Wanted: new PCB for crashed seagate 7200.11 500gb

[Ziroj]

Hi,

I am looking for a replacement PCB for Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB ST3500820AS Firmware: SD25. PCB board details are: PCB 100466725; Rev A DLAJ-4.

I tried looking around Google, Ebay and some PCB companies. I am awaiting for their replies. But nowhere to find the exact copy of mine. I only found some PCB's for a ST3500320as with a firmware SD15. They say i can buy this and only need to change the ROM-chip on the PCB for it to work.

Is this true? Or can anyone hook me up with the right copy???

Thank you.

[N.C.]

Hello,

yes, this is true, you can use another pcb wich is similar to the original, but on seagate all the time needs the original adaptive data from the original ROM.

Anyway, i have a bad feeling about your drive have no pcb problem, but more likely SA corruption instead....

Janos

[hddmania]

I would say, send it to PCIMAGE, NC, BlackSt, Zebong, Falther and a few more professionals in EU area for the diagnostic. It may not cost much to get your data back at this point but I'm sure it will cost you double or tripple if you do the DIY and the problem was elsewhere...

Yes, you can use the PCB you found online, just swap the ROM chip if you are going to do it on your own but remember, it may cost you a lot more if that wasn't the problem..

I'm all for the DIY recovery if you know what you are doing or the data is not worth paying, but I'm getting very tired of seeing failed DIY drives and people want their photos back for under $300.

We are in the region where "Random Act of Kindness" is practiced time to time but come on people, don't count on miracle price to get your data back. When your car breaks down, I know you'll pay for $1000 or so without crying too much.

I understand if you are a single-mother of 3 with 2 jobs and lost your deceased parents' only memory as the photos and videos on your computer, sure we will do @ COST recovery with a 12-month payment plan or even free just to help her out but not when I MAKE ONLY $36,000-$75,000 A YEAR AND I HAVE NOTHING LEFT AFTER I PAY MY MORTGAGE, CREDIT CARD BILLS, AUTO LOANS, CHILD SUPPORT, LUXUARY VACATIONS and TIPS to STRIPPERS...

May be I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning

[hddmania]

There are more than enough drives with Kindness Discount Recovery to find out they are full of S**T. Hear stories all the time, we can't afford more than $300 but we want our grand parent's photo and movies back. We are really broke and only thing we want is just the photos. Oh, by the way, we were both laid off as the economy is crushing.

After the recovery, we see financial statements and tax returns or even mutual funds or stock investment showing they have made over $1,000,000 and driving expensive cars such as BMW and others, flying in the personal jets or on the expensive boats or very expensive international vacations or partying with famous Hollywood people but to see only a few grand parent's photos or 1 movie clip. Drive is filled with their investement or business documents. After giving them the handful photos of their grand parents, all of the suden, MAY WE GET OTHER DOCUMENTS, TOO? I'M SURE YOU WERE ABLE TO RECOVER THEM IF YOU GOT THESE PHOTOS BACK. THEY WERE IN THE SAME FOLDER AS THE PHOTOS. THEY WERE IN MY DOCUMENTS...

I understand you have to save and be a bit sneaky to make that kind of money as I grew up in the business oriented faimly but come on people!!! If you make more than $30,000 a year, I'm sure you can cut somewher to save enough for the professional data recovery service. That coffee and smoke you buy everyday? A few night outs in the expensive restaurant a few times a month? That not needed Vegas or Miami Vacation that costed $2,000. $300 NFL ticket???

Sorry, this is not meant to you as the original poster. Just in the grampy mode this morning..

[drc]

While I understand the general sentiment that kind of stuff is supposed to be kept in confidence, no?

[hddmania]

For the kindness discount, we make them sign the contract that there is no evidence of having very expensive vacation that costs more than $1,500, and evidence of making money no more than $29,000 a year for the last 2 years. It also have a section stating they will not get anything but what was originally requested specific family member's photos and movies or letters in E-mail or word format. (Estate related documents are not covered under this. If they can afford a lawyer or two to deal with the estate issue, they can pay us!!)

