WD2500JD-75HBB0 Trouble understanding PCB swaps Moderator: I just read western-digital-pcb-swap-rule-t8951-20.html. DCMs don't matter in a PCB Swap. That answers my question. I've removed the DCM question and left the pcb attached to the head disk assembly question. Hello Gurus, Thank you in advance for reading this and for your reply. Wow, am I glad I stumbled upon this forum. Typically I don't like to create new News if I can read other's information via search but i'm having trouble understanding PCB swaps. Perhaps by Newing this message others will stumble upon this New and it will become more clear also. Forgive me if this is a long New, I'm trying to include more information here in hopes that someone else will understand in the future. I am having trouble with my WD2500-75HBB0. I'm no technician but I can perform simple checks to narrow down it's failure. The following symptoms leads me to believe the PCB failed, correct me if I'm wrong. - The hard drive doesn't spin at all when I start up my computer. It doesn't spin or click which means it's not a bad head or the motor. - I can hear the platters rotate when I twist the hard drive around in my hand on a horizontal plane. The platters are moving freely and are not stuck which indicates that it's not static friction causing the head to be stuck to the platter. - I didn't smell anything burnt or anything of the sort when it failed. I don't think there was a big short or it was fried. - Bios doesn't recognize it. Things I've tried: - I replaced the hard drive with a new one using the same computer and the other drive works fine. This indicates that the rest of my system is operational. - I placed the drive into an external USB case. The hard drive still doesn't spin indicating that it's not the power supply. - I experience the same symptoms when I install the hard drive in another computer which indicates it's the drive itself. After review, the symptoms lead me to believe it could be the PCB. This is where I'm stuck. I've read an article on WD2500-75HBB0 drives (www.datacent.com/datarecovery/hdd/weste ... 0JD-75HBB0). There is no date on the article so I'm not sure how relevant the information is. The author suggests that the firmware is on the "service area" and not on the PCB. Other articles/forums suggest that the DCM specifies the firmware. However, I'm not sure how the Drive Configuration Module would specify the firmware. He also suggests that the PCB may be adapted to the head disk assembly it was manufactured with depending on how old the model is. What I don't understand is how do I know if the PCB is adapted to the head disk assembly? If it is attached to the head disk assembly how does that affect the PCB swap, meaning must it be done professionally with it attached? Thank you kindly for your time and for helping me restore my hard drive. :D ROM contents from the old PCB need to be moved to the new PCB, one way or another. _________________ You don't have to backup all of your data, just the data you want to keep. thank you sir. I will have to hire a technician. Speaking of, data recovery centers seems to me like using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. There must be another technical term i don't know of when I google for a guy to swap my ROM? Data recovery centers want to charge me $300 for a <30min soldering job. I suppose you could take it to a local small electronics repair type place and say "hey, can you move this chip from here to there" _________________ You don't have to backup all of your data, just the data you want to keep. $300 is not too bad for the data center. Price seems reasonable... Local Electronic shops should be able to do that for under $100 but no promiss of getting your data back. Also they have no way of testing to make sure that PCB will not kill your drive after the ROM Chip Swap. When you try to power on your hard drive, if the PCB was defective due to the sodlering or whatever the reasons, it may end up killing your internal parts and make the recovery a lot more expensive than $300. hddmania wrote: $300 is not too bad for the data center. Price seems reasonable... Local Electronic shops should be able to do that for under $100 but no promiss of getting your data back. Also they have no way of testing to make sure that PCB will not kill your drive after the ROM Chip Swap. When you try to power on your hard drive, if the PCB was defective due to the sodlering or whatever the reasons, it may end up killing your internal parts and make the recovery a lot more expensive than $300. Make sense. If you need your data just do not try to save couple of cents. You can loose more. Let's professionals handle it. _________________ Good Luck http://www.datarecovery.net Thanks for the advice. My data is not *THAT* important so I'm going to take a risk and ask my local computer repair company to move "this chip from this board to this board". I'll update on how that goes SUCCESS!!!! :D :D :D :D I had some guy at the local computer repair shop perform the work. He