[Phaenius]

Jaclaz, a bit of a help pls. And please with sugar and cherry on top. I am stuck at one point. I did everything fine, but after I pulled the card and disconnected the HDD, when I reconnected the power, after I press CTRL-Z, I can't get to F3 T> It stays at F3 >1 What shall I do ? I am sure I did everything right so far. Everything went fine up until this point. Shall I close and re-open the terminal ?

OK, It seems my Hyperterminal froze when I disconnected power and reconnected. I had to close it and now it says it can't connect, since another program is using it ? What shall I do now ? Thanks.

Even further edit: I know I am annoying, but that is the least of my intentions. I read and applied the steps, but HyperTerminal freezing was not in it. I disconnected the cables, reconnected and now hyperterminal is responding. Shall I apply now the last command ? (m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22) Now I am at F3 T> Again, thanks.

Last edit: IT WORKED ! I'm a happy bunny ! Hyperterminal froze after disconnected the SATA power and reconnected, I had to remove the cable from the computer and reinsert it, then apply the last command. Now, come to think of it, I don't know how on other people hyperterminal keeps connection after removing power and re-apply it. When HDD loses power, connection to hyperterminal shouldn't be lost ?

Anyway, thanks guys and especially jaclaz ! One HDD down, one more to go.

This post has been edited by Phaenius: 28 October 2012 - 09:13 AM

[jaclaz]

Phaenius, on 28 October 2012 - 08:23 AM, said:

Last edit: IT WORKED ! I'm a happy bunny !

Good .

Just in case :

Ray Bradbury said:

Life is "trying things to see if they work".

You were a bit over-cautious, but I am happy to know that everything went well .
Three notable differences between the "canonical way" and the setup you have are:

• Windows 7 instead of XP or 2K
  
• Using XP hyperterminal on Windows 7
  
• USB to TTL instead of RS232 to TTL (hence the use of a driver to create a "virtual" COM port)

it is likely that the "disconnection issue" is related to the last one .

jaclaz

[Phaenius]

Could be. I tried putty, but it's sooooo complicated, I didn't understand a thing. Windows XP hyperterminal did the job fine. At least there is something you could add to the tutorial. Some may get stuck to the point I have. In this case, they may try disconnecting the USB cable from computer, reinsert it and relaunch hyperterminal. Anyway, I don't know how many 7200.11's with this problem are there anymore. The model is quite old, I bought mine 4 years ago.

[jaclaz]

Phaenius, on 28 October 2012 - 10:32 AM, said:

Could be. I tried putty, but it's sooooo complicated, I didn't understand a thing.

That's strange , probably because most people (and instructions/tutorials about it) use it as a SSH terminal, but using it as a "pure" Serial Terminal is quite straightforward, or at least as straightforward as using Hyperterminal, just in case:
http://www.ciscocons...windows-7.html/

jaclaz

[Phaenius]

OK, I unbricked the second HDD as well. This one was very stubborn, it had different symptoms, different clicks were heard at POST and went longer at last command. But it worked. Thanks again to all the guys helping me, especially jaclaz. Now I am a stereo happy bunny.

[jaclaz]

Phaenius, on 28 October 2012 - 01:33 PM, said:

OK, I unbricked the second HDD as well. This one was very stubborn, it had different symptoms, different clicks were heard at POST and went longer at last command. But it worked. Thanks again to all the guys helping me, especially jaclaz. Now I am a stereo happy bunny.

....and you owe us TWO happy bunny images + one for the initial consultancy fee....



jaclaz

[Phaenius]

Here you go, sorry for the delay.





However, I'll post a sad bunny too, since after I plugged my unbricked discs to my computer, they are not working as intended and I don't know the problem. They are recognized at POST, they are recognized by Windows, the files are there, unaltered, but if I try to use the discs for some times, they just disappear from Windows, along with one DVD-writter, who suffers from the same problem. Could it be the power supply ? Could it be the motherboard ? Before my discs bricked, I had a Fortron 550 W power supply. Then my power supply exploded and I bought (didn't have enough money) a Corsair 430 W power supply. It's not a bad brand, it's 80% efficiency rated, it has PFC active, all-in-all, it's not a piece of junk. I measured the consumption and it gives me 200 W idle and 330 W full power (well inside the 430 W limit). What can it be ? I am a sad bunny again, until I find this problem too. Can MSFN offer support (on different section of the forum) on this issue either ?

