[ElectroGeeza]

By the way...

Is any of you guys interested in a new re-written recovery guide for this BSY (or LBA=0) error?

I had started to write one on my own, but I stopped when I found Brad Garcia's guide because he had already taken many of my original ideas for it. But he's is much shorter then mine. I still have this 30 611 byte of text on the computer, and if anyone is interested I would try to finish it and publish it as a new thread here at MSFN. I have also documented every step of my own recovery work so I'm sure it could be a pretty nice guide with lots of pictures. I won't work on it if there is no interest for it thou.

As someone already noted before me, it's interesting to see that this thread is still very active and people are reading it and posting new messages in it. I think that has to do mostly because of the "black cloud of confusion" as I recall referring to it in an previous post. There are many confusions surrounding this topic and this specific thread in particular. I would try to shed some light on those. I think it's senseless to continue on to post in this same thread. It's 60 pages for God sake! Who will ever read it in full? That's another reason why there are so many messages and posts in it.

Well, tell me what you think about it.

[faxizel]

GREAT SUCCESS!

It's my time to contribute a little, with a solution for those with CA-42 cables that are not detected by Windows XP...

I bought a CA-42 cable at a Nokia store. It cost me 51 euros... It's the same price as in the website (for Portuguese customers), and it might sound expensive, but I thought it was cheap cause all I wanted was my data back. And I had already spent more than one hundred euros on the phone, waiting to yell to some Seagate representative.

Anyway, I got home, connected the cable to a Windows XP machine and... nothing. I installed the driver, and still nothing. I connected a Nokia 6070 to it, and it was detected. Obviously the cable was getting power from the cellphone, so what I did was cut the cable, use the TX and RX wires to connect to the hard drive (a DiamondMax 22) and re-connect all the other wires to the plug and connect it to the cellphone (a 3v battery should work too, but I thought that using the cellphone in the setup would look more interesting ). Picture of the setup here:

link

I followed the steps in this guide and my drive was up and running in 2 minutes.


Now I'm trying to find the firmware update, because the ticking bomb is still inside the drive... However, when I try to get it from Seagate's website, all I get is an ISO with a DriveDetect.exe file inside. What else could I expect from this amazing company... I bought a Seagate drive because I was tired of Samsung drives crashing... Never again!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread!
I am currently in Portugal. If you're close by, I may be able to help you.


PS. I find it really unbelievable to know that Seagate is aware that thousands of customers are currently using a drive that will sooner or latter become unusable, and yet they act like it's a minor issue... And they even screw up the firmware release... **** THEM!

This post has been edited by faxizel: 24 April 2009 - 07:18 AM

[santropez]

>>Is any of you guys interested in a new re-written recovery guide for this BSY (or LBA=0) error?<<

I think this would be very valuable. You could also include all of the mis-information that people should avoid. (like where to stick the card stock under the PCB)

Also, pictures are very useful. The more info (better info) that is out there, the less confusion people will have.

[raulpuro]

Hola estoy intentado arreglar el disco con el cable dku5 pero me da error en el puerto aparentemente los driver estan bien instalados.

Hi i'm used dku-5 for nokia but fails in port com3



Esta configurado de la siguiente manera en el hyperTerminal



El administrador de dispositivos parece que esta bien.



My english is very poor, sorry

Gracias.

[chandragor]

faxizel, on Apr 24 2009, 01:56 AM, said:

... However, when I try to get it from Seagate's website, all I get is an ISO with a DriveDetect.exe file inside. What else could I expect from this amazing company...

The ISO image is a bootable one. Once you write it on a CD you can boot from it, and all the code which updates the firmware is in the bootable part which is invisible in Windows (or in any other OS), unless you use a specific application like WinISO or similar.

The firmware update must be done at the lowest level possible of OS (read "good ol' DOS" ), thus the necessity to have a bootable CD image.

This post has been edited by chandragor: 24 April 2009 - 07:01 AM

[faxizel]

chandragor, on Apr 24 2009, 01:58 PM, said:

faxizel, on Apr 24 2009, 01:56 AM, said:

... However, when I try to get it from Seagate's website, all I get is an ISO with a DriveDetect.exe file inside. What else could I expect from this amazing company...

