The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs

[jaclaz]

Not really evidence, but thanks Jaclaz

The matter is really confusing.

Let's try not to confuse further ideas, let's assume that there is no such thing as 5V TTL, but rather that there is:

• TTL/CMOS which is 5V
  
• TTL which is 3.3V
  

http://www.interfacebus.com/voltage_threshold.html

The fact that the chip used is a MAX232 doesn't necessarily imply that the output will be at TTL/CMOS levels, see here for a series of examples:

http://www.panuworld.net/nuukiaworld/hardware/cables/basics.htm

http://www.panuworld.net/nuukiaworld/hardware/cables/old.htm

http://www.panuworld.net/nuukiaworld/hardware/cables/fbus.htm

The Nokia cables use TTL 3.3v, and NOT 5V.

This is how I understand the issue (not necessarily right ).

Case #1:

Disk using TTL

Adapter using TTL

Everything "speaks" the same language, and everything is OK.

Case #2:

Disk using TTL/CMOS

Adapter using TTL/CMOS

Everything "speaks" the same language, and everything is OK.

Case #3:

Disk using TTL/CMOS

Adapter using TTL

If the drive is working with TTL/CMOS levels, it will understand anyway the 3.3v signals sent to it's receiver through the 3.3v TTL adapter TX line, and will send back to the adapter a 5V one, that the adapter's receiver may:

1. "flatten" to 3.3V max and understand
   
2. get it at 5V and don't understand it
   

Case #4:

Disk using TTL

Adapter using TTL/CMOS

If the drive is working with TTL levels, when the TTL/CMOS sends a 5V signal, hard disk's receiver may:

1. "flatten" to 3.3V max and understand
   
2. get it at 5V and don't understand it
   

The hard disk's transmitter will send a 3.3V signal that the TTL adapter will understand anyway.

Case #5:

As often happens with "standards", they are mainly b***sh** and noone actually respects them so a given adaprter works with the hard disk and another one doesn't, and noone knows until he actually tries it.

Without knowing the specifications for the Seagate disk, we are in this situation:

• TTL interfaces (3.3V) will work ALWAYS if they can "flatten" the hypothetical higher level signal from the hard disk
  
• TTL/CMOS interfaces may or may not work
  

Anyone is free to choose an adapter and trying it, of course.

If ANYWHERE (meaning either on the hard disk side or on the adapter's side) there are the two pulling down 2.7v or 3v zener diodes (or some other "peak pulling down" circuit):

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807&st=2645

anything will do, as anything between hard disk and adapter will be within TTL levels.

The number of people that (after having been very lucky and found the "right" Nokia cable or bought a bunch of them before finding the right one) had success with the Nokia cable make me think that we are in case #1 (or in #5 ), though it is very possible that those that had problems with the original "auto-switching" adapter simply had "something else" going wrong, but I find it unprobable that a "good" adapter as the one originally used has this kind of problems:

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=449

RS232 Shifter SMD

sku: PRT-00449

Description: The smallest and easiest to use serial conversion circuit on the market! This board has one purpose in life - to convert RS232 to TTL and vice versa (TX and RX). This will allow a microcontroller to communicate with a computer. Shifter SMD is powered from the target application and can run at any voltage! That's right - power the board at 5V and the unit will convert RS232 to 5V TTL. Power the board at 2.8V and the Shifter board will convert RS232 to 2.8V CMOS TTL. Includes two indicator LEDs for TX and RX. Runs from 300bps up to 115200bps.

Please note how the terms appear reversed from what the reference shows:

http://www.interfacebus.com/voltage_threshold.html

from other sources, it seems to me like this latter is accurate and the peeps at sparkfun completely missed the point.

