The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs

[BlouBul]

I just noticed that if I keep ear very close when I plug-in the power I can hear a very low periodical (0.5 sec) "tik" ...note I'm not asking help specifically on the procedure, I'm just asking if in your opinion my HD is still alive and if I should keep trying the procedure, maybe buying a serial adapter or something more successful.

Bricks are known in some cases to still have a heartbeat Try some open heart disk surgery (with this fix) to revive it.

[jaclaz]

You should take it a little easy though... seems like you are angry half the time in all your posts and might be becoming a bit of a RACIST, lol... read "only two little indians remain" in...

I am not at all "angry", I am simply (and "by design" ) VERY grumpy as this approach usually allows for messages to better go through when normal, plain approaches, like writing tutorials and howto's that are not read do fail.

jaclaz

[bryeds]

Been going through everything here trying to figure out the right setup for what I have but so far unsuccessful! Before I describve what I'm doing, I have searched and looked all over the internet but found no relevant information.

I have a USB to TTL adaptor I bought from someone on ebay. There is no brand name on it, all I know about it is that it has the prolific chipset, then has connectors for rx, tx, gnd, 3.3 & 5v ... I have tried using it but whenever I use hyperterminal or putty I get an error saying it could not connect to com3 - I tried in XP and on my windows 7 machine but no go. Seems to be non function - would this be the right assessment? I also tested with a loop back (only with rx/tx connected together) and did nto get a reply but was able to send the data (as per the read out from 232analyzer).

I went to radioshack to see what they had onhand and found a usb to ttl cable for scanner radios - has the ftdi232bm chip on it, successfully installed in windows 7 (and in windows xp) and can get the loopback working no problem. I'm assuming the other cable is a ground. I cannot get to the f3 > prompt to do anything to the drive - and it is a good, working drive i'm testing on!

In the main guide i didn';t see anything really mentioned about grounding, but in the other read me it says to ground everything. I tried just using the sata power connecter from my desktop to the drive, then the rx/tx from the usb adaptor and got nothing. I then attached the ground from the adaptor to the drive, got nothing. Finally I grounded the adaptor to one of the black ground cables coming from a power connector in the computer, also grounded the hdd to the same one - so everything that has a ground is connected to the black ground cable from the PS in my desktop.

still nothing.

Any ideas? Also, would it be prudent of me to attach the ground from the usb to ttl (the one that throws the could not connect to comx error in hyperterminal and putty)to the negative on a pair of batteries and send the + on the batteries to the 3.3 on the usb adaptor? Unfortunatly the item I got from ebay did not have instructions or anything, only the part.

The radio shack scanner cable i'm using is definitely ttl (loop back works) and is model number 20-047

ANY help is greatly appreciated!!

[bryeds]

ok, nevermind! Got it all working - it was due to a couple factors. Firstly, the drive I was testing with was a 7200.10 - not a 7200.11 - this means you have to use the baud rate of 9600 instead of 38400.

Other thing that was not right was the grounding. It is not at ALL clear what to ground. The cable I used was the 20-047 scanner programming cable from radioshack - they wanted to get rid of it and sold it to me for $8. It has a red, white and ground - the ground is the shield around the cable, black and green inside the cable aren't used and red is rx, white is tx. So - shield = gnd, red = rx, white = tx ... the guide explains to connect the rx and tx clearly and how to do it BUT I had to run a cable from the gnd on the hdd to the gnd coming off the ps of the desktop, then also ground the gnd cable on the adaptor to the same place.

Adaptor rx --> tx on hdd

Adaptor tx --> rx on hdd

Adaptor gnd --> black gnd on power supply

HDD gnd --> black gnd on power supply

for 7200.10 drives use 9600 baud rate (otherwise output is gabled, this is an indication)

for 7200.11 drives use 38400 baud rate and follow this guide! ENJOY!

[BlouBul]

ok, nevermind! Got it all working - it was due to a couple factors. Firstly, the drive I was testing with was a 7200.10 - not a 7200.11 - this means you have to use the baud rate of 9600 instead of 38400.

Hi bryeds,

Glad you managed to fix it

People normally battle to unbrick the 7200.10 drives. Can you please give a detailed description here for people who has this problem in future. Thanks.

[bryeds]

I didn't have a problem with the 7200.10 drive, I just assumed the 7200.10 drive I was testing on would be the same as connecting to the 7200.11. If I fried the 7200.10 by making a bad connection or something, it wouldn't matter, thus the reason to test on it to make sure the cable worked.

On the 7200.11 drive the client had a power surge near their home, a transformer literally blew up, knocking out the power. When they turned the computer back on the system appeared to be frozen but I found otherwise after removing the drive. I searched for info about the drive to replace the circuit board and found the information here. Common BSY issue was all. Fixed not with the $6 part w/ $20 shipping but with a $35 cable I got for $8 at a radio shack dealer in town - an amazing feat considering the closest walmart is 45 min away, there's nothing here, but I was able to find that darn usb to ttl cable!