The ISO image is a bootable one. Once you write it on a CD you can boot from it, and all the code which updates the firmware is in the bootable part which is invisible in Windows (or in any other OS), unless you use a specific application like WinISO or similar.

The firmware update must be done at the lowest level possible of OS (read "good ol' DOS" ), thus the necessity to have a bootable CD image.

hummm, interesting. I mounted the ISO but could only see 2 files (readme and the detectdrive.exe)... I'll try burning it then... Thanks!

Did anyone experience problems with the firmware update? Possible data loss?

[CarterInCanada]

Hullo folks out there in bricked drive land!

Just reporting another success in the method for a pair of 1TB (ST31000340AS) drives. I've read most of the various threads on the net and managed to muddle through with a mix of them all. For those of you that may be a bit less technical (I'm not far behind you), I detailed my procedure in simpler terms for a friend in the same boat down in the States who was terrified of the whole process. It wasn't the cheapest or easiest path and probably took a few extra steps/parts but I do think it simplifed (and filtered) a lot of the other instructions out there for some of the technically challenged (which as I say, I'm not far behind). If you'd like to peer at my method and results, you can do so at http://www.mapleleaf...agatebrick.html , the page I created on my own site. (I promise, nothing is for sale there) There's a whole new crop of pictures and yet another digest of the instructions. I'll keep it up as long as the bandwidth doesn't go nuts.

Thanks to everyone here that helped me understand and get my drives back. Cheers!

- Carter

[jaclaz]

faxizel, on Apr 24 2009, 03:15 PM, said:

hummm, interesting. I mounted the ISO but could only see 2 files (readme and the detectdrive.exe)... I'll try burning it then... Thanks!

Next time, open the .iso with 7-zip and check the contents of the [BOOT] folder you will see.

CarterInCanada, on Apr 24 2009, 03:30 PM, said:

If you'd like to peer at my method and results, you can do so at http://www.mapleleaf...agatebrick.html , the page I created on my own site.

Thanks for making that page.

Besides being very clear, I like the use of large, friendly letters.

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 24 April 2009 - 07:58 AM

[CarterInCanada]

If we're anything here in Canada, it's large and friendly...wait, that didn't come out right.

Glad it helped. I'm waiting to hear back from my technically challenged friend in the States to see if it works for her drive. Stay tuned.

Cheers,

CinC

[ElectroGeeza]

faxizel, on Apr 24 2009, 02:56 AM, said:

GREAT SUCCESS!

[...]

Now I'm trying to find the firmware update, because the ticking bomb is still inside the drive... However, when I try to get it from Seagate's website, all I get is an ISO with a DriveDetect.exe file inside. What else could I expect from this amazing company... I bought a Seagate drive because I was tired of Samsung drives crashing... Never again!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread!
I am currently in Portugal. If you're close by, I may be able to help you.


PS. I find it really unbelievable to know that Seagate is aware that thousands of customers are currently using a drive that will sooner or latter become unusable, and yet they act like it's a minor issue... And they even screw up the firmware release... **** THEM!

Other users have reported the same thing, and I can confirm that as well. This is normal that you can't see anything else in that ISO file. If you look at the total size of that ISO file and compare it to those files you can find in it, you will understand that the total size for the ISO file is bigger then for the total size of those files you found in it. It's a simple thing you can do without any special software, and it shows that there are system files that you can not see in Windows Explorer or any other file manager software. However if you do want to see the whole content of the ISO file in Windows or other OS you will have to open it with the special software for it like ISO Buster, Power ISO, Magic ISO, or Ultra ISO.

