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Hello,
I had a dead BSY drive and thanks to this thread, I've gone to the local electronics shop, bought a couple of caps, a MAX232, a DB9 female, and after a bit of work, I got a new working HD !
Thanks to everyone which has contributed, especially Aviko, which by the way, got me out of a situation no one mentionned here, so I thought I would post it, it could help someone else:
When I got to the point of reformatting service area partition 0, with
m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22
upon entering the command, I waited an hour, without getting a reply. I was tempted to pull the plug and try it again, but was scared since everyone said that the drive would be dead if powering off at that point.
Lucky me, Aviko was online and suggested it, and just starting the drive normally (no insulator trick) and trying again this last command. And it worked!
So, if like me, the command never replies after an hour (probably less!), you can probably do as I did and safely power cycle, and repeat only that last command.
Cheers,
Frank
The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs
How-to fix 0 LBA and BSY errors
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#1162
Posted 09 April 2009 - 07:06 AM
120:9TE0S***:ST31000333AS:9FZ136-100:LC15:09182:(manufac. date):TK:2009-03-23:2009-03-27:RETAIL:Puppetnation:Italy:NOT RECOGNIZED IN BIOS/fine:WINP_PRO_x86:CoolerMaster 700W
Wow! It's alittle tricky but it works, i have ALL my data back now! Thanks so much!
I'll launch this weird hard disk into the garbage as soon as I'll finish data transfer to ANOTHER BRAND drive!
THANKS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow! It's alittle tricky but it works, i have ALL my data back now! Thanks so much!
I'll launch this weird hard disk into the garbage as soon as I'll finish data transfer to ANOTHER BRAND drive!
THANKS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#1163
Posted 09 April 2009 - 11:54 AM
Hi, this is my first post in this forum and I’d like to thank everyone who helped in any way towards the successfully recovery of my clients hard drive using the methods outlined in this now mammoth post. I have been reading and taking snippets of information from every response and am so happy that it worked.
The affected drive is from a HP TouchSmart IQ500. It is a 500 GB drive and was suffering from the BSY error. But now it’s all good.
God bless
Amen
The affected drive is from a HP TouchSmart IQ500. It is a 500 GB drive and was suffering from the BSY error. But now it’s all good.
God bless
Amen
#1164
Posted 10 April 2009 - 05:47 PM
Many many thanks for the very informative guides and posts on this forum posted by Gradius2, fatlip, et al.
Was successful in reviving my 'SeaBrick' 7200.11 using a Mini USB Adapter from Arduino - http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/MiniUSB
which uses the FT232RL chip from FTDI, and the step by step instructions from Gradius2's guide first time through without any problems at all.
8thDwarf
Was successful in reviving my 'SeaBrick' 7200.11 using a Mini USB Adapter from Arduino - http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/MiniUSB
which uses the FT232RL chip from FTDI, and the step by step instructions from Gradius2's guide first time through without any problems at all.
8thDwarf
#1165
Posted 10 April 2009 - 07:01 PM
Someone earlier in this thread asked if anyone had successfully RUINED their drive by this process. I'm not blaming the process, (just myself) but here's my woeful story and if anyone can help, please do:
HD is a 1GB Seagate ST31000340AS w/BSY error (does not show up in BIOS)
1)Successfully built RS232 link to HD with alldav adapter and USB-to-serial cable. Got the "F3 T>" prompt.
2)used the cardstock trick to isolate the connectors, successfully got the drive to spin down, connected the PCB, then spin back up.
3)Successfully did a S.M.A.R.T. erase with "N1" command.
4)here's where the deviations start - after the SMART erase I did NOT detach the power from the drive. Why? Because I was reading some id***'s guide who linked from this forum and didn't mention that step. Is it necessary? I don't know, but I'd like to send the guy an email blaming him for my dead hard drive and the worldwide economic collapse in general.
5)after the SMART erase i got myself back to F3 T> and typed the "m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22" command. (I understand the revised version of the guide had a "m0,2,2,,,,,22" command - but someone said they are the same command as the "0"'s don't really mean anything... is that true?
6)waited... waited some more. Got really depressed around the 1hr mark. Knew I had heard of someone else who had this problem so I searched the forums. Eventually I shut the power down.
7)I tried again. Got the "F3 T>" prompt. Did the SMART erase, then went to power down...
8)here's the disaster - as I disconnected power, the RX or TX cable - or maybe it was both - got disconnected from the HD's PCB. I couldn't believe it. Knew this was bad. Wanted to chuck entire computer out the window.
9)So I tried again... and here's where I am. Everytime I hook up the HD, I no longer get any response in the terminal (i'm using Putty on WinVista 32bit). Feedback loop on the adapter works fine - so the problem is in the HD definitely. But no response to "CTRL-Z". Ever.
10)I've tried hooking up the HD through the SATA port - previously it was not recognized in the BIOS at all (BSY error) but now it does show up - as a 0GB HD. Doesn't show up as a drive in Windows but shows up as uninitialized in Disk Management. When it tries to initialize it, Windows says there is an I/O error. Is this the 0 LBA error?
11)Maybe you guys will think I'm an id*** for this but I thought hey, it can't hurt to try and update the firmware since the BIOS sees it. So I tried it... and it worked. It updated the drive with "MooseDT-SD1A-3D4D-16-32MB" which is the new SD1A I got off the Seagate site a few weeks ago in late March. However the drive still doesn't show up in Windows or Disk Management. So that didn't fix anything.
12)What are my options now? I considered buying another ST31000340AS and swapping PCB's to see if that works. Thought I read a post from someone who tried that and it worked. My other inclination is to stop pretending to be an expert at something I'm not before I do some real damage to my computer. Ideas? Have I bricked my drive permanently? Should I use it as a doorstop?
Thanks all.
HD is a 1GB Seagate ST31000340AS w/BSY error (does not show up in BIOS)
1)Successfully built RS232 link to HD with alldav adapter and USB-to-serial cable. Got the "F3 T>" prompt.
2)used the cardstock trick to isolate the connectors, successfully got the drive to spin down, connected the PCB, then spin back up.
3)Successfully did a S.M.A.R.T. erase with "N1" command.
4)here's where the deviations start - after the SMART erase I did NOT detach the power from the drive. Why? Because I was reading some id***'s guide who linked from this forum and didn't mention that step. Is it necessary? I don't know, but I'd like to send the guy an email blaming him for my dead hard drive and the worldwide economic collapse in general.
5)after the SMART erase i got myself back to F3 T> and typed the "m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22" command. (I understand the revised version of the guide had a "m0,2,2,,,,,22" command - but someone said they are the same command as the "0"'s don't really mean anything... is that true?
6)waited... waited some more. Got really depressed around the 1hr mark. Knew I had heard of someone else who had this problem so I searched the forums. Eventually I shut the power down.
7)I tried again. Got the "F3 T>" prompt. Did the SMART erase, then went to power down...
8)here's the disaster - as I disconnected power, the RX or TX cable - or maybe it was both - got disconnected from the HD's PCB. I couldn't believe it. Knew this was bad. Wanted to chuck entire computer out the window.
9)So I tried again... and here's where I am. Everytime I hook up the HD, I no longer get any response in the terminal (i'm using Putty on WinVista 32bit). Feedback loop on the adapter works fine - so the problem is in the HD definitely. But no response to "CTRL-Z". Ever.
