The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs

[electronicmaji]

Well broski, reccomend me a proper cable then. I've already looked through nearly every page in the thread, I didn't see anyone reccomending anything but the ca-42

You could always make your own using a RS232<->TTL converter, as described in the first post. It's really not hard to do.

I don't have a computer to use it on since the main pc had only one hd. The one that died.

[electronicmaji]

Well broski, reccomend me a proper cable then. I've already looked through nearly every page in the thread, I didn't see anyone reccomending anything but the ca-42

Were you blindfolded when looking?

To re-cap:

• the HD accepts TTL level signals
  
• a USB-to-TTL or a RS232-to-TTL or a USB-to-RS232 AND a RS232-to-TLL interface is what is needed
  
• there are commercially available (or it is remarkably simple to autobuild) such interfaces, this thread is FULL of links to various models
  

Most cellular phones, including Nokia ones, are also programmed through a TTL level interface.

Thus, if you ALREADY have one of those cellular phone cables around and you don't use it anymore, it costs you nothing to see if it works.

Buying a new one is NOT advised because:

• you have to open it and while doing so there is a probability you will break it
  
• there are several types of these cables some work, some DO NOT, some have NOT the "right" drivers, and when you buy one of them there is no practical way to know if it's the "good" type
  
• besides, some of these cables get their power from the USB port, whilst some get it (if I may one of the stoopidest ideas I've ever seen in my life ) from the actual phone battery, so you have to connect an additional battery to replace the power normally drawn from the phone
  

There are SEVERAL posts in this thread about this issue, most notably an illustrated one here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/solution-seagate...-page-1756.html

More generally, the various tutorial are to be used as a cooking recipe should be:

• if you are a professional cook, or you have some experience in the field, you can use the recipe as a base and change doses and ingredients and vary cooking time, result will probably be edible.
  
• if you are not expert at this, you should not change anything and do exactly as it is written in the recipe you chose.
  

This said there are as well SEVERAL reports of success using various original and non-original CA-42, a couple examples:

http://www.msfn.org/board/solution-seagate...-page-1805.html

http://www.msfn.org/board/solution-seagate...-page-1833.html

Common point is that due (generally speaking ) to the lack of experience of users, when there is a report of failure it is sometime difficult to say whether a given cable is the problem or it is the way the user connected it (or failed to connect it) or whatever.

jaclaz

Well then can you reccomend a usb interface that I can use? I can't use a serial port. Hopefully something I don't need to provide my own 5v too...

[MrZilla]

No luck, apparently there is drive specific info on the pcb rom.

The serial number of the PCB is written to the system sector of the disk during manufacturing. It should be possible to change the PCB s/n, so that they match once more, however:

• There is no guarantee that changing the S/N will actually fix the problem you're seeing
  
• You could possibly destroy your PCB
  

If you want to make the attempt, this is the procedure I would use:

Please note: I have not actually tested this myself. Everything I write here is gathered from the Seagate Diagnostic Commands manual. There is a very real risk that you could be worse off when you're done than when you started.

Connect your cable to the old PCB (that was originally placed on the disk), and give the following commands:

F3 T>/1
F3 1> #

Where # is:

Display PCB information
Display the PCB information burnt by $ command.

This will give you PCB EC#, PCB S/N and PCB P/N.

Then you can connect to your new PCB and give the following commands:

F3 T>/1
F3 1> $

Where $ is:

Set PCB information and update flash
The user will be prompted to enter PCB EC#, PCB S/N and PCB P/N. This feature is used by PCB plant to burn in PCB#, EC# and serial #. Then the drive plant will automatically retreive the information.

Supply the information from the old PCB, then power off the drive for a few seconds then try the standard recovery procedure again.

[jaclaz]

Well then can you reccomend a usb interface that I can use? I can't use a serial port. Hopefully something I don't need to provide my own 5v too...

Where are you based?

How much are you wanting to spend?

