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The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs


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Hey guys!

I just got my RS232 - TTL adapter yesterday. I also got the USB - RS232 adapter cable which seems to be working properly after installing the driver for it (there is continuity and voltage between pin 5 and 3, and the listed device in Device Manager has no exclamation mark). Now, the next thing I would like to do is to perform a loopback test to verify that the RS2323 - TTL adapter works properly as well.

Before you jump on me and telling me that my question has been answered already and that I should read from the beginning of the thread, I can inform you that I have read through exactly all the posts in the first half of this loooong thread (first 31 pages out of 60). So please, please do me a favor and either tell me how to do it or give me a direct link to the post which you think explains it well. Please, please, please don't tell me to read the whole f***ing thread, because, as I said, for one I have already ready half of it (which turned out to be more than enough), and for two I don't see any point in reading it any further when there is so much bulls***ting going on and off topic spin offs throughout the whole thread so I don't feel encouraged to read it anymore.

I have read about doing the loopback test, and I got the link to the "How to Do a Serial Loopback Test" article in the NI Developer Zone that Jaclaz posted earlier in post # 385. But that article seem to be just too overwhelming and doesn't seem to be very relevant for this context. I mean in that article they are explaining how to do a loopback test with real serial ports (DE-9), it has no coverage on the TTL adapters we are using here, and we have already established early in this thread that attaching "pure" or "direct" RS232 cables to the disk drive won't work.

So please, can someone tell me how to do a loopback test so that I can verify that my RS232 - TTL adapter works? It would be of great help.

I understand that the TX and RX must be connected together on the TTL adapter. But how do I set it all up? How do I set up the terminal emulation software? What are the exact messages I need to send? People are talking about typing "random" characters and check that they can receive it. Is that really it? Is that all I have to type? No special commands needed for loopback testing? So I can just type "ffkjfnl fkj knj fjn fjao3ofpe n fkdfs bla bla bla bla" et cetera and see if I get the same in return?

I would really appreciate some further explanation on the loopback testing part.

Thanks in advance!

Edited by ElectroGeeza
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I have read about doing the loopback test, and I got the link to the "How to Do a Serial Loopback Test" article in the NI Developer Zone that Jaclaz posted earlier in post # 385. But that article seem to be just too overwhelming and doesn't seem to be very relevant for this context. I mean in that article they are explaining how to do a loopback test with real serial ports (DE-9), it has no coverage on the TTL adapters we are using here, and we have already established early in this thread that attaching "pure" or "direct" RS232 cables to the disk drive won't work.

So please, can someone tell me how to do a loopback test so that I can verify that my RS232 - TTL adapter works? It would be of great help.

I understand that the TX and RX must be connected together on the TTL adapter. But how do I set it all up? How do I set up the terminal emulation software? What are the exact messages I need to send? People are talking about typing "random" characters and check that they can receive it. Is that really it? Is that all I have to type? No special commands needed for loopback testing? So I can just type "ffkjfnl fkj knj fjn fjao3ofpe n fkdfs bla bla bla bla" et cetera and see if I get the same in return?

A terminal program converts your input on the keyboard into text that is shown in the terminal window and to "something" that is sent to the RS232 interface (directly or through the USB adapter).

Basically a Serial port (RS232) sends the "something" through the TX cable (and can receive "something" from RX cable).

The terminal program converts back the "something" it receives from the RX to text in the terminal window.

The RS232to TTL converter converts "something" to "something else", both inbound and outbound.

You do not need to know what is the "something" or what is the "something else".

You type some text, possibly human readable one, say for example, "HELLO".

HELLO is displayed on the terminal windows and converted to "something" sent to the RS232.

If nothing is connected to the RS232 bus this "something" is lost forever.

If a converter is connected to the RS232 this "something" is converted to "something else".

If nothing is connected to the converter this "something else" is lost forever.

If you connect the TX and RX of the RS232 port together, the "something" loops back, gets to the terminal and is translated back to "HELLO", which is displayed.

If you connect the TX and RX of the TTL converter together, the "something else" loops back, gets to the RS232 RX, it is converted to "something" and then gets to the terminal and is translated back to "HELLO", which is displayed.

