[fatlip]

Some people have been wondering if their drive is actually suffering from the "BUSY" state problem that causes the drive not to be detected in the BIOS.

There should be ZERO risk to your drive doing this as long as you follow the instructions!
!!!!!Victoria is a powerful program, so do not mess around with any options other than specified, unless you really know what you are doing!!!!!

Here is a quick and dirty guide to check if this is in fact, what has happened to your drive;

What you need:
1)- a functioning computer running Windows XP/2K/2003 (not sure if it works on Vista)
2)- your "suspect" hard drive installed and hooked up to a SATA port in your PC
3)- WinRar, or another program that can extract RAR files
4)- Download this software - Victoria for Windows
5)- Extract the rar file to a location you can remember "C:\Temp or C:\Victoria"
6)- Go to the folder and execute the the "Victoria43.exe" file

7)- Now you will see the opening screen:



8)- Next you need to switch the program to PIO mode in the top right



9)- Now click the PCI Scan button


10)- You will see a list of drives listed; hopefully your bricked drive will be obvious, but go down the list and when you select the suspect drive, you will see this at the bottom:


I hope this helps some of you actually diagnose the problem instead of "guessing".

Fatlip

Addendum: I have seen drives that show as BUSY that have other issues beyond just being stuck in this state! It is a start, but not a "Be all end all" determination if you have a bricked drive.

This post has been edited by fatlip: 04 February 2009 - 08:12 PM

[msfn00]

Yes, I was seeing the green BUSY button when i connected the defective SATA hdd.

This post has been edited by msfn00: 29 January 2009 - 12:10 PM

[poolcarpet]

this will work even if the hard disk is not detected in BIOS???

--> Ok, I just tried. Mine's not showing up in BIOS and it's showing BUSY as well in this victoria utility, and DRDY and DRSC is lighted up too (BLUE).

I tried without the faulty disk connected and I don't see any of the BUSY status lighted up.

This post has been edited by poolcarpet: 30 January 2009 - 02:05 AM

[fatlip]

This does a scan of connected devices regardless of BIOS status.

I should point out that other lights at the bottom can be active, but the BUSY light will always stay BUSY!

poolcarpet, on Jan 30 2009, 12:39 AM, said:

this will work even if the hard disk is not detected in BIOS???

--> Ok, I just tried. Mine's not showing up in BIOS and it's showing BUSY as well in this victoria utility, and DRDY and DRSC is lighted up too (BLUE).

I tried without the faulty disk connected and I don't see any of the BUSY status lighted up.

[tontano68]

Seeing as I have only one hard drive (Seagate), how would thew Victoria for does work? Is it self-bootable?

[poolcarpet]

borrow a friend's pc and connect your hard disk to that pc and test with victoria.

alternatively, get the rs232 connections and connect to the hard disk and check via the serial connection.

tontano68, on Jan 30 2009, 10:56 PM, said:

Seeing as I have only one hard drive (Seagate), how would thew Victoria for does work? Is it self-bootable?

[PoTTeRKaTz]

I tried this program victoria but avg reports it as a trojan.
beware

[puntoMX]

That could be correct, this program isn't your average home-brew-garden-tool, so it might trigger an AV program with a falls alarm. Don´t worry about that but you are right to keep your eyes open .

[PoTTeRKaTz]

puntoMX, on Feb 5 2009, 05:15 PM, said:

That could be correct, this program isn't your average home-brew-garden-tool, so it might trigger an AV program with a falls alarm. Don´t worry about that but you are right to keep your eyes open .

ok. i deactivated the AV and checked the drive. loaded up winxp and then connected the sata drive. it isnt seen by windows or by victoria.
can i still fix it by the datacable method??
the drive spins up and i can hear it. when i plug it in nothing happens. not seen in bios also.
Maxtor Diamond Max 22 500gb firmware cant update from MX15

[idbirch2]

OK, so once we've established we have this problem, is there a way to fix it or do I have to send it off to Seagate?

[Annihilator]

I tried this with my defective drive not connected and it still says BUSY on port 170h. What the hell is this? The drive i am running this from is a working seagate. What am I doing wrong? Why does it show BUSY even tho the bricked drive isnt connected?

Picture:

This post has been edited by Annihilator: 17 April 2009 - 11:30 AM

[dreamerate]

Good software! Thanks for your sharing!

[chemag]

Does each drive have two lines in Victoria panel? I have one SATA drive that works Ok, and another a ST1000340AS that was in an external USB IOMEGA Desktop drive. This drive has not been recognized some days ago. I have taken the drive and connected it to a SATA connexion but was not detected by BIOS. I have run Victoria but I have the same result connected it or not. I think that it is not detected by Victoria, isn't?