said he had done it before and I took his word for it. After replacing the logic board my drive now works again. thanks gurus! Great news! Well done :-) _________________ PC Image Data Recovery www.pcimage.co.uk ================================================================================= Data recovery from a 2.5" SATA HDD All, I am having a bit of a nightmare trying to recover data from a 2.5" HDD from a SATA based laptop. The HDD in question is a Toshiba MK2546GSX. There is no fault with the HDD, the motherboard of the host laptop is unfortunately broken, hence my reason to recover the data. My aim is simply to install the HDD into a USB based drive enclosure. This is where I have had problems.. My understanding is that the HDD is SATA-300 based. According to the manufacturer of the HDD: Quote: The MK2546GSX incorporates the Serial ATA (SATA) 2.6 interface and is ATA-8 compliant Can anyone please recommend a USB based drive enclosure that is compatible with this HDD? Thanks in advance. :) D Try taking the drive with you to the store and they will help you match this enclosure for you. Normally on laptop drives there is a connector on the ends of the laptop to seat into the laptop you have to remove this before installing it into the enclosure. _________________ Iorana Haraharaini I won't be taking it back to the store I am afraid as it is in a different country. :) The HDD has been taken out of the laptops SATA connection and removed from the metallic caddy that it was in. I just need to know a suitable disk enclosure for a SATA-II/SATA-300 2.5 HDD. Can anyone point me to one online? Thanks. D Depends on your price range. I have seen cheap ones work fine and then on the other hand they give problems. Ask at the computer store where you go to buy this with and they normally have good suggestions on this and can offer you the help needed to buy one for you and get a good one. _________________ Iorana Haraharaini Can anyone recommend anyone online where I can buy this from? Thanks. D Any external SATA enclosure will work...even the 3.5" enclosures, but it would be hard to adapt it to secure the drive if you want to leave it in the enclosure. As far as a specific brand, I like the McAlly enclosures, but I'm not loyal to the brand. You could also look at getting an external SATA drive dock, like the units sold by StarTech.com. They are nice when you want to be able to shuffle drives around. _________________ Luke Recovery Force - Canadian Data Recovery Services ========================================================================= Hitachi Deskstar SLA pcb fix? I have received a hitachi deskstar, family SLA360, pcb is dead and a few components are missing. Someone has already had a go at it. I have exact match of Hitachi deskstar, change NV-RAM (I believe its NV RAM chip) but patient hard drive remains BSY. Does anyone know if there is embedded rom or something else which needs to be done in order to get donor pcb compat? I look forward to your wisdom... not familiar with this family. Sry. Do the first two lines on the PCB sticker match? _________________ PC Image Data Recovery www.pcimage.co.uk drive details. Model, Part No, MLC all the same. Patient is Aug 09, Donor is April 09. PCB codes are 0A29989 BA3129 and 0A29989 BA3263 In my opinion it should be a match but the fact the patient is made after the donor is Probably what is causing the problems providing NV RAM is present and correct. Anyone have a donor made AUG 09 and after? The fact that someone else had the drive and that some components from the PCB where missing when you received the drive, could indicate that PCB was not the original problem. Do you know the original symptoms of the the drive. Was it also just spinning but busy? I would guess NV-RAM issue and needs to be rebuild. ==================================================================================== Trying to find a replacement logic board for WD drive. Awhile back, my Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black HD stopped working and started causing a system freeze at startup. The HD itself was fine, but the SATA data connector kept falling out of the slot while the machine was still on. Thinking this was my fault (unbeknownst to me, there's actually a big failure rate with cheap SATA connectors), I just kept trying to get it to stay in. Eventually, this constant dislocation fried the logic board. The platters still work, so I'm sure the problem lies with the board itself. As such, I just wanted to get a replacement and be done with it. I called up Western Digital who was of absolutely no help whatsoever. Not only would they not provide me with a logic board, they wouldn't even provide me with the information necessary to match up with a replacement logic board--the lack of which has made my quest extremely difficult. Thus far, I haven't even been able to get Western Digital to acknowledge that the situation of the data connector destroying the HD goes outside the boundaries of a warranty. In which case, they would still