In other words, a loopback test is the same no matter how long is the "chain" involved, you type some text and the same text should appear TWICE in the terminal window.

Input: HELLO->terminal display: HELLO->sent to RS232 port->TX and RX together->loops back to RS232 RX->terminal display: HELLO

With the TTL converter:

Input: HELLO->terminal display: HELLO->sent to RS232 port->TTL Converter->TX and RX together->loops back to TTL Converter RX-> RS232 RX ->terminal display: HELLO

If you have previously a USB adapter:

Input: HELLO->terminal display: HELLO->sent to USB adapter->RS232 port->TX and RX together->loops back to RS232 RX->USB adapter->terminal display: HELLO

or:

Input: HELLO->terminal display: HELLO->sent to USB adapter->RS232 port->TTL Converter->TX and RX together->loops back to TTL Converter RX-> RS232 RX ->USB adapter->terminal display: HELLO

of course, even if everything works well, if you input "garbage" ;) like

"ffkjfnl fkj knj fjn fjao3ofpe n fkdfs bla bla bla bla"

it is more difficult to understand if what you get back is the same "garbage" you sent. :whistle:

jaclaz

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I have read about doing the loopback test, and I got the link to the "How to Do a Serial Loopback Test" article in the NI Developer Zone that Jaclaz posted earlier in post # 385. But that article seem to be just too overwhelming and doesn't seem to be very relevant for this context. I mean in that article they are explaining how to do a loopback test with real serial ports (DE-9), it has no coverage on the TTL adapters we are using here, and we have already established early in this thread that attaching "pure" or "direct" RS232 cables to the disk drive won't work.

So please, can someone tell me how to do a loopback test so that I can verify that my RS232 - TTL adapter works? It would be of great help.

I understand that the TX and RX must be connected together on the TTL adapter. But how do I set it all up? How do I set up the terminal emulation software? What are the exact messages I need to send? People are talking about typing "random" characters and check that they can receive it. Is that really it? Is that all I have to type? No special commands needed for loopback testing? So I can just type "ffkjfnl fkj knj fjn fjao3ofpe n fkdfs bla bla bla bla" et cetera and see if I get the same in return?

A terminal program converts your input on the keyboard into text that is shown in the terminal window and to "something" that is sent to the RS232 interface (directly or through the USB adapter).

Basically a Serial port (RS232) sends the "something" through the TX cable (and can receive "something" from RX cable).

The terminal program converts back the "something" it receives from the RX to text in the terminal window.

The RS232to TTL converter converts "something" to "something else", both inbound and outbound.

You do not need to know what is the "something" or what is the "something else".

You type some text, possibly human readable one, say for example, "HELLO".

HELLO is displayed on the terminal windows and converted to "something" sent to the RS232.

If nothing is connected to the RS232 bus this "something" is lost forever.

If a converter is connected to the RS232 this "something" is converted to "something else".

If nothing is connected to the converter this "something else" is lost forever.

If you connect the TX and RX of the RS232 port together, the "something" loops back, gets to the terminal and is translated back to "HELLO", which is displayed.

If you connect the TX and RX of the TTL converter together, the "something else" loops back, gets to the RS232 RX, it is converted to "something" and then gets to the terminal and is translated back to "HELLO", which is displayed.

In other words, a loopback test is the same no matter how long is the "chain" involved, you type some text and the same text should appear TWICE in the terminal window.

Input: HELLO->terminal display: HELLO->sent to RS232 port->TX and RX together->loops back to RS232 RX->terminal display: HELLO

With the TTL converter:

Input: HELLO->terminal display: HELLO->sent to RS232 port->TTL Converter->TX and RX together->loops back to TTL Converter RX-> RS232 RX ->terminal display: HELLO

If you have previously a USB adapter:

Input: HELLO->terminal display: HELLO->sent to USB adapter->RS232 port->TX and RX together->loops back to RS232 RX->USB adapter->terminal display: HELLO

or:

