WD5000AAKS-00YGA0 Is It my PCB?

[mystycs]

It seems as though my Hard Drive failed on me last night. I have a WD5000AAKS-00YGA0. And it seems as though now it isnt accessible anymore. It is seen by the computer but it doesnt show up as a drive or anything more. Not even in Computer Managment. It seems to spin up and everything and i tried it in several different external cases and computers but its the same issue.

The hard drive spins up fine with no sounds. But shows up in Devices Tab but is not accessible or seen in Computer Managment as though it didnt exist but it sees it. Not even my Restorer Programs can see it. But it shows up in Device Manager.

Is it possible this is a PCB Issue? Or a Head Issue?

My PCB Model is 2061-701477-900 AB. Should i replace my PCB Or do you think its a Head Issue?

What do you guys think the situation is? Because i really want to get this data back.

[mystycs]

Actually it shows up in my Restorer Ultimate Program but says "No Media in the Drive"

[mystycs]

So i put my ear upto it i hear the Head moving a few times then it sounds as though it stops spinning and turns back on spinning right away. What can this be? It does it several times its very quiet and then it just spins quietly.

[mystycs]

Well i saw donordrives is selling my PCB and will do a free adapation. So at most i lose $50 bucks. The data isnt that important but would be nice to get back.

[michael chiklis]

It may be possible that the pcb has oxydation on HDA contact and motor contact.
Try to clean those pcb contacts with a pencil eraser if you see are very durty.

You will need a torxs screwdriver to unscrew the pcb and check.
Also, it may be possible that your ATX power supply is dieing, try with another one.

If all these doesn't solve the problem, next step it's to do some test with MHDD

Last edited by michael chiklis on June 23rd, 2013, 15:26, edited 1 time in total.

[mystycs]

Yeah i tried to clean it already didnt solve it.

I guess ill try the MHDD test. What should i look for during the test?

[michael chiklis]

Check first SMART status pressing F8 button in MHDD and post the picture here.
Then you can do a sector scan by pressing F4 twice.

Are u sure that your power supply it's ok?

[mystycs]

I will try it out assuming it will even see my drive. And im sure its okay i tried it on several external cases.

Ill post results here.

[michael chiklis]

You should take off the drive out the case and hook directly to the sata port of your motherboard.
MHDD doesn't detect drives via usb.

[mystycs]

Once I get into mhdd how do I initialize the test?

[michael chiklis]

First burn the MHDD ISO image on a CD, then boot the computer from CD.
When MHDD starts, press SHIFT+F3 and choose the number associated to the drive you want to check (obviously you have to hope that MHDD detects the drive).
Then press F8 to check smart status, take a picture of the screen with a camera or your phone and post it here.
Then press F4