However, the mistery remains...., the good news are that there shouldn't be any harm done if the hard disk gets a "full" 5V signal level, so, at the most it won't work, but there should be no risk in trying it.

jaclaz

Edited March 31, 2010 by jaclaz

[Gram]

Hi,

New here, found this site when looking up the "not recognised" 7200.11 problem. I have checked on the Seagate page, and while my drive is listed by model and serial number, my disk firmware is LC11, rather than the AD/SD group. I see in Gradius's post (19 Jan 2009) that the Seagate site says -

"**Note: If your drive has CC or LC firmware, your drive is not affected and no further action is required. Attempting to flash the firmware of a drive with CC or LC firmware will result in rendering your drive inoperable"

I cannot see this note on Seagate's site now (have they discovered otherwise?), and on 22 Jan 2009 (post #142) SPOOX repaired his drive - which had firmware LC15.

I am reading page by page and have got to page 37 - but can anyone tell me (sooner) if LC11 drives can be fixed this way? The problem does appear to be the BSY fault; the drive had been working perfectly normally until just one day on booting up, the drive was not recognised in BIOS. It has been tested in other computers; still not recognised.

If it can be revived, is there any updated LC firmware - and if so, would it be worth upgrading anyway?

Thanks in advance for any advice and help,

Gram

[ncencence]

Just stopping by say thanks, got my 500gb 7200.11 working again after it got stuck in BSY state following a power cut last year.

[VideoRipper]

You don't actually have to update the drive's firmware to enable access to it again.

Although I can't substantiate this, I think it's *relatively* safe to perform a SMART-erase

(level 1> N1), followed by a partition regeneration (level T> m0,2,2,,,,,22).

This *in theory* would unlock your drive from its BSY-state.

A firmware update is only necessairy to prevent this same thing happening again in the future,

after 320 log-entries (though you should try to get rid of the drive if possible).

But maybe jaclaz (or someone else) can eleborate on this?

So before you do anything, wait until someone else comes along (or just do it if you're bold

enough)

Greetz,

Peter.

Edited March 31, 2010 by VideoRipper

[Eaglemania]

Hello!

first post gah-

well i've been reading this thread for quite some time now and finally i'm trying to fix my seagate(BSY error thingie), but i have some problems ..

first i use a nokia ca-42 cable, like in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29FztWJVxbM

figured would be easiest...

well...

my ca-42 cable however has 5 wires

black

blue

white

yellow

red

i tried it 2 days now to connect it succesfully and the ONLY combination i found is (pcb facing up)

red,black,white,blue

with this combination ctrl+z works, else just nothing or garbage letters!

BUT with this combination the cable i'm using only get's recognised by the pc if the pcb board is disconnected, once i'm at the part where you reconnect the pcb and turn off the drive, after 10 seconds on again the cable won't be recognised anymore! just nothing... ctrl+z won't work and i can't put in the m0,2,2,,,,,22 command

if the pcb board is connected i can get the cable to "work" with this combination (again pcb facing up)

something,black,red,something...

it get's recognised just by having black and red in it.. tho if i cange them up (like in the combination with the pcb disconnected) it won't recognise the cable again... and every combination with black,red in the middle in hyperterminal shows nothing or garbage letters(crtl+z won't work too)

anyone any ideas what else i can try?

i'm sorry if this(thing) was asked already but i didn't know what to search for(and i only read a small portion of this HUGE thread after all..)

also sorry for my english , i'm german

edit(like the 6 time..): just read the first post again.. because of frustration i tried once to not power it down and back up again but just put in the m0,2,2,,,,,22 command... with nothing happening i turned the whole thing off... i thought "yea i didn't turn it off before.. ofcouse it won't work *unplugs powercable* " ... guess that's it already isn't it? the hdd is useless?

edit again.. couldnt take my hands of it, tried to get the cable recognised with pcb connected again.. and.. for some strange reason now it's recognised with red,black,nothing,nothing... wich..didn't..work..before...totally confused..well..

edito... i've run it again, everythings fine.. until i powered off, powered on, cable gone... (like before, red black white blue)hows that freakin possible, an edit before it recognised the cable with the pcb connected with red on first slot, now after it's powered on again i have to put red to slot 3, and if i do that hyperterminal won't do anything .. with like...

nothing,black,red,white/blue/yellow...

get you guys all confused with my edits too >.<

ediiit: tried something different , put red on+ black on- of 3v battery, connected blue and white on tx and rx ... got an -> (small arrow) on hyperterminal, switched tx and rx... and.. again.. small arrow.. hm

Edited April 1, 2010 by Eaglemania

[mundy5]

Go to p. 131 and see my post and the pictures to see if you can see what color wires you need. You only need 3 of them, not 4. Hopefully you can make the necessary correlation to the correct wires to your CA-42 cable. How are you connecting the cable wires to the actual HDD? I hope you are using some jumper pins or something like that to make a firm connection. Let me know if the pictures are of any help.