Input: HELLO->terminal display: HELLO->sent to USB adapter->RS232 port->TTL Converter->TX and RX together->loops back to TTL Converter RX-> RS232 RX ->USB adapter->terminal display: HELLO

of course, even if everything works well, if you input "garbage" ;) like

"ffkjfnl fkj knj fjn fjao3ofpe n fkdfs bla bla bla bla"

it is more difficult to understand if what you get back is the same "garbage" you sent. :whistle:

jaclaz

Wow, that's deep man!! :w00t:

But what are you saying?... that "something" can become "something else" out of "nothing"?... or that everything can become "something" when you talk to someone who knows "nothing"? :wacko:

Just kidding! :D I do like long replies, especially when they are well written or are written in an most uncommon but innovative way! :thumbup

Well, anyway. I have it all figured out by now, and I was able to confirm that my RS232 to TTL transceiver is working properly. I got some help from our friends at Sparkfun Electronics forum. They told me I should try the Teraterm terminal emulator software application which turned out to be a pretty good one actually. I will quote myself here now as I wrote about Teraterm in a post over at Sparkfun Electronics forum.

Overall, Teraterm looks and acts pretty good to me. In my opinion it's only a good thing that it doesn't have "local echo" active as default. It's usually not something that you would want to have active. So for those users who are new to Hyperterminal where you have "local echo" set to active as default you always had to explain to them how to deactivate this thing. Otherwise, Teraterm is not so much unlike from Hyperterminal. I think it's one good if not the only replacement for Hyperterminal. When I say this I have already tested another terminal emulator called PuTTy. But unlike Teraterm, PuTTy is divided in these several different small applications like "Pageant", "PSFTP" and "PuTTy" where "PuTTy" is the main application for serial port communications. But when I launch PuTTy it doesn't seem to recognize my COM port and doesn't prompt me to chose one, so typing anything in it has no response at all, so I can't even use it. It may be a matter of settings only or maybe it doesn't recognize virtual COM ports, but I still find Teraterm better.

So, if you're looking for a replacement for Hypertereminal and are using Windows XP or Vista, I would say go for Teraterm!

You can read my whole thread over at Sparkfun Electronics forum which is titled "Loopback testing RS232 to TTL transceiver".

I am very thankful to those guys at Sparkfun Electronics forum. They are very helpful and very kind, even to a novice like myself. It makes it a pleasant place to hang out at. Thank you! :hello:

Please don't feel now like you were useless Jaclaz! Like I said, I have almost read this thread wholly and completely and when you do that you can't help but notice few user names that bring up your attention. Some of them are very common and write often, some don't. Some have a bad attitude, some don't. Some are helpful, some are not. You Jaclaz may not be the most frequent writer in this thread but the actions you've taken in your attempts to help others can, should and definitely will echo in eternity! I see that you at least are trying to be of help, unlike many others, and you are always polite. I appreciate that, thank you!

Note: Sorry about quoting your lengthy reply. Don't take it personal, I will try to quote on every reply I write since people here like so much to edit their original postings and then play dumb and say that they didn't say or write things they actually did. I really wish sometimes it wasn't possible to edit posts once published, just because of this. Since this is not a good thing for those truthful users, the only thing we can do is remember not to believe too much in those posts where it says "post edited" at the bottom, and for those of us who write new posts not to edit the post too much or rather not edit it at all. Or if you do edit your post, please motivate why you edited it. I'll go ahead and be the first one. The reason why I edited this post is because I was not allowed to have as many emoticons in it as I originally added so I then replaced one emoticon with another one since I couldn't keep the last two.

Edited by ElectroGeeza
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Did any of you guys manage to upgrade the Firmware on your HDD after recovering it from the BSY state?

Were you able to upgrade the Firmware without altering/affecting any of the data stored on the HDD?

The reason why I ask this is because I don't have any extra HDD on which the data from the BSY Barracuda HDD will fit. I will order one as soon as possible, but I would rather not wait for it to arrive, I need to save the important data (not all is important) from this BSY Barracuda HDD right now.

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Did any of you guys manage to upgrade the Firmware on your HDD after recovering it from the BSY state?

Were you able to upgrade the Firmware without altering/affecting any of the data stored on the HDD?