10)I've tried hooking up the HD through the SATA port - previously it was not recognized in the BIOS at all (BSY error) but now it does show up - as a 0GB HD. Doesn't show up as a drive in Windows but shows up as uninitialized in Disk Management. When it tries to initialize it, Windows says there is an I/O error. Is this the 0 LBA error?
11)Maybe you guys will think I'm an id*** for this but I thought hey, it can't hurt to try and update the firmware since the BIOS sees it. So I tried it... and it worked. It updated the drive with "MooseDT-SD1A-3D4D-16-32MB" which is the new SD1A I got off the Seagate site a few weeks ago in late March. However the drive still doesn't show up in Windows or Disk Management. So that didn't fix anything.
12)What are my options now? I considered buying another ST31000340AS and swapping PCB's to see if that works. Thought I read a post from someone who tried that and it worked. My other inclination is to stop pretending to be an expert at something I'm not before I do some real damage to my computer. Ideas? Have I bricked my drive permanently? Should I use it as a doorstop?
Thanks all.
#1166
Posted 13 April 2009 - 05:18 AM
Hi all!
I just found a similar guide for fixing the BSY type of error on Barracuda 7200.11 written by Brad Garcia at Google Sites. I have read it through but I still have some questions about the instructions given there. I hope someone here can give me the answers or explanations to them.
Here, I will copy and paste the instructions given at the above mentioned website. I will indicate a question by an boldface upper-case Q.
Q: At what point am I supposed to test the RS232-to-TTL adapter?
Q: The pictures that Gradius2 has posted are suggesting that the pins on the back of the hard disk drive are TX, and then RX (from left to right in the orientation where you have the SATA and power connectors on your right hand side). The picture that Brad Garcia has uploaded is suggesting the opposite where the RX comes first and then TX which is the closest to the SATA connector. Who is right, and who is wrong?
Q: In post post # 101, Gradius has written "F3 T> <<< At this step you'll need to POWER OFF your HD for 10sec, and then POWER ON again. By power off, remove the SATA power (not PCB!)". What is he talking about? He said before that I shouldn't power off ANYTHING until I get the following message
Here below, I'll mark he's exact words.
So, I'll ask again, what is he talking about? He obviously contradicts himself here. It's no wonder that people don't fully understand this guide. Should I do it or should I not do it? Should I power off the HDD at this point or should I not?
And how am I supposed to power it off? Just unplug the SATA power connector whilst the HDD is working? That doesn't sound right. He said "By power off, remove the SATA power (not PCB!)" so what else could that possibly mean then unplugging the SATA power connector while the HDD is still on? Shouldn't I power it off the normal and regular way, i.e. by powering off the computer which is providing power to the disk drive? (I mean the normal Windows start button -> shut down command.)
Q: In the same post # 101, Gradius has written F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 <<< This command takes a little over a minute to complete!. This supposedly applies to BSY error. For the LBA 0 error he writes that one should use F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter).
In the above mentioned guide written by Brad Garcia at Google Sites, he is suggesting to use the F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 command for the BSY error (which Guardian suggested using for LBA 0 error).
So my question here is, should I use m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 or m0,2,2,,,,,22 for BSY error?
Q: In the same post # 101, Gradius has written "The wires was inverted to me and I didn't get nothing, so I just reverted and finally got a terminal answer".
Doesn't that mean that Gradius was wrong and Brad Garcia was right on the question I asked above, as of which pin is TX and which is RX on the back of the HDD? The TX is the one that's closest to the SATA data and power connectors on the right hand side, right?
Q: In post # 160, Gradius writes "Keep in mind, for BSY errors, you need to disconnect the Spin motor, or the drive will enter in that state (in around 2 secs) after it occurs you cannot enter anything, not even CTRL+Z".
I'm not a newbie at this, I'm a DIYer my self but this whole black cloud of confusion surrounding this topic is what scares me. So many people say so many different things and tell of different approaches to the problem. The guide written by Brad Garcia is probably the most well written one so far. I was actually planning on writing one comprehensive and understandable guide my self, I already had began writing it actually. But after reading the guide by Brad Garcia I may just skip it, since he has already written he's guide the way I like it and would have written mine. Thanks Brad, very well written, you read my mind!
Thanks in advance!
I just found a similar guide for fixing the BSY type of error on Barracuda 7200.11 written by Brad Garcia at Google Sites. I have read it through but I still have some questions about the instructions given there. I hope someone here can give me the answers or explanations to them.
Here, I will copy and paste the instructions given at the above mentioned website. I will indicate a question by an boldface upper-case Q.
- Loosen or remove the PCB from the hard drive
- Place cardstock between the PCB and the contacts for the drive head. Leave the drive motor contacts in place.
Q: I think the guide written by Guardian2 suggested placing something between the PCB and the motor contacts. Was that wrong? I have to place the cardstock between the PCB and the contacts for the drive head and not the motor contacts?
- Tighten the three screws closest to the motor contacts. Leave the other three screws loose or removed.
- Connect a power supply to the hard drive PCB, but do not yet turn it on.
Q: What power supply? Can this be the power supply from the PC that's going to be running the terminal software? In other words, can I use only one computer for the whole repair work?
- Connect the RS232-to-TTL adapter to your computer's serial port. This is the computer you will be using as a terminal to communicate with the hard drive.
Q: Can this be the serial port of the same computer that's going to power the hard disk drive?
- Connect the RS232-to-TTL adapter to the hard drive's jumper block. You will be connecting two wires: receive & transmit for the serial connection.
- Connect power to adapter - use +3.3v from the same power supply you will use to power the hard drive (orange wire is 3.3v, black is ground), or a 3V battery. If using a battery, connect the adapter's ground pin to the hard drive ground pin.
- You will need a terminal program. You can use Hyperterminal, which comes with Windows XP & earlier. I suggest using putty. Configure your terminal program to use the serial port with the following settings: Baud: 38400, Data Bits: 8, Stop Bits: 1, Parity: none, Flow Control: none
Q: Can the terminal emulator program be running on the same computer that is going to power the hard disk drive and the RS232-to-TTL adapter?
- Turn on power to the RS232-to-TTL adapter and the hard drive.
- After a few seconds, Press CTRL+z. You should then see a prompt like this: F3 T> If not, swap TX & RX wires.
- Access Level 2 (type /2).
- Then spin down the (disconnected) motor.
Q: What do you mean by disconnected motor? Should I place a cardstock between the motor contacts as well as the head contacts? It sounds to me like the motor is not supposed to be connected with the PCB at this point.
- Very carefully, remove the cardstock that you placed between the PCB and the drive head contacts.
- Carefully replace and tighten the 3 loose screws. I suggest using a small piece of masking tape to help you hold the screws while you put them back in place.
- Then start the motor (type U).
- Next go to Level 1 (type /1).
- And do a S.M.A.R.T. erase (create S.M.A.R.T. sector).
Q: Gradius2 (OP) writes in the first post "Power OFF/ON the drive (very important!) Wait 10 seconds and now Power ON your drive. Press CTRL+Z on terminal and type[...]" at this point, before doing the partition regeneration. What does he mean by powering the drive off and on? Brad Garcia is not mentioning anything about this.