[BlouBul]

I didn't have a problem with the 7200.10 drive, I just assumed the 7200.10 drive I was testing on would be the same as connecting to the 7200.11. If I fried the 7200.10 by making a bad connection or something, it wouldn't matter, thus the reason to test on it to make sure the cable worked.

On the 7200.11 ... Fixed not with the $6 part w/ $20 shipping but with a $35 cable I got for $8 at a radio shack dealer in town -

OK, so you just tested it with an unbricked 7200.10 to see if you can communicate with the hdd before you actually used it to unbrick the 7200.11?

[bryeds]

Yes - wanted to blow up the unneeded 7200.10 instead of the 7200.11 I was working on incase I did something wrong! Didn't blow up anything though!

[bryeds]

Correct

[BlouBul]

Yes - wanted to blow up the unneeded 7200.10 instead of the 7200.11 I was working on incase I did something wrong! Didn't blow up anything though!

Thanks for the clarification Just thought (or rather hoped) we might have a confirmed case of someone who managed to unbrick a 7200.10, but seems like we have to wait a bit longer.

[bryeds]

There is a confirmed case of someone fixing it - this is how I figured out that the baud had to be lowered to 9600 to talk to the 7200.10 drives. This is from last october ... Here's the link: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/133604-seagate-720010-hdds-how-to-fix-bsy-state-too/

[jaclaz]

There is a confirmed case of someone fixing it - this is how I figured out that the baud had to be lowered to 9600 to talk to the 7200.10 drives. This is from last october ... Here's the link: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/133604-seagate-720010-hdds-how-to-fix-bsy-state-too/

Well, NO.

That's EXACTLY an example of an UNconfirmed report!

The OP was NOT sure about:

• what the problem actually was
  
• what EXACT steps/procedure he used
  
• what THEORY was behind the set of commands he issued
  

AND he admittedly was "half drunk" at the time he presumably "fixed" the drive.

Since then noone else posted useful/meaningful info.

Mind you I am not saying that what was reported never happened, only that there is very little confirmation about the method used (and on the actual cause of the BSY state - if any ) of the drive.

If you prefer, we know we do not know.

jaclaz

[BlouBul]

If you prefer, we know we do not know.

Yes, the known unknowns are always better than the unknown unknowns

"There are known knowns; there are things we know we know.

We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know."

http://en.wikipedia....re_known_knowns

Edited April 29, 2011 by BlouBul

[buka123]

Hi,

I have Seagate BSY problem that I am trying to resolve (the hdd was inside of the enclosure FreeAgent Desktop 500gb)

I have RS232 Shifter SMD (from sparkfun) that I connect to StartTech USB to RS232 DB9 serial cable.

I also have a CR2032 3volt battery + Philmore plastic battery holder with PCB. I tried connecting the battery to RS232 Shifter and the rs232 to the harddrive, but I don’t see anything in the hyper terminal. I used the power cable from an external enclosure to power hardddrive.

Do I need to solder the wires connecting the battery to the rs232 board (they are loosely connected)?

Since I don’t have a real desktop, I used the USB2 hard-drive enclosure to connect the power to the harddrive (not sure whether it’s ok).

Are there any more pix on how to connect the batter to RS232 board?

Here are my goodies:

Philmore plastic battery holder with PCB mount for (1) CR2032 (20mm x 3.2mm coin cell).

ACDelco AC515 CR2032 3-Volt Coin Cell Watch Battery

6250850 MALE TO FEMALE JUMBERS / 10 PACK / SCHMARTBOARD 920-0022-01

RS232 Shifter SMD from sparkfun - http://www.sparkfun.com/products/449

StartTech USB to RS232 DB9 serial cable - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000067SNB/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A1OGLDUAEUWRAK

Thanks

[jaclaz]

Read the READ ME FIRST (first).

Forget (for the moment) about the "shifter".

Test just the USB to RS232.

Do a loopback test on it. (see READ ME FIRST)

Then connect the "shifter" AND power it with the battery ( rule of thumb, a connection, by definition, is not "loose" as it won't be a connection, if you think it is not good, solder it or make it good, tightening the wires or whatever) and do a loopback test on the "shifter" TTL side too.

If BOTH loopback tests work, try connecting to the HD (remember GROUNDing - again read READ-ME-FIRST):

once you have done he above AND also having read the FGA's:

come back to report results.

Please AVOID asking the SAME questions that have been ALREADY asked (and aswered to) a zillion times.

Take some time on the given PRE-REQUISITE threads, read them thoroughfully.

Then take some time on the present thread, you will find your same questions asked and answered to several times.

If you really cannot understand something, you are welcome to ask , but please do make sure you have something "new" to ask.

jaclaz