Some results from a fresh search on e-bay:

http://cgi.ebay.it/INTERFACCIA-USB-3V-TTL-...=item2c50e23ba9

http://cgi.ebay.ph/USB-To-TTL-Converter-AR...=item53dd53df4e

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320393829874

http://cgi.ebay.it/Cavo-Seriale-USB-TTL-3-...=item1c0dc6fa62

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-To-TTL-Converter-M...id=380170437518

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-to-TTL-serial-Co...=item4834ba47d9

Some various links:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/EvaluationKits/TTL-232R.htm

http://www.rs232-converters.com/single_usb...l_converter.htm

http://deccanrobots.com/productdetails.asp?prid=29

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/391

http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/S22...L-INT-CONN.html

http://spiffie.org/electronics/archives/ha...0Converter.html

http://www.usbgear.com/computer_cable_deta...199%2C601%2C461

Please note that I do NOT personally endorse ANY of the products listed above, the above list is just an attempt to help you.

ANY "USB to TTL" converter will work, most are based on the said MAX232 or on FTDI chips, but no matter which chip is used, a USB to TTL adapter will do.

jaclaz

[jiminycricket]

Thank you for your insight MrZilla, however when I try the # command I receive:

F3 T>/1

F3 1>#

Invalid Diag Cmd

F3 1>

I suppose it would be too easy if these numbers were visual on the chip and board lol. Anyway, thank you very much for your reply. You have given me food for thought.

[dibloff]

Dear All. Two more weeks had passed. Almost every night I’m here. TX/RX had burnt into my retina. When the cable is plugged in besides COM1 and TCP/IP - COM9 will appear. So my setup is: 38700-8-None-1-None

I’m still trying to run the DKU-5 by itself, and get a response by turning the echo ON (File->Properties->Settings->ASCII Setup->Echo Typed Characters Locally) and hooking two wires together. I tried all the wire combinations:

Green + Yellow = gibberish (few)

White + Blue = gibberish (a lot)

Yellow + Blue = gibberish (a lot)

Interestingly if I connect blue + red and the echo is turned on I’ll see double character whichever key I press.

My understanding is DKU 5 will get power from the USB connector, so I don’t need to connect an extra battery. Also the ground does not need to be connected since I’m running the DKY-5 cable by itself.

The cable connector has 13 pins. Here are the connections:

From what I’ve read so far white/green shall be TX/RX but it just don’t want to work for me. Do you think it’ll work at all?

Again, I’m trying to trouble shoot the first part of the whole thing w/o hooking it up to the hard drive. Thanks for any comments.

[dibloff]

Almost forgot. Here are the voltage levels:

Blue-Yellow= -2.63

Blue-Red= +0.513

Blue-Green= -0.15

Blue-White= -2.51

Red-Yellow= -3.3

Red-White= -0.69

Red-Green= -3.09

Yellow-White = 0

Yellow-Green = +2.61

White-Green = +2.47

Please advise.

[electronicmaji]

Well then can you reccomend a usb interface that I can use? I can't use a serial port. Hopefully something I don't need to provide my own 5v too...

Where are you based?

How much are you wanting to spend?

Some results from a fresh search on e-bay:

http://cgi.ebay.it/INTERFACCIA-USB-3V-TTL-...=item2c50e23ba9

http://cgi.ebay.ph/USB-To-TTL-Converter-AR...=item53dd53df4e

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320393829874

http://cgi.ebay.it/Cavo-Seriale-USB-TTL-3-...=item1c0dc6fa62

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-To-TTL-Converter-M...id=380170437518

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-to-TTL-serial-Co...=item4834ba47d9

Some various links:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/EvaluationKits/TTL-232R.htm

http://www.rs232-converters.com/single_usb...l_converter.htm

http://deccanrobots.com/productdetails.asp?prid=29

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/391

http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/S22...L-INT-CONN.html

http://spiffie.org/electronics/archives/ha...0Converter.html

http://www.usbgear.com/computer_cable_deta...199%2C601%2C461

Please note that I do NOT personally endorse ANY of the products listed above, the above list is just an attempt to help you.

ANY "USB to TTL" converter will work, most are based on the said MAX232 or on FTDI chips, but no matter which chip is used, a USB to TTL adapter will do.

jaclaz

USA,

If I obtained a simple item like this

http://spiffie.org/electronics/archives/ha...0Converter.html

would I still need to power it via 5v or 3v?