- Finally, do partition regeneration (F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter))
Q: Do I have to do the partition regeneration at Level T or Level 1? If it's at Level T, then there is one instruction missing in the guide by Brad Garcia that would instruct the user to type /T to go back to T Level, and then type this to regenerate the partition.
- After 15-30 seconds, you should see something like:
Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 00C8
User Partition Format 10% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00004339, ErrCode 00000080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs
User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs
Do not turn off drive until you see this message. Once seen, drive can be turned off.
- Power down everything, place drive back into your computer, and confirm that it's working.
Q: At what point am I supposed to test the RS232-to-TTL adapter?
Q: The pictures that Gradius2 has posted are suggesting that the pins on the back of the hard disk drive are TX, and then RX (from left to right in the orientation where you have the SATA and power connectors on your right hand side). The picture that Brad Garcia has uploaded is suggesting the opposite where the RX comes first and then TX which is the closest to the SATA connector. Who is right, and who is wrong?
Q: In post post # 101, Gradius has written "F3 T> <<< At this step you'll need to POWER OFF your HD for 10sec, and then POWER ON again. By power off, remove the SATA power (not PCB!)". What is he talking about? He said before that I shouldn't power off ANYTHING until I get the following message
Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 00C8 User Partition Format 10% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00004339, ErrCode 00000080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs
Here below, I'll mark he's exact words.
Quote
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.
So, I'll ask again, what is he talking about? He obviously contradicts himself here. It's no wonder that people don't fully understand this guide. Should I do it or should I not do it? Should I power off the HDD at this point or should I not?
And how am I supposed to power it off? Just unplug the SATA power connector whilst the HDD is working? That doesn't sound right. He said "By power off, remove the SATA power (not PCB!)" so what else could that possibly mean then unplugging the SATA power connector while the HDD is still on? Shouldn't I power it off the normal and regular way, i.e. by powering off the computer which is providing power to the disk drive? (I mean the normal Windows start button -> shut down command.)
Q: In the same post # 101, Gradius has written F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 <<< This command takes a little over a minute to complete!. This supposedly applies to BSY error. For the LBA 0 error he writes that one should use F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter).
In the above mentioned guide written by Brad Garcia at Google Sites, he is suggesting to use the F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 command for the BSY error (which Guardian suggested using for LBA 0 error).
So my question here is, should I use m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 or m0,2,2,,,,,22 for BSY error?
Q: In the same post # 101, Gradius has written "The wires was inverted to me and I didn't get nothing, so I just reverted and finally got a terminal answer".
Doesn't that mean that Gradius was wrong and Brad Garcia was right on the question I asked above, as of which pin is TX and which is RX on the back of the HDD? The TX is the one that's closest to the SATA data and power connectors on the right hand side, right?
Q: In post # 160, Gradius writes "Keep in mind, for BSY errors, you need to disconnect the Spin motor, or the drive will enter in that state (in around 2 secs) after it occurs you cannot enter anything, not even CTRL+Z".
- Do I have to isolate/disconnect the disk drive head contacts or the spin motor contacts from the PCB? Brad Garcia at Google Sites is writing that it's the head contacts I need to isolate from PCB. Anyone know for sure?
- If I, let's say, forget to isolate the motor contacts from the PCB and power it on like that. Would this mean that powering it on and entering the terminal software in this state will render the hard disk drive unaccessible permanently, or only temporarily until I isolate the motor contacts and retry again?
I'm not a newbie at this, I'm a DIYer my self but this whole black cloud of confusion surrounding this topic is what scares me. So many people say so many different things and tell of different approaches to the problem. The guide written by Brad Garcia is probably the most well written one so far. I was actually planning on writing one comprehensive and understandable guide my self, I already had began writing it actually. But after reading the guide by Brad Garcia I may just skip it, since he has already written he's guide the way I like it and would have written mine. Thanks Brad, very well written, you read my mind!
Thanks in advance!
This post has been edited by ElectroGeeza: 13 April 2009 - 12:18 PM
#1167
Posted 13 April 2009 - 06:43 AM
Did anyone have success with sending the hdd to seagate for unbrick? I'm too scared of losing my data to do it myself.
Does seagate still offer free data rescue or unbrick for the drives?
Does seagate still offer free data rescue or unbrick for the drives?
This post has been edited by Annihilator: 13 April 2009 - 06:51 AM
#1168
Posted 13 April 2009 - 12:20 PM
TO cereal77:
4) It is not an id***'s guide! Not to sound harsh but you missed a part of your homework. You're probably coming from Brad's page. He clearly states that the guide on the first page of this long thread has been modified and after considering everything he posted Aviko's version instead of Gradius's, and I agree with him having read about the first 39 of 59 pages here...
Clearing G defect list has the potential to expose relocated bad sectors.
5) They are not the same you read wrong, but the one with the 0's is ok to run.
6) You probably didn't read the one who had that problem. I searched this whole thread and didn't find anyone mentionning it. I mentionned it after that because I thought someone (like you) might befenit from it ! Look the 4th post just above yours here! You just had to cut power, and just redo the last step (no need for N1 again)
8) -> so why do you blame the guide for this accident ? I'm not calling you an id*** by the way, s*** happens and it sucks, but still the procedure was correct.
10) I don't think so.
12) I would ask seagate to recover and fix your HD saying you had the SD15 fw problem. Sorry for your problems!
4) It is not an id***'s guide! Not to sound harsh but you missed a part of your homework. You're probably coming from Brad's page. He clearly states that the guide on the first page of this long thread has been modified and after considering everything he posted Aviko's version instead of Gradius's, and I agree with him having read about the first 39 of 59 pages here...
Clearing G defect list has the potential to expose relocated bad sectors.
5) They are not the same you read wrong, but the one with the 0's is ok to run.
6) You probably didn't read the one who had that problem. I searched this whole thread and didn't find anyone mentionning it. I mentionned it after that because I thought someone (like you) might befenit from it ! Look the 4th post just above yours here! You just had to cut power, and just redo the last step (no need for N1 again)
8) -> so why do you blame the guide for this accident ? I'm not calling you an id*** by the way, s*** happens and it sucks, but still the procedure was correct.
10) I don't think so.
12) I would ask seagate to recover and fix your HD saying you had the SD15 fw problem. Sorry for your problems!
cereal77, on Apr 10 2009, 08:01 PM, said:
Someone earlier in this thread asked if anyone had successfully RUINED their drive by this process. I'm not blaming the process, (just myself) but here's my woeful story and if anyone can help, please do:
HD is a 1GB Seagate ST31000340AS w/BSY error (does not show up in BIOS)
1)Successfully built RS232 link to HD with alldav adapter and USB-to-serial cable. Got the "F3 T>" prompt.
2)used the cardstock trick to isolate the connectors, successfully got the drive to spin down, connected the PCB, then spin back up.
3)Successfully did a S.M.A.R.T. erase with "N1" command.
4)here's where the deviations start - after the SMART erase I did NOT detach the power from the drive. Why? Because I was reading some id***'s guide who linked from this forum and didn't mention that step. Is it necessary? I don't know, but I'd like to send the guy an email blaming him for my dead hard drive and the worldwide economic collapse in general.
5)after the SMART erase i got myself back to F3 T> and typed the "m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22" command. (I understand the revised version of the guide had a "m0,2,2,,,,,22" command - but someone said they are the same command as the "0"'s don't really mean anything... is that true?