If the recoery yeild anything that shows otherwise, we will still return the photos and videos @ no cost but as a breach of contract authorize us to use their recovery stories without disclosing who they are & evrything else will cost $10,000 if they want them back. Place them in an escrow for 30 days via a lawfirm. If they pay, they'll get everything and no money = no files and everything get wiped after 30 days.

Our point is Be Honest with us and we will hep you, but don't try to scam us. We will still honor the request but not beyond when we found out they lied to us.

Last edited by hddmania on March 1st, 2010, 13:20, edited 2 times in total.

[Ziroj]

Hello,

yes, this is true, you can use another pcb wich is similar to the original, but on seagate all the time needs the original adaptive data from the original ROM.

Anyway, i have a bad feeling about your drive have no pcb problem, but more likely SA corruption instead....

Janos

Why do you thinks so? (cfr SA corruption)

I plugged in the wrong power supply, in the shop they told me that it was something on the PCB, so they tried fixing it, but it didn't work

btw, what do you mean with adaptive data?

[Ziroj]

I would say, send it to PCIMAGE, NC, BlackSt, Zebong, Falther and a few more professionals in EU area for the diagnostic. It may not cost much to get your data back at this point but I'm sure it will cost you double or tripple if you do the DIY and the problem was elsewhere...

Yes, you can use the PCB you found online, just swap the ROM chip if you are going to do it on your own but remember, it may cost you a lot more if that wasn't the problem..

I'm all for the DIY recovery if you know what you are doing or the data is not worth paying, but I'm getting very tired of seeing failed DIY drives and people want their photos back for under $300.

We are in the region where "Random Act of Kindness" is practiced time to time but come on people, don't count on miracle price to get your data back. When your car breaks down, I know you'll pay for $1000 or so without crying too much.

I understand if you are a single-mother of 3 with 2 jobs and lost your deceased parents' only memory as the photos and videos on your computer, sure we will do @ COST recovery with a 12-month payment plan or even free just to help her out but not when I MAKE ONLY $36,000-$75,000 A YEAR AND I HAVE NOTHING LEFT AFTER I PAY MY MORTGAGE, CREDIT CARD BILLS, AUTO LOANS, CHILD SUPPORT, LUXUARY VACATIONS and TIPS to STRIPPERS...

May be I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning

I'm only a student, does that count too?

[hddmania]

Yes, being a college student or graduate student in the computer filed count as I was one of them a long time ago and I know how Money is not your friend!

But before you do anything to your drive, if you can, run the terminal log.

Don't try powering up that drive if it did smoke or saw sparks when you connected the wrong power cable!!!

What do you mean someone tried working on the PCB??? Did they do the PCB swap and the chip transfer and that didn't solve your problem? If so, you may be facing a bit more serious issues such as killed preamp or heads. Or it could be the tech who worked on your PCB at the local computer shop didn't know what he/she was doing. Or it could be just the FW Bug!!

PCIMAGE has a very reasonable price in UK i think...

[fzabkar]

I plugged in the wrong power supply, in the shop they told me that it was something on the PCB, so they tried fixing it, but it didn't work

btw, what do you mean with adaptive data?

Normally an overvoltage will take out one or more of the TVS diodes.

See this thread for detailed instructions and photos:
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/mes ... 109#M18109

If your need more help, please upload a detailed photo of the component side of your board.

As for SA corruption, I believe that was in reference to the well known 7200.11 BSY firmware bug.

See this thread:
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/mes ... 467#M18467

Seagate's firmware updates:
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/mes ... ad.id=8968

Adaptive data are drive specific calibration values determined at the factory. They are stored in the serial EEPROM. This chip needs to be transferred from patient to donor.

See this page for help in identifying the components:
http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

[Ziroj]

I plugged in the wrong power supply, in the shop they told me that it was something on the PCB, so they tried fixing it, but it didn't work

btw, what do you mean with adaptive data?

Normally an overvoltage will take out one or more of the TVS diodes.