refuse to flip the bill for data recovery. Anyway, I've been scrambling to figure out what parts of the information on this drive I would need to make the switch, and I'm still not totally sure what I'd need to match up. This site tells me I need to match up the MDL number, the place of production, and the last five digits of the DCM. However, I called them up to see what they did to repair HDs and they did not make a good impression on me, so I don't really trust them at face value. Can anyone confirm that I need those three values? Western Digital 1.0 TB SATA / 32MB CACHE WD1001FALS S/N: ************ MDL: WD1001FALS - 00J7B0 <================== WWN: 50014EE000B15357 DATE: 18 JUN 2008 DCM: HBRNNV2AB <==================== LBA: 1953525168 R/N : 701567 PRODUCT OF MALAYSIA <======================= CANADA ICES - 003 CLASS B/ NMB - 003 CLASSE B If not, could anyone please clarify on what needs to sync up? Also, does anyone know of a source or vendor that might deel in these sorts of specific parts? I'm having a hell of a time finding an online vendor who's be willing to verify such specific information before selling me the product. No, it's NOT possible to simply replace a PCB on this (well, very very unlikely) due to adaptive information programmed into the ROM, which you need specialist equipment to re-manufacture that information and re-program a replacement PCB. _________________ PC Image Data Recovery www.pcimage.co.uk Yes, people have been telling me this over and over again. But....I don't really buy it. Prior to this SATA drive, I had successfully replaced logic boards on multiple IDE drives (ones that had the firmware most conveniently labeled on them). I mean, is everyone trying to tell me that I just got really lucky in the past? Either way, unlikely or no, could someone tell me what information I'd need to verify from drive to drive to best raise my odds? No, you didnt just get lucky. on older drives adaptive information was often kept on platters while on many modern drives they're written in ROM at production. they are unique for this one hdd and crutial for it's operation. you can get a pcb compatible at hardware level but need to copy the rom from the patient pcb to donor. on many wd drives this is not a DIY anymore if the pcb isnt working because rom isnt a separate chip but integrated in mcu. if the pcb isnt working you need special tools to read out rom. you can New a picture of the dead pcb and let gurus help you whether this drive has a separate rom or not. Thank you for the straight-forward answer. I tried getting that kind of information out of Western Digital, but none of their techs seemed capable or willing to explain why this instance of board failure was different from my past, more manageable, cases. What angle would you need to see the PCB from to determine whether a ROM is present? Would I have to unscrew the PCB? you don't need to unscrew the pcb. We can tell by the model number that its adaptive rom. Pariah wrote: Yes, people have been telling me this over and over again. But....I don't really buy it. This is what happens when you try to help a guy who obviously knows more about the industry than the engineers in it! :roll: No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Is that over and over enough? You CANNOT change the ROM yourself in this model, it's masked into the MCU itself. On your own admission, you have been told, told and told again. Please listen, at the moment it's straightforward job for a pro WITH THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT (and before you ask, $10k worth), so if you want your data then it's time to send it away, if not just RMA it. Simples. _________________ PC Image Data Recovery www.pcimage.co.uk Gimme a break. I did ask for clarification did I not? Anywho, just to be clear: Since it's adaptive ROM, it's not "separate," and thus can't be replaced? it can be replaced with the right equipment. pcimage wrote: You CANNOT change the ROM yourself in this model, it's masked into the MCU itself. Fine. Thank you. Quote: On your own admission, you have been told, told and told again. My admission was that people told me I couldn't do it. Not that they explained to me why I couldn't do it. You explained it to me. Thank you. You're welcome! Sorry to appear harsh but you came over as a know-it-all with that New. No offence intended. :-) _________________ PC Image Data Recovery www.pcimage.co.uk You're welcome! Sorry to appear harsh but you came over as a know-it-all with that New. No offence intended. :-) ================================================================================ Seagate Donor Drive matching help Hi I have a seagate 3.5" 500GB SATA Drive, suspecting head damage. I am trying to find matching donor drive. Please let me know what should match for donor drive. Thank you Barracuda 7200.10 sn: 5qg0mnez model: st3500630AS pn: 9BJ146-326 fw: 3.AAD DATE: 07253 SITECODE: WU, CHINA Cheers -Jag Hi you will be more successful matching as many of those codes as you can. For Seagate