6)waited... waited some more. Got really depressed around the 1hr mark. Knew I had heard of someone else who had this problem so I searched the forums. Eventually I shut the power down.
7)I tried again. Got the "F3 T>" prompt. Did the SMART erase, then went to power down...
8)here's the disaster - as I disconnected power, the RX or TX cable - or maybe it was both - got disconnected from the HD's PCB. I couldn't believe it. Knew this was bad. Wanted to chuck entire computer out the window.
9)So I tried again... and here's where I am. Everytime I hook up the HD, I no longer get any response in the terminal (i'm using Putty on WinVista 32bit). Feedback loop on the adapter works fine - so the problem is in the HD definitely. But no response to "CTRL-Z". Ever.
10)I've tried hooking up the HD through the SATA port - previously it was not recognized in the BIOS at all (BSY error) but now it does show up - as a 0GB HD. Doesn't show up as a drive in Windows but shows up as uninitialized in Disk Management. When it tries to initialize it, Windows says there is an I/O error. Is this the 0 LBA error?
11)Maybe you guys will think I'm an id*** for this but I thought hey, it can't hurt to try and update the firmware since the BIOS sees it. So I tried it... and it worked. It updated the drive with "MooseDT-SD1A-3D4D-16-32MB" which is the new SD1A I got off the Seagate site a few weeks ago in late March. However the drive still doesn't show up in Windows or Disk Management. So that didn't fix anything.
12)What are my options now? I considered buying another ST31000340AS and swapping PCB's to see if that works. Thought I read a post from someone who tried that and it worked. My other inclination is to stop pretending to be an expert at something I'm not before I do some real damage to my computer. Ideas? Have I bricked my drive permanently? Should I use it as a doorstop?
Thanks all.
HD is a 1GB Seagate ST31000340AS w/BSY error (does not show up in BIOS)
1)Successfully built RS232 link to HD with alldav adapter and USB-to-serial cable. Got the "F3 T>" prompt.
2)used the cardstock trick to isolate the connectors, successfully got the drive to spin down, connected the PCB, then spin back up.
3)Successfully did a S.M.A.R.T. erase with "N1" command.
4)here's where the deviations start - after the SMART erase I did NOT detach the power from the drive. Why? Because I was reading some id***'s guide who linked from this forum and didn't mention that step. Is it necessary? I don't know, but I'd like to send the guy an email blaming him for my dead hard drive and the worldwide economic collapse in general.
5)after the SMART erase i got myself back to F3 T> and typed the "m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22" command. (I understand the revised version of the guide had a "m0,2,2,,,,,22" command - but someone said they are the same command as the "0"'s don't really mean anything... is that true?
6)waited... waited some more. Got really depressed around the 1hr mark. Knew I had heard of someone else who had this problem so I searched the forums. Eventually I shut the power down.
7)I tried again. Got the "F3 T>" prompt. Did the SMART erase, then went to power down...
8)here's the disaster - as I disconnected power, the RX or TX cable - or maybe it was both - got disconnected from the HD's PCB. I couldn't believe it. Knew this was bad. Wanted to chuck entire computer out the window.
9)So I tried again... and here's where I am. Everytime I hook up the HD, I no longer get any response in the terminal (i'm using Putty on WinVista 32bit). Feedback loop on the adapter works fine - so the problem is in the HD definitely. But no response to "CTRL-Z". Ever.
10)I've tried hooking up the HD through the SATA port - previously it was not recognized in the BIOS at all (BSY error) but now it does show up - as a 0GB HD. Doesn't show up as a drive in Windows but shows up as uninitialized in Disk Management. When it tries to initialize it, Windows says there is an I/O error. Is this the 0 LBA error?
11)Maybe you guys will think I'm an id*** for this but I thought hey, it can't hurt to try and update the firmware since the BIOS sees it. So I tried it... and it worked. It updated the drive with "MooseDT-SD1A-3D4D-16-32MB" which is the new SD1A I got off the Seagate site a few weeks ago in late March. However the drive still doesn't show up in Windows or Disk Management. So that didn't fix anything.
12)What are my options now? I considered buying another ST31000340AS and swapping PCB's to see if that works. Thought I read a post from someone who tried that and it worked. My other inclination is to stop pretending to be an expert at something I'm not before I do some real damage to my computer. Ideas? Have I bricked my drive permanently? Should I use it as a doorstop?
Thanks all.
This post has been edited by franklav: 13 April 2009 - 05:23 PM
#1169
Posted 13 April 2009 - 01:03 PM
TO ElectroGeeza:
All your questions are answered already in this thread. Brad read this thread and
decided to use Aviko's/Yura's fix. Read my post above...
2) Between head assembly contacts
4) Well yes, but remember that as soon as you plug, the power gets on, and
it's a bit clumsy to turn on/off the hd by connecting a plug on it especially
if it's tight, but use your head. I used another psu for that (which I shorted
on the ATX (to MB) connector to keep it powered).
5) Yes
8) Same as 5) obviously.
10) There's an important step that no ones mention in any guide that generates posts about this, but it IS mentionned
here in this thread: after powering up the drive, WAIT FOR THE MOTOR TO SPIN DOWN before doing anything, or else you will be getting
errors, even on the first command to spin down the drive. This is no big deal, but prevents you from executing the guide...
12) The contacts to the spindle motor are NEVER isolated ! Read a single guide!
Dont make a salad of bits of (sometimes wrong) info here and there.
17) -> see 12) and the beginning of my post
18) Yes but that's because you should really read this thread instead! More specifically,
post #529 here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...8807&st=520
(I just spent 10 minutes to locate it, but it is there!)
By the way the command "/" is the same as "/T".
19) If it's still not responding after 30minutes or so, you can power off the drive, and power back on (without the isolation trick and everything), jump inside the terminal with CTRL-Z, and just redo the last command (/, then the m0 format command)
>Q: At what point am I supposed to test the RS232-to-TTL adapter?
God! At the END OF EVERYTHING ;-) Surely before anything no !? Just short the
TX and RX lines (TTL side) of the adapter and in a terminal, you should see
an echo of everything you type (make sure your terminal program doesn't have
local echo too, or in that case you should see double echos when the TX-RX are
shorted, and single echo when not... surely you can deduce why).
Obviously do this without the adapter connected to anything except power and
RS232 <-> computer (or usb to computer or whatever).
>Q: The pictures that Gradius2 has posted are suggesting
The picture of Brad is WRONG. But he labeled it to indicate where to connect
the pin ! The label TX and RX depends on which point of view you take (duh)
but it makes much more sense to label it from the side of the device on which
the label is placed, which is standard for electronics.
So the correct label from the HD POV is TX, then RX: The drive outputs at TX
and receives inputs at RX, but obviously the TX line of the HD must go to the RX line
of the adapter (duh).
You would've gone crazy then trying to understand this datasheet
http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/...ents/max232.pdf
Here they use a confusing nomenclature, taking the POV of the RS232
side of the chip at all times, so driver can both receive and send, likewise
for what they call the "receiver" side (which also transmits
)
Q... (all the rest)
Then, SCRAP THE REST OF YOUR QUESTIONS, all your other questions are answered
by this current post, especially see my answer to point #12, and read my post just
above (what to do if format (the m0 command) hangs), point 19), and remember my point 10)
too!)