[jaclaz]

Phaenius, on 31 October 2012 - 05:18 AM, said:

Here you go, sorry for the delay.

No prob, no time constraints of any kind , nice bunnies.

Phaenius, on 31 October 2012 - 05:18 AM, said:

However, I'll post a sad bunny too, since ....
....
I am a sad bunny again, until I find this problem too.

Phaenius, on 31 October 2012 - 05:18 AM, said:

Can MSFN offer support (on different section of the forum) on this issue either ?

Sure , start a new thread here:
http://www.msfn.org/...rdware-hangout/

jaclaz

[mythtron]

Hi, I have a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (Model #: ST31000340AS, Firmware: SD1A) with the 0 LBA bug.

I have hooked up the HDD to my PC using the TX, RX, and GND terminals of a USB-TTL device that uses the Prolific PL2303HX chip. I believe it works and communicates as it should, as indicated by a TX/RX loopback test. The HDD is powered using another power supply (that is connected in a PC/to a motherboard), and I connect a SATA power cable from that power supply to the HDD, then switch on the power supply and press the "ON" button on the PC to power/spin up the drive.

The command "[Ctrl+z]" works as expected, as I am prompted with "F3 T>". The problem I am having is that the next command -- "m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 [Enter]" -- is taking forever to complete. It has been over 32 hours, and I have not received any prompt indicating the partition regeneration is complete. I am afraid to interrupt the process, since there are many warnings of people saying not to interrupt the partition regeneration process or risk data loss or an unrecoverable bricked HDD.

I read that jclaz instructed another user -- who was also waiting for 2+ hours for the same terminal command to complete -- to wait a little longer, then power off the drive and retry if not fixed. I just want to confirm if I should do the same. If so, should I first close the terminal window, then switch off the power supply, or vice versa (or does it not matter)?

Here is a screenshot of the terminal window that I have been seeing for the past 32 hours:


Can someone advise how I should proceed?

Thanks

[jaclaz]

mythtron, on 02 November 2012 - 08:29 AM, said:

Can someone advise how I should proceed?

In your case you should wait another 12.42 minutes, then re-do from start.
Seriously, there are three possibilities:

• the actual command went through BUT (for *any* reason) there was not feedback of it's execution
  
• the actual command went thorough BUT (for *any* reason) it was not actually executed
  
• the actual command didn't go through (again for *any* reason) and thus wasn't executed

The same "remedy" applies to ALL three, after having waited a "reasonable" amount of time (that in this case means no more than 2 hours, i.e. double what was reported as longest time - which BTW I somehow believe to be a non-that-much-reliable report as the thingy should last at the most a few minutes, ten at the most), stop everything, check if the drive was unbricked, if not, start again from scratch.
To put it more bluntly , the ONLY choice you have is to do the above.

There is no particular "order of operations" for the "shut down", to be on the safe side it is anyway "advised" to:

• close terminal
  
• switch PC off
  
• switch "other" PSU off

then redo in the opposite order (as you already did correctly ):

• switch "other" PSU on
  
• switch PC on
  
• open hyperterminal

jaclaz

[boywondered]

Hello smart people,

I am having a problem that I can't seem to find much/any info on. I followed the steps for the BSY error, and got all the way to the end message. I plugged the drive into a USB cable and it was recognized (Yay!) and I started pulling files off of it. About half way through my computer stopped recognizing the drive, and I could no longer access it.

There are two partitions on the drive, one of them I can get into (with nothing of importance) and the main one I cannot. I get a mix between:

E:\ is not accessible. The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable

and

E:\ Parameter could not be found.

I have tried repeatedly (unsuccessfully) to try to get into it again, but nothing seems to work. Is this a different issue that popped up, or could it be something to do with the firmware issue.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[jaclaz]

boywondered, on 02 November 2012 - 03:39 PM, said:

There are two partitions on the drive, one of them I can get into (with nothing of importance) and the main one I cannot. I get a mix between:

E:\ is not accessible. The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable

and

E:\ Parameter could not be found.