Anyway, you don't need to actually "see" the whole content of the ISO file to "believe" that they are there. Boy, this sounds like a religious thing. Just burn the **** ISO to a CD-R or CD-RW and you are ready to go. Never burned an ISO image file to a CD? Don't worry, it's easy. There are lot of CD/DVD authoring software out there that support it. Among others, Nero Burning ROM supports burning ISO files to disc. But if you don't have Nero that's fine too because there are a lot of free software you can use. I don't have Nero either. It's true that I am an old Nero user, but I don't use Nero anymore, I stopped using it like two years ago because it just feels too much of a bloatware now. For burning image files like ISO I use ImgBurn which is my favorite right now. It's really easy to use and works flawlessly, and at top of all it's freeware! I just burned the Firmware ISO for my Seagate Barracuda two days ago by using ImgBurn, and then I successfully upgraded the FW on it from version SD15 to SD1A.

If you need any help burning the ISO to CD I can help, so please write your questions.

If you do have Nero and feel more comfortable with using Nero instead, then you can find a short guide on Seagate's website on how to use Nero to burn an ISO file. The link to that Web page is located on the same page where you find the Firmware download link for your drive. I don't know how you missed it, it should be a link to it there. I think this is that link: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...&NewLang=en

If you need any help with the Firmware (FW) upgrade procedure I can help you, so please write your questions about that as well.

On the same Web page where you download the Firmware ISO file, you can find another link which tells you how to upgrade the FW eventually, after burning the ISO of it to a CD. Here is that link: http://support.seagate.com/firmware/firmwa..._procedure.html

The bottom line is...
It's normal if you can't see all the files in the ISO file in your file manager. This is because it's a bootable CD.

The Firmware ISO you have downloaded is not corrupted, so there is nothing to be worried or amazed about it. You just need to burn it to a CD. Please note that you have to use the appropriate "image file burning" functionality of your CD authoring software, so you can't just drag and drop the file to a new CD compilation.

You can in fact use DVD discs as well as CD, it shouldn't be a problem there. But I would stick to the original idea and use a CD, just in case. I had few CD-RW at home so I took one of them and burned the Firmware ISO file to it with ImgBurn.

After you have the burned the Firmware ISO file to a CD successfully, you will need to boot from it. So put that CD (or DVD) into the computer on which you have connected the Barracuda disk drive, and power it on, or restart it if it's already on. If the CD doesn't load you may need to configure boot sequence order for your computer in BIOS. If you don't know how, let me know, I can help you with that. But before you do the FW upgrade, please make sure to disconnect all the other disk drives in the computer except for the ODD (CD-ROM) which you will use to read the CD and the Barracuda drive of course onto which you will load the new FW.

If you have any questions please ask. I will do my best to answer it.

As of Seagate and this disaster (not a minor problem), I have already said what I think about it in my previous posts so I won't spend any more of my time spitting at them. What frightens me now is that there are still disk drives in circulation on the market of this same disk drive family and Firmware version that have been affected by this problem (not all are affected). So you can still run into one of these bad drives today. Seagate didn't do any product draw backs even after realizing the problem. They still sell these bricks! That's even worse then the initial problem with the disk drives to begin with!

santropez, on Apr 24 2009, 03:08 AM, said:

>>Is any of you guys interested in a new re-written recovery guide for this BSY (or LBA=0) error?<<

I think this would be very valuable. You could also include all of the mis-information that people should avoid. (like where to stick the card stock under the PCB)

Also, pictures are very useful. The more info (better info) that is out there, the less confusion people will have.

Alright then, it's set now, I will continue to write it. Unlike Gradius I will be glad to hear your feedback on it so I can improve it. I really don't want to compete with Gradius, I just want to publish a complete and understandable guide which even those less technically minded could have use of. And I don't want it to be just "my" guide, I accept any body's contributions to it.

I will publish it as a new thread here at MSFN as soon as possible.

This is the least thing I can do to show my appreciation and to help others who are new to this problem and feel lost in the methods and approaches discussed in this thread.

raulpuro, on Apr 24 2009, 02:14 PM, said:

Hola estoy intentado arreglar el disco con el cable dku5 pero me da error en el puerto aparentemente los driver estan bien instalados.

Hi i'm used dku-5 for nokia but fails in port com3



Esta configurado de la siguiente manera en el hyperTerminal



El administrador de dispositivos parece que esta bien.



My english is very poor, sorry

Gracias.

I'm sorry but I don't understand Spanish. I understand that you are using a DKU-5 data cable for Nokia cell phones. But you will need to give me some more details if I'm going to be of any help to you.