Oh and btw, I use the term partition format, some people (in this whole thread)
are confusing what this means: it has nothing to do with your data partitions on
your drive, the m0 command (with the params indicated) format a service area
partition and the service area is never visible on the SATA side of things...
All your questions are answered already in this thread. Brad read this thread and
decided to use Aviko's/Yura's fix. Read my post above...
2) Between head assembly contacts
4) Well yes, but remember that as soon as you plug, the power gets on, and
it's a bit clumsy to turn on/off the hd by connecting a plug on it especially
if it's tight, but use your head. I used another psu for that (which I shorted
on the ATX (to MB) connector to keep it powered).
5) Yes
8) Same as 5) obviously.
10) There's an important step that no ones mention in any guide that generates posts about this, but it IS mentionned
here in this thread: after powering up the drive, WAIT FOR THE MOTOR TO SPIN DOWN before doing anything, or else you will be getting
errors, even on the first command to spin down the drive. This is no big deal, but prevents you from executing the guide...
12) The contacts to the spindle motor are NEVER isolated ! Read a single guide!
Dont make a salad of bits of (sometimes wrong) info here and there.
17) -> see 12) and the beginning of my post
18) Yes but that's because you should really read this thread instead! More specifically,
post #529 here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...8807&st=520
(I just spent 10 minutes to locate it, but it is there!)
By the way the command "/" is the same as "/T".
19) If it's still not responding after 30minutes or so, you can power off the drive, and power back on (without the isolation trick and everything), jump inside the terminal with CTRL-Z, and just redo the last command (/, then the m0 format command)
>Q: At what point am I supposed to test the RS232-to-TTL adapter?
God! At the END OF EVERYTHING ;-) Surely before anything no !? Just short the
TX and RX lines (TTL side) of the adapter and in a terminal, you should see
an echo of everything you type (make sure your terminal program doesn't have
local echo too, or in that case you should see double echos when the TX-RX are
shorted, and single echo when not... surely you can deduce why).
Obviously do this without the adapter connected to anything except power and
RS232 <-> computer (or usb to computer or whatever).
>Q: The pictures that Gradius2 has posted are suggesting
The picture of Brad is WRONG. But he labeled it to indicate where to connect
the pin ! The label TX and RX depends on which point of view you take (duh)
but it makes much more sense to label it from the side of the device on which
the label is placed, which is standard for electronics.
So the correct label from the HD POV is TX, then RX: The drive outputs at TX
and receives inputs at RX, but obviously the TX line of the HD must go to the RX line
of the adapter (duh).
You would've gone crazy then trying to understand this datasheet
http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/...ents/max232.pdf
Here they use a confusing nomenclature, taking the POV of the RS232
side of the chip at all times, so driver can both receive and send, likewise
for what they call the "receiver" side (which also transmits
)Q... (all the rest)
Then, SCRAP THE REST OF YOUR QUESTIONS, all your other questions are answered
by this current post, especially see my answer to point #12, and read my post just
above (what to do if format (the m0 command) hangs), point 19), and remember my point 10)
too!)
Oh and btw, I use the term partition format, some people (in this whole thread)
are confusing what this means: it has nothing to do with your data partitions on
your drive, the m0 command (with the params indicated) format a service area
partition and the service area is never visible on the SATA side of things...
ElectroGeeza, on Apr 13 2009, 06:18 AM, said:
Hi all!
I just found a similar guide for fixing the BSY type of error on Barracuda 7200.11 written by Brad Garcia at Google Sites. I have read it through but I still have some questions about the instructions given there. I hope someone here can give me the answers or explanations to them.
Here, I will copy and paste the instructions given at the above mentioned website. I will indicate a question by an boldface upper-case Q.
Q: At what point am I supposed to test the RS232-to-TTL adapter?
Q: The pictures that Gradius2 has posted are suggesting that the pins on the back of the hard disk drive are TX, and then RX (from left to right in the orientation where you have the SATA and power connectors on your right hand side). The picture that Brad Garcia has uploaded is suggesting the opposite where the RX comes first and then TX which is the closest to the SATA connector. Who is right, and who is wrong?
Q: In post post # 101, Gradius has written "F3 T> <<< At this step you'll need to POWER OFF your HD for 10sec, and then POWER ON again. By power off, remove the SATA power (not PCB!)". What is he talking about? He said before that I shouldn't power off ANYTHING until I get the following message
Here below, I'll mark he's exact words.
So, I'll ask again, what is he talking about? He obviously contradicts himself here. It's no wonder that people don't fully understand this guide. Should I do it or should I not do it? Should I power off the HDD at this point or should I not?
And how am I supposed to power it off? Just unplug the SATA power connector whilst the HDD is working? That doesn't sound right. He said "By power off, remove the SATA power (not PCB!)" so what else could that possibly mean then unplugging the SATA power connector while the HDD is still on? Shouldn't I power it off the normal and regular way, i.e. by powering off the computer which is providing power to the disk drive? (I mean the normal Windows start button -> shut down command.)
Q: In the same post # 101, Gradius has written F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 <<< This command takes a little over a minute to complete!. This supposedly applies to BSY error. For the LBA 0 error he writes that one should use F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter).
In the above mentioned guide written by Brad Garcia at Google Sites, he is suggesting to use the F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 command for the BSY error (which Guardian suggested using for LBA 0 error).
So my question here is, should I use m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 or m0,2,2,,,,,22 for BSY error?
Q: In the same post # 101, Gradius has written "The wires was inverted to me and I didn't get nothing, so I just reverted and finally got a terminal answer".
Doesn't that mean that Gradius was wrong and Brad Garcia was right on the question I asked above, as of which pin is TX and which is RX on the back of the HDD? The TX is the one that's closest to the SATA data and power connectors on the right hand side, right?
Q: In post # 160, Gradius writes "Keep in mind, for BSY errors, you need to disconnect the Spin motor, or the drive will enter in that state (in around 2 secs) after it occurs you cannot enter anything, not even CTRL+Z".
I'm not a newbie at this, I'm a DIYer my self but this whole black cloud of confusion surrounding this topic is what scares me. So many people say so many different things and tell of different approaches to the problem. The guide written by Brad Garcia is probably the most well written one so far. I was actually planning on writing one comprehensive and understandable guide my self, I already had began writing it actually. But after reading the guide by Brad Garcia I may just skip it, since he has already written he's guide the way I like it and would have written mine. Thanks Brad, very well written, you read my mind!
Thanks in advance!
I just found a similar guide for fixing the BSY type of error on Barracuda 7200.11 written by Brad Garcia at Google Sites. I have read it through but I still have some questions about the instructions given there. I hope someone here can give me the answers or explanations to them.
Here, I will copy and paste the instructions given at the above mentioned website. I will indicate a question by an boldface upper-case Q.
- Loosen or remove the PCB from the hard drive
- Place cardstock between the PCB and the contacts for the drive head. Leave the drive motor contacts in place.
Q: I think the guide written by Guardian2 suggested placing something between the PCB and the motor contacts. Was that wrong? I have to place the cardstock between the PCB and the contacts for the drive head and not the motor contacts?
- Tighten the three screws closest to the motor contacts. Leave the other three screws loose or removed.
- Connect a power supply to the hard drive PCB, but do not yet turn it on.