In this conditions, is there any chance to recover the data following the instructions in the previous threads?

PD: I have tried to attach a capture but I have not able to.

[jpk]

Hi all

I think I have a case of "bsy" state with my st31000333as. Although Seagate told me it was not the case according to the S/N, I doubt it, specialy after having read the very detailled threads about this issue. And I have the same symptoms as a member here who could save his drive by using the described fix in this forum.

I therefore downloaded the latest victoria (4.46 for win) and tried to verify according to these instructions. I'm using windows 7 and victoria seems to work OK with administrator rights. But it does not see the affected drive .... It sees the non-affected system drive though (2 lines in victoria for this drive) .... Can some one give me a hint please (FYI I've used version 4.3 also for victoria with same effects)

Thanks in advance

JP

[pedrojpz]

When I connect my defective unit (ST31000333AS) my computer waits forever in the POST message "Detecting IDE drives..." so... How can I do the test? I know I could "hot plug" the drive after computer start (when Windows has already loaded) but I did break other motherboard sometime ago doing this...

My drive spins up, then does some head movement noise (clicks), then spins down and then back to the beginning, spins up again... and this happens over and over again and the unit is not recognized by bios, it does not pass from POST... Is this the famous firmware issue?

Regards.

[Kai-Pirinha]

Does not work with windows 7: its complaining about a missing driver and can't be switcht to PIO mode
i also tried starting Victoria in Windows XP Mode (Virtual PC under Win7): first it worked but showed virtual devices only. next session it didn't start up any more for unknown reason.
(i tried everything with Win7 Ultimate 64Bit)

Fatlips post is almost one year old so i have two questions:
is there a newer tool available that will work with Vista/Win7
Victoria is one example for tools that can find a hard drive not detected by bios. Is it still impossible to update the firmware without a self-build interface?

[jaclaz]

Kai-Pirinha, on Jan 21 2010, 05:03 PM, said:

Does not work with windows 7: its complaining about a missing driver and can't be switcht to PIO mode
i also tried starting Victoria in Windows XP Mode (Virtual PC under Win7): first it worked but showed virtual devices only. next session it didn't start up any more for unknown reason.
(i tried everything with Win7 Ultimate 64Bit)

Really?

fatlip, on Jan 29 2009, 01:11 AM, said:

....
What you need:
1)- a functioning computer running Windows XP/2K/2003 (not sure if it works on Vista)
....

Kai-Pirinha, on Jan 21 2010, 05:03 PM, said:

Fatlips post is almost one year old so i have two questions:
is there a newer tool available that will work with Vista/Win7
Victoria is one example for tools that can find a hard drive not detected by bios. Is it still impossible to update the firmware without a self-build interface?

I don't think the actual problem is Victoria, but rather Windows 7 that has some limits when it comes to "low-level" access.
You would save lots of time if you could borrow a "normal" XP running PC from a friend or the like.
You must understand that this whole "business" of bricked drives has some aspects of "magic" or "hidden secrets", the less variations you introduce, the more the probability that the "spell" works.

You do not need a "self built" interface, you can buy a "real" interface or use a TTL USB cable like the Nokia CA-42.
The main thread:
http://www.msfn.org/...17-t128807.html
is full of examples on where to find both a "real" converter and how to check/connect several models of "Nokia" cables.

If, from your other post:
http://www.msfn.org/board/seagate-barracud...-page-1180.html
yuor BIOS does not detect the drive it may be a BSY state one.

In any case, you need NO firmware update, or at least not for recovering data, the firmware upgrade is useful to avoid that after another 320 log entries the drive re-locks itself, and is actually STRONGLY advised NOT to attempt a firmware upgrade before having a safe backup opf the data.

You can try UNbricking the drive allright, in the worst case it won't work (because the problem is a faulty PCB), but in any case (unless of course you "fry" it with overvoltage or shortcircuits), NOTHING will happen to your data (meaning that a data recovery company will nonetheless be able to retrieve it), as well switching PCB's with another drive is NOT advised. (and since you need one exactly of the SAME series it is not even easy to put in practice, as finding a compatible donour might become a nightmare).

Check also the CarterinCanada guide:
http://www.mapleleaf...agatebrick.html
and this one:
http://sites.google....seagatefix/Home

they are both extremely clear, besides the "main" thread.

jaclaz

[BetKing]

Have a look at my result. Only finding 2 entries. Does that mean my disk can't be found?

 vic43.jpg (101K)
Number of downloads: 33

[BetKing]

Anyone?

[nexus01]

is there any tool or method to really confirm a LBA 0 error too ??