my77stang

I don't understand why you guys are shelling out extra money for the serial to TTL converters, battery packs, and whatnots. the CA-42 cable works like a charm, cost less than 6.00 with shipping, and eliminates so much guesswork. i posted the ebay seller i used on the previous page, so you know where to get one that works for sure. 36 pages deep and it still sounds so complicated - when really it is not once you know what needs to be done.

here, just to get this on the current page - and to update a few things to make it easier for people to understand - i will repost this from page 27 in a modified form....

if you remove the entire PCB you'll see the connector between the drive and the PCB (not the one that goes over to the center of the drive where the motor is). that is the connector i blocked with a paper business card, then screwed down the rest of the PCB just enough to make sure the board was grounded to the drive (don't know if that mattered). following the steps on page 27 from Aviko, i had success once i realized i needed to remove the business card before spinning the drive back up.

I finally got my CA-42 cable, hooked everything up and got the exact same error. PLEASE someone help me im going nuts! *edit* hey WolfDie, I just realized before we enter the "U" command (spin up) we need to reconnect the PCB to the drive. I was able to do everything, going to reboot and see what happens now. I am using the directions as given by Aviko on page 27 (I think it was) *2nd edit* Just rebooted, flashed drive to updated firmware, rebooted, and everything is up and running. THANK YOU EVERYONE who helped make this fix available!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aviko, Thank you for the clarified post on page 27 - that should be on the first page so people can find it and have the correct information. I'll let you know how it works out for me, hopefully my data cable will be here tomorrow.

so officially, this is the best (safest) way to make it work if you have the BSY error.... right? I've highlighted the actual commands to be typed in red. if i missed anything here, please requote this and correct it. with all this gibberish it gets hard to figure out exactly what needs to be done and im terribly afraid i'll screw something up (probably alot of us like that). and if i understand everything correctly, even though it says "user partition format" it is not actually messing up partitions or data. correct?

im so confused, i dont know which procedure to use

great, so after all the work to bring our drives back (still waiting on the cable to fix mine) they are crapping out again?

aviko, If you are so unhappy with the guide that was originally laid out PLEASE give us a list of commands you recommend to safely fix our drives. I have the BSY error, and should be getting my cell phone cable any day. I want to make sure I do not loose all my data. Thanks

i believe you both know alot more than most of us - if you can put your heads together maybe there can be a solution that is agreed upon by both of you.... and be the best route for us all to take.

i was thinking it only needed one ground. ike taking the usb ground wire, stripping some and wrapping around a screw then screwing it into the mounting holes on the side of the drive. yeah, the 2nd PSU will be a floater, but honestly i could use the system's PSU to power the drive if it helps.

so, like a jumper wire from the ground on a molex plug from one PSU to the other? ir would i be better to take the ground wire from the cell phone cable and ground it out to the body of the HD?

i still dont think i got a reply on this and i even posted boobies, so i'll ask again =) ^ is that correct?

thanks for the idea's about making the rx/tx cable. can anyonce clarify this part for me? i just want to make sure im 100% clear on this. there's not going to be too many volts going thru the tx/rx lines (like 5v from the usb port or anything), and i dont need to worry about any kind of ground wire in the cell phone cable right? i appreciate all your guys help, so in return i give you boobies

just to clarify when using the cell phone cable method, all i need is the tx and rx cables from it right? then plug the HD into any sata power cable (i have a 2nd PSU i can use for this) also i saw someone had a little white plug in their HD for the tx and rx wires so the plugs stay on those little pins. anyone know where to find a plug that small? i *think* header cables (like found in a computer case) are too big.