donor head, it usually requirs the model number to be the same, then it's ok, but if you have more details to match, that's surely better _________________ Dream as if you'll Live forever, Live as you'll die today. http://www.datarecoverytools.co.uk skyunlimited wrote: For Seagate donor head, it usually requirs the model number to be the same, then it's ok, but if you have more details to match, that's surely better Seen many, many Seagates with same model number but different preamps inside. _________________ PC Image Data Recovery www.pcimage.co.uk pcimage wrote: skyunlimited wrote: For Seagate donor head, it usually requirs the model number to be the same, then it's ok, but if you have more details to match, that's surely better Seen many, many Seagates with same model number but different preamps inside. Just out of curiosity, have you been able to get any numbers off the preamps to compare datasheets? Maybe some are the same electrically, just different physically? PCimage, Yes, you are very right, usually the model number and the number on the preamps are the same, but if not the same, then exactly speaking, you need to match the number on the preamps inside. However, you need to open the hdd and see that, need to be very careful about that. _________________ Dream as if you'll Live forever, Live as you'll die today. http://www.datarecoverytools.co.uk A general rule of thumb is to match the 2nd & 3rd characters of the serial number for models before 7200.10. 7200.10 seems to be more particular, and I think matching preamp label codes is good practice. Anyone agree / disagree? Jono FOR PCB swap , is it necessary to match microcontroller ? Like If i have 2 disks seagate 80GB both having firmware 8.01 but different chips - agare & STI , is that OK to have same model & firmware irrespective of chips used? I have a seagate 500 GB hard disk 7200.11 ST3500620AS when i connect it it just spin it does not get detected in bios nor in the windows so i think there would be prob with the head so i have a same hard drive same model and all and if change the platter from this drive to the working one will it solve my prob ie will i get my data back ?? :?: No, you will lose it. so what should i do ?????? anudeep wrote: so what should i do ?????? If you want the data then you MUST seek pro help, if not then RMA it or chuck it in the bin. Sorry to appear harsh, but these are your options. PERIOD _________________ PC Image Data Recovery www.pcimage.co.uk anudeep wrote: I have a seagate 500 GB hard disk 7200.11 ST3500620AS when i connect it it just spin it does not get detected in bios nor in the windows so i think there would be prob with the head so i have a same hard drive same model and all and if change the platter from this drive to the working one will it solve my prob ie will i get my data back ?? :?: whats the FW number of ur drive? ================================================================================= Hard Disk Reformatting FAT32 Hello - this is my first New so please forgive any indiscretions. I have a 1tb USB Maxtor 9NZ2D8-500 drive that I purchased to back up a XIVA NAS.My OS is Win 7. A problem arose that the NAS would not recognise the drive because it requires FAT32 formatting. I've been through a numbers of forums for advice on reformatting its total capacity and tried all suggestions, including SwissKnife (which won't recognise Win 7). I was directed to Hard Disk Recovery Lab.COM and tried HD Low Level Format Tool 2.36 Build 1181. That issued 'format error' messages for about 12 hours, but then reported 'format complete'. Now my computer will not recognise the drive at all! Can anyone please help? I don't know what the LLF tool did to your drive, but if it were working, you could have used Seagate's DiscWizard to create a full sized FAT32 partition: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/s ... NewLang=en Can you see the USB enclosure with Microsoft's UVCView utility? http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_ID ... ew.x86.exe Does the drive show up in Disc Management or Device Manager? Hi, and thanks for getting back to me. Working from the bottom up, 1. Device Manager reports that it is a "USB Mass Storage Device" and that the Microsoft USB Driver is working correctly. 2. I am unfamiliar with MS UVCView utility. I wish I'd known about Seagate's DiscWizard before all of this started! ISTM that "low level format" is a misnomer. AFAIK, it hasn't been possible to LLF a hard drive since the introduction of IDE in the early 1990s. At least that's what the HD manufacturers tell us. Hard drives are LLFed at the factory. I think of a LLF as what happens when you prepare a magnetically blank floppy diskette. I suspect that the program just zero-fills the hard drive. It has definitely zeroed your MBR and partition table, which means that you must go into Disc Management to initialise it. At the moment you should see a hard drive with 100% unallocated space. I believe DiscWizard should be able to do all the above, if it can see your