For swapping pcbs , DCM dont care .

Thanks Rameez. Have you found this to be your 'rule' or in some cases have you had to find a match with a similar or exact DCM?

Ok - i ordered a few PCBs and 2 out of 3 different model disks worked ok with new PCB. 1 Disk though is clicking. The board # and the model # were the same.

Would the clicking on the WD disk indicate the PCB is not a compatible PCB? Or is it possible it's a damaged head? The PC-3000 cannot see the drive at all, it shows as no model # and no size and no brand.. The disk clicks a few times then sounds normal, when you try to access it using the PC-3000 it starts to click again a few times then stops clicking but is still spinning.

Anybody else care to share their tips on WD PCB compatibility rules? Any other tips to avoid me wasting more mone on incompatible spare parts would be greatly aprecaited.

Thanks.

DCM is matched when a donor for head is needed . If your hdd is clicking then check if pcb is compatible or not , u can also try changing ROM to ur new pcb .

Thanks, in the case of the clicking disk after a PCB swap, the board # and model # were the same. The country was the same. BUT The DCM was different. Also - i did swap the u12 chip, still clicking and not detecting the drive's model, serial # or size in PC-3000 UDMA. Very puzzling.

I want to say thank you to zed and to all of you who have posted here. This is the kind of help I came looking for. Now if only it were a sticky with an updated consensus on the opener!

It seems that WD must be secretive about this information. One would think they would like their customers NOT to lose data when WD products fail! Has anybody received good information from WD directly?

Oh, and the referenced site ROCKS, even if dated: http://www.harddrive-repair.com/index.html

That web site has the last 3 letters of the DCM code underlined, anybody know why? Are these important for a PCB swap or only for a head swap?

Did ur pcb burn out , if yes then preamp would be damaged as wel.
Again i tell u no need to match DCM for matching pcbs .

rameez, in some cases i have seen the motor controller has burnt out but then a PCB swap with the same board # and model # and swapping the u12 chip has worked. In some other cases the drive clicks and powers off.

According to a web site which had info on PCB info it said that with the newer drives, the llarger drives (e.g 500 GB +) that you need to match the 1st 15 letters of the pcb board # and take note of the revision printed on the pcb. e.g REV A. But it said these were not as important with older WD drives.

rameez, i think maybe in the few cases i have had where the pcb is damaged and a pcb swap has not worked it may be possible the heads/preamp may have been damaged. What method do yo know of to test if the pre-amp is damaged?

Thanks.

I'm agree with rameez. DCM doesnt care much for WD drives as long as PCB revision is same (eg 2060-701335-005 REV A, printed on the PCB not the white label sticker), full model name (eg WD2500KS-00MJB0) is same and you need to swap U12 chip. Date of manufacture isn't a big problem.

Dear Zed

Could you pls tell as the pcb and head rules for WD HDD.

Thank u

A few years ago I had to repair a big lot of WD drives. I used good PCB's from drives with mechanical problems to repair drives with burn PCB's by swapping the ROM chips. The only condition was that PCB model numbers of both drives should match. The PCB model numbers are printed onto the PCB and also on the white label
For example: 2060-001113-001
Only in a few cases the CPU was different (IBM made instead of WDC) so board with the same CPU was needed.

DCM number is important only if you plan to change the heads...

Head map is written in the ROM.

Hello all. For my 1st post id like to share the following example.

DCM: HSEHYV2AH

1- Motor (H)
2- Base (S)
3- Latch (E)
4- Bottom VCM (H)
5- Media (Y)
6- Headstack (V)
7- Actuator-Preamp (2)
8- Top VCM (A)
9- Separator (H)

Decide for urself what part of DCM code is important for the job u are planing to do on a hdd.

Never seen such detailled info on WD DCMs. Sure that it is reliable?
BTW has anyone ever had a refurbished drive not marked in any kind? All numbers matched, but the potential donor had four instead of three heads
Not only the preamps may burn out when the combo chip dies, I've seen several drives with melted flex prints...

Its been available on this forum and others for many many years.

_________________
Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

Ok... seems that I've not searched enough, I tried to match the full DCM in the past and failed with that as I wrote because I got a drive with correct DCM, but wrong head count

That specific translation table for the DCM has been around, but it is not necessarily as relevant and/or correct as one could hope.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

I cant guarante the translation is acurate. Not working for WD or anything =)) But it is the one my HDD suplier uses and i am sticking to it untill i know otherwise.

From the above, it appears that the IDE white sticker number does not define the CPU and the Motor Controller unequivocally.

What are the numbers to look for whilst relating those number with CPU and Spindle Motor Controller unequivocally (with no doubt or misunderstanding; clear and unambiguous)?