RDO48

You have to lookl at it "historically": The original procedure was to completely detach PCB and re-mount it "live/hot" Then someone thought about the piece of paper/cardboard/plastic on the Head contacts Then someone verified that (for UNKNOWN reasons) the trick worked with the motor contacts instead. If you prefer the #2 and #3 are two (more practical) sub-sets of the original #1. So, if #2 didn't work for you, and #3 worked only partially, go for #1. But remember that this is not the "fix all problems" trick, it is well possible that your drive suffers from "something else". jaclaz Thanks jaclaz I just tried remounting the PCB "hot" with the same results as #3 - the paper between the motor contacts. I type U (enter), and it just repeats a faint double-click over and over - about a second apart. I can hear the drive spinning as well. You may be right when you suggest my drive may be suffering from something else, but from what I've read it's certainly showing the proper symptoms. Having said that, I will qualify it by saying that literally everything I've learned about this problem I learned from people like you on sites like this one. The click worries me, but as I said in my previous post it does not occur when the data contacts are separated by paper. This leads me to believe that the problem is on the PCB itself, and the heads are perhaps recieving some bogus instruction from the PCB and parking and reparking over and over. I'm wondering if there is a way to fix the "theoretical" problem on the PCB (0 LBA error?), and then go through the entire BSY solution again from the top. I don't know though if the m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 format works at the PCB or disc level, or both. I've also wondered if the following suggestion from another forum might help, though it's for SD15 firmware and I have HP24 (same thing maybe with an HP brand?): Type F712 and press enter. It should say..... Byte:0712: RealTimeUpdatedFlags = 00 00 Byte:0712: Bit:0, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:1, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX_EXT = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:2, DCO_SET_ACTIVE = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:3, CONGEN_READ_FROM_MEDIA = 0 <- configuration not loaded from surface Type F,,22 and press enter. It should say Drive Configuration restored to defaults. Type F712 and press enter. It should say..... Byte:0712: RealTimeUpdatedFlags = 08 00 Byte:0712: Bit:0, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:1, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX_EXT = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:2, DCO_SET_ACTIVE = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:3, CONGEN_READ_FROM_MEDIA = 1 <- done If either one of these would fix the theoretical communication problem with the disc, I might be "golden" - or I might permanently brick my drive if it isn't already... It also occurred to me to try a new PCB, but I've only seen a couple of examples where that worked and it seemed to me they "lucked" into it. I've found far more warnings against it, including the READ ME FIRST on this site. I realize that I'm grasping at straws here, but aside from sending to a pro for data recovery I don't know what else to try at this point. The USB<==>TTL seems to be working fine, the drive just won't spin back up. I've cleaned all of the contacts but no difference. Thanks for any help!!

I'm glad to see this thread is still active. I have a ST3500620AS with HP24 firmware. First the drive disappeared from BIOS completely so started attempting the BSY fix with a CA-42 cable and using paper between the data contacts. I could sometimes get to F3 T> but then nothing I typed would show in Hyperterminal. After some more research I ordered a USB to TTL adapter, but same result. So on a whim I reinstall the drive, and BIOS sees it now but with 0 byte capacity. If I connect to Hyperterminal tho with no paper separation I do get the LED:000000CC FAddr:0024B5A5 over and over which leads me to believe the hdd is actually in BSY state. Or do I have 0 LBA? I seem to have both symptoms - maybe I'm missing something? More reading and I found the Maple Leaf site, where he separates the drive motor contacts as opposed to the data. So I tried that, and instantly I'm at F3 T>, /2 works, Z spins down very quickly since with no motor cotact to the PSB the motor never really spun up, and then I enter U.... nothing......still nothing..... the drive seems stuck with symptoms just like vitya in his post. The small tick tick concerned me that maybe I have a physical error instead of a fimware problem, but didn't remember that noise with the data contacts separated so did that again and the tick disappears (just motor spinning) so I don't think so. I've been tempted to try the F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter) 0 LBA fix with the motor contacts separated since that's the only way I can seem to communicate with the hdd, but am very scared I'll mess something up since I believe that some of the firmware is on the platter itself and the fix won't get there without the drive motor spinning. Hopefully I'm missing something really easy. Does anybody have any ideas?