Do you have a physical COM (RS232 - serial) port on your computer?

If not, are you using a USB to RS232 converter cable?

If so, did you install the drivers for it?

What's the make and model of the USB to RS232 adapter cable?

What version of Windows are you using?

It you do have a physical COM (RS232) port on your computer, do you have only one?

If you have several COM ports, did you try to connect the DKU-5 through the second or first COM port (you say you tried COM three)?

Are you sure your cable is a DKU-5? It must be a CA-42 or DKU-5. If it's a DKU-2 or CA-53 or CA-70 it won't work.

What happens if you connect the DKU-5 to a USB port? Does Windows tell you it's installing drivers or asks you to install drivers?

chandragor, on Apr 24 2009, 02:58 PM, said:

faxizel, on Apr 24 2009, 01:56 AM, said:

... However, when I try to get it from Seagate's website, all I get is an ISO with a DriveDetect.exe file inside. What else could I expect from this amazing company...

The ISO image is a bootable one. Once you write it on a CD you can boot from it, and all the code which updates the firmware is in the bootable part which is invisible in Windows (or in any other OS), unless you use a specific application like WinISO or similar.

The firmware update must be done at the lowest level possible of OS (read "good ol' DOS" ), thus the necessity to have a bootable CD image.

Correct!

faxizel, on Apr 24 2009, 03:15 PM, said:

chandragor, on Apr 24 2009, 01:58 PM, said:

faxizel, on Apr 24 2009, 01:56 AM, said:

... However, when I try to get it from Seagate's website, all I get is an ISO with a DriveDetect.exe file inside. What else could I expect from this amazing company...

The ISO image is a bootable one. Once you write it on a CD you can boot from it, and all the code which updates the firmware is in the bootable part which is invisible in Windows (or in any other OS), unless you use a specific application like WinISO or similar.

The firmware update must be done at the lowest level possible of OS (read "good ol' DOS" ), thus the necessity to have a bootable CD image.

hummm, interesting. I mounted the ISO but could only see 2 files (readme and the detectdrive.exe)... I'll try burning it then... Thanks!

Did anyone experience problems with the firmware update? Possible data loss?

What CD/DVD emulator are you using to mount the ISO? I'm just curious...

You have to burn them!

Even if you manage to see the "hidden" system files, you will still need to burn that ISO file to a CD in order to use it to upgrade the Firmware on your disk drive, just as I explained to you above. It's not like you can upgrade the Firmware from within Windows, and even if this was possible it would be so much more risky. I remember reading quite recently about Asus users who bricked their Asus motherboards when they tried to upgrade their BIOS version by using the BIOS upgrade utility software for Windows made by Asus. So for these types of applications like when upgrading Firmware or BIOS on your computer it's better to use DOS type of software at boot point. That's why Seagate is doing exactly that, so that's at least one good thing from Seagate's part.

As I wrote above, I upgraded the Firmware on my Barracuda two days ago. I downloaded the Firmware ISO, and then burned it to a CD-RW by using ImgBurn. Then I powered off the computer and disconnected every other HDD and external peripheral devices except the affected Barracuda HDD, the ODD (CD-ROM) and the mouse and keyboard. Then I powered it on again, the Firmware upgrade utility loads, then I upgrade the firmware for my HDD. After upgrading the Firmware the new version is SD1A while the old one was SD15, so it's a successful upgrade. No data was affected by the upgrade. All thou I did backup the most important files from this HDD before upgrading the FW on it.

CarterInCanada, on Apr 24 2009, 03:30 PM, said:

Hullo folks out there in bricked drive land!

Just reporting another success in the method for a pair of 1TB (ST31000340AS) drives. I've read most of the various threads on the net and managed to muddle through with a mix of them all. For those of you that may be a bit less technical (I'm not far behind you), I detailed my procedure in simpler terms for a friend in the same boat down in the States who was terrified of the whole process. It wasn't the cheapest or easiest path and probably took a few extra steps/parts but I do think it simplifed (and filtered) a lot of the other instructions out there for some of the technically challenged (which as I say, I'm not far behind). If you'd like to peer at my method and results, you can do so at http://www.mapleleaf...agatebrick.html , the page I created on my own site. (I promise, nothing is for sale there) There's a whole new crop of pictures and yet another digest of the instructions. I'll keep it up as long as the bandwidth doesn't go nuts.

