeping the original OS on there two I was just looking for a way to run some games like Rollar Coster Tycoon or an N64 emulator…

78. rcgrabbag December 14, 2008 5:57 pm

    Nope, this is a mobile device and won’t run 2K or XP.

79. salestron December 14, 2008 6:29 pm

    Is there any chance you know of a device that you can modify to run 2k or XP that is roughly the size of the cowon? Looking at the stats most of these pmps have the power to do it

80. rcgrabbag December 14, 2008 6:40 pm

    Not that I know of. These mobile devices may have the power, but they lack the memory and/or the processor chips have an improper instruction set to run an OS like XP.

81. salestron December 14, 2008 6:52 pm

    Thanks for your help its a pity no one has thought to build a pmp system around 2000 instead of CE its alot easier to use apps on 2000 then CE…

82. rcgrabbag December 14, 2008 7:03 pm

    One device that’s probably the closest to what you describe is the iPhone. It runs a pretty robust version of OS X.

83. lincoln austin January 2, 2009 3:11 pm

    hi i have a COWON Q5W I FORMATED THE HDD BY MISTAKE , TWO WEEKS AGO AND I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO ALL KIND OF THINGS TO GET IT BACK ON TRACK . WHAT IS HAPPENGING IS THIS , ONE THE UNIT CAN NOT BE POWERED OFF WITH THE SWITCH .TWO WHEN I TAP ON COWON LAUNCHER THIS THING POP UP AND SAY [CANNOT FIND COWON Q5 MAIN OR ONE OF ITS COMPONENTS MAKE SURE THE PATH FILE NAME ARE CORRECT AND ALL THE REQUREDS LIBRARIES ARE AVALABLE .I HOPE YOU CAN HELP ME . I AM NOT SO GOOD WITH COMPUTERS THANKS YOUR FREIND LINCOLN THANKS

84. rcgrabbag January 2, 2009 3:42 pm

    Can you still access the Cowon via USB from your computer? If so, download the latest firmware and Applications from the Cowon website here. Follow the upgrade instructions and that should restore everything that was missing.

85. TESCO-Zsömle January 10, 2009 6:27 pm

    Hi! I want to take your opinion about exchange the ‘old’ HDD with an SSD.
    I know, that is’s still a bit costly, but I’m interested, how much the battery time will be longer. — Excuse my Englis please, and thank You for Your time…

86. rcgrabbag January 10, 2009 9:33 pm

    An SSD will most likely DECREASE battery life. It depends on the power requirements of the specific drive, but most SSD’s require MORE power than a comparable rotating drive. Check out this article for more info: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-hdd-battery,1955.html

87. TESCO-Zsömle January 11, 2009 6:19 am

    Hmm. A bit stunning, but understandable. Az I see in the test, there is the possibility, but it needs look after more. In mine opinion, performance is not so important is this case. I mean, if the SSD wont be faster, but use less power is enough. Thank you for the link.

88. bernz January 13, 2009 1:42 pm

    I won’t be doing anything serious with this thing, but here are the results of a Saturday morning messing with it:

    http://berniepallek.ca/tiki-index.php?page=COWON_Q5W

    These tips should be helpful for those who have managed to partially (or completely) mess up their Q5Ws. After you read the page, everything will make a lot more sense in terms of firmware upgrading and fixing a malfunctioning unit (provided it’s not a hardware malfunction).

89. XMaster January 13, 2009 5:41 pm

    Like some of the previous posters, im having the problem with the Q5W in which it freezes twoards the end of the boot process. This issue began after my first initial use of the GPS cradle. I tried resetting and sill have no luck. Then i tried dismantleing the q5w to check for loose connectors and reaseated the hard drive, but still no luck. it seems as though there is no power going to the hard drive because technically it should spool up durring boot… but im not hearing a thing. Dose anyone have any suggestions?

    P.S My pc is not recoginizing the device, it is stating that the device can not be started.

90. rcgrabbag January 13, 2009 6:21 pm

    I had the same exact problem after I got the GPS. For some reason, when seating/unseating from the GPS unit, the socket at the bottom of the Q5W that mates with the connector on the GPS unit needs to be jiggled a bit to get the Q5W working again. Try seating and unseating the Q5W in the GPS cradle a few times.

91. XMaster January 13, 2009 9:12 pm

    I tried seating and unseating the unit into the gps cradle several times (about 15) makeing sure to turn off the unit before i docked it back into the cradle. While doing this i noticed several strange things…

    1. When turning off unit while connected to cradle, causes it to restart immidiately.
    2. After several times of undocking and docking, i would sometimes get a red indicator light on the unit. ( What dose that red light mean?)
    3. When docking and undocking the unit while being tuned to the FM station designated for the unit i would hear a slight poping sound from my car speakers as if the device itself is trying to transmit audio.