drive in the USB enclosure. I notice that the program's description states that it "will erase, Low-Level Format and re-certify" a hard drive. If I've misunderstood, could someone please explain what the program really does? What does "re-certify" mean? Thanks a million! DiscWizard just delivered me a FAT32 1tb function HDD (well, that's how it looks at this stage). My gratitude to you :) and the forum! ====================================================================================== 1TB 7200.11 - Spinup, Rumble, Clunk, Spindown.... After buying this drive to LOOK AFTER my data, it's given up on me last night. Switch it on, it spins up, makes a rumble noise as though its reading, then makes a slight clunk noise, then starts to spin down again... Before the drive has stopped spinning, the above procedure starts again and starts to spin back up... PC Won't see it (Bear in mind this is in an IOMEGA External Enclosure) I have also tried hooking directly up to the PC Via SATA Cable & PSU... No idea what to do or where to look? Anyone help me? Dean Sounds like bad heads. Has it been dropped or knocked (even slightly)? _________________ PC Image Data Recovery www.pcimage.co.uk To be honest, i couldn't say it hasn't been knocked slightly,although im 99% sure it hasn't, but definatley NOT dropped. It resides on my desk and NO-ONE is allowed in the Study, as i've recently spent £1200 upgrading my system, which took me 2 years to save for. I look after everything to do with my PC's, as i rely on them daily. (Work & 8 years of digital photos) It started acting up a couple of months ago thinking about it, where it would stop reading through windows, and had to reboot again, but never thought anything about it and carried on... I'm going to get a soundclip of the drive, if this would help? Dean not really. In lab diagnostics required. £1200 on a new system and no back up procedure? Tell me about it! My main drive was starting to act up, so i immediatley bought this drive to back everything up onto. While my other drive has been away for replacment, i stuck an older 250gb drive in the system to get me running and put all my Data on this drive... Not had my replacment drive that long, and not had time to get it copied back over, due to GF having a car accident! :( Looks like 8 years of photos and web work is being turned into a brick, as i just dont have lots of money at the moment! Deano SoundClip http://www.rousie.co.uk/7200_11.m4a PM Sean from PCimage he is in your area. He might be able to help you out on this one and give you a good price to get back your data. If it is as you say could be a head problem on this. I would stop using it now and not try to force it to read again if the heads are damaged it can do a lot more damage to the inside of this drive if you keep using it. Give him a PM and he will contact you and help you out. _________________ Iorana Haraharaini Many thanks for your reply. I have already contacted Sean, but the price was far too much for me at the moment. Had much cheaper quotes, but doing research on the company first. It's frustrating to say the least, as I like to do things myself, lol. I take it the data is not that important? This is deffinately not a do it your self project. If you don't like Sean's quote or qoutes from any other reputable member of this forum, you should save your money until you can afford it, because quotes from firms that can handle this problem will be at least double quotes from this forum. ________________ Don't gamble with your data! Yeah, my data is about as valuable as it gets to be honest. However, i just dont have the cash flow, so my options are to shop around. I'd throw it on my Credit Card, but thats not an option at the moment :-( I do appreciate all your replies and comments, please don't think otherwise. Don't worry, i won't be DIY'ing it, just looks like it will have to sit on my shelf untill i can afford it. Dean From what I have seen, Sean's pricing is VERY good. I would suspect anyone offering "significantly cheaper" quotes of being a scam or bait-and-switch at the least. _________________ You don't have to backup all of your data, just the data you want to keep. I'm naming no names, becuase i'm not here to make enemies, but it was another member from this forum who quoted me £200 less. Still alot of money, but obviously cheaper :-) ANY DR's need a new website? Maybe we can strike a deal, LOL Dean I'll lay my cards on the table, I quoted £400-£500 which I think is reasonable for a clunking 1Tb drive. It may be that this is too expensive? I don't want to get into a price war, but just being as completely open and honest as I can ;-) I wouldn't expect you to name names, but please just be respectfully advised that if something seems too good to be true then it generally is. Also I do not blame you at all for shopping around, after all generally speaking people do not have a clue what is reasonable and what isn't. In my opinion £200 is suspiciously cheap, but like I say that's only my opinion. :-) I'm not