Thanks to everyone here that helped me understand and get my drives back. Cheers!

- Carter

Nice pictures!

I specially like the one on top - HDD equal brick!



You should have added the Seagate logo to the HDD.

[jaclaz]

ElectroGeeza, on Apr 24 2009, 07:28 PM, said:

However if you do want to see the whole content of the ISO file in Windows or other OS you will have to open it with the special software for it like ISO Buster, Power ISO, Magic ISO, or Ultra ISO.

Or, as said two posts before, with "normal" Freeware 7-zip.

jaclaz

[raulpuro]

Thanks ElectroGeeza this problem is Fixed, but I have another.

no access to hard disk LED:000000CC FAddr:0024A051

After you have connected the power to the circuit board, press CTRL+Z in your HyperTerminal session. You should now see a prompt like this:
CODEF3 T>

If you do not see this prompt, check your RS-232 connections to the drive. (you may have the TX and RX flipped).

Now we'll need to access the Level 2, type:
CODEF3 T>/2 (enter)

F3 2>

And type (to spind down the motor):
CODEF3 2>Z (enter)

Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.147 msecs (the time will vary here)
F3 2>

So much perfect

But

With the POWER CONNECTED to the PCB board, as well as your TX/RX terminal wires, mount the board back on the HDA case. You must have the power connected when you do this.

Now type (to start the motor):
CODEF3 2>U (enter)

I can not the HyperTerminal is bloqued I can not write.





Thanks

[ElectroGeeza]

jaclaz, on Apr 24 2009, 07:33 PM, said:

ElectroGeeza, on Apr 24 2009, 07:28 PM, said:

However if you do want to see the whole content of the ISO file in Windows or other OS you will have to open it with the special software for it like ISO Buster, Power ISO, Magic ISO, or Ultra ISO.

Or, as said two posts before, with "normal" Freeware 7-zip.

jaclaz

I was unsure if 7-Zip is able to open ISO files, and if it is able to open ISO files I was still unsure if it can show the hidden boot information. Therefore, I only linked to those software applications for which I know are able to show the boot information.

I love Freeware, especially the good and well supported OSS software. But there are not many options available when it comes to virtual ROM emulators and the software that are able to open and edit image files like those Shareware and Proprietary softwares I listed above. Sure, you can use Daemon Tools as your ROM emulator, but the latest versions are divided into a payed Pro version and a free "Lite" version which by the way feels like bloatware. I am personally using Virtual Clone Drive right now as my favorite virtual ROM. It's freeware, and it includes no unwanted Addware. It doesn't have as many functions as Daemon Tools but it sure works for me.

7-Zip is not just free, it's OSS I think - that is free for real. But are you really sure it supports ISO files? I am personally not using 7-Zip for compressing and decompressing archive files. Instead, I use PeaZip.

raulpuro, on Apr 24 2009, 09:49 PM, said:

Thanks ElectroGeeza this problem is Fixed, but I have another.

no access to hard disk LED:000000CC FAddr:0024A051

After you have connected the power to the circuit board, press CTRL+Z in your HyperTerminal session. You should now see a prompt like this:
CODEF3 T>

If you do not see this prompt, check your RS-232 connections to the drive. (you may have the TX and RX flipped).

Now we'll need to access the Level 2, type:
CODEF3 T>/2 (enter)

F3 2>

And type (to spind down the motor):
CODEF3 2>Z (enter)

Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.147 msecs (the time will vary here)
F3 2>

So much perfect

But

With the POWER CONNECTED to the PCB board, as well as your TX/RX terminal wires, mount the board back on the HDA case. You must have the power connected when you do this.

Now type (to start the motor):
CODEF3 2>U (enter)

I can not the HyperTerminal is bloqued I can not write.





Thanks

Are you following Gradius' guide?

