ASMedia ASM 1051 USB3/SATA Controller Firmware Update

Can someone please help me? I am trying to update the firmware on my ASMEDIA ASM1051 USB3.0/SATA controller but I haven't been able to figure it out. I've download firmware(s) & flash/firmware tool from station-drivers & can't figure out why it keeps failing. I've found instructions on how to do it, but everytime I do it it fails. The ASM1051 is detected by Windows & the firmware tool. Do I have to create a bootable USB drive or something? And how?

I know I have to use the tool called MPTool, and run it as administrator.

I've followed the instructions here:
Tutorial: Asmedia ASM-1051 Sata / USB 3.0 Controller

And here:
www.station-drivers.com • Afficher le sujet - Tutoriel : Asmedia ASM-1051 Sata/USB 3.0 Controller

And here:
Cannot boot from big USB HDD - Boot from USB / Boot anywhere - reboot.pro

Some other info regarding the ASM 1051 controller:
Re: linux-3.3.4 and 3.4-rc5: ASMedia2105 detected at 480Mbps instead of 5Gbps -- Linux USB


My Ineo I-NA201U+ External Hard Drive Enclosure:
ineo

Spoiler

Feature

SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Interface
10 times faster than USB 2.0
Backwards compatible with USB 2.0/1.1
USB bus powered, no power adapter required
Supports most 2.5" SATA I/II hard drives
Hot swap, Plug and Play
Fan-less with silent operation
Aluminum casing for heat dissipation

Specifications
Interface: USB 3.0 (Backwards compatible w/ USB 2.0 / 1.1)
Supported Hard Drive: 2.5” Notebook SATA I/II Hard Drive
Data transfer rate: USB3.0 @ 5Gbps / USB2.0 @ 480Mbps
Maximum Speed: 5 Gb/s
Support 2.5" SATA I/II Hard Disk Drives up to 750GB (9.5mm height hard drive)
Material: Aluminum Casing
OS Requirements: Windows2000/XP/2003/Vista/7, (32/64-bit)
System Requirements: USB 3.0 port or USB 3.0 Controller Card required
Dimensions: 5.4”(L) x 3.1”(W) x 0.5”(H)

The ASMedia controller:
ASMedia Technology Inc. 祥碩科技

Spoiler

ASM1051 is the single chip solution to bridge both SuperSpeed USB (USB3.0) and High Speed USB (USB2.0) to Serial ATA. It is highly integrated with ASMedia SuperSpeed USB3.0, High Speed USB2.0 and SATA1.5/3.0 Gbps self-design PHYs. With ASM1051 customers can easily enhaced their storage device performace since this product integrated CPU and embedded RAM to provide a leading edge solution in USB to SATA device enclosure market.
- Features
* Compliant with USB3.0 Specification Revision 1.0
* Compliant with USB Specification Revision 2.0
* Support USB Super-Speed, High-Speed and Full-Speed Operation
* Bus bandwidth of USB up to 5Gbps
* Support USB Mass Storage Class, Bulk-Only Transport Specification Revision 1.3
* Compliance with Serial ATA Specification Revision 2.6
* Bus bandwidth of Serial ATA up to 3Gbps
* Support ATA/ATAPI Packet Command Set
* Support ATA/ATAPI LBA48 addressing mode
* Support 20MHz External Crystal
* Support I2C NVRAM for Vender Specific VID/PID of USB Device Controller
* Support SPI NVRAM for Vender Specific Application of USB Device Controller
* Support up to multi-GPIO pins
* Integrated 3.3V to 1.2V Voltage Regulator
* HBM ESD 2.5KV
- Package Type
* Green Package QFN 48L (Pb-free)

EDIT: I found a very similar controller setup like mine. It is from Calvary:
http://www.cavalrystorage.com/downloads/cabd3b_firmware-instructions_20110223.pdf
And here's their Firmware Upgrade downloads:
http://www.cavalrystorage.com/downloads/cabd3b_firmware_20110223.zip


NOTE: I am connecting this USB 3.0 enclosure to an AKE Expresscard USB 3.0 BC618. This card uses the Fresco Logic FL1000 controller, which I've already updated with the latest drivers . It works perfectly with USb 2.0 devices but its not working with my USB 3.0 enclosure. This is why I am trying to update the firmware on the ASMedia ASM 1051 controller. I'm thinking it has to do with that. I've already gone ahead and contacted ASMedia & Ineo for support.

