Seagate 80GB 7200.9 Firmware failure?

[Russwinters]

Hey all,

I have a strange one in. At least for a drive this small..

The drive makes no abnormal sounds, but you definitely can't hear it load overlays, and of course looking at the terminal it is apparent why:

Interface task reset
4096k x 16 SDRAM
TONKA2 - 1_Disk M-31 03-22-06 10:53

Buzz - Head Mask FFFF - Switch to full int.
Spin Ready
(P)SATA Reset
DiskAccess ReadSector EC=43 at ffffffff.00.0002
Failed sys sect. write
DiskAccess ReadSector EC=43 at ffffffff.00.0002

Read Ver Retrys
DiskAccess ReadSector EC=43 at ffffffff.00.0002

Read Ver Retrys
DiskAccess ReadSector EC=43 at ffffffff.00.0002

Read Ver Retrys
DiskAccess ReadSector EC=43 at ffffffff.00.0002

Read Ver Retrys
DiskAccess ReadSector EC=43 at ffffffff.00.0002

Read Ver Failure!
Failed sys sect. write
Unable To Load Overlay 01|000A
(
T>


As you can see, it obviously can't read the firmware, the two points of interest to me are: Failed sys sect. write and the fact that the drive reaches T>

Since the drive can reach T> I decide to check a few things. Keep in mind this is an 80GB drive with 1 head, maybe 2 sometimes:

T>k
Head Mask = FF
Map 00 to 00 00
Map 01 to 01 01
Map 02 to 02 02
Map 03 to 03 03
Map 04 to 04 04
Map 05 to 05 05


Is it just me, or does that look incorrect? I supposed it is just assuming if the heads arn't there....then it just wont use them...but usually i don't see heads mentioned if they don't exist

T>Age=50 Type=3F MxCyl=22910 MxHd=0 MxSct=000 BSz=008M TCode=01000000 ThermFlts=0000
Pgm=00 Trk=FFFFF(1661D:00[17029]).0(0).012(FFF) Zn=0 Err=00 ErCt=0000 Hlth=0008 CHlth=0000 Ready LBA=0000044B

T>3.ADH 05-17-06 14:23 ADH,1H_S_013_M1,4T


************* Cert Log Cyls inadequate. 0006 more cyls required
(
T>/2
2>Z

Everything on ; looks ok to me..
' may be showing something on Trk, but I am not that versed in seagate commands yet.

Ctrl-C reloads the firmware, but shows us: ************* Cert Log Cyls inadequate. 0006 more cyls required - which I find curious as well, again I am not 100% sure of the meaning of it's presense, but I could guess that possibly the cert is damaged in some way?



My guess is: Bad head/heads (if its a 1 or two head drive) Possibly the read element is good, but write element is bad?

simply corrupt firmware.





Any input on this one would be greatly appreciated!

[Russwinters]

Oh, I would like to add that checking the zone table showed that only Head 00 is in use.

[drc]

Check PM

[Russwinters]

Still haven't figured this one out. I'll update if I figure anything out.


Note: I don't have any Ace Labs products at my disposal, only Atola

[Russwinters]

Searching around a little bit on this very forum (Here I am saying this to users coming here all the time, and I make the same mistake) It looks like this has possibly been covered before (Although mine may be a little different)

It looks like if I have a PC3K this could be a really quick solution, but since I don't have on at my disposal, I am going to try to long way around.

The problem COULD be heads, or a bad write element.

First I will find a Donor, and attempt hotswap to load in the overlay, and see if this gives me access.

If not, then the next step will be to check the pcb out, maybe there is some sort of R/W channel corruption (I am 99% sure this is not the case, because drive reaches T> and can return me data

Last is heads, again...the read element i really think is fine, but the write element may be dying..of course i don't need it to write, only read, so if i can get the overlay loaded in ram and that works, image and call it a day.


Will let everyone know what happens, in the meantime if anyone has any suggestions please let me know

[Russwinters]

Still haven't gotten this one up and running yet.

I have not swapped the heads yet because I am pretty confident that the firmware is to blame.

Apparently with the PC3K there is an easy fix, but what about using terminal commands. Anyone have any ideas?

[rameez]

Try this :

Ctrl+R
T>i4,1,22
T>/1
1>N1
ctrl+T

Sometimes erasing Glist and Smart finishes this error .

[Russwinters]

Indeed, I have just tried this right before I read your post, but unfortunately; with this drive I think it may be no go.


Glist can be reset, but N1 command fails, and so drive still doesn't work.


I believe that there may be physical bad sectors in SA