The reason why I ask this is because I don't have any extra HDD on which the data from the BSY Barracuda HDD will fit. I will order one as soon as possible, but I would rather not wait for it to arrive, I need to save the important data (not all is important) from this BSY Barracuda HDD right now.

The firmware upgrade is not supposed to affect any of the data. That said, there is a chance something might go wrong. But if you leave the drive on for the time being without turning it off, you should be okay. One reboot should be fine, too, if you have to reboot to install the new hard drive. After I fixed my drive myself and with the help of everyone in the forums, and not Seagate b/c they decided to take a long time to get back to me, I took some of the data I wanted first, and then ran the firmware update. I'm still using the drive today (been about 3 months already), and it's been fine so far.

Edited by eli2k
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A success story... :thumbup

My Seagate ST3500320AS (SD15 firmware, 9BX154-303 made in China, OEM drive) packed up with the BSY issue, and only then did I find out that this issue existed.

I bought a DKU-5 clone Nokia cable online for something like 3 pounds online, and a torx screwdriver set from Maplin for about 8 pounds. The cable did contain the TTL conversion chip, but it took me a while to realise that on my version the chip was meant to be powed from the phone end, not the USB end.

To get it to work, I had to:

Then, using Terminal.exe downloaded off the net, I could get the cable to echo commands when the Tx and Rx were connected.

I connected up the drive, following the instructions in this thread, connecting the GND pins of the drive and cable to a molex GND pin on the PC. To power the drive, I used a genuine SATA cable, not a SATA to Molex adaptor.

Initially, I didn't realise commands were case sensitive, and so "z" did nothing (thankfully). Other than that, it went smoothly until I tried "m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22". In my case, the drive reported that the format took "0 mins 00 secs".

But then my drive worked again! So I went and downloaded the latest SD1A update for my drive, flashed it, and...

Got a non-funtioning drive, visible in the bios, but non-booting and failing every SeaTools test. Seagate's tech support couldn't help, and thinking it was the firmware, I went looking (to no avail) for a copy of the SD15 firmware to downgrade.

Finally, I found someone on the Seagate forums who had the same issue as me and resolved it by repeating the BSY fix after the flash. I tred that, and it did nothing. As a last resort, I searched this forum and found Aviko's post in which he recommended to someone with the 0 mins 00 secs format that they run "F,,22" and then "m0,6,2,0,0,0,0,22".

And now, just when I was ready to bin it, I have a working SD1A drive. Not that I'm sure I will trust it, or the 2 other SD15 drives I have.... :blushing:

Thanks to everyone who has posted to this thread - it's amazing how helpful it's been. Thanks to Gradius for helping me find this information (even if he didn't create it) and to Aviko for saving my drive when I thought nothing would. Time to get all my data backed up.

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My HDD is an ST3500320AS with FW SD15. What FW version will I need for it? I read about some SD1A version. Is that the old ("fixed") bad one or the latest good one? Where exactly do I download it? I know about that Knowledge Base article (207931) at Seagate's website. But I am not so sure if the FW available there is the good and working one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it Seagate have released two FW version since this SD15 vs. Barracuda 7200.11 disaster. One of them fixed the BSY and LBA=0 problem but brought up completely new problems because the software engineers very little time on them to release a solution so they didn't test the new FW properly. Then they released another one which solved it all. Am I right? So you understand my confusion? :rolleyes: So, where can I download that latest and stable version?

  1. Do I have to upgrade FW in any special order, like from SD15 to SD1A, and then from SD1A to the "XXXX" version which is supposed to be the latest and stable one? (I am making a comparison here with BIOS upgrades as example, where it is usually wise to upgrade the BIOS version by version and not make too big jumps from one version to another. So, not like version F3 to F8, but rather upgrade like from version F3, to F4, to F5, to F6, to F7, to F8. You know what I mean?)
  2. After upgrading to the latest FW version, is it by any chance possible to go back to the original version? Not that I would like to go back to SD15, but just checking, just in case.
  3. Do I have to make the upgrade from a USB Flash drive (UFD) or is the Seagate proposed method with upgrading from CD okay? I've read here or in the firmware thread that some of you discussed how to upgrade from a UFD. I didn't understand really, why not just write the FW to the CD just like it says on Seagate's website? Is there a reason for not doing so? I mean I do have both a DVD/CD writer and a UFD, but I'm just trying to understand what's the cache here in using UFD instead of CD-ROM.