    Did you dock the unit into the GPS while it was on when you had your issue? When i first had the problem i opened the Nav program then docked it into the cradle. When i did that, all i saw was a bright white light from the screen. Upon restart i had the freezing problem at bootup.
    Are you supposed to be able to hear the hdd spool up when you put your ear to the unit when starting it up? Because i dont hear the HDD at all. Or dose it spool up at the end of the boot process?
    What other recommendation might you have for me?
    This Cowon Q5w is driving me nuts because its my favorite PMP and i really want to get it working again.

92. rcgrabbag January 14, 2009 10:25 am

    The issue I had was the same. I could not hear that the hard drive spinning. The bootup screen showed the progress bar going across, but then it would stop and stay there indefinitely, never loading the main Cown menu. Took me a while to figure out what was going on, but the whole problem started when I got the GPS cradle, so that led to observing that sometimes after docking/undocking, my Q5 started working again. This had happened to me a couple of times. I had it powered off when I docked it. It will power up automatically when you dock it.

    The red light might just mean its in standby mode.

    Did you upgrade your Cowon to a bigger hard drive? If so, there’s a chance the hard drive ribbon connector inside your Cowon worked itself loose. If that’s not the case, and if the docking/undocking excercise was unsuccessful, then you probably need to send it back to Cowon for service.

93. XMaster January 14, 2009 10:52 am

    How long should i leave it in the cradle when docking to know if it will make it past the boot screen, how long dose it take yours?

94. XMaster January 14, 2009 10:53 am

    Side Note: No, i have not upgraded the HDD i have the stock 80gb toshiba in the unit.

95. rcgrabbag January 14, 2009 1:02 pm

    It should only take a couple of seconds, whether in the docking cradle or not, to get past the initial boot screen. I think there’s an issue with that GPS cradle, because what happened to your Q5 looks to be the same thing that happened to mine, except that I was able to get my Q5 working again. But, it has flaked out a few times in the same fashion when using the GPS cradle. That port on the bottom of the Q5 that mates with the GPS cradle, I think the issue is there, but is caused by the GPS cradle. There is some switching going on in that port because the GPS cradle routs the audio from the Q5 to the speakers in the GPS cradle, so some sort of switching takes place. So something is getting out of whack with that port on your Q5 (and mine) when mated to the GPS cradle. You might try hooking up the video cables, which use the same port, and see if you can get it working. If that doesn’t work, you should send your GPS cradle and Q5 back to Cowon for service. Tell them your story and they should fix it for free, if you ask me.

96. 0wnage January 15, 2009 2:03 pm

    Hi i was wondering what would happen if you took the Q5W Wifi Antenna out because i was thinking of getting one and taking the antenna out.

97. rcgrabbag January 15, 2009 6:43 pm

    You’d most likely severely limit the range of the Q5′s WiFi.

98. 0wnage January 15, 2009 7:14 pm

    Cause i was wondering if it is possible to disable the internet fully because i dont want web browsing… im a teen

99. rcgrabbag January 15, 2009 7:18 pm

    If you don’t want web browsing, simply don’t use it. Why would you purposely damage your Q5? You may want to sell/trade it some day for something better.

100. 0wnage January 15, 2009 8:44 pm

     well is there a way to disable web browsing in the Q5W without taking it apart?

101. rcgrabbag January 15, 2009 10:40 pm

     I dunno, try removing Internet Explorer. Don’t ask me how coz I dunno.

102. Royden January 16, 2009 5:56 pm

     Does anyone know where I could buy the 240GB Toshiba MK2431GAH?
     I called Toshiba, and they said that it has the ZIF connector.

103. ARisen January 17, 2009 11:36 am

     i had a buggy Q5 that needed reformatting, but i wasnt able to salvage my files first, does someone know where i can get the Q5′s system files, including the version of CE 5.0 that it comes with?

104. rcgrabbag January 17, 2009 12:23 pm

     If you download the latest firmware and apps, that should be everything you need to get your Q5 going again. Get both the firmware and apps here: http://www.cowonamerica.com/download/cowon_q5w_jsfw.html

105. rcgrabbag January 17, 2009 12:24 pm

     It will probably be some time before the Toshiba drive it is available for sale to the general public. Right now its probably going to major vendors and suppliers for use in their products first.