fishing for business, to be honest I've got plenty of work in. Just don't want to see you lose your data. I honestly wish you all the best of luck, with absolutely no hard feelings whatsoever! :-) _________________ PC Image Data Recovery www.pcimage.co.uk Sean, Thanks for the honesty and advice. Like you say, i don't know what a good price is and what isn't. ABC Quoted something seriously cheap, but thought it was too good to be true, and looking on the forums, it is! Someone else from here quoted £300 for the job, and i provide my own HDD for the data to be copied to. I genuinley appreciate all your replies and advice. Is there any way i can get the job done cheaper? :-) Dean BTW; You'll probably end up getting the work, but hate the fact money is stopping me, lol. £500 is very low qoute. Our qoute would be much higher. _________________ Don't gamble with your data! £400 - £500 is a very good price. Why don't you sell your £1200 system and buy a second hand £600 system. At least you will have your data and something to view it on. If abc have quoted a lot less why don't you let them do it? Have you not seen ABC's Feedback? :mrgreen: Dean Yes, I think (hope) that was a rhetorical question _________________ You don't have to backup all of your data, just the data you want to keep. I can't say I have. Care to point me in the right direction? =========================================================================== Need PCB for wd2500js-19ncb1 Hi Everyone I am new and in need of help in locating a pcb. The motor spindle (smmoth) chip has a hole blown in it. I thought I would try the u12 rom swap with my old board. Here's what I have: SATA DRIVE MODEL: WD2500JS – 19NCB1 DATE: 23 APR 2007 DCM: HSBANT2CAN PCB 2061-701335-B00 AR (White Sticker) PCB 2060-701335-005-REV A (Printed On Circuit Board) Product of Thailand main ic 88i6545-TFJ1 If someone has a donor drive/PCB or can assist me in locating (PCB) please let me know.Thanks! =============================================================================== Mouse "sticky", Sound "bzzst" bcoz of problem with HD My computer is getting slower and slower. Running torrents while playing Street Fighter IV (offline) will make my computer EXTREMELY SLOW and when I played mp3 while downloading using torrent (utorrent), the music will sound like a broken machine ("bezzzst" kind of sound, once a while). Sometimes my computer will be extremely slow while booting. Another symptom is this: my mouse sometimes "sticking" or getting "sticky" (I'm at lose of words to describe this). While I move my mouse, the cursor getting slower, and sticky to move..) Hard disk concerned: Seagate 160GB ST3160815AS (2 partitions, using quick format) I've ran: chkdsk g: /f /r Completed, got no error whatsoever (no bad sector too) But on the second partition (D:), there is 12KB of bad sector. Ran the same command, chkdsk d: /f /r and the problem is still there. I've ran SeaTools for Windows and this is the log: --------------- SeaTools for Windows v1.2.0.1 --------------- 1/27/2010 10:18:58 AM Model: ST3160815AS Serial Number: 6RAETBQ0 Firmware Revision: 4.AAB SMART - Pass 1/27/2010 10:18:58 AM Short DST - Started 1/27/2010 10:19:10 AM Short DST - FAIL 1/27/2010 10:19:25 AM SeaTools Test Code: 66E3C3E8 Long DST - Started 1/27/2010 10:22:59 AM Long DST - FAIL 1/27/2010 10:24:23 AM SeaTools Test Code: 66E3C3F8 Short Generic - Started 1/27/2010 2:16:04 PM Short Generic - Pass 1/27/2010 2:21:36 PM Long Generic - Started 1/27/2010 2:22:56 PM Long Generic - FAIL 1/27/2010 2:36:12 PM SeaTools Test Code: 66E3C3D8 I also used Auslogic Disk Defrag and use the option "Defrag & Optimize" on both partition and yes, the problem is still there. If I unplug the drive, my computer is running smoothly. (My primary hard drive is Hitachi 80GB (HDS721680PLAT80) Got any clue as to why this is happening? MORE: I also used HD Tune and quick scan revealed no error occurred while it ran. However, on Health tab, it reveals this: ================================================================================= Seagate 7200.8 No Seek noise, spinup OK I have a 250Gbyte Seagate 7200.8 ATA drive that has failed, just looking for insight. The drive spins up smoothly, no clicking, but also no seek noise what-so-ever. Can the head armature get stuck? I swapped the PCB with a supposedly known good PCB with no change. Seagate ST3250823A With that description, I think it's hard to understand what's wrong. Can you New here terminal log from that drive? If not, I think it's better to contact a DR company to help you out. Simple PCB change here will almost certainly not work without transferring ROM. It is likely the failure is not physical, but based on your description could be a number of failures. If data is important, consult a professional. If not, get yourself a RS232 adaptor and New terminal log here. I assume by RS232 adapter you are talking RS232 to TTL? (As opposed to a simple physical adapter) This drive belongs to a co-worker, has important data but not important enough to do DR