Q: What power supply? Can this be the power supply from the PC that's going to be running the terminal software? In other words, can I use only one computer for the whole repair work?
- Connect the RS232-to-TTL adapter to your computer's serial port. This is the computer you will be using as a terminal to communicate with the hard drive.
Q: Can this be the serial port of the same computer that's going to power the hard disk drive?
- Connect the RS232-to-TTL adapter to the hard drive's jumper block. You will be connecting two wires: receive & transmit for the serial connection.
- Connect power to adapter - use +3.3v from the same power supply you will use to power the hard drive (orange wire is 3.3v, black is ground), or a 3V battery. If using a battery, connect the adapter's ground pin to the hard drive ground pin.
- You will need a terminal program. You can use Hyperterminal, which comes with Windows XP & earlier. I suggest using putty. Configure your terminal program to use the serial port with the following settings: Baud: 38400, Data Bits: 8, Stop Bits: 1, Parity: none, Flow Control: none
Q: Can the terminal emulator program be running on the same computer that is going to power the hard disk drive and the RS232-to-TTL adapter?
- Turn on power to the RS232-to-TTL adapter and the hard drive.
- After a few seconds, Press CTRL+z. You should then see a prompt like this: F3 T> If not, swap TX & RX wires.
- Access Level 2 (type /2).
- Then spin down the (disconnected) motor.
Q: What do you mean by disconnected motor? Should I place a cardstock between the motor contacts as well as the head contacts? It sounds to me like the motor is not supposed to be connected with the PCB at this point.
- Very carefully, remove the cardstock that you placed between the PCB and the drive head contacts.
- Carefully replace and tighten the 3 loose screws. I suggest using a small piece of masking tape to help you hold the screws while you put them back in place.
- Then start the motor (type U).
- Next go to Level 1 (type /1).
- And do a S.M.A.R.T. erase (create S.M.A.R.T. sector).
Q: Gradius2 (OP) writes in the first post "Power OFF/ON the drive (very important!) Wait 10 seconds and now Power ON your drive. Press CTRL+Z on terminal and type[...]" at this point, before doing the partition regeneration. What does he mean by powering the drive off and on? Brad Garcia is not mentioning anything about this.
- Finally, do partition regeneration (F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter))
Q: Do I have to do the partition regeneration at Level T or Level 1? If it's at Level T, then there is one instruction missing in the guide by Brad Garcia that would instruct the user to type /T to go back to T Level, and then type this to regenerate the partition.
- After 15-30 seconds, you should see something like:
Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 00C8
User Partition Format 10% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00004339, ErrCode 00000080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs
User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs
Do not turn off drive until you see this message. Once seen, drive can be turned off.
- Power down everything, place drive back into your computer, and confirm that it's working.
Q: At what point am I supposed to test the RS232-to-TTL adapter?
Q: The pictures that Gradius2 has posted are suggesting that the pins on the back of the hard disk drive are TX, and then RX (from left to right in the orientation where you have the SATA and power connectors on your right hand side). The picture that Brad Garcia has uploaded is suggesting the opposite where the RX comes first and then TX which is the closest to the SATA connector. Who is right, and who is wrong?
Q: In post post # 101, Gradius has written "F3 T> <<< At this step you'll need to POWER OFF your HD for 10sec, and then POWER ON again. By power off, remove the SATA power (not PCB!)". What is he talking about? He said before that I shouldn't power off ANYTHING until I get the following message
Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 00C8 User Partition Format 10% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00004339, ErrCode 00000080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs
Here below, I'll mark he's exact words.
Quote
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.
So, I'll ask again, what is he talking about? He obviously contradicts himself here. It's no wonder that people don't fully understand this guide. Should I do it or should I not do it? Should I power off the HDD at this point or should I not?
And how am I supposed to power it off? Just unplug the SATA power connector whilst the HDD is working? That doesn't sound right. He said "By power off, remove the SATA power (not PCB!)" so what else could that possibly mean then unplugging the SATA power connector while the HDD is still on? Shouldn't I power it off the normal and regular way, i.e. by powering off the computer which is providing power to the disk drive? (I mean the normal Windows start button -> shut down command.)
Q: In the same post # 101, Gradius has written F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 <<< This command takes a little over a minute to complete!. This supposedly applies to BSY error. For the LBA 0 error he writes that one should use F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter).
In the above mentioned guide written by Brad Garcia at Google Sites, he is suggesting to use the F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 command for the BSY error (which Guardian suggested using for LBA 0 error).
So my question here is, should I use m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 or m0,2,2,,,,,22 for BSY error?
Q: In the same post # 101, Gradius has written "The wires was inverted to me and I didn't get nothing, so I just reverted and finally got a terminal answer".
Doesn't that mean that Gradius was wrong and Brad Garcia was right on the question I asked above, as of which pin is TX and which is RX on the back of the HDD? The TX is the one that's closest to the SATA data and power connectors on the right hand side, right?
Q: In post # 160, Gradius writes "Keep in mind, for BSY errors, you need to disconnect the Spin motor, or the drive will enter in that state (in around 2 secs) after it occurs you cannot enter anything, not even CTRL+Z".
- Do I have to isolate/disconnect the disk drive head contacts or the spin motor contacts from the PCB? Brad Garcia at Google Sites is writing that it's the head contacts I need to isolate from PCB. Anyone know for sure?
- If I, let's say, forget to isolate the motor contacts from the PCB and power it on like that. Would this mean that powering it on and entering the terminal software in this state will render the hard disk drive unaccessible permanently, or only temporarily until I isolate the motor contacts and retry again?
I'm not a newbie at this, I'm a DIYer my self but this whole black cloud of confusion surrounding this topic is what scares me. So many people say so many different things and tell of different approaches to the problem. The guide written by Brad Garcia is probably the most well written one so far. I was actually planning on writing one comprehensive and understandable guide my self, I already had began writing it actually. But after reading the guide by Brad Garcia I may just skip it, since he has already written he's guide the way I like it and would have written mine. Thanks Brad, very well written, you read my mind!
Thanks in advance!
This post has been edited by franklav: 13 April 2009 - 05:23 PM
#1170
Posted 13 April 2009 - 02:35 PM
It´s alive !!!!!
Thank´s to everybody in this forum...
#1171
Posted 14 April 2009 - 11:38 AM
My apologies for the slight threadjack, but the strangest thing has happened.
The suspect is a Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB SATA drive. It was used as an external backup drive with a CoolerMaster XCraft USB SATA enclosure.
Yesterday, I tried moving some files across from the external Seagate drive to a PC that had recently had Win XP32 reinstalled. All seemed fine until the drive went all quiet and it disappeared from Win explorer.
So I cycled the power on the external drive, but to no avail. Rebooted the PC - nothing. Tried it on the laptop - Nope! Tried it on my wife's XP PC - nothing again.
So after some searching on the NET I realised that SD15 is bad and I should update the firmware - so I plonked the ISO image from Seagate (SD1A) on a CDROM and placed the affected drive inside the PC. It doesn't have an OS installed on it, but that's OK, it is only used for backups and besides I was booting from the CDROM. Also, the PC is small factor so it only fits one hard drive at a time.
Anyways, the upgrade was successful. I cycled the power, BIOS recognised it, and showed capacity as 500G. Sweet!
So I take it out of the PC and back into the Cooler Master USB enclosure. No go! None of the Windows PCs could see it. Grmph....
