Same problem as “swifter” on a very little-used SanDisk 128GB USB drive.
I’ve also registered on the forum to throw my hat in the ring.
I have 3 USBs bricked after using Balena Etcher to write iso. I have specifically used iso extracted from arc-23.7.33.img.zip .
I was able intially to boot from the USBs, but after I reconnected them to W10 machine to re-write they stopped working completely.
I have used a bunch of tools to revive them (incl. HP USB formatter tool) but they seem to be completely bricked.
For all USB sticks, the name is: ‘SkyMedi SK6238A BLoader USB Device’ and they all show 64MB/67MB (they are 8GB from different brands - i don’t believe a certain brand is to blame).
The error I get everywhere is: Write error [0x00000079] The semaphore timeout period has expired.
I have also tried to format/reformat using Rufus - no joy.
Here is a print screen from my attempt to restore with Rufus (and the log below).
Log:
Rufus x64 v4.1.2045
Windows version: Windows 10 Home x64 (Build 19045.3208)
Syslinux versions: 4.07/2013-07-25, 6.04/pre1
Grub versions: 0.4.6a, 2.06
System locale ID: 0x0809 (en-GB)
Will use default UI locale 0x0809
SetLGP: Successfully set NoDriveTypeAutorun policy to 0x0000009E
Localization set to ‘en-US’
Notice: The ISO download feature has been deactivated because ‘Check for updates’ is disabled in your settings.
Found USB 2.0 device ‘SkyMedi SK6238A BLoader USB Device’ (1516:1238)
1 device found
No volume information for drive 0x81
Disk type: Removable, Disk size: 67 MB, Sector size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 8, Tracks per cylinder: 255, Sectors per track: 63
Partition type: SFD (Super Floppy Disk) or unpartitioned
Found USB 2.0 device ‘SkyMedi SK6238A BLoader USB Device’ (1516:1238)
1 device found
No volume information for drive 0x81
Disk type: Removable, Disk size: 67 MB, Sector size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 8, Tracks per cylinder: 255, Sectors per track: 63
Partition type: SFD (Super Floppy Disk) or unpartitioned
Format operation started
Requesting disk access…
No drive letter was assigned…
Will use ‘E:’ as volume mountpoint
Warning: Could not delete partition(s): [0x80070079] The semaphore timeout period has expired.
Opened \.\PhysicalDrive1 for shared write access
Requesting logical volume handle…
Analyzing existing boot records…
Drive does not have a Boot Marker
Clearing MBR/PBR/GPT structures…
Erasing 128 sectors
Write error [0x00000079] The semaphore timeout period has expired.
Retrying in 5 seconds…
Write error [0x00000079] The semaphore timeout period has expired.
Retrying in 5 seconds…
Write error [0x00000079] The semaphore timeout period has expired.
Retrying in 5 seconds…
Write error [0x00000079] The semaphore timeout period has expired.
Could not reset partitions
Re-mounted volume as E: after error
Found USB 2.0 device ‘SkyMedi SK6238A BLoader USB Device’ (1516:1238)
1 device found
No volume information for drive 0x81
Disk type: Removable, Disk size: 67 MB, Sector size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 8, Tracks per cylinder: 255, Sectors per track: 63
Partition type: SFD (Super Floppy Disk) or unpartitioned
Closed Windows format prompt
Found USB 2.0 device ‘SkyMedi SK6238A BLoader USB Device’ (1516:1238)
1 device found
No volume information for drive 0x81
Disk type: Removable, Disk size: 67 MB, Sector size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 8, Tracks per cylinder: 255, Sectors per track: 63
Partition type: SFD (Super Floppy Disk) or unpartitioned
Found USB 2.0 device ‘SkyMedi SK6238A BLoader USB Device’ (1516:1238)
1 device found
No volume information for drive 0x81
Disk type: Removable, Disk size: 67 MB, Sector size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 8, Tracks per cylinder: 255, Sectors per track: 63
Partition type: SFD (Super Floppy Disk) or unpartitioned
Also, from Event viewer (removed images because “An error occurred: Sorry, new users can only put one embedded media item in a post.”.
I’ve also downloaded “Skymedi SK6238 MPTool 2015-05-08 (SK6238_MPT_20150508)” and it seems to read properly the USB
LE: (as I am limited on how much I can post) after using the tool a bit more, i was able to revive one of the USB’s (i’ll try with the other two), but here are the steps:
- Open MPTool
- Go to Setup - leave password field empty
- Leave auto detect, just change the flash size to the actual size of the disk.
- On the right, yu have Erase option - select Erase all
- Hit OK
- Hit Start
Print screen below.
PS: I’ve deleted my previous post #because
“Multiple errors occurred: 1) We’re sorry, but new users are temporarily limited to 3 replies in the same topic. 2) No more than 3 consecutive replies are allowed. Please edit your previous reply, or wait for someone to reply to you.”
Out of curiosity, why most USB writers don’t have a restore option? If it can destroy a device it should have the option to restore it too. I was in the same shoes couple of years ago, I used a flash drive to install linux and then I couldn’t restore the flash drive into a working condition for some reason using any of the GUI tools until I found out how to dd it with zeros. (it was detected as a cd/dvd rom before) Clearing the MBR/GPT or whatever and creating an empty partition probably wouldn’t take much to implement into this software.
It’s evident that it is a necessary and missing feature.
For peeps having issues restoring their drives, try Fedora Media Writer, if it detects a device when launched, it will show the option to restore it to its original state.
I just lost two drives after trying to flash Batocera. It worked at first, I thought, but then both drives became completely inoperable. I am going to try Rufus. If anyone else has flasher recommendations I’d appreciate it. Though, that may get this post removed. We’ll see.