WD2500SD Possible Controller Board Failure, need advice

[dankenstein]

I have a WD2500SD-01KCCO that just recently stopped working. There was no known power surges and the computer itself is on a brand new UPS. When the computer first boots up, the drive makes one light clicking sound before BIOS POST and the drive does show up as the correct drive in BIOS POST, but when I go to BIOS settings the drive shows only 8000 MB of total capacity even though it is a 250 GB. Later on in the boot sequence the drive shows up as PIO 0MB instead of an ATA type drive. When this drive is connected any disk recovery bootable software (Acronis Disk Director, Norton Parittion Magic, etc) take a lot longer to load, Windows itself takes noticably longer to boot up, and the recovery software I typically use and have always had good results with (R-Studio NTFS) hangs indefinitely upon start up. The disk management service in Windows does not see the drive at all either. The drive only clicks lightly once upon first boot and once again right after POST. It does not sound like it spins up. I am hoping the problem is the result of a controller board issue and I have ordered a WD2500SD-01KCC0 used drive with the last 3 digits of the DCM the same as my drive. I have read a lot about the need to swap U12, a serial EEPROM, on the controller board whilst doing the controller board swap, and am fully prepared to do that as I have the correct equipment and expertise to do it. Can anyone give me confirmation that what I am seeing with this drive is in fact controller board? I am really really hoping it is not a problem with the head or platters as I do not have the resources to send this drive to OnTrack or similar clean room to have the data recovered. Thank you for your help.

[BlackST]

IF you see the correct model on POST BUT it is identified as 8 GB AND it clicks at start WITHOUT data cable, FORGET the PCB as 80-90% it is ' internal ' failure = game over for DIY.

[drc]

I have read a lot about the need to swap U12, a serial EEPROM, on the controller board whilst doing the controller board swap, and am fully prepared to do that as I have the correct equipment and expertise to do it. Can anyone give me confirmation that what I am seeing with this drive is in fact controller board? I am really really hoping it is not a problem with the head or platters as I do not have the resources to send this drive to OnTrack or similar clean room to have the data recovered. Thank you for your help.

Doing so is a 30 second job, should be trivial to find out the answer to your question so that nobody has to guess

[fzabkar]

I'm very curious about this particular product / service (Aff Repair Station):
http://hdd-tools.com/products/rrs/

Try the free online diagnosis.