Edited by ElectroGeeza
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Since my hard-drive is now recognized by the bios (after BSY problem) but when I want to explore it I get the following message:

F:\ is not accessible

The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error

and that despite the successful procedure "to refresh" my HDD

I decided to upgrade the firmware and therefore created the required bootable CD with the correct iso file available on Seagate website corresponding to my case:

HDD Barracuda 7200.11

ST31000340AS

Firmware: SD81

I was about to update my firmware but I actually can't boot on that CD ...

I just created that bootable CD using Alex Feinman ISO Recorder.

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Hi

Gradius2, THANKS x 1000 !!!

I have a Maxtor DiamondMax 22 500 Gb SMT3500320AS wich had the BSY error. I have followed exactly your tutorial and all is ok now !!!

I didn't need to connect ground on the PCB.

I didn't need to do the G list optional.

I was blocked after the commande : F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 (non response for 30 minutes).

So I power off the Sata, wait 10 seconds, power on, wait 30 seconds, ctrl Z, and F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22 again : after 2 minutes, the good answer on the terminal !!!!

I must say that on the Maxtor rx goes to rx and tx to the tx.

:thumbup :thumbup :thumbup :thumbup :thumbup

Thanks a lot for all this work, you(re the best !

Nicolas

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If I can just get hold of a new FW version for this HDD, I will be officially ready to kick some Seagate Barracuda butt!!! :ph34r:

I will try using Aviko's (originally Okzo's aka Yura's) method. As the French man wrote (can't remember the name), this method seems to me less disruptive. Apart of that, it seems to be much safer method too. Therefore I have decided to stick to Aviko's method. But I have few questions I need to ask just to be 100% sure of what I'm doing.

  1. The F3 T>i4,1,22 command at Level T is potentially dangerous for data and is not really needed?
  2. Erasing S.M.A.R.T with N1 command at Level 1 is only needed for BSY error and not for LBA=0 type of error?
  3. Is the m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 command the same as m0,2,2,,,,,22 at Level 1? It doesn't matter then which I use?
  4. Do I have to wait few seconds after pressing CTRL+Z or sending the Z command at Level 2?
  5. There is no no need to power the drive off and then on again before sending the m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 command at Level 1?
  6. The F712 command at Level T is only for testing purposes, and it does nothing with the my data?
  7. I don't really understand how to interpret the results from F712 command, can someone explain? Aviko tried to explain it to one user but I still don't understand what columns and values to look for.
  8. The F712 command at Level T is only for 500 GB Barracuda 7200.11 models?
  9. For other Barracuda 7200.11 models, the command should be F without any number? I think I understand why Aviko is writing a number 712 after the letter F. It makes it easy to see the test result values at line 712, that's why he was unsure if it's 712 for this drive family. There is something that should be listed on this 712th line, so you could probably send either the F or the F712 to make it easy to find it. But Aviko also at some point mentioned that it should be listed at line 716 (as he said before, he was unsure of the right line number). So you can probably use either F, or F712, or F716. If you feel unsure, just send F, and then you can look for values and columns between line 712 and 716.
  10. The F,,22 command at Level T is for restoring drive configuration to default settings when and if the F (or F712, or F716) command above shows negative results?
  11. When do I send the F (or F712, or F716) and F,,22 commands above?
  12. The command m0,1,1,0,0,0,0,22, or m0,1,1,2,2,0,0,22, or m0 2,2,0,0,0,0,22 should NOT be used under ANY circumstances, regardless of if you follow Aviko's method or Gradius' method?
  13. The post # 513 that I have linked to in the reference list below is supposed to illustrate Aviko's complete and official recovery method. Can anyone confirm that? I have compared it with the method that Brad Garcia described in his own guide titled Fixing a Seagate 7200.11 Hard Drive at Google Sites and it does seem as he is using Aviko's (originally Okzo's a.k.a Yura's) method. I wonder how many of you have followed Brad Garcias' guide to recover your HDD's, it really does seem to be much easier to follow then this messy guide Gradius posted (and the rest of this thread). However, Brad does recommend others reading this thread first. He also read this thread and then he decided to follow Aviko's instructions just like I will.