[jaclaz]

USA,

If I obtained a simple item like this

http://spiffie.org/electronics/archives/ha...0Converter.html

would I still need to power it via 5v or 3v?

No, that one looks like being self-powered (from the USB port).

Pin 1 of the USB is connected to both pins 4 and 20 of the IC.

But surely you can ask them to make sure before buying.

jaclaz

[MrZilla]

Thank you for your insight MrZilla, however when I try the # command I receive:

F3 T>/1

F3 1>#

Invalid Diag Cmd

F3 1>

I suppose it would be too easy if these numbers were visual on the chip and board lol. Anyway, thank you very much for your reply. You have given me food for thought.

That's strange. I'll see if I can look into this later today.

// Zilla

[OliKel]

hi there

when i try these commands on the new pcb

F3 T>/1

F3 1>$

i have that response :

Unable to load Diag Overlay

any ideas guys ?

[BriT_1969]

I just registered to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to Gradius2. My seagate suffered the BSY Error last Friday.

My drive is now working again and I haven't lost any data.

For all you struggling to get the correct ttl device I used a

USB-Serial TTL cable FT232RQ,TTL-232R from RS Components Ltd.

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchB...amp;x=0&y=0

This is actually a TTL-232R-3V3 from FTDI

Cost £12.66 Plus VAT Plus Postage, so about £20 all in. A bit expensive but easy.

The device is powered by usb port, so I followed Gradius2 instructions but didn't bother with the 5V power bit. I did however have to connect the black GRD wire from the USB cable to the GRD pin on the hard drive. Everything then worked out exactly.

I just need to update the drive now to stop this happening again.

Lee

[jiminycricket]

Thank you MrZilla, I also get the same response with new pcb on new drive (which is recognizable correctly). I see from reviewing Seagate diag commands that you are certainly correct; could my problem be Dell specific? I get same response with "W" command. I also tried once again "unrecognized in bios" paper card trick and get:

Spin Down Complete

Elapsed Time 0.145 msecs

F3 2>U

Spin Up Complete

Elapsed Time 34.160 secs

F3 2>

Blks 000E24-000E24 (000001), BufAddr 001C4800-001C49FF, DBA 061C4800, BytesPerBl

k 200 Online Cmd SDBP DFB

Blks 000E25-000E25 (000001), BufAddr 001C4A00-001C4BFF, DBA 061C4A00, BytesPerBl

k 200 Cmd Input Buf

Blks 000E26-000E26 (000001), BufAddr 001C4C00-001C4DFF, DBA 061C4C00, BytesPerBl

k 200 Diag Batch File

Blks 000E27-000E27 (000001), BufAddr 001C4E00-001C4FFF, DBA 061C4E00, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 000E28-000E28 (000001), BufAddr 001C5000-001C51FF, DBA 061C5000, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 000E29-000E29 (000001), BufAddr 001C5200-001C53FF, DBA 061C5200, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 000E2A-000E2A (000001), BufAddr 001C5400-001C55FF, DBA 061C5400, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 000E2B-000E2B (000001), BufAddr 001C5600-001C57FF, DBA 061C5600, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 000E2C-000E2F (000004), BufAddr 001C5800-001C5FFF, DBA 061C5800, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 000E30-000E33 (000004), BufAddr 001C6000-001C67FF, DBA 061C6000, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 000E34-000E37 (000004), BufAddr 001C6800-001C6FFF, DBA 061C6800, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 000E38-000E3B (000004), BufAddr 001C7000-001C77FF, DBA 061C7000, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 000E3C-000E5B (000020), BufAddr 001C7800-001CB7FF, DBA 061C7800, BytesPerBl

k 200 Diag Mode Cmd SDBP DFB

Blks 000E5C-000E7B (000020), BufAddr 001CB800-001CF7FF, DBA 061CB800, BytesPerBl

k 200 Drive Geometry SDBP DSB

Blks 000E7C-000E9B (000020), BufAddr 001CF800-001D37FF, DBA 061CF800, BytesPerBl

k 200 Ext Test Service SDBP DSB

Blks 000E9C-000EBB (000020), BufAddr 001D3800-001D77FF, DBA 061D3800, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 000EBC-000F15 (00005A), BufAddr 001D7800-001E2BFF, DBA 061D7800, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 000F16-000F6F (00005A), BufAddr 001E2C00-001EDFFF, DBA 061E2C00, BytesPerBl