on. I'm using it for a learning experience. Mostly, I'm just a puzzle guy so I often don't know when to give up. :) Do all drives have some form of serial/ttl diag output, or is it just Seagate? All the references I see Newed out there are for the 7200.11 SATA drives. Don't want to waste anyone's time if it's not possible with ATA drives. Am I correct in thinking that the ROM/Device pairing would not impact gross activation of the actuator arm? I've given it quite a few listens but I really don't think I hear the tell tale initial actuator arm movements. here is video for swap ROM chip. help can help you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2hgiDHiXKM _________________ provide entire dirve,PCB,firmware,hard disk accessories. talk to me! Data Recovery service sunnydreamspace@hotmail.com I picked up a RS232 to TTL shifter from Sparkfun, and this is what I've found. With the PCB installed normally, the drive spins up, but I get no diag output. With the PCB off the drive, or with the motor contacts blocked, I get: Preamp ID 00 unsupported Interface task reset 4096k x 16 buffer detected TONKA - 1_Disk M-27 03-30-05 11:42 This is the original PCB, although donor gives the exact same output. Anyone have any insight into this type of failure? F>Y EP=1, TA=1, HiGain=1, OTRd=1, Early Rd=1, Splash=1, Reload=1, NPML=1, MRBias=1 Bst/Zap=1, SrvoThrsh=1, RunOut=1, MaxECC=1, ECC 2=1, ECC 1=1, ECC 0=1 Data=FF, Write=80, ID=FF F>y PhysCyl GrayCyl First System Cylinder 000155AA 00016FBD First Zero Offset Cylinder 000155B4 00016FC2 First App Code Cylinder 000155C0 00016FC8 Second App Code Cylinder 000155C2 00016FC9 Second Zero Offset Cylinder 000155CE 00016FCF Third App Code Cylinder 000155DA 00016FD5 Fourth App Code Cylinder 000155DC 00016FD6 Last System Cylinder 000156D7 000170EA F>TONKA - 1_Disk M-27 03-30-05 11:42 Built for TONKA,PITKIN/YUMA,REDBACK,Agere7531 PreAmp,InternalSpin,SVC123,OneToOne,3Disk,LowDelta,220 Servos,7200RPM,8Pole,NonModGray,133MHz,Code DRAM,Early Exit Addr 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 000000 A82AA889A889A889A889A889A889A889 000020 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 000040 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 000060 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 000080 A889A889A889A889A8C8A889A889A889 0000A0 A889A889A889A8CDA889A889A889A889 0000C0 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 0000E0 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 000100 A889A889A889A889A8EAA889A889A8C6 000120 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 000140 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 000160 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 000180 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 0001A0 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 0001C0 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 0001E0 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889 000200 4E804F80C5848280C584B00464FFC5C5 Does this all point to toasted preamp? Preamp ID 00 unsupported Interface task reset 4096k x 16 buffer detected TONKA - 1_Disk M-27 03-30-05 11:42 Buzz - Buzz - Buzz - ... ========================================================================== Diamondmax 10 dead as a stone Hi all, I got a Diamond Max 10 in which obviously has a fault in the electronics. The disk is not even trying to spin up, the motor pins are stuck at 0V. The L7250 is not visibly blown, the derived voltages (+3,3 via NPN transistor, -5V, +1,8V and the +18V for the high side gate drive) are there. I'm in the office at the moment, therefore I've not checked for activity on the oscillator pins of the Beagle chip. Is there a common failure on these drives? shaun wrote: Hi all, I got a Diamond Max 10 in which obviously has a fault in the electronics. The disk is not even trying to spin up, the motor pins are stuck at 0V. The L7250 is not visibly blown, the derived voltages (+3,3 via NPN transistor, -5V, +1,8V and the +18V for the high side gate drive) are there. I'm in the office at the moment, therefore I've not checked for activity on the oscillator pins of the Beagle chip. Is there a common failure on these drives? The common failure is the users exactly. :D New a picture from the pcb, maybe we can help. Janos Here it is. Now don't tell me you've never seen a PCB :D You were looking for holes in chips, right? Sorry, no holes. As I wrote, all internally generated voltages are fine. The drive locks up the IDE, MHDD only shows ERR. Did you check the 3.3V and -5V? For me, (without the pcb in my hands) the RAM chip is KO, and maybe the MCU too. Does the drive flashing the HDD LED if you plug the IDE cable? As I wrote above: yes, I checked all the voltages (although for ripple with the scope in the mean time). All are fine: +1,8 for the CPU core, +3,3, -5. Did you mean "knocked out" or did you accidentally swap the letters and wanted to tell me that the two chips may be "ok"? RAM? Is this a usual failure for these drives? I know very well that RAMs do