Western Digital WD500AADS HD will not spin. Think I need PCB

[IMToast]

Hi all.

My Western Digital 500 gig SATA HD will not spin. I think the PCB board is fried. No signs of burns visible to my eye. The HD model number is WD5000AADS-00S9B0.
PCB serial number is: 2061-701640-300 ADD1 XC 9N30 50W8 L 0005380 0385.

Will a matching PBC fix this issue or is this a goner. Would really love to get back my data, but cost is areal factor. Thank much.

-IMToast/Ed

[fzabkar]

If your board looks like this ...

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/9545/best13.jpg

... then check TVS diodes D3 and D4, and zero-ohm resistors R67 and R64 near the SATA power connector. Measure their resistances on the 200 ohms range of a digital multimeter.

If you decide to replace the board, then you will need to transfer the 8-pin serial EEPROM chip (U12), or its contents, from patient to donor. A ROM transfer should not cost you more than $20. Some vendors will do it for $10.

[IMToast]

Hi fzabkar.

Thanks for the offer to help. No, my board does not look like that. Check out the photo. You can see that mine doesn't even have a chip at U12. Any thoughts on this? I really need to get some files off of this drive. Thanks again for the help.

-IMToast/Ed

Attachments

[networkpc3000]

hi,
i have this PCB in stock and can help you transfer original firmware into good PCB. please contact me by email or MSN if need help. thanks.

[peterk]

I've wondered, what tools/harware/program is needed to get the contents of the eeprom without actually physically moving it and sending it to anothe board?

[networkpc3000]

DR equipment can do it. if your PCB has ROM chip. just simple swap it to good PCB be fine.

[peterk]

So its not any single standalone program that can do it but a part of similar to PC3000. (I'm interested and learning that's why I ask). Is that so?

btw, where is the eeprom chip in the above board of IMToast?

[pcimage]

There is no external 8-pin ROM on this PCB, if there were it would be at U12 at the top of your pic.

The ROM is masked inside the MCU on this model, so requires specialist equipment (i.e. PC3000) to resolve the issue.

And no, there isn't a standalone program to do this.

You DO require pro assistance on this one, which shouldn't cost too much AT THIS STAGE if you don't tinker with it and it's "only" a PCB fault.

[fzabkar]

Check out the photo. You can see that mine doesn't even have a chip at U12.

Did you measure the diodes and resistors? None look damaged, but if either resistor is open circuit, then that will prevent the board from powering up.

[IMToast]

I've never done that before. Could someone take me through the steps? What kind of tools would I need to attempt something like this? Sorry, but this is a little beyond me. I do own a Sperry multimeter. Just not all that clear on how to use it. Willing to learn, though.

IMToast/Ed

[fzabkar]

To test the resistances of each component with a multimeter (DMM), you need to set the DMM to the 200 ohms resistance range. Connect the black probe lead to the DMM's COM banana socket, and the red probe to the Volt/Ohm socket. Then connect the probe tips to each side of the diode. If the meter reads near zero, then the diode is shorted. Note that the meter leads will have a finite resistance which you can verify by touching the probe tips together.

This tutorial should help you:
http://www.ladyada.net/learn/multimeter/resistance.html

Read "Example 1. Testing a resistor".