Can't seem to get any serial console output (Tx from disk) from the scrap 5400.2 drive I am playing with
Has 4 extra pins next to the 2.5" IDE connection
but none seem to be outputting any serial info on power up

Am I missing something obvious ?

Thanks


(The cable I am using is good; or rather works ok on a couple of other different drives and so should be ok unless the signals/voltages are significantly different on this drive, which seems unlikely)

1- Check correct pinout. You can find it by Google.
2- Control Z brings up terminal
3- Terminal settings
4- Signal levels are 5 volt not RS232

Just some of the possibilities.

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HWHacker
Smiles

I'm having trouble confirming the correct pinout

You couldn't give me a hint could you

Looks like it isnt the 4 extra pins (which are on all makes of 2.5" ide for master/slave/CS)

Try this

_________________
HWHacker
Smiles

Thanks
But thats the SATA version

I'm trying to find out if the 2.5inch IDE version has serial terminal pins

If I were approaching this problem from first principles, the first thing I would do is to determine which, if any, of the 4 pins is Ground. I'm guessing it's the pin that is common to the CS and SL jumpers, ie bottom RH corner (when viewed with the IDE connector to the left). I would also measure the voltages at each of the pins, with jumpers removed. This should tell you whether you are dealing with 5V logic or 3.3V, or something else.

Assuming that the other two CS and SL pins are both inputs, and assuming that the I/O direction doesn't change after power-on, then the pin at the top LH corner would be an output, ie the drive's Tx pin.

It may be that the serial terminal needs to be enabled by placing a jumper, or jumpers, over certain pins during initial power-on. Afterwards the jumpers can be removed because the MCU doesn't need to examine them again.

finding the serial port is rather simple. Imagine trying to find Jtag !

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All went well until I plugged the drive in.

...or the joystick port...

A message on another thread here by drc pointed be at the following
http://acelaboratory.com/pc3000.udma.php

The 2.5" adapter pcb has some very interesting silk screen printing and wiring for the terminal connection

Thanks drc !


NB I did try searching for the Tx (from the drive) for power-on messages, but couldn't find it
when I last tried

LOL BlackST maybe we need seperate thread for joysticking your Seagate Terminal??

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All went well until I plugged the drive in.

Update to my message above

The adapter pcb indicates jumpers/connectors for terminal and/or factory mode related settings

Seagate Momentus ST94011A FW: 5.11

Looking at the back of the drive with the PCB at the bottom I have Tx&Rx connected to the rightmost bottom pins as well as having it jumpered for slave (top&bottom rightmost pins).

Hyperterminal is setup for 9600 8-N-1 no flow control.

Problem is when I powerup the drive I only get gibberish displayed in the terminal window?

Are my settings correct and should I be using any specific terminal emulation mode?

Looks like wrong baudrate. Try 38k4 or 115k2.

Check this link to see if it helps your situation: http://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic872300.html

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

Thanks, I'll try it again.

This looks like a very complicated schemantics, I use the schematics from the MAX3232 datasheet, and it works fine. It also supports 3.0V up to 5.0V, so it is compatible with my router and seagate and samsung hard drives.

Yes, but look at the date - the link is to a posting from 2007, and I'm fairly sure that the MAX3232 was only introduced a bit earlier that same year. So yes, now the MAX3232 is available - but before this existed, we were all using MAX232 etc. like in that schematic Also, that schematic shows a nice way to avoid needing an external power supply for the converter chip, so there are good reasons for its slight complexity IMHO.

Avoiding an external power supply is indeed, very nice. I had to build a weird construction to power mine. I also "fried" two MAX3232 in a row, because I did not pay attention how to plug in the power supply Luckily the IC is not that expensive.