After some digging today, I discovered this cool forum. So here I was ready to order a cable as per the procedure in this thread and do the deed (after those !@#&^%!@# at Seagate indicated that they didn't give a toss about the data on my drive).
Then it hit me. Why was my BIOS detecting the drive correctly (model and size)? So, I decided to plonk it back into the PC - but boot from the LIVE Ubuntu Linux PC (my actual Linux PC only has IDE).
To my surprise LINUX could read it!!! WTF? I take the drive out of the PC and placed it in the external USB enclosure. Again, same PC but connected via USB - Linux had no problems!!!
So is it something with Win XP and my external enclosure? OK, I took the bootable Maxtor drive out of my PC and placed it into the eternal USB enclosure. I can access it from any Win XP PC.
So now I am confused. The external enclosure works with Linux and Win XP - when the Maxtor SATA drive is used, but only works with Linux when Seagate is used. The drive is not bricked as Linux can access it. And this happened all of a sudden. I transferred all this data from it and when the transfer completed - nothing! Now, I don't know if the firmware upgrade to SD1A helped, I never tried accessing the drive via Linux with SD15.
I can't help but think that this is a related Seagate issue. I returned a Seagate Freeagent drive last year because that had issues with Win XP, and now this? Maybe its time to go back to WD...
Does anyone have any idea what is going on here? I am going to extract the data from the drive ASAP, and then this 'nutcracker' is going back to Seagate.
Cheers.
The suspect is a Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB SATA drive. It was used as an external backup drive with a CoolerMaster XCraft USB SATA enclosure.
Yesterday, I tried moving some files across from the external Seagate drive to a PC that had recently had Win XP32 reinstalled. All seemed fine until the drive went all quiet and it disappeared from Win explorer.
So I cycled the power on the external drive, but to no avail. Rebooted the PC - nothing. Tried it on the laptop - Nope! Tried it on my wife's XP PC - nothing again.
So after some searching on the NET I realised that SD15 is bad and I should update the firmware - so I plonked the ISO image from Seagate (SD1A) on a CDROM and placed the affected drive inside the PC. It doesn't have an OS installed on it, but that's OK, it is only used for backups and besides I was booting from the CDROM. Also, the PC is small factor so it only fits one hard drive at a time.
Anyways, the upgrade was successful. I cycled the power, BIOS recognised it, and showed capacity as 500G. Sweet!
So I take it out of the PC and back into the Cooler Master USB enclosure. No go! None of the Windows PCs could see it. Grmph....
After some digging today, I discovered this cool forum. So here I was ready to order a cable as per the procedure in this thread and do the deed (after those !@#&^%!@# at Seagate indicated that they didn't give a toss about the data on my drive).
Then it hit me. Why was my BIOS detecting the drive correctly (model and size)? So, I decided to plonk it back into the PC - but boot from the LIVE Ubuntu Linux PC (my actual Linux PC only has IDE).
To my surprise LINUX could read it!!! WTF? I take the drive out of the PC and placed it in the external USB enclosure. Again, same PC but connected via USB - Linux had no problems!!!
So is it something with Win XP and my external enclosure? OK, I took the bootable Maxtor drive out of my PC and placed it into the eternal USB enclosure. I can access it from any Win XP PC.
So now I am confused. The external enclosure works with Linux and Win XP - when the Maxtor SATA drive is used, but only works with Linux when Seagate is used. The drive is not bricked as Linux can access it. And this happened all of a sudden. I transferred all this data from it and when the transfer completed - nothing! Now, I don't know if the firmware upgrade to SD1A helped, I never tried accessing the drive via Linux with SD15.
I can't help but think that this is a related Seagate issue. I returned a Seagate Freeagent drive last year because that had issues with Win XP, and now this? Maybe its time to go back to WD...
Does anyone have any idea what is going on here? I am going to extract the data from the drive ASAP, and then this 'nutcracker' is going back to Seagate.
Cheers.
#1172
Posted 14 April 2009 - 03:18 PM
I want to add my thanks to Gradius, Aviko and AlexLilic !!!!!
Without your excellent advice I would still be swearing and cursing. There were a few confusing parts, and definitely a few heart stopping moments, but my drive is now alive, and my data safe.
For anyone else going to give this a go then I totally recommend the FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 USB Cable. This was a very simple cable to use following AlexLilic wiring directions (on page 35). The ideal part about this cable is you don't have to play around with any additional power (battery or mains). For those in the UK I got mine from FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 USB . Outstanding service as this was posted to me the same day !!
Note: You DO need the standard SATA power cable connected to the disk drive. (This confused me for quite a while) I used a spare power lead from another PC. This also allowed me to easily turn on and off the power to the drive.
For those with a disk set up like mine I had the jumper over the 3rd and 4th pins on the disk. I had to take this off so that I could connect the ground cable. As soon as I did that then the "F3 T>" prompt.
Also note that as I only used the single card under the drive spindle (the one at the centre of the disk) it means YOU MUST TURN OFF THE POWER TO THE DRIVE (i.e turn off the SATA power supply you connected to the disk) before you issue the Partition regeneration "m0,2,2,,,,,22" command. Gradius clearly mentions this a number of times, but I noted a few others have missed this step. I missed this the first time, but maybe got lucky and now have a working drive
As an additional item, I also had trouble updating the firmware. I was getting an error on booting from the CD. I had to turn off the RAID support within the BIOS. After that everything worked and I managed to update to the latest firmware. I can only hope that this fixes the problem for good.
Without your excellent advice I would still be swearing and cursing. There were a few confusing parts, and definitely a few heart stopping moments, but my drive is now alive, and my data safe.
For anyone else going to give this a go then I totally recommend the FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 USB Cable. This was a very simple cable to use following AlexLilic wiring directions (on page 35). The ideal part about this cable is you don't have to play around with any additional power (battery or mains). For those in the UK I got mine from FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 USB . Outstanding service as this was posted to me the same day !!
Note: You DO need the standard SATA power cable connected to the disk drive. (This confused me for quite a while) I used a spare power lead from another PC. This also allowed me to easily turn on and off the power to the drive.
For those with a disk set up like mine I had the jumper over the 3rd and 4th pins on the disk. I had to take this off so that I could connect the ground cable. As soon as I did that then the "F3 T>" prompt.
Also note that as I only used the single card under the drive spindle (the one at the centre of the disk) it means YOU MUST TURN OFF THE POWER TO THE DRIVE (i.e turn off the SATA power supply you connected to the disk) before you issue the Partition regeneration "m0,2,2,,,,,22" command. Gradius clearly mentions this a number of times, but I noted a few others have missed this step. I missed this the first time, but maybe got lucky and now have a working drive
As an additional item, I also had trouble updating the firmware. I was getting an error on booting from the CD. I had to turn off the RAID support within the BIOS. After that everything worked and I managed to update to the latest firmware. I can only hope that this fixes the problem for good.
#1173
Posted 15 April 2009 - 03:48 AM
I just wanted to add this note for the record. I am one of the ones that cannot get the drive (ST31000340AS) to spin up again. I get:
F3 T>/2
F3 2> Z
Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.154 msecs
(Paper card Removed)
F3 2> U
(Drive begins to emit a quiet Buzzing noise every 4.0 seconds. Seven Minutes later..)