106. Peter March 5, 2009 2:26 pm

     Hello,
     I stumbled across this site after searching in despair for a remedy to my problem and now there seems to be a glimmer of hope. Here’s my situation:
     I recently purchased a used Cowon q5w from ebay, originally a 40 GB model, that had been upgraded to 120 GB by the vendor. I thought, cool, I’d spend less money than for a new one and get a lot more memory.
     Upon receiving the player, it turned out that the battery was chronically low and despite charging never got above 25% or so. I also couldn’t connect via wireless to the Internet, regardless of what I tried. I sent it back to the seller for him to take care of the battery and check if the WLAN settings were OK. I just got it back: he didn’t specify what he did, but the battey is normal now; however, there are other problems like: whenever I switch off the player and turn it on later, all of the equalizer settings are reset to 0, and it’s really annoying to set them again every time I turn it on. Internet access is still no go. From the very beginning when I got the player the first time, there was this: when playing an album, there would be spaces of 2-3 seconds between tracks as well as a click when the player was apparently searching for the next track. Hearing those clicks and the pauses was also annoying and it ruins the listening experience for me.
     The main reason I’m writing to you is to ask you if you have experienced similar quirks after having changed the memory of your Q5W as you described in this article. Can there possibly be a correlation between upgrading the memory as you did and the performance quirks that I’ve noticed with my player?
     As far as Internet, the seller told me he had absolutely no problems connecting. Perhaps it’s simply a matter of configuration, but perhaps there may be something related to the memory upgrade?
     I’d very much appreciate your feedback about my situation. I think the Q5W is a great player, but these little annoying glitches tarnish this thing and I’m considering getting rid of it and getting a new one like I should have the first time around. Seeing your article, I could even venture to upgrade the memory myself.
     Thanks in advance,
     Peter Sedy

107. rcgrabbag March 6, 2009 6:25 pm

     Hi Peter, since upgrading the amount of storage on a Q5 is simply a matter of swapping hard drives, that shouldn’t affect how the device’s software operates in anyway. What you should do is go to Cowon’s website and download and install the latest firmware and apps at http://www.cowonamerica.com/download/cowon_q5w_jsfw.html and see if that helps.

108. Yamin Chowdhury March 25, 2009 2:49 pm

     Has anyone seen a cable for the Q5W that allows you to “charge” and “line-out” through the dock connector, into a power supply from your car. I’m thinking just like the ipod. We know the dock connector has line-outs, we know it also has power inputs, because it charges through it when the car dock is purchased. I’m thinking it’d be really convenient to just connect the dock connector when you get in the car. I also wanna use an external DAC for the Coax out, but that can be done now with the supplied cable. I also would like it to charge through the dock cable.

     I examined the supplied audio/video cable with a simple continuity tester, and found the following. Maybe someone expert can take this and make it useful.

     Connector pins below are in order left to right while holding the unit right side up.
     1. unknown
     2. unknown
     3. unknown
     4. unknown
     5. unknown
     6. unknown
     7. unknown
     8. black wire (Composite video)
     9. green wire (Component video RED)
     10. unknown
     11. unknown
     12. white wire (Analog audio RIGHT)

     On the other side of the connector’s circuit board,

     13. brown wire (Analog audio LEFT)
     14. unknown
     15. unknown
     16. yellow wire (Component video GREEN)
     17. red wire (Component video BLUE)
     18. unknown
     19. unknown
     20. unknown
     21. blue wire (Digital audio COAXIAL)
     22. black/bare wire (Signal ground)
     23. unknown
     24. unknown

     It appears that all of the negative terminals from all of the cables, are connected to the common signal ground port. I didn’t dare to put 5V into any of the unknown ports to see if it charges the Q5W, because I’m afraid it can mess it up permanently.

109. William McKesson May 29, 2009 1:55 pm

     Thanks for the info on upgrading a q5w. Question I have is will the 240 gig Toshiba drive work in my q5w? Thanks!!!

110. rcgrabbag May 29, 2009 2:58 pm

     At this time I don’t know. I have one of the 240gb drives on order, but they are hard to come by. Once it arrives, I will try it out and post an update.

111. William McKesson May 30, 2009 11:14 am

     Thank you for responding quickly.

     Bill

112. pomero June 20, 2009 3:59 pm

     hi dude!…
     i have a problem whit my new COWON, i have search for someone who can help me to solve it, and i have found you… i hope you can help me…

     here is the problem, y have just bought a new cowon q5w from ebay, when thos one arrives (im from ecuador) it have a problem whit the display, the first time i turn it on, the screen gives me vertical black lines , then i must turn it off, then turn it on again so it start working, i must follow this procedure each time i want to turn it on…
     also, when the cowon starts the stanby mode, (black screen), it got the same problem with vertical lines, so i must force the standby mode and then click the screen just for got image again.
     when i start a program, (e.g solitarie) and change to the main screen, the last screen in solitairie stays as a watermark on the main menu.

     i think this is a factory defect, but as i live in ecuador, its hard to me to send it back to USA, if you can figure out whats going on whit my poor COWON, and can help me fixing this problem i would be thank you.

     PD: sorry if my english is not good, i hope you understand the problem…

     my email: pomero1@hotmail.com

113. rcgrabbag June 20, 2009 9:32 pm

     That’s all very strange. You could try downloading the latest firmware, and apps from Cowon and see if that helps. If not, then it’s likely that your only option is to send it in for repair.