 

I would guess that the problem is that the ExpressCard controller is not giving the USB3 enclosure enough power.

(Also, you are trying to update from a USB 2.0 port, right)?

Can you give your USB 3.0 enclosure additional/external power (either from the wall AC or a secondary USB2/3 'power' plug)?

 

Could you JUST WRITE WHAT YOU DID instead of giving dozens of links where I can break my arm clicking from one to another and blow my brains trying to figure out what exactly you did and what problem you got.

Better just write it in a simple way and post screenshots of your problem.

NO WONDER that you got only 1 post in such thread.

Meanwhile if I were you I would download older firmware flasher tool and tried to use it for flashing newer bin file. NOT old bin file which goes with flasher.

 

Thanks to tiller, I have solved one of my problems. Obvious yet funny mistake.

My ExpressCard slot:


My AKE ( FRESCO LOGIC FL-1000/1009 USB 3.0 Controller) ExpressCard USB 3.0 Card was not supplying enough juice to power (don't know if its Lenovo's ExpressCard fault or AKE's/the controller supplier's fault) a 2.5" Western Digital 500GB 5400RPM HDD and a Hitachi 2.5" 500GB 7200RPM HDD. What's weird is that it was enough to power my Samsung 830 and 470 SSDs on USB 3.0, but not the HDDs. However, with the OEM supplied cable the HDDs worked fine on USB 2.0 ports.


The INEO drive enclosure (OEM) supplied cable is insufficient in my opinion and the manufacturer should have provided the correct one.


How I resolved this power issue was by buying the correct Y-USB 3.0 cable. This one:


I also bought this ExpressCard model as the one I currently have doesn't have the external power port.



Ran a quick AS SSD benchmark and speeds are definitely USB 3.0.

ASMedia 1051 USB 3.0 and USB 2.0_Sequential Speed Only_01 by davidc646, on Flickr

I did try to flash the controller using USB 2.0 ports AND the USB 3.0 port but neither proved successful. I would like to figure out why I couldn't do simple flash but everything seems to be working fine so If I never solve this second issue, I'll live. Its just my throw-away USB 3.0-to-SATA controller.

Thanks again tiller, rep to you sir! :thumbsup:

Sent from my SPH-M580 using Tapatalk

 

Hey! You're welcome!

And thanks for taking the time to update the thread.

 

Hello,

I have troubles updating my AS1501 chipset with a new firmware (I only get 9MB/s per second under windows xp with a 2TB drive attached).

I followed the procedure (downloading the firmware tool and the firmware, unlocking it with "asmedia" as password, etc) but I always get "failed" back, whatever I do. So the firmware update tool doesn't work for me at all.

I tried the same today at work on a Windows 7 64bit notebook where I get 70MB/S transfer rate (but at home I still have WinXP for some reasons).

can somebody help me how I can update the firmware? do I have to set a specific configuration or something else? do I download the wrong firmware?

here is the log of the failed update processes:

Date Time Target Port# VID PID iVersion iManugacturer iProduct SerialNumber FWVersion USB Speed PhysicalAddress LogicalAddress ConfigTableFormat UpdateVID UpdatePID UpdateRevision UpdateManufacturerString UpdateProductString UpdateSerialNumber UpdateSerialIncrease UpdateFWFile FormatDriveType FormatLabelName WrRdTestBinary WrRdTestCount UpdateConfigurationResult UpdateFWResult ReloadFWResult DoPartitionResult DoFormatResult DoWrRdTestResult DoPreloadResult
20130411 10:02:53 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 Y2LSVSLE 091029000000 SUPER 02 F 1 174C 55AA 0100 Plugable Technologies USB3-SATA-U3 0 ST333U-Plugable_130220_81_F6_02.bin FAIL FAIL FAIL
20130411 10:09:35 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 00000000000000000000 091029000000 SUPER 01  1 174C 55AA 0100 Plugable Technologies USB3-SATA-U3 0 ST333U-Plugable_130220_81_F6_02.bin FAIL FAIL FAIL
20130411 10:09:56 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 00000000000000000000 091029000000 SUPER 01  1 174C 55AA 0100 Plugable Technologies USB3-SATA-U3 0 ST333U-Plugable_130220_81_F6_02.bin FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL
20130411 10:10:11 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 00000000000000000000 091029000000 SUPER 01  1 174C 55AA 0100 Plugable Technologies USB3-SATA-U3 0 ST333U-Plugable_130220_81_F6_02.bin FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL
20130411 10:13:11 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 00000000000000000000 091029000000 SUPER 01  1 174C 55AA 0100 Plugable Technologies USB3-SATA-U3 0 C:\Asmedia ASM 105x USB3_SATA Controller Firmware\Firmware_130220.81.F6.02\ST333U-Plugable_130220_81_F6_02.bin FAIL FAIL FAIL
20130411 10:13:29 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 00000000000000000000 091029000000 SUPER 01  1 174C 55AA 0100 Plugable Technologies USB3-SATA-U3 1 C:\Asmedia ASM 105x USB3_SATA Controller Firmware\Firmware_130220.81.F6.02\ST333U-Plugable_130220_81_F6_02.bin FAIL FAIL FAIL
20130411 10:13:46 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 00000000000000000000 091029000000 SUPER 01  C:\Asmedia ASM 105x USB3_SATA Controller Firmware\101026_00_68_00.bin FAIL
20130411 10:13:54 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 00000000000000000000 091029000000 SUPER 01  C:\Asmedia ASM 105x USB3_SATA Controller Firmware\Firmware_101026.00.93.02\101026_00_93_02.bin FAIL
20130411 10:23:35 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 00000000000000000000 091029000000 SUPER 01  1 174C 55AA 0100 Plugable Technologies USB3-SATA-U3 0 C:\Asmedia ASM 105x USB3_SATA Controller Firmware\Firmware_101026.00.93.02\ST333U-Plugable_130220_81_F6_02.bin FAIL FAIL FAIL
20130411 10:24:12 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 00000000000000000000 091029000000 SUPER 01  1 174C 55AA 0100 Plugable Technologies USB3-SATA-U3 0 C:\Asmedia ASM 105x USB3_SATA Controller Firmware\Firmware_130220.81.F6.02\ST333U-Plugable_130220_81_F6_02.bin FAIL FAIL FAIL
20130411 10:24:22 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 00000000000000000000 091029000000 SUPER 01  1 174C 55AA 0100 Plugable Technologies USB3-SATA-U3 0 C:\Asmedia ASM 105x USB3_SATA Controller Firmware\101026_00_68_00.bin FAIL FAIL FAIL
20130411 10:25:20 00 207 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 Y2LSVSLE 091029000000 SUPER 01 F 1 174C 55AA 0100 Plugable Technologies USB3-SATA-U3 0 C:\Asmedia ASM 105x USB3_SATA Controller Firmware\Firmware_130220.81.F6.02\ST333U-Plugable_130220_81_F6_02.bin FAIL FAIL FAIL
20130411 10:41:21 00 206 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 Y2LSVSLE 091029000000 SUPER 01 F C:\Asmedia ASM 105x USB3_SATA Controller Firmware\Firmware_130220.81.F6.02\ST333U-Plugable_130220_81_F6_02.bin FAIL
20130411 10:42:37 00 112 174C 5106 0001 ASMedia AS2105 Y2LSVSLE 091029000000 HIGH 01  C:\Asmedia ASM 105x USB3_SATA Controller Firmware\Firmware_130220.81.F6.02\ST333U-Plugable_130220_81_F6_02.bin FAIL

 

the firmware wont work just updating soft and driver.. i have AKE
ASMEDIA drivers & firmwares

 

I couldn't figure out how to update the firmware so i gave up and used it with whatever firmware it shipped with. I used it with a "Y" usb cable, the one with the extra usb, to power up an HDD in a usb3 enclosure. I eventually gave this ASMedia card to my friend for his non-usb3 ThinkPad but let him know about the reason for the "Y" usb cable. Funny thing, he plugged in his Seagate usb3 external HDD and it worked without a "Y" usb cable, ! Whatever, it worked for him so he's happy and im glad its still in use.

Can't help any further than that except that I recommend you replace it with a Renasas/NEC version (with the power port). The Renasas/NEC controller has shown higher peak performance in comparison to the ASMedia 1051 controller in my experience while using the exact same usb3 64GB flash drive to produce consistent results. Lastly, updating the firmware on the Renasas/NEC card works as anyone would expect it to without any hassles. Trust me, you'll ask yourself why you didn't try it sooner.

Goodluck,
David