Hello!

i tried it 2 days now to connect it succesfully and the ONLY combination i found is (pcb facing up)

red,black,white,blue

with this combination ctrl+z works, else just nothing or garbage letters!

BUT with this combination the cable i'm using only get's recognised by the pc if the pcb board is disconnected, once i'm at the part where you reconnect the pcb and turn off the drive, after 10 seconds on again the cable won't be recognised anymore! just nothing... ctrl+z won't work and i can't put in the m0,2,2,,,,,22 command

Edited April 1, 2010 by mundy5

[Eaglemania]

i'm using crimp pins i salvaged out of an old uhm.. IDE ..to.. PCIe? power supply cable, they fit so-so, but i squeezed each a little, so now they fit pretty decent i believe (also don't unplug that easily) when i connect it with black for ground white blue for tx/rx the ca-42 cable doesn't show up in the hardware manager(i believe it's called..well, maybe) and i can't call the com (won't even show up, only if i put black and red on the drive or on battery)

and if i do put black and red on the drive so the cable atleast... shows up on my pc , everything i try as 3rd cable yea does nothing in hyperterminal or just gives garbage letters

also the usb side of my ca-42 is in some metal casing ... (originally blue rubber around that..) so i can't see the connections there

Edited April 1, 2010 by Eaglemania

[VideoRipper]

Just another suggestion (which appeared on the previous page) is that not all CA-42 cables

are created equal.

It seems that some (non-Nokia) cables only work good upto 9600 Baud, while you'll

need 38400 Baud to unbrick your drive.

You can test by shorting the TX- and RX-leads of the cable and performing a loop-

back test:

1. First make sure your cable is plugged in and can be selected
   
2. Connect the TX- and RX-leads to each other, creating a loopback
   
3. Open HyperTerminal, select the CA-42 and use 9600 Baud for the speed
   
4. Type some characters on your keyboard: they should be echood back
   on the screen
   
5. Now close the connection, select the connection-properties and set
   the connection-speed a bit higher: 19200 Baud
   
6. Again: type some characters and see if they get echood back exactly
   on the screen as you type them
   
7. If it does: go back to step 5, but now select 38400 Baud and check
   the output given when typing on your keyboard
   If it doesn't: you'll have to get yourself another (type of) cable

Also (another tip): make sure you disconnect first before removing the cable

from the USB-port or the COM-port stays in an open state and can only be

reset by restarting your computer.

Greetz,

Peter.

[Eaglemania]

BOOM made it 4 more partitions almost 500gb of data back YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!

i made it with my 4 cable combo :/ (Red,black,white,blue) got till the point where i should power off the drive , instead i powered down the whole system(not reboot) and back in 10 seconds removing the usb before that and disconnecting from hyperterminal

started all back up,put usb back in pc, run hyperterinal and directly ctrl+z and the m0,2,2,,,,,22 command, and it worked!! powered down again, back up and everythings back so happy now, really thanks for the help you two, and for thanks for this great thread!

[VideoRipper]

Congratulations Eaglemania!

Another bad drive can be scrapped from the list

Now:

• Backup (the most important files on) the drive
  
• Check the drive with SeaTools for DOS (do a Short- and Long-DST)
  
• If it comes with any error test-code, return the drive under warranty

Greetz,

Peter.

[Eaglemania]

will do! thanks again!

happy happy happy *jumps in circles*

[jaclaz]

A firmware update is only necessairy to prevent this same thing happening again in the future,

after 320 log-entries (though you should try to get rid of the drive if possible).

But maybe jaclaz (or someone else) can eleborate on this?

Yes, to re-iterate once again.