Did you place an insulating material between the 3-pin motor contacts and the PCB?

I need to know how you have set up your hard disk drive and which recovery guide you are using, I need to know if it's Gradius' or Aviko's guide. I have used Aviko's guide. If you are using Gradius' guide you would have to place an insulating material between the 3-pin motor contacts and the PCB. But if you are using Aviko's guide you would have to place an insulating material between the 20-pin magnetic heads contacts and the PCB. I used the latter one, and that's the one I would recommend to you. It is supposed to give the same results but I think the latter approach is a more easy and safer method.

Brad Garcia has written a more clean guide titled "Fixing a Seagate 7200.11 Hard Drive" at Google Sites where he uses Aviko's method. That's the method I have used. The only thing I did differently from Brad's instructions is that in addition to them I used the F712 and the F,,22 command as originally described by Aviko in Post # 513. So you could say that I actually used Aviko's guide. I printed out them both actually.

This post has been edited by ElectroGeeza: 24 April 2009 - 04:08 PM

[Eduardo]

Quote

Is any of you guys interested in a new re-written recovery guide for this BSY (or LBA=0) error?

I´m interested too, thanks. I have already collected all the components (conversor, cables, etc...) but there is so many guides and for a guy not very expert in hardware like me, it´s a delicate job and all help is great. I´ll report if i have success.

[itsarapong]

Thanks to everyone here to give me a gem. I'm use DKU-5 usb with 3 line. I wrote this method in my site in Thailand and credit to this forum already.
Thanks. Thanks. Thanks.

[jaclaz]

ElectroGeeza, on Apr 25 2009, 12:06 AM, said:

I was unsure if 7-Zip is able to open ISO files, and if it is able to open ISO files I was still unsure if it can show the hidden boot information. Therefore, I only linked to those software applications for which I know are able to show the boot information.

I love Freeware, especially the good and well supported OSS software. But there are not many options available when it comes to virtual ROM emulators and the software that are able to open and edit image files like those Shareware and Proprietary softwares I listed above. Sure, you can use Daemon Tools as your ROM emulator, but the latest versions are divided into a payed Pro version and a free "Lite" version which by the way feels like bloatware. I am personally using Virtual Clone Drive right now as my favorite virtual ROM. It's freeware, and it includes no unwanted Addware. It doesn't have as many functions as Daemon Tools but it sure works for me.

7-Zip is not just free, it's OSS I think - that is free for real. But are you really sure it supports ISO files? I am personally not using 7-Zip for compressing and decompressing archive files. Instead, I use PeaZip.

Rest assured , I rarely post incorrect information.



Of course 7-zip IS NOT intended as a "virtual ROM emulators and the software that are able to open and edit image files", but if you just need to extract (or peek at) either the El-Torito floppy Emulation image or to the no-emulation bootsector it's the easiest way.

FYI, check Peazip directories....

Yes, you ALREADY have 7-zip (command line version) on your PC, and you don't even know that!

Peazip is simply a "collection" of various compression/uncompression tools, and while having some nice features is not, like the full 7-zip, also a (dual pane) file-manager.

jaclaz

[asdfasdfasdf]

I can't give this a shot without the images on the tutorial. (BSY problem here)

The author was last online on march... :// If someone "saved" the first page of this thread, please upload it

[pichi]

asdfasdfasdf, on Apr 25 2009, 06:03 PM, said:

I can't give this a shot without the images on the tutorial. (BSY problem here)

The author was last online on march... :// If someone "saved" the first page of this thread, please upload it

I have all.
Don't worry, I will post it early.

Attached File(s)

•  05.jpg (66.66K)
  Number of downloads: 117
•  connector.jpg (30.98K)
  Number of downloads: 121

This post has been edited by pichi: 25 April 2009 - 11:30 AM

[pichi]

More pictures:

Attached File(s)

•  fix04.jpg (141.99K)
  Number of downloads: 143

[pichi]

And more pictures:

Attached File(s)

•  01.jpg (82.39K)
  Number of downloads: 45
•  02.jpg (64.55K)
  Number of downloads: 42