archny

Hi Everyone,
I am new to the board and have been reading a lot of material of previous posts about my issue, but could not find an answer to the question I have. At first I will give you the history.

I have a 2008 LS600H which I bought used about 2.5 years ago. Since I got the car the Navigation screen mostly shows an error (forgot actual wording), but everything else words a side from the maps. Two days ago right before I pull up to my house the display by the speedometer shows a message about hybrid system issue and to turn off the vehicle. I shut the car off and on again and the message stayed. So I disconnected the battery and plugged it back in. At which point the Hybrid system message is gone ( did drive the car about 150 miles since), but now I get a message "a program cannot be read, consult a dealer". From what I read is that my hard drive is not good and needs to boot up since the battery was disconnected. I know the dealer charges a lot of money and will tell me I need to change the navi unit.

My question is I found several units being sold by auto recyclers for a substantial decrease in cost (approx. $500). I did find the same exact model # as in my car since I did take apart the whole center console to see which one I have. If I buy a used one will it be a simple plug and play or I will have to go to the dealer to have it programmed? Also is there a radio code necessary? and do I need to get the VIN # from the donor car? Thank you.

Scrutator

This is what I would try; however this may not be a good answer for everyone. It depends on your tech skills and willingness to try.

I would purchase a solid-state hard drive and an external USB-based universal hard-disk adapter. I would then try to clone your original drive with a tool such as HD Clone (or similar). Make a bit-for-bit copy of the old drive (assuming it can be read) and transfer that to the new drive. Plug it in and see if it works.

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

The problem is, the original drive is corrupt. This will either be a software corruption, in which case, the software can ge reloaded (by the dealer) or a hardware corruption (requiring replacing the drive plus software load). Either way, cloning the drive probably won't work. Now, if you could get a known working drive, that would be different.

SSDs are grossly over rated. They have a finite number of read/write cycles after which the cell information get corrupted. The Hitachi drive in the LS is a special "severe condition" HDD and will probably last as long, if not longer, than an MLC SSD. Now a SLC SSD is a different matter but they are VERY expensive.

Scrutator

The data may be there and it may be able to be recovered. A tool such as SpinRite may do the trick. However, it may be worth just purchasing a new hard drive and having Lexus load new map data if his maps are way out of date. Assuming there's not technical reason why a solid-state drive won't work in the car I would recommend it over a tough-duty HDD. Modern solid-state drives will read and write far more times than it would need to for the remaining life of the vehicle.

DavidinCT

I agree with others here. *IF* this was to happen to me, I would pull the navi system out (not too hard but, it could be time consuming...there is step by step direction on this site), pull the hard drive out and try to clone it to another one. If your not very techy, find a friend who is and see if they will help you. There are a lot of tools that can work and if you have a good sized desktop PC, you might even be able to plug the drives into your PC and clone it (don't use Windows copy for something like this)

Also I have not heard of any problems with swapping the Navi system with another one (as for being compatable with the car, or licensing type issues.), but, I am not sure.

If the hard drive is readable but, showing errors, you might be able to get this data off and a replacement drive might be around $50-100 tops...(think it's only a 20-40gb model)

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

Check out this thread:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...acement-4.html

archny

Hi,
Very similar to this topic but since so many of us have this issue did anyone ever buy a used navi unit from a donor car that has the same model # as yours and put it in your car. Is it plug and play or do you have to do something to it.

Vansibel

This guy confirmed what I though years ago: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...-an-ssd-4.html
Drive are standard, old LS with gen5 nav probably use HITACHI Endurastar 40GB automotive hard drive (HEJ425040F9AT00) while gen6 Toshiba. Can be had around 100$ on ebay, Lexus want 2100$ plus labor to replace it: https://www.lexuspartsnow.com/parts/lexus-disc-disc-player~86271-50b20.html?Make=Lexus&Model=LS600hL&Year=2008&Submodel=&Filter=(). The drive are locked but your nav unit know the password. So the trick is to start the car so the drive get unlocked, then while the power is still plugged you swap the data cable to a computer and clone the drive while it's been unlocked. That trick date back to the old Xbox where that method could be used to softmod it. But the guy in the thread didn't lock it back before putting it in the car and that is probably why it won't load. I'll definitely clone my drive before it die next time I remove the radio so when it fail I'll just have to swap it. The Hitachi drives are very reliable but they will fail at some point. OP I would try this method for sure, cloning could work on a computer even if the drive seems corrupted.

Edit: Seems like Prius owner have been doing this all day long, hard drive can be unlocked using HDAT2 (instead of the hot swap method) but you will need a 2.5 IDE to Sata bridge. Maps can also be updated this way. On the prius you can even buy a blank hard drive and if you find a prius HD image online and clone it it will work (car will automatically lock the new hard drive) so the LS is probably the same.