Samsung Spinpoint F3 HDD - not recognizable after LLF

[ktjgtc]

Hi everyone.

I just got a trobule with Samsung Hard drive.

the model name is HD502HJ (500GB / 7200rpm / 16M cache, Spinpoint F3 Series)

I did the Low-level format using samsung ESTOOL program in DOS enviroment.

the LLF seems to be done ok. (ESTOOL shows "there is no problem during Testing" - although I choose the Low Level Format option.)

but after reboot, drive is not usable in any OS.

in BIOS, drive's model name and capacity shows ok. but Operating System is fail to boot with this drive is connected. (windows , linux, dos.. all of them)

I connected this faulty drive after OS boot (using intel e-SATA connection) -> device manager shows the drive, but it appear as "Disk Drive".
in external SATA controller (Marvell 91XX PCI-E) -> "Samsung HD502HJ SCSI Device" but drive not shows up anywhere.. I tried Disk management and S.M.A.R.T. utility (Crystal Disk Info).

and I found Samsung HDD patch tool from HDDGURU FILES (F3_PATCH.zip)

so I tried to flash the HDD with this tool... not worked. my drive have a 1AJ10001 firmware on it and F3 PATCH tool shows a "patch completed" message,
but after reboot and run this tool again..
firmware version is still 1AJ10001.


is this drive is completely un-repairable?

[helpless]

If the hdd worked in your pc, then there was no need to patch the firmware, as the patch according to Seagate
is released in order to solve the compatibilty problem between some motherboards (the AMD SB850 chipset and the Intel P67/H67 chipset) and Samsung-brand hard drives, F3 and F3EG models only.
Since the patch completed, you have successfully patched your firmware, so it did work.
Check your drive in DOS in MHDD software, attach a SMART report of the drive.

[fzabkar]

I'm assuming this is the patch that was applied by the OP:

F3_Patch.zip - Update from fw. 1AJ10001 to fw. 1AJ10002 for F3 series (from DELL):
http://files.hddguru.com/download/Firmware%20updates/Samsung/F3_Patch.zip

The readme file states ...

1. Unzip the file F3_Patch.zip to your bootable USB key
2. Run the F3_Patch.exe file from your bootable key
3. You will notice that the current FW is 1AJ10001, after flash it will become 1AJ10002 ...

Evidently the update was not successfully applied.

The "AMD SB850" patch is this one:

Samsung F3 and F3EG Firmware Patch/Update:
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/223631en

This patch code is released in order to solve the compatibilty problem between some motherboards (the AMD SB850 chipset and the Intel P67/H67 chipset) and Samsung-brand hard drives, F3 and F3EG models only.

F3.exe - HD323HJ / HD502HJ / HD503HI / HD103SJ / HD105SI:
http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/samsung/downloads/F3.exe

Here is my analysis of the "AMD SB850" patch:

Analysis of Samsung F3 firmware update:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=679&p=1986

Model HD502HJ requires the firmware image file, 1AJE4MYM.115. Instead, the OP's patch contains 1ajf3swm.125. Clearly these are two different updates.

[ktjgtc]

If the hdd worked in your pc, then there was no need to patch the firmware

that's right. I just tried to find out if it works when I flash the different firmware to this drive.

Check your drive in DOS in MHDD software, attach a SMART report of the drive.

wow. MHDD is working with my drive. here is my HDD's SMART Attribute Data.

Code:

HDD: SAMSUNG HD502HJ; FW: 1AJ10001; SN: S233J90B311901
--------------------------------------------------------
            Name                        Val Worst Raw
Att #   1 : Read error rate           : 100  100  1 
Att #   2 : Throughput performance    : 252  252  0 
Att #   3 : Spin up time              :  83   81  5372 
Att #   4 : Number of spin-up times   :  97   97  3144 
Att #   5 : Reallocated sectors count : 252  252  0 
Att #   7 : Seek error rate           : 252  252  0 
Att #   8 : Seek time performance     : 252  252  0 
Att #   9 : Power-on time             : 100  100  3241 
Att #  10 : Spin-up retries           : 252  252  0 
Att #  11 : Calibration retries       : 252  252  0 
Att #  12 : Start/stop count          :  97   97  3122 
Att # 191 : Unknown                   : 100  100  3 
Att # 192 : Power-off retract count   : 252  252  0 
Att # 194 : HDA Temperature           :  64   54  27 
Att # 195 : Hardware ECC recovered    : 100  100  0 
Att # 196 : Reallocate event count    : 252  252  0 
Att # 197 : Current pending sectors   : 252  252  0 
Att # 198 : Offline scan UNC sectors  : 252  252  0 
Att # 199 : Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate  : 100  100  4 
Att # 200 : Write error rate          : 100  100  33 
Att # 223 : Load retry count          : 252  252  0 
Att # 225 : Load cycle count          : 100  100  3163 


Hard disk EID

Code:

SAMSUNG HD502HJ  LBA:976,773,168                                               
SN:S233J90B311901   FW:1AJ10001   CACHE:16384KB                                 
Supports: LBA48 HPA AAM DLMC LBA MS16 DMA (UDMA6,MWDMA2)                       
SMART: Enabled SelfTest: Supported ErrorLog: Supported                         
Security: high, OFF. Size = 476940MB


and I can tell that Ultra ATA CRC error rate, Read error rate, Write error rate was zero.. before doing Low-Level Format.

Model HD502HJ requires the firmware image file, 1AJE4MYM.115. Instead, the OP's patch contains 1ajf3swm.125. Clearly these are two different updates.

thanks for the information. this might be a why my drive cannot do firmware update with that file..

[fzabkar]

It's hard to tell what the F3_Patch did, if anything. If it is a Dell OEM patch, then it may have complicated things.

Try to read the drive's ROM and SA/MC modules using SHT demo. Then we could compare the modules in the patch against those on the drive.

[ktjgtc]

umm. I don't know how to use Samsung HDD Tool.

but.. my HDD's problem has been solved in weird way.

I just wrote new MBR with MHDD Program (using FDISK command) , did a hard reset, and then my HDD is back to life again.

although entire area of hdd reported as "RAW" partition, I don't have any important data on this HDD. so, it's not a problem.

looks like my HDD had a logical error at partition table or somewhere.

I will run full surface scan and S.M.A.R.T. self test with other computer and I will post a result.

[ktjgtc]

Were you expecting to "see" any data ?

not at all.

but when I booted the windows 7 after write MBR to drive, chkdsk is showing name of my HDD's original partition.
(checking file system on //?/volume (skipped) the type of filesystem is NTFS , volume label is sys)

so, I just got curious about this.


by the way, I'm going to replace the whole computer soon.
I used this system almost 10 years, and I had a several problem (bsod, sudden system halt) before this happens.

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Hi,
This post -> viewtopic.php?p=246418#p246418 is misleading as at one point you say you low level formatted the drive . This will write zeros or a pattern to all sectors of hdd , then you say "but after reboot, drive is not usable in any OS.in BIOS, drive's model name and capacity shows ok. but Operating System is fail to boot with this drive is connected. (windows , linux, dos.. all of them) " .This does not make any sense as you cannot expect this drive to have any software left in it ,You just need to initialise the drive which will create the mbr and then you have to create a partition in it ,format this partition and use it .I have no clue why the firmware jargon entered in this thread