114. rob July 1, 2009 2:37 pm

     who repairs q5w unit other than cowon at a cheap price?

115. rcgrabbag July 1, 2009 3:55 pm

     The only one I know is Cowon. You might check rapidrepair.com.

116. mike July 24, 2009 8:34 am

     i have a cowon q5w 80gb. i want to upgrade harddisk to 240gb. and how can i upgrade system. now it hvae windows ce 5.0, but i want to install windows ce 6.0. how can i do it.

117. David October 13, 2009 6:28 pm

     do you still do cowon hard drive upgrades? any new info on the ” dual platter issue” and if this relates to the q5w? I can get a 240 gig toshiba

118. rcgrabbag October 13, 2009 9:10 pm

     I can do the upgrade. I don’t know about the dual platter issue. The info came from RapidRepair and I haven’t been able to find any follow up data on the issue. RapidRepair does not deal with Cowon players, so I don’t know if the platter issue affects all players.

119. GOULET October 27, 2009 3:21 pm

     Hi,
     would you tell me the reference of the 240 gb disk you had place into your COWON Q5?
     Are they the same steps as a 100gb?
     thank you for your answer.
     bests regards

120. rcgrabbag October 27, 2009 4:20 pm

     The steps for the 240gb drive would be the same, although I have not put one in my Q5.

121. GOULET October 29, 2009 5:53 am

     Hi,
     what type of disk have you placed in your Q5?100Gb, 120 or 160GB?
     and would you give me the reference.
     is the TOSHIBA MK1214GAH could run in the Q5?
     thank you for your answer.

122. rcgrabbag October 29, 2009 5:18 pm

     I am using the 120GB MK1214GAH in my Q5. I originally used a 100GB drive, but I sold that Q5.

123. goulet December 24, 2009 1:06 pm

     Hi,
     I would thank you for your help with all the details to change the disk. I have installed a MK1214GAH. My old disk have broken down and I haven’t made a backup!!!
     In a first step I have format with the soft fat32format and the cowon didn’t run.
     After several searches on internet I have understood I must create several partitions FAT 32 with 32GO(2).
     After that the cowon has run with the first firmware(I specify that I have a coreen Cowon!! but I have only interessed by video and music).
     I have install the other firmware without problem and I have two partitions(1 with 32go and another with 80GO)…
     I wish you an happy christmas!!!!

124. Hli May 3, 2010 3:37 pm

     Hi, I am debating on whether or not to get one of these broken off of eBay. My guess is the guy dropped the player and broke the harddrive. So I can put in a new blank harddrive, and format it to FAT32, but the problem is the firmware. I noted that you say that you have to back up everything, and re-copy it onto the new harddrive. Is this absolutely neccessary? Or can I just go to JetAudio.com and get a new firmware and just upgrade? Thanks!

125. rcgrabbag May 3, 2010 6:51 pm

     You should be fine downloading from Cowon.

126. Hli May 5, 2010 2:04 pm

     Cowon’s (being a Korean manufacturer) instructions aren’t very clear. It appears that there have to be pre-existing folders and files on the device, and you have to put the firmware files into specific folders for an update to work. Is this true?

127. rcgrabbag May 5, 2010 3:14 pm

     Yes, you need to drop the firmware into a specific folder, but I think I see where your going with your question, so a few things first. In your case, the player might have a defective hard drive, so let’s assume that’s true. Then this would be what you need to do once you got the device and replaced and formatted the hard drive (see instructions above). The firmware actually lives on the Q5 hardware outside of the hard drive (in “ROM”), so we’re not going to concern ourselves with the file/folder structures yet, it’s not necessary. First, download the Apps from the Cowon website. It’s a zip file, so you’ll need to expand it on your PC. The zip file will expand with the appropriate file/folder structure in place. Now, boot your Q5 in recovery mode (hold down + volume key while powering up) and connect your Q5 to your PC via USB. The normal boot-up process will be bypassed and the firmware already on the device will allow your PC to see the Q5 as an external drive. Now copy the unzipped Apps files to the root of the Q5′s hard drive so that the proper folder/file structure is maintained once copied. Power off the device and power it back on normally. Now, you can go and get the latest firmware from the Cowon website and update it following the normal instructions.

     If it’s not the hard drive, and it won’t boot, then I’m afraid Cowon would have to service it.

128. Hli May 5, 2010 8:55 pm

     Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it!

129. Nick July 26, 2010 9:40 pm

     Any luck with that 240GB HDD mate? Really really keen to give this a try. The 32GB of ym S9 just isn’t enough.

130. rcgrabbag July 27, 2010 10:27 pm

     I haven’t used my Q5 in quite a while so I won’t be upgrading it.

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