Corrupted MagicJack

LyosNorezel · Post by **LyosNorezel** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:00 pm

Hey ya'll... I have a corrupted MagicJack.

It happened fairly recently (just after christmas) I came back to my office and found my computer in a semi-on/semi-off state.

Might have been a power surge or it might have been a failed/interrupted upgrade... I don't know.

All I know is that I have a magicjack that's detecting as a 'UsbCombo HD USB Device' in Device Manager... and my linux laptop indicates a fault on the 'cd drive' partition (for the linux geeks the errors are: 'Buffer I/O error on device sr1, logical block 0' 'Buffer I/O error on device sr1, logical block 1').

I've attempted to run the magicjack recovery program on it... but it says the device is not plugged in.

I've attempted to read the partition with a version of 'dd' compiled for windows (http://www.chrysocome.net/dd) and on my linux laptop... both fail.

At this point... I'd really like to get an image of a working MagicJack (both drives) from someone who is semi tech savy... to see if I can rescue this device.

Anyone willing to give it a shot (I'll provide instructions on how to save an image from this device if needed)?

Thanks.

Lyos Gemini Norezel

P.S.- Anyone else experience a similar problem before?

hsweiss · Post by **hsweiss** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:47 pm

I've not had a similar problem, but the following is a transcript of tech support telling me how to remove registry entries which would force a total reload of MJ which might solve your problem.

Ivan: Please unplug your magicJack. Now go to "Start" in Windows and click on "run". In there write regedit and press enter.
Ivan: Now click on + sign next to HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE.
Ivan: Click on + sign next to SYSTEM
Ivan: Click on + sign next to CurrentControlSet
Ivan: Click on + sign next to Enum
Ivan: Now find folder called USB. Right click on that and click on "Permissions". In permissions click on the
Ivan: check mark called "Allow" to the right of "Full Control".
Ivan: Click Ok.
Ivan: Now click on + sign next to USB and then find the two folders called "Vid1307", right click on one at
Ivan: a time and select delete.
Ivan: Now click on - Sign next to USB.
Ivan: Right click on Folder called USBSTOR and allow permissions.
Ivan: Now click on + sign next to USBSTOR.
Ivan: Find the folders called "CdRom&Ven_YMAX&Prod_MagicJack&Rev"
Ivan: and "Disk&Ven_YMAX&Prod_MagicJack&Rev"
Ivan: Right click on those one at a time and delete them.
Ivan: Now exit Regedit and then plug your magicJack in

LyosNorezel · Post by **LyosNorezel** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:01 pm

hsweiss wrote:I've not had a similar problem, but the following is a transcript of tech support telling me how to remove registry entries which would force a total reload of MJ which might solve your problem.

Ivan: Please unplug your magicJack. Now go to "Start" in Windows and click on "run". In there write regedit and press enter.
Ivan: Now click on + sign next to HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE.
Ivan: Click on + sign next to SYSTEM
Ivan: Click on + sign next to CurrentControlSet
Ivan: Click on + sign next to Enum
Ivan: Now find folder called USB. Right click on that and click on "Permissions". In permissions click on the
Ivan: check mark called "Allow" to the right of "Full Control".
Ivan: Click Ok.
Ivan: Now click on + sign next to USB and then find the two folders called "Vid1307", right click on one at
Ivan: a time and select delete.
Ivan: Now click on - Sign next to USB.
Ivan: Right click on Folder called USBSTOR and allow permissions.
Ivan: Now click on + sign next to USBSTOR.
Ivan: Find the folders called "CdRom&Ven_YMAX&Prod_MagicJack&Rev"
Ivan: and "Disk&Ven_YMAX&Prod_MagicJack&Rev"
Ivan: Right click on those one at a time and delete them.
Ivan: Now exit Regedit and then plug your magicJack in

Thanks for that... but it didn't work.
I suspect the partitions themselves are damaged.

Lyos Gemini Norezel

az2008 · Post by **az2008** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:05 pm

LyosNorezel wrote:Thanks for that... but it didn't work.
I suspect the partitions themselves are damaged.

Can't you go into XP's "manage" thing, disk management, and reformat? Maybe repartition?

MJ should reinstall itself. I've not do this. But, I've read a number of posts by people who said they were instructed by MJ support to do things like this (including the registry edits) and MJ reinstalled itself the next time it was inserted.

Mark

LyosNorezel · Post by **LyosNorezel** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:21 pm

az2008 wrote:Can't you go into XP's "manage" thing, disk management, and reformat? Maybe repartition?

MJ should reinstall itself. I've not do this. But, I've read a number of posts by people who said they were instructed by MJ support to do things like this (including the registry edits) and MJ reinstalled itself the next time it was inserted.

Mark

I've already done this on the flash/hd partition.