fail, I've swapped RAMs down to 2114, 5101 and 4116 types, but I've never done so on hard drives. Obviously a lack of experience :) As the RAM can easily be swapped, I'll get an identical chip from a good drive and give it a try. And no, the HDD did not light up. shaun wrote: As I wrote above: yes, I checked all the voltages (although for ripple with the scope in the mean time). All are fine: +1,8 for the CPU core, +3,3, -5. Did you mean "knocked out" or did you accidentally swap the letters and wanted to tell me that the two chips may be "ok"? RAM? Is this a usual failure for these drives? I know very well that RAMs do fail, I've swapped RAMs down to 2114, 5101 and 4116 types, but I've never done so on hard drives. Obviously a lack of experience :) As the RAM can easily be swapped, I'll get an identical chip from a good drive and give it a try. And no, the HDD did not light up. I have seen one case with RAM failure. The drive don't want to spin up, flashes the LED, and the RAM does some extra heat (not too much). This is why i asking. ;) Anyway, because your drive holds the IDE bus, i think the MCU is gone too. This is what i can help you remotely. If you want to replace the PCB, you shoud match this: M,x,x,M in the 4 letter code, and the B2GBA. This is enough. Janos Thank you, so I'm looking for a K,x,x,A B2GBA PCB. U401 should still be swapped, right? //Just pulled a KGCA B2GBA (working, but with some bad sectors) off the shelf. Now I know what I'll do with the rest of the day ;) No, in this drive you don't need to swap nothing. Just replace. Janos Janos, you're probably wrong with this. I have swapped the PCBs between the known-good 160GB KGCA drive and the dead 120GB KGBA. The 160GB spins up with the PCB from the dead 120GB, but identifies as SABRE. After swapping the ROM from the 160GB's PCB, it works fine. The 120GB stays dead, the motor does not even try to spin with either PCB. What's left - head amp? Those 4 letters on those Maxtor drives have nothing to do with a board. You just have to match a code or a processor number. _________________ Don't gamble with your data! Ok, I have two PCB, both with the G2GBA label, both with the same processor. Both boards run on the 160GB HDA, none on the 120GB HDA. But: they only work on the 160GB HDA when the ROM originally corresponding to this HDA is fitted, otherwise, the drive inits forever and identfies itself as SABRE. Maybe the other board has some issues. _________________ Don't gamble with your data! What kind of issue do you mean? Both boards work well on the 160GB HDA, as long as the ROM for this HDA is soldered onto the PCB. Both won't work with the 120GB HDA, no spinning, IDE bus locks up. No noise at all, the motor does not even try to start. The motor connections are stuck at 0V. So there MUST be something within the 120GB HDA telling the PCB not to start the motor. But what? What does the firmware on the PCB do when it can't communicate with the head amp? I assume there is a serial bus to the head amp... Sounds like HR problem. ________________ Good Luck http://www.datarecovery.net shaun wrote: Janos, you're probably wrong with this. I have swapped the PCBs between the known-good 160GB KGCA drive and the dead 120GB KGBA. The 160GB spins up with the PCB from the dead 120GB, but identifies as SABRE. After swapping the ROM from the 160GB's PCB, it works fine. The 120GB stays dead, the motor does not even try to spin with either PCB. What's left - head amp? Becasue you don't match the ROM code in the pcb.... And with ROM chip swap, you does rom matching, this is why i am right. :mrgreen: harddrivespecialist wrote: Those 4 letters on those Maxtor drives have nothing to do with a board. You just have to match a code or a processor number. Disagree. Processor are widely used on many ROM versions, so this number almost have no meaning at all. But the 4 letter code shows the head and preamp type, and this HAVE meaning, because the rom tryig to use different preamp, or wrong power for MR, the result can be anything. Janos shaun wrote: What kind of issue do you mean? Both boards work well on the 160GB HDA, as long as the ROM for this HDA is soldered onto the PCB. Both won't work with the 120GB HDA, no spinning, IDE bus locks up. No noise at all, the motor does not even try to start. The motor connections are stuck at 0V. So there MUST be something within the 120GB HDA telling the PCB not to start the motor. But what? What does the firmware on the PCB do when it can't communicate with the head amp? I assume there is a serial bus to the head amp... Yes, there is a small serial connection on the preamp's connector, but the communication is very simple. It don't have nothing wich can prevent the spinup in calypso/sabre drives.* Additionally i have never seen this before (known working pcb don't spin up the drive on bad HDA). Except totally shorted/burned preamp chips... * other drives have, but this maxtor dm9/10 don't have. No one an idea about this drive? I'll check some things these days, but it's still a miracle to me