Error 1009 DETSEC 00006008
Spin Error
Elapsed Time 7 mins 27 secs
R/W Status 2 R/W Error 84150180
It is repeatable everytime. I have:
1) Isolated both connectors
2) Cleaned both board contact pads and connection points
3) Tried both level 2 and 3 spin down
4) Read every post in 59 pages!
Nothing changed the symptoms. If anyone knows of any solution, I welcome the feedback. Otherwise, thanks for the excellent instructions Gradius2and Aviko and for the excellent feedback I've gotten here. You guys did a great job of diagnosing the problem and getting a solution for many users!
F3 T>/2
F3 2> Z
Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.154 msecs
(Paper card Removed)
F3 2> U
(Drive begins to emit a quiet Buzzing noise every 4.0 seconds. Seven Minutes later..)
Error 1009 DETSEC 00006008
Spin Error
Elapsed Time 7 mins 27 secs
R/W Status 2 R/W Error 84150180
It is repeatable everytime. I have:
1) Isolated both connectors
2) Cleaned both board contact pads and connection points
3) Tried both level 2 and 3 spin down
4) Read every post in 59 pages!
Nothing changed the symptoms. If anyone knows of any solution, I welcome the feedback. Otherwise, thanks for the excellent instructions Gradius2and Aviko and for the excellent feedback I've gotten here. You guys did a great job of diagnosing the problem and getting a solution for many users!
#1174
Posted 15 April 2009 - 07:42 AM
Can anybody confirm that Seagate does the free data rescue?
I can't do the tutorial here, I would ruin the drive and lose my things forever.
I can't do the tutorial here, I would ruin the drive and lose my things forever.
#1175
Posted 15 April 2009 - 11:25 AM
Annihilator: I have been around and around with Seagate all day. They will NOT recover my data, but it is because I have the SD14 firmware in my ST31000340AS. They are willing to replace the drive, but no repair or data recovery (my error: for $2900 they will recover the data). So forgive me if I'm a bit pi***d off at a company with a known design defect that refuses to assist their customers. Needless to say this is my LAST seagate pos. Having said this, you may want to call them. I got the impression that if my firmware was SD15 they might have worked with me. Also call their data recovery company and they may be able to handle it for you. Good luck!
#1176
Posted 15 April 2009 - 11:53 AM
Oh s***. Thats no good news. I have SD15 tho.
And they are not even replying me! I sent them an email 3 days ago, and another one today, and the support doesnt reply.
And they are not even replying me! I sent them an email 3 days ago, and another one today, and the support doesnt reply.
#1177
Posted 15 April 2009 - 12:01 PM
Gradius2, on Jan 20 2009, 05:45 PM, said:
Ok, the drives are 100%. 
I didn't loss anything, it went back to it were before BSY error (and I almost had a heart attack!).
This is a direct guide for BSY error, for details and more, check the 1st msg on this topic.
I didn't loss anything, it went back to it were before BSY error (and I almost had a heart attack!).
This is a direct guide for BSY error, for details and more, check the 1st msg on this topic.
Can you repost pics from your post about repairing seagate, due to deleted from original location ?
I mean this thread:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...8807&st=100
and this pics
http://www.digitalan...r/sea/fix01.jpg
http://www.digitalan...r/sea/fix02.jpg
http://www.digitalan...r/sea/fix03.jpg
http://www.digitalan...r/sea/fix04.jpg
http://www.digitalan...r/sea/fix05.jpg
Thank you!
#1178
Posted 15 April 2009 - 08:56 PM
Guys, I have an odd solution for probably only some of you, but if you have SD14 firmware (and my drive is the ST31000340AS) and experienced the problem of the drive not being recognized by the BIOS, Seagate is going to do nothing to help you. My problem was identical to the BSY problem everyone else is experiencing, however the fix did not work for me. I could spin down the drive but not spin it up again. It would quietly buzz for about 7 minutes then display a read/write error (see about 3 posts back for a detailed failure). At any rate, after being quoted $2900 by Seagate to recover my data, and having tried every solution I have seen on the board, I finally was able to get my drive to boot up and I am now happily copying files to a different drive! Here is the process (and please do not laugh: desperate times breed desperate measures).
1. Remove your hard drive from the computer.
2. Place it in an antistatic bag.
3. Place the drive and antistatic bag into a large ziplock bag and seal it.
4. Place the drive in the freezer (yes, the refrigerator freezer) for 2-3 hours.
5. Remove the drive and quickly install it in your computer.
6. Turn the computer on to boot like normal (assuming this is your boot drive of course).
7. If you are lucky, yours will boot just like mine did!
8. Wasting no time, copy your files to another drive.
9. Remove the POS Seagate and burn it at an alter (not required step).
I know it sounds crazy but it worked for me. Muskieratboi (page 46) and a few others that had the same symptoms I did, you may be experiencing another problem. What does it hurt to try? Freeze that mofo and give it a whirl. After freezing, just install the drive and try to use it. I would not waste time trying to go through the repair process (not that it is a waste of time, I just do not know how long the frozen drive will stay in a working state.)
BTW, I cannot take credit for this fix. There was a quick post earlier by someone that did this and it worked for them. I blew past it then thinking it was a fluke, but hey! It worked!
1. Remove your hard drive from the computer.
2. Place it in an antistatic bag.
3. Place the drive and antistatic bag into a large ziplock bag and seal it.
4. Place the drive in the freezer (yes, the refrigerator freezer) for 2-3 hours.
5. Remove the drive and quickly install it in your computer.
6. Turn the computer on to boot like normal (assuming this is your boot drive of course).
7. If you are lucky, yours will boot just like mine did!
8. Wasting no time, copy your files to another drive.
9. Remove the POS Seagate and burn it at an alter (not required step).
I know it sounds crazy but it worked for me. Muskieratboi (page 46) and a few others that had the same symptoms I did, you may be experiencing another problem. What does it hurt to try? Freeze that mofo and give it a whirl. After freezing, just install the drive and try to use it. I would not waste time trying to go through the repair process (not that it is a waste of time, I just do not know how long the frozen drive will stay in a working state.)
BTW, I cannot take credit for this fix. There was a quick post earlier by someone that did this and it worked for them. I blew past it then thinking it was a fluke, but hey! It worked!
#1179
Posted 16 April 2009 - 03:49 AM
The thing with the freezer only works (sometimes) when you have physical damage I believe, but it won't help you with a software problem. Also you have only one try, because when it unfreezes, water will get in and your drive is gone. So be careful with that.
#1180
Posted 16 April 2009 - 04:01 AM
Good point Annihilator, and maybe I should have been more clear that I would do this only as a last resort and in a desperate attempt to get your data. My POS drive is going to be replaced by Seagate then thrown in the garbage. I have no long term plans for the drive, so condensation was not an issue for me. I'm still bitter with the way Seagate handled this situation, so Hitachi gets my business next. Also, my company manufactures a product that uses a HDD and guess what I found out yesterday? We had just switched to Seagate drives!!! I sat down with the Engineers and Product Managers and showed them the printouts of Seagate's TS response and took them to some forums of Seagate users: needless to say all product shipments are on hold pending a new drive being spec'd in. I cannot do business with a company that has proven to be unwilling to do the right thing by their customers, even if the company has a good name for products overall. Sorry to digress but like I said I am still a little bitter.
