Barracuda 7200.7 diagnosis

[Zeken]

Hi

I'm with a ST380011A which from one day to another decided to not work anymore. It spins up, does (unfortunately) some clicks and then stops. Since seem impossible to 'talk' with it using the ATA interface, I tried to communicate through the TTL RX and TX lines (only to hear what it says), but neither responds to the hyperterminal.
I followed the instructions of SalvationData to do the RS-232 to TTL adapter and connect it to the HDD pins (there's a demo software of a firmware repair tool for this model of Seagate), but now I'm not quite sure of which are the TX and RX lines corresponding pins. I'm almost sure that the adapter itself works since the loopback test works (I connect directly the TX to the RX on the adapter, then the hyperterminal actually echoes what I'm typing on keyboard).

Now, the question is; It's possible that the PCB remains absolutely "muted" on this type of connection? Or going a step further: It would be possible to talk with PCB alone? I mean, if I get out the PCB from the disk, there would be possible to read some information from it through the TMOS interface?

The aim of this questions is try to diagnose better if it's a PCB or physical problem.


Thanks

[dmarques]

Hi,

Well, even if the heads are knocking you should have something in terminal log.

Anyway, removing PCB in that case will not help you in anything. What you can do is at least try to use some commands to reach FW and check if it's readable, what probably will not happen, as I think your heads are damaged.