I hope to hear from you guys before I continue with my recovery attempt. If there is anything else you would like to add or warn me about before proceeding, please let me know. Thanks in advance!

Referrence:

Seagate 7200.11 Hard Drive at Google Sites, by Brad Garcia

Post # 439

Post # 441

Post # 457

Post # 458

Post # 466

Post # 469

Post # 474

Post # 475

Post # 477

Post # 507

Post # 513

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Greetings fellow Seagate drive victims :hello:

I had a 7200.11 die on me last Monday and managed to get it un-bricked (from BSY state) last night, after following the excellent help and advice on this forum. IMHO, someone better have gotten fired from Seagate for this FUBAR of a situation. Allowing a bug like this to ship in millions of drives worldwide is absolutely unacceptable.

Anyways, for what it's worth, I figured I'd detail what I did to get my drive working again. The drive in question shipped with a Dell XPS 730x system that I bought in January. Wonderful machine, zero problems whatsoever until one morning I started it up and received a "insert boot media or specify boot media location" BIOS message. Thank the gods I had a backup drive. There's actually a somewhat devastating bug in Windows XP (haven't looked for it in Vista) where data stores created by the Files and Settings Transfer wizard can become easily corrupted, thus trapping the data inside them. I learned my data-loss lesson and to this date never run without AT LEAST one backup at any given time.

In a panic, I ordered a worked for him: FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 USB Cable (USB on one end, 6 colored wires on the other end). After hours of tinkering with it with no success, I sped off to a local electronics store and bought a USB-->Serial cable and a Serial-->TTY adapter. Fast forward a couple of days and several more hours of messing with it, and the only thing I managed to do was somehow cause a hard reset in my power supply, scaring the hell out of me.

I was at a loss. So I started reading through this entire thread again, looking for anything obvious I missed. On page 35, I came across the following post from AlexLilic:

WOOHOOO!! I just successfully unbricked my drive by following the instructions from this thread. All of my data is accessible again (and now safely copied to a new drive).

Let me just extend a heartfelt "thanks" to the people who contributed to this happy day!!!! Over the past months I have read posts from Gustek, Fatlip, Gradius, Aviko (and of course others). In actual fact I am really glad for the timing of my fault - because it let me share this journey with them by reading their posts as the solution unfolded.

The funny thing is that if the DR companies had just been transparent about what they do, and charged a little less for this fix, I would have used them weeks ago. I called 2 local DR companies and asked "how much *IF* it turns out to be the well known 7200.11 SD15 BSY error?". If they had been transparent and said "Quick fix - but we still need 300 Euros to cover our overhead" I would have said "fine" and given them the disk. Instead they they basically said "How much is your data worth so that I know how much to charge you?" (i.e. quoted 600-900 Euros). As a result they didn't get my business, and I suspect they won't get many others. When I finally got a working TTL adapter (thanks Alexx86) the solution indeed took 3 minutes.

Because I had many difficulties with my first adapter - I have included my tips here:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 - Buy an adapter which you KNOW works and is EASY! (Easier == less steps == less risk)

The first adapter I purchased was a USB Signal to RS232 TTL UART

Despite a LOT of effort, I could NOT get a terminal session established with the drive. I tried all suggestions (grounding, different power supplies, with and without PCB connection, etc.)

Shorting TXD and RXD (loopback test) worked so I knew the UART was not faulty - but connecting to the Seagate PCB gave nothing other than the "Arrow" in Hyperterminal. A further problem occurred because i didn't realise that for my chip, VCC on the TTL output was connected to 5v, so when I connected my 3v batteries to it they were "charged" by the UART chip and literally popped whilst connected to the drive (at this point I was sure it was game over :-))

2 - Keep it Simple

I decided to try one last time with a known adapter. I contacted a local poster in this thread (alexx86) who confirmed for me that this part number had worked for him: FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 USB Cable

9e56abd0-acf8-11dd-b9b1-005056b95dfd.jpg

This adapter rocked - it was soooo easy by comparison:

- No guesswork. Good documentation. Good drivers.