The problem is... you cannot reformat the CDRom 'partition'... at least... not on XP or *nix... without some heavy duty tools.

I think the CD 'partition' is corrupted/completely hosed.

On top of this... the drive isn't even showing up as a 'Ymax' device anymore. The device manager shows 'UsbCombo HD USB Device'.

I suspect the current rom is hosed... hence the request for an image of a working rom.

Lyos Gemini Norezel

P.S.- I've been in the linux/power user section of computing for nearly 15 years now... don't be afraid to get into the hardcore aspects of this technology. (Read... I'm not your standard, low-grade, slightly technophobic, moron you typically have to deal with.

)

az2008 · Post by **az2008** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:52 pm

LyosNorezel wrote: The problem is... you cannot reformat the CDRom 'partition'... at least... not on XP or *nix... without some heavy duty tools.

I think the CD 'partition' is corrupted/completely hosed.

Is the CD Rom part also a flash drive, or is it ROM?

I can give you an image of my CD Rom drive if you tell me how to do it. I have the 2nd generation device, if it matters. (See http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/MagicJack/ ... rations.3F)

Mark

LyosNorezel · Post by **LyosNorezel** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:19 pm

az2008 wrote:Is the CD Rom part also a flash drive, or is it ROM?

To be honest... I'm not entirely sure. There is only one chip... but it's divided into two 'partitions'... one of which may be set as 'read-only'. Which... unfortunately, may require a 'jtag' to fix. I'm hoping it's all flashable/re-writable.

az2008 wrote:I have the 2nd generation device, if it matters. (See http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/MagicJack/ ... rations.3F)

Mark

As it happens... I have a second gen device as well.
That ought to make things easier (hey! one can dream... right?).

az2008 wrote:I can give you an image of my CD Rom drive if you tell me how to do it.

Making an image is actually fairly easy.
1.) Download this file: http://www.chrysocome.net/downloads/dd-0.5.zip
2.) extract it wherever you like
3.) start the command prompt (Start -> Run -> cmd)
4.) navigate to where you extracted the files
5.) type 'dd --list' (without the quote marks)
6.) look for the drive letter of your MagicJack 'cdrom drive'
7.) when you find it... you will also get a string that looks like this: \\?\Device\CdRom1 (could be a different number)
8.) type 'dd if=\\?\Device\CdRom# of=c:/temp/mj.iso bs=2048' (where '#' is the number of your cdrom drive)
9.) post the 'mj.iso' file online somewhere

Straight forward enough?

Thanks.

Lyos Gemini Norezel

az2008 · Post by **az2008** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:01 pm

LyosNorezel wrote:Making an image is actually fairly easy.

After further consideration, I'm not comfortable doing this. Maybe "magichack" could weigh in. I've heard that these MJ devices come with a serial number. For example, "isleblue" posted that MJ is sending him a replacement device that is already tied to his existing phone number (account).

That leads me to wonder *how* it is tied, and whether something about this "magicJack" CD-ROM disk image might contain it. I.e., if I give you the image, could your use of it collide with my use?

Also, I notice the "dd --list" shows something which looks like a UUID string for the volume. Could that be the unique identifier MJ uses to tie my device to my account?

I'd like to support you finding out how it works, and how a broken device could be fixed. But, with the little I know about this, I don't feel comfortable giving my image to someone I don't know very well.

Maybe others can add more information.

Mark

LyosNorezel · Post by **LyosNorezel** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:21 pm

az2008 wrote:After further consideration, I'm not comfortable doing this. Maybe "magichack" could weigh in. I've heard that these MJ devices come with a serial number. For example, "isleblue" posted that MJ is sending him a replacement device that is already tied to his existing phone number (account).

Fascinating... I'd be very interested in finding out how/where they put a serial number on the magicjack. If my memory is correct... most flash chips have a special register that allows you to store an identification code/serial number... but that'd be impossible to retrieve via a standard operation like 'dd'.

az2008 wrote:That leads me to wonder *how* it is tied, and whether something about this "magicJack" CD-ROM disk image might contain it. I.e., if I give you the image, could your use of it collide with my use?

Theoretically... yes, it is possible. Though... only if the idiot coders put the serial number in the program itself.

az2008 wrote:Also, I notice the "dd --list" shows something which looks like a UUID string for the volume. Could that be the unique identifier MJ uses to tie my device to my account?

It's possible... but again, unlikely... a UUID gets changed from computer to computer. The UUID is generated by each computer when the device is first plugged in. So it'd be rather foolish of the MJ coders to implement that.

az2008 wrote:I'd like to support you finding out how it works, and how a broken device could be fixed. But, with the little I know about this, I don't feel comfortable giving my image to someone I don't know very well.

Understood... when someone 'in the know' weighs in on the serial number location... perhaps we can work around it in someway.

Thanks.

Lyos Gemini Norezel