Hi,

My Seagate hard drive (2 GB, green, Barracude) seems to have the firmware problem, i.e. the hard drive is not recognized by BIOS. I can feel that it spins as normal. There are some posts on the web on restore the hard drive from the busy state to normal state.

Below is an example on the firmware repairing:



http://www.overclock.net/t/457286/seaga ... th-pics/40


First, I remove the star shape screws of the hard drive PCB. Then, insert a piece of paper on top of the read/write head connector and the PCB board.

When I connect the hard drive serial RS-232 port to a USB-Serial adapter at a PC USB port, connect the SATA hard drive power cable to a PC and the hard drive, it shows in my PC putty terminal window (38400 baud, 8/1 bit, no stop, no flow control):

Boot 0x40M
Spin Up



then, I feel the hard drive stops spinning.



All the firmware repairing posts does not mention the words: "Boot 0x40M", "Spin Up". What is wrong with my procedures? It looks like the above words should not display from those posts.


Thanks in advance

That solution most likely does not apply to your model drive. A lot people fall for this trap.

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Hard Disk Drive, SSD, USB Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Do you have PC-3000 ? Guess not.
The post apply to 7200.11 drives only with the 0-LBA or BSY bug.
It will NOT apply to your drive.
Can you post the Full terminal log that you are getting from your drive ?

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Unfortunately that's not a "one size fits all" for "the" firmware problem.

Does the drive make some clicks before it spins down?

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Hello,

When the PCB is restored, (i.e. there is no paper stock to isolate the read/write connector), I get the following message from PC putty terminal.





Boot 0x40M
Spin Up[0x000246DF]
Trans.

Rst 0x40M
MC Internal LPC Process
Spin Up
RECOVERED Op=0900 Resp=0005
(P) SATA Reset

MediaPartition:

Host LBA Length Disc LBA Length Start Cyl Head
Media Partition 00000000 00999800 00000000 00133300 00000000 00000000
MC 00000000 00989960 00000000 0013132C 00000000 00000000
MSP 009912A0 00000C20 00132254 00000184 00000215 00000004
User Partition 00999800 00133300 00000220 00000004

MCMainPOR: Start:
Check MCMT Version: Current
MCMainPOR: Non-Init Case
MC Seg Disc and Cache Nodes: 40134924 40132A34
Seg Write Preamble VBM start: 000011B2 end: 000011D9
Footer - start: 000011DB end: 00001202
Seg Read Preamble VBM - start: 00001204 end: 0000122B
Footer - start: 0000122D end: 00001254
Reconstruction: MCMT Reconstruction Start
Max number of MC segments 22E0
Nonvolatile MCMT sequence number 01B06CCC
[RSRS] 0B4B DiscLba 00062D04 RW_RTL FFFFFFFF
Reconstruction: Completed 1:
[MCMTWS]
MCMainPOR: MCTBufferPtr->Header.MCStateFlagsDisc = 00000041
MCMainPOR: MCTBufferPtr->Header.MCTStateFlags = 0000002A
MCMainPOR: MCStateFlags = 00000041

MCMainPOR: Feature Enabled...


MSP MainPOR:
MSP Init Metadata
Buf Bytes/VBM 00000210 DBA Base 40000000
Metadata size in bytes 0040
Num Segments 0061
Logical Sector Alignment 00000000
MSP Reconstruction
MSP Read ScratchPad Section 0000 DiscLBA 00132254 BlkSize 00000C20 Num Segments 00000061 DiscLba 00132254 RW_RTL 000F4240
No valid segments found

MSP MSP Main Store Verify Reconstruction Status 10003000
Reconstruction Status 00003000
MSP Init ScratchPad on DiscDiscLBA 00132254 DiscSize 00000184 PhyBlkLBA 009912A0 BlkSize 00000C20
Write MSP Segment PhyBlkLBA 009912A0 BlkSize 00000C20 DiscLba 00132254 RW_RTL FFFFFFFF
MSP MainPOR: Complete
MSP MainPOR: Feature Enabled...
ScratchPad restore NOT required

(DOS)STE OGHT: 0x043A6704 - 0x043A84F4 - 0x00007FC8 - 0x00007FDC Count 0049
(DOS) Refresh Start.
(DOS) Read Error - .
(DOS) Read Error - .
(DOS) Read Error - .
(DOS) Read Error - .
(DOS) Read Error - .
(DOS) Read Error - .
(DOS) Read Error - .
(DOS) Read Error - .




Could you help to tell me what is wrong?



Thanks,

Hello, HDD experts:

Why does nobody response to my question? Please help me to get the data out of the drive.


Thanks,

Simple general answer is most advanced members here are basically tired of botched firmware drive issues and people not listening to their instructions, especially after potential major screw up. This may not necessarily apply to you, just saying what the common general feeling is like when it comes to ambiguous repair attempts like this.

1) What is the drive's full model? ST3...
2) Upon power on, what was the drive's behavior prior to messing around with the firmware? (E.g. spins up, normal calibration sound, then spins down in 5 seconds with 2 clicks)

3) Once you power the drive on now, after what seems a drive with altered firmware, what it the drive's exact behavior?
4) What command did you send to the drive exactly and what were the drive's terminal output when issuing those commands?

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Hard Disk Drive, SSD, USB Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Hi,

Thanks for you reply. Here is the full story.

This hard drive (Barracude 2TB) came with a compatible PC two years ago. One day, after wake up from a sleep, the hard drive indicator LED on the PC lighted as usual, the PC loading software from sleep. Then, all of a sudden, Windows 7 reported exception error on a blue screen.
Since that, the hard drive is not recognized by PC BIOS. This PC now works well with my other two 1.5 TB Barracuda drives. Apparently it is the hard drive itself problem. I run Seagate Tools for DOS. It does not see the drive too, and only suggests to check cables, power and jumper settings. But the power and cable is good for other Seagate 1.5TB drives. I suspect that the 2TB drive has problems.
Its S/N: 5YD67T0P
ST2000DL003
P/N: 9VT166-302
F/W:CC3C
Date: 12135 Site: SU

I once guessed that it looked like a BUSY firmware problem. When I setup the hard drive, powered it with a spare PC power supply, it stops spinning after a while (I can only see the short words on a terminal connected to the hard drive serial port 38.4k):
Boot 0x40M
Spin Up



It did not look like a BUSY problem. I restored the PCB to its original state. The hard drive spins as usual, no click, no suspicious noise. And I got the echo message as I posted days ago above.


Any experts can help me on this drive?


Thanks

If the drive spins down, then more than likely have a mechanical problem. This is something likely in addition to possible firmware issue, as frequently one issue leads to the other.

Sending it to a data recovery expert for a proper evaluation should be the best course of action.

_________________
Hard Disk Drive, SSD, USB Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Hi, Sir:
I would make things clear here. The motor spins down only when I did the procedures for BUSY problem repair, i.e. insert a paper stock under PCB with the DIP connectors.

When the PCB is restored as the original state, the motor spins continuously. There is no motor spins down.

After the HDD had problems, I check Seagate website. There IS a firmware update for this model. Unfortunately, that update application works after Windows OS up.

Is there a way to update the firmware for the present status?

Thanks,

Updating firmware Will not 'repair' you drive.
If you need date = contact a recovery pro.

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