- It is USB, so no RS232 port required.

- It came with drivers for XP, Vista, etc. - but I didn't need them (just "plug and play" on my machine)

- There was no need for additional battery power supply. The cable includes a 3.3v VCC already.

3 - Connecting it (these steps thanks to Alexx86)

Connect a Standard SATA power cable to the drive, and then connect the USB<->TTL cable as described below. Note that there was no need to ground between the USB<->TTL cable and the SATA cable (i.e. they are seperate). I did however connect 3 USB<->TTL wires to the drive PCB (3rd one being GND) and I used the same PC to provide both SATA power and USB<->TTL cable).

This USB<->TTL cable has 6 wires. Only 3 are connected to the Seagate PCB. Of the remaining 3 wires, 2 are joined together and the final one is unused.

USB<->TLL Cable Connections:

- Orange (TXD) - Connected to 1st terminal pin on PCB (closest pin to SATA adapter)

- Yellow (RXD) - Connected to 2nd terminal pin on PCB (2nd closest pin to SATA adapter)

- Black (GND) - Connected to 3rd terminal pin on PCB (3rd closest pin to SATA adapter).

- Brown (CTS) and Green (RTS) are tied to each other and nothing else (for flow control). I would have thought this was unnecessary - but I did it to be sure.

- Red Wire (VCC) is not used.

4 - Fix your drive

Open Hypterm and Ctrl-Z to confirm you have connection. Then follow the commands from Gradius/Aviko. I had trouble deciding whether to follow Gradius or Aviko's solution. I felt loyal to Gradius, and found his instructions more readable - but some of Aviko's advice was also clearly valuable.

In the end I mixed a little. I used 2 pieces of paper card to isolate both the Motor connector (3 pin connection) and HDMA contacts (IC-style connection) and started with Gradius' approach. As I have a 500gb Seagate however, I couldn't resist trying the F712 commands that Aviko mentioned which are only apply to my drive (see post #610). Therefore I ended up not using the Glist Erase command ("F3 T>i4,1,22 (enter)").

My summary is that Aviko's advice is clearly knowledgable and he has added additional value to Gradius' excellent solution thread (note that I did not say it was Gradius solution - but it IS Gradius' thread, so please don't point out that someone else created the solution first). Without Gradius however, most of us would not have our data - me included!

Gradius and Aviko - thankyou BOTH so VERY much!!!!

Within MINUTES, I was at that magical F3 prompt in HyperTerminal, and within a few more minutes my drive was fully functional again! In my experience, using the direct USB-->TTY cable was a lot simpler than assembling a connector from a serial cable (USB-->Serial adapter for many people probably, as few computers these days have a serial port on the mobo). To any and all who come across this thread and this post, I would highly recommend the USB-->TTY cable. I purchased the jumper wires from the first post of this thread for $5, and the cable for $20. Yes, it's more money than the other solution, but I personally am willing to spend a few extra bucks if it means less headache and getting my drive back and working.

I'd like to give my thanks to all the people who invested so much time and effort into this solution. I'm going to try to get the word out to everyone I know about the 7200.11 drives, hopefully I'll be able to prevent more people having to go through this whole ordeal.

As an amusing fact, I live about 5 miles from Seagate's customer service facility in Scotts Valley, California, USA (listed as so on their support website). Getting this drive fixed means I don't have to go up there with eggs and TP... :whistle:

Hello everybody,

I've just purchased the TTL-232R-3V3 Cable to fix the BSY problems that both of my seagate 1TB drives were having. I manage to get the F3 T> prompt in the hyperterminal. I am also able to key in the command /2 which changed the prompt to F3 2>. However, I am not able to enter command Z.Whenever i enter Z, I would encounter this error: LED:000000CE FAddr:00280569. Both of my drives exhibited the same problems. I have totally detached the PCB from the harddrive. Does anybody know what went wrong? Any help is greatly appreciated!

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