Seagate has somehow admitted that a firmware bug (according to them affecting only a very limited number of drives made in a certain factory and in a given timeframe, and only some of them, coming from one or a few of the manufacturing lines) are affected by this "circular register" bug.

Supposedly these few lines had incorrectly set in-factory testing procedure that left the drive in such a condition that when the drive LOG hit (320+n*256) with 0<=n<=255, the drive will lock.

In English there is a term for the above, which I cannot write here, but is 8 letter long, starts with B, ends with T and has as middle letters LS, you get the idea.

There are some posts dealing exactly with the issue and the reasons and the numbers possibly involved:

From here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128092&st=1007

for about 30 posts

From here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128092&st=1042

for about 50 posts

What is not (as I see it ) properly perceived is that the log getting at 320 is just one of the possible causes for a bricking.

Logically this should lead to EITHER a LBA0 OR a BSY problem, but since anything about the matter is actually hushed up by Seagate, and none has a way to investigate the matter properly, let's assume that the SAME problem with log can actually produce two DIFFERENT types of bricking.

There may be several causes (or maybe tens of them), completely unrelated to the "log at 320" one, that may cause the bricking.

We have now evidence, after more than one year from the initial reports and published solution, that a number of drives manufactured in various factories AND NOT manufactured in the originally given timeframe, AND also of different model/revision can (and have ) bricked themselves.

So there may be MORE reasons than the original one.

The opposite thing is happening now, the solutions provided by this thread - meant to ONLY fix the original issue - are seen by everyone with a failed hard disk as a "miracle cure for everything", it is NOT the case.

Replacing the firmware with a new version is pretty much pointless, as I see it, I guess I need to explain this part in detail.

• IF the original firmware is buggy (re:320 log) AND it is the cause for the bricking THEN, assumed that the new firmware is NOT buggy (re:320 log), it DOES make sense to update it.
  
• but on the other hand:
  
• IF the original firmware is buggy (re:320 log) AND it is the cause for the bricking THEN, the worst thing that can happen to you is the need (since you have now the tools and the knowledge) to re-unbrick it every 6 months to 1 year.
  

There is ANOTHER possibility:

• There are MANY causes for the bricking, not necessarily linked to a given firmware, and the solutions given in this thread may TEMPORARILY cure them, but since the reason is NOT ALWAYS firmware related, updating the firmware WON'T DO anything that prevents the bricking to re-occur.
  

As I see it, once a drive has bricked, the right thing to do is:

1. unbrick it
   
2. salvage the DATA on it
   
3. EITHER:
   
   • RMA it and get a new one (if still under warranty)
     
   • throw the drive in the dustbin
     
   • use it (either the original one fixed or the re-furbished/new one) for a low-low risk backup (like second or third backup copy - and yes, you NEED AT LEAST 2 (TWO) backup copies on different media of any DATA that is worth anything to you)
     

IMHO, people thinking to:

1. use it as "main" drive
   
2. use it as "only" storage
   

No matter if with the old or new firmware, are playing with fire, and it is statistically evident that when playing with fire burns happen more often than when playing with sand or mud.

jaclaz

[VideoRipper]

Amen to that

We should make a sticky of this thread... oh wait, it already is!

[kisielk]

I am fixing the BSY Error, I wollowed the steps till turning the power off and on before pressing (after the i4,1,22 line). Now the terminal hanged up, i couldnt press ctrl+z and m0,2,2,,,,,22 ... The drive is running and I dont know what to do... Should I continue the procedure from ctrl+z and the m0,2,2... line? Or start from the beginning?

Thank you for any help, I am very worried for my drive, because on the first site it is written that if I turn the drive off I can lose all data ...

[sons]

The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs (final and revised version):

Press CTRL+Z on terminal and type:

Partition regeneration:

F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 (enter)

If you didn't get the msg above, then you skipped something important, and turning off your drive now will render an unreadable drive, so be careful.

Gradius

hey,

iv'e accidentally turned the off the drive before getting the messages back from "m0,2,2,,,,,22".

now, when i powering up the drive, its making weird sounds of "beep, beep, beep".

did i totally bricked my drive? or there is a way back?!

thanx.