Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.11 Failure

[playsatan]

Recently i had been getting lots of CRC errors whilst unzipping archives etc. I recognised this as an indication that my hdd was on it way out. I ran a full chkdsk scan which returned with no errors and also ran all the basic Seatools diagnostics (SMART, Short/long drive self test, short/long generic tests) all of which returned with no errors.

On loading Seatools i was informed that one of my disks had an available firmware upgrade and downloaded the appropriate ISO image. However, unfortunately overnight before i had change to use the cd i had made my hdd is now no longer recognised in my BIOS.

I understand several people are experiencing this type of problem but i was wondering if you can somehow update the the firmware with my drive in this state.

n.b i have checked to see if the drive is spinning and it certainly seems like it is. I havent noticed any strange sounds either. Are there any fixes around for this???
My hdd is a ST3500320AS btw

[pcimage]

What firmware version is it?

[playsatan]

i'd say it was the sd15 firmware - i cant tell you for sure because i cant access the drive anymore but after i ran seatools the other day i'm almost 100% positive it was sd15.

Put it this way the drive's firmware has never been updated and after checking my serial number on seagate website it says there is an update available. I bought the drive in around sept 2008 so whichever firmware existed around then is the one i have now.

Thanks for your reply

[LiK]

you can see your HD's firmware version on its lablel!

[pcimage]

If it is SD15, then it's 99% certain to be the rogue fw issues. That's one of the main culprits.

The drive is in locked mode, and so cannot be updated until the firmware issue is fixed and the drive unlocked.

You can of course, some sort of "Heath Robinson" serial device (details on this forum somewhere) and risk sending ATA commands to the drive through that, or I can do the whole procedure for you for a reasonable price.

PM me if interested.

[playsatan]

Haha LiK - i really should have thought about that

Thanks pcimage - appreciate your help - just to confirm that is is the SD15 firmware

[pcimage]

You have PM reply

[drc]

"Heath Robinson"

Is that like the English equivalent of MacGyver?

[pcimage]

Yeah, sort of.

He was a guy who wrote books with drawings of all sorts of wonderful home-made contraptions like "mousetrap".

[LiK]

Check these links for your problem .

http://www.msfn.org/board/seagate-barra ... ntry828180

http://sites.google.com/site/seagatefix/

tutorial-resolve-lba-seagate-7200-bios-don-recognize-t11040.html

http://www.msfn.org/board/solution-seag ... 28807.html

[pcimage]

Yep, like I said, the "Heath Robinson" approach.

If you're not worried about the data, and just want to take a stab at fixing the drive before RMA'ing it then these solutions are worth a try. Go for it.

[HDD Spaz]

its worth noting that in my experience at least 25% of these firmware issues are related to failing or failed heads.
For example I repaired a 1TB yesterday which was 0 LBA, 3 out of the 8 heads were bad. Then you really need a pro.

[BGman]

its worth noting that in my experience at least 25% of these firmware issues are related to failing or failed heads.
For example I repaired a 1TB yesterday which was 0 LBA, 3 out of the 8 heads were bad. Then you really need a pro.

3 out of the 8 heads were bad
You win the jackpot!!!!
It's amazing... I thought they die one by one...

In my experience only about 10% of failed SD15 drives come with heads or SA problems...
All others - CE - CE

[pepe]

It's amazing... I thought they die one by one...

Just kick a good drive, soon U can have 3 or more dead heads

[BGman]

It's amazing... I thought they die one by one...

Just kick a good drive, soon U can have 3 or more dead heads

Agree, but 3 out of the 8 heads is still amazing !

What a brilliant kick...