I tested main voltages on the dead PCB (5 and 12V) as well as D3 and D4. All came up good. I already started removing stuff from the PCB because at this point I'm pretty sure the MCU might be kill (these things run pretty hot even in normal operation , evidenced by my WD1600AVJS)
jon - possible, as the original pad did look quite "crispy" under the Marvell MCU. Not really sure though since spinning it up with the WD10EALX PCB, I didn't hear any scraping sound whatsoever. Just a very faint clicking which is probably due to mismatched FW on board (IIRC the newer WD drives are very specific about the firmware - I could be wrong though.)
And as a final FYI, these are not some client's drives. These are two drives I bought for $2.35 each. I'm just taking a stab at repairing one of them (the WD10EALX had no chances to be fixed, platters were fubar on it)
and possibly use in a spare machine I have.
The dude I bought both drives from has a lot of drives, including the dreaded 3TB DM series Seagates (of DM001 and DM003 variety), as well as a Barracuda XT 2TB model. Unfortunately, some of them are scuffed pretty badly, so not a lot to choose from. Also, most drives are from Macs (at least the WD1001FALS I have and a few others from the collection he has have the Apple logo printed on them)
In any event that I can't eventually get this WD1001FALS fixed, I'll probably take my chances with the Seagate drives as well. He sells them for $2.35/drive, so it's barely any loss. All of the drives are going to be used for learning purposes, mainly to extend my knowledge in fixing PC components (already done the mobo section
)