k 200

Blks 001708-001A99 (000392), BufAddr 002E1000-0035508F, DBA 062E1000, BytesPerBl

k 208 Default Diag Rd Buf

Blks 001AAB-001E3C (000392), BufAddr 00355600-003C968F, DBA 06355600, BytesPerBl

k 208 Default Diag Wrt Buf

Seagate "support" gives me the bum's rush. They won't even tell me how I could order a matching controller or at least a more forgiving one. Donor drive codes are exact match except donor date code is one day off.

Backups? Yeah, I had backups across three of these 7200.11 Seabricks. Unfortunately the most important stuff is on the one I cannot resurrect. I am poor dumb american. It's so frustrating knowing the data is sitting there undisturbed but inaccessible. Seatools for dos doesn't let me reset maximum capacity. Somebody at Seagate needs to be pistol whipped. Looks like there ought to be a software approach to the service sector but what do I know? Thirty hours of reading and I am still scratching my head. I sincerely thank you, however, for your insight.

jiminycricket

Edited November 9, 2009 by jiminycricket

[dibloff]

Guys. Any comments on this one. Thanks.

Dear All. Two more weeks had passed. Almost every night I’m here. TX/RX had burnt into my retina. When the cable is plugged in besides COM1 and TCP/IP - COM9 will appear. So my setup is: 38700-8-None-1-None

I’m still trying to run the DKU-5 by itself, and get a response by turning the echo ON (File->Properties->Settings->ASCII Setup->Echo Typed Characters Locally) and hooking two wires together. I tried all the wire combinations:

Green + Yellow = gibberish (few)

White + Blue = gibberish (a lot)

Yellow + Blue = gibberish (a lot)

Interestingly if I connect blue + red and the echo is turned on I’ll see double character whichever key I press.

My understanding is DKU 5 will get power from the USB connector, so I don’t need to connect an extra battery. Also the ground does not need to be connected since I’m running the DKY-5 cable by itself.

The cable connector has 13 pins. Here are the connections:

From what I’ve read so far white/green shall be TX/RX but it just don’t want to work for me. Do you think it’ll work at all?

Again, I’m trying to trouble shoot the first part of the whole thing w/o hooking it up to the hard drive. Thanks for any comments.

[lepa71]

I got the same cable from the same seller. I just want validate that I got right wire = color to RX and TX wires.

Mine end up

Green = Ground

White = RX will go to TX connector on HD

Yellow = TX will to RX on HD.

Did you have to use extra battery with BargainCell cable?

Thanks

Thank you!!!!! I chanced on this thread when I was doing a Google search on data recovery options for a dead seagate out of an HP system. With the only minor glitch being the CA-42 cable I initially ordered not installing as anything other than an error (see post #1500 .. that was the same as the first cable I bought .. $33). It looks like gnakh solved the issue with this cable (post #1950). I was wondering if it just needed extra power, but since I was doing a recovery attempt for someone else, I didn't feel like tempting the fates any more than I had to .. lol

Bought this cable instead -

http://www.amazon.com/Data-Cable-Nokia-357...6306&sr=8-1

a penny + $2.98 shipping .. via US mail .. sent the 24th received today (09/26/09) .. Took me about an hour to fix the BSY (setting up cable, tracking down glitches caused by the circuit board not being secured enough) and another 45 secs to fix the 0 byte error that was also present after the BSY fix .. The drive is currently gettiing imaged after which it will get a firmware update .. lol

For the record, this is a drive that was going to be shipped out for professional data recovery. If I hadn't both found this forum post that showed me it WAS possible and come across nitrohelix's video that showed the CA-42 cable, my client was looking $1000+ for the recovery (rough quotes).

A HUGE thanks to gradius2 for coming up with this solution.

Edited November 10, 2009 by lepa71