See this thread for detailed instructions and photos:
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/mes ... 109#M18109

If your need more help, please upload a detailed photo of the component side of your board.

As for SA corruption, I believe that was in reference to the well known 7200.11 BSY firmware bug.

See this thread:
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/mes ... 467#M18467

Seagate's firmware updates:
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/mes ... ad.id=8968

Adaptive data are drive specific calibration values determined at the factory. They are stored in the serial EEPROM. This chip needs to be transferred from patient to donor.

See this page for help in identifying the components:
http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

thanks a lot!
although i'm a too big noob to do all these stuff myself

[Ziroj]

Ehy,

i found a site: www.onepcbsolution.com

does anyone know whether I can thrust this site?
they tell me to a transfer with a new board (and shipping) for just 50 dollars

[fzabkar]

Ehy,

i found a site: http://www.onepcbsolution.com

does anyone know whether I can thrust this site?
they tell me to a transfer with a new board (and shipping) for just 50 dollars

IIRC, someone at Seagate's forums reported a good experience with that company. However, if your PCB swap fails, who will swap the 8-pin serial EEPROM chip for you? This chip stores unique drive specific calibration data. You will be successful with a straight board swap only if the tolerances between the patient and donor drives are close.

Don't spend any money ... yet. Please upload a detailed photo of your PCB.

[hddguy]

You will be successful with a straight board swap only if the tolerances between the patient and donor drives are close.

This is wrong. The 7200.11 drives have adaptove data in the ROM so straight PCB swap will not help, no matter how close any tolerances are between the 2 boards.

[fzabkar]

You will be successful with a straight board swap only if the tolerances between the patient and donor drives are close.

This is wrong. The 7200.11 drives have adaptove data in the ROM so straight PCB swap will not help, no matter how close any tolerances are between the 2 boards.

I was referring to tolerances in the HDAs of the patient and donor drives. Am I still wrong?

[pepe]

If we turn the physical 7200.11 drive to a mathematical model and propose that this model is an ideal drive, you will be able to swap the PCBs of two ideal drives. I have done it many times...
The problem with this is that ideal drives exist only in theory. So I could swap their PCBs only in theory.
The phisical drive is somewhat different. \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE is yet another thing. I am so sleepy.

[fzabkar]

If we turn the physical 7200.11 drive to a mathematical model and propose that this model is an ideal drive, you will be able to swap the PCBs of two ideal drives. I have done it many times... :)
The problem with this is that ideal drives exist only in theory. So I could swap their PCBs only in theory.
The phisical drive is somewhat different. \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE is yet another thing. I am so sleepy.

So when you do a head swap, which adaptive data do you use to match a donor's heads to a patient's platters?

[pcimage]

You will be successful with a straight board swap only if the tolerances between the patient and donor drives are close.

This is wrong. The 7200.11 drives have adaptove data in the ROM so straight PCB swap will not help, no matter how close any tolerances are between the 2 boards.

Hddguy is correct, a straight swap in 7200.11 will NEVER work, try hooking up the PCB alone and checking with MHDD, you'll see the "drive" appear with it's model and s/n. Draw your conclusions from that.

[fzabkar]

You will be successful with a straight board swap only if the tolerances between the patient and donor drives are close.

This is wrong. The 7200.11 drives have adaptove data in the ROM so straight PCB swap will not help, no matter how close any tolerances are between the 2 boards.

Hddguy is correct, a straight swap in 7200.11 will NEVER work, try hooking up the PCB alone and checking with MHDD, you'll see the "drive" appear with it's model and s/n. Draw your conclusions from that.

Why not just give me a straight answer?

So the serial number and model number are stored in EEPROM. Does this mean that the drive will refuse to work if it doesn't match these data with what it finds on the platters, assuming it finds anything?

When you do a head swap, does PC3K recalibrate the drive for you? Or do you have to get lucky? Does PC3K use micro-jogging to either side of the track to determine the actual offsets, and then reprogram the EEPROM accordingly?

[BlackST]

No we "recalibrate" the drive by hand. Need to be lucky, anyway.