I have tried repeatedly (unsuccessfully) to try to get into it again, but nothing seems to work. Is this a different issue that popped up, or could it be something to do with the firmware issue.

No, this has nothing to do with the bricking or the unbricking, those are related to the device being inaccessible, now you have access to the device (and to one of the structures on it) but not to another structure (partition/volume/filesystem) on it.
This could be caused by a "simple" corruption of the filesystem (or one of the identifiers/indexes) or a physical corruption of some sectors on the device.
Start a new thread, now you are not anymore in the 7200.11 unbricking, but in "generic" data recovery.

jaclaz

[boywondered]

jaclaz, on 03 November 2012 - 04:20 AM, said:

No, this has nothing to do with the bricking or the unbricking, those are related to the device being inaccessible, now you have access to the device (and to one of the structures on it) but not to another structure (partition/volume/filesystem) on it.
This could be caused by a "simple" corruption of the filesystem (or one of the identifiers/indexes) or a physical corruption of some sectors on the device.
Start a new thread, now you are not anymore in the 7200.11 unbricking, but in "generic" data recovery.

jaclaz

Thanks jclaz. This has definitely been a "journey".

[mre142]

I just received my cable and started going through the steps of fixing my drive. I get up to the step where you use N1 to clear the SMART. When I enter that all I receive is Unknown Diag Cmd Failure 12cc4. I have tried researching this issue with no luck. Has anyone experienced this?

[DeejayF]

Hi,

I have a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 in a busy state, and I've followed all the instructions and read through gazillions of pages and tutorials both here and on other locations.
I got the adapter hooked up to a COM1 port on a XP SP3 Laptop.

The communications are all fine and all of the steps are successful until the final step.
Last step would be:

Quote

When the prompt comes back up, turn off power to the hard drive, wait a few seconds, then turn it back on. Wait about 20 seconds, then finally do partition regeneration:

F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter)

Alright so I turn off the power to the harddrive, wait around 60 seconds to power it on but there's no response anymore from the harddrive, meaning the terminal is not responding to any of my commands.

I've tried:
Disconnecting and reconnecting the cables one by one (Serial cable, SATA cable, AC cable, communication cables).
Two different terminals (Putty and Hyperterminal)
I've remade all of the steps around 10 times, but still the same issue.

Everytime I disconnect the power of the harddrive (Removing the SATA cable and putting it back in after 60 seconds) I lose connection.
Loopback test is successful and rest of the communication is good.
it's just the final step that I can't get to.

I've seen people having problems with NOT powering off the HDD before executing the last step so that's not something I would like to do.

What do you recommend on doing? What is most likely the issue here? As all communication is working until I reconnect the HDD I wouldn't suspect anything wrong with the communication.
Is my controller card faulty? Is the header faulty? Am I doing something wrong in the steps?
This is my second day of trying to solve this and I'm running out of patience. If anyone has an idea or a some simple tips it would be MUCH appreciated.

Thanks,
DeejayF

This post has been edited by DeejayF: 13 December 2012 - 01:32 AM

[jaclaz]

I don't get it.

You do some of the steps, then it comes the (optional) powering down.
You unplug the power SATA connector.
Wait 60 seconds (roughly).
You re-plug the power.
Then you do ctrl+Z and you do not re-access the interface? <- maybe this is the step you are missing?

A communication session is initiated by the ctrl+Z, of course since you powered down the disk the previous session is lost.

If you read the recommended guide, here:
http://www.mapleleaf...agatebrick.html

Quote

Which will simply return the level one prompt

F3 1>

At this point, many say you need to disconnect the SATA power cable from the drive and wait one minute. Yes, count to sixty. Then plug the SATA power cable back into the drive. There is a bit of debate about this step in the forums but that is what I did and it worked fine in my case. *IF and only if* you choose not to disconnect drive power temporarily, you need to at least change back to the test level prompt (type F3 1>/T (enter)) at this point before continuing.

Now back in HyperTerminal, you'll need to hit CTRL-Z to get a fresh prompt

F3 T>

And it's time to regenerate the partitions with the command (notice the lower case here)

F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter) <-------- note, those are 'zeros' not 'ohs', i.e. the digit, not the letter

And now you need to be patient. I have reports of this command taking around sixty seconds (as was my case) and up to ten minutes to execute. It will send back several intermediate messages but will eventually return the following message (with a different time):

this is made clear, the snippet you posted is coming from where? (I know , it comes from here: https://sites.google...ite/seagatefix/ )

As well first post of the present thread specifies how you need to issue the ctrl+Z:

Quote

Power OFF/ON the drive (very important!)

Wait 10 seconds and now Power ON your drive.

Press CTRL+Z on terminal and type:

Partition regeneration:

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

Guess why there is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 READ_ME_FIRST sticky here:
http://www.msfn.org/...-read-me-first/
with a point #3 citing two tutorials (and NOT the one you seemingly are using)?

jaclaz

[DeejayF]

Hello Jaclaz, I really appreciate your fast response.

Yes indeed CTRL+Z would provide me with a new session, but nothing does happen. I cannot reaccess the interface.
I was unable to do anything when re-powering the HDD, as if the terminal hanged.
As said, I've gone through multiple angles when troubleshooting and the exclusion method, testing the cables and power back and forth but I was unable to find a solution.

If you look at my last edit of my troubleshooting you will find that I am now stuck at another problem when trying another controller card.
As the day is leading towards its end I will let this go on through the night and see where it stands tomorrow.

I will continue my path of troubleshooting as well. If you have any other enquires or advice, do not hesitate to write it down here as I will be very active on this thread until I manage to solve this issue.

Thanks,
DeejayF

Edit 1: It seems as if you believe that I've only read through one source of information. As stated in my first post I have indeed read through a large amount of threads/tutorials/posts around here. The reason why I chose mainly the google sites tutorial was because I found it to be most comprehensive.

Edit 2: "optional" powerdown is what you've stated and I've seen stated on multiple instances here. I've also read that if you don't do this powerdown it might result in an eternal wait and loss of data. What information should I go on? If I don't shut it down I will still keep communication although as from I've read on here it might result in data loss. This is the main reason to why I'm here.

This post has been edited by DeejayF: 12 December 2012 - 09:21 AM

[jaclaz]

Well, the power down and then resume with ctrl+Z has worked for at least a few thousands of people, so it is confirmed to work "in most cases".

As a matter of fact this powering down may not be needed as other guides/tutorials/reports do not specify it.

If I gave you the false impression to believe that you had only read through one source of information is because we have two "tutorials" right here, cited in the read me first and you cited the instrctions form a third one, NOT mentoned there.
It was not a false impression, I actually had it and you did everything in your powers to convey it.

It makes no sense (unless *something* else occurred to that disk - i.e. it is not in a "pure" BSY state - or during your previous attempts *something* changed) that you have different behaviour while using a different "controller card" (what do you mean exactly with "controller card"? and with "changing it"? )

jaclaz

[DeejayF]

Alright so now I am back from yesterday.
New update:

Did all the steps needed except for the "optional powering down".
This has been stuck here for the last 14 hours.

Quote

F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22

Following the tutorials did not help me unfortunately.
As you mentioned "jaclaz", it might be some other "unknown" error as well.

Update 2:
Alright we had another HDD with the BSY error. Following the tutorials and all I managed to solve the issue within 10 minutes with a successful outcome.
So there is most certainly some other "unknown" error within the original HDD I was testing.

Over and out,
DeejayF

This post has been edited by DeejayF: 13 December 2012 - 03:14 AM

[jaclaz]

What you may want to try on the "problematic" hard disk is inserting a F712 sequence.
WARNING
I have NO idea if it is "appropriate" for the situation that hard disk is and never like in this case "no guarantee of any kind"
WARNING
See:
http://forum.hddguru...ize-t11040.html
This post:
http://forum.hddguru...80.html#p131011

TO ALL:
this is NOT "recommended" it is NOT part of the "standard" unbricking procedure, it is normally NOT needed and should NOT be attempted if not as a "last resort", when the "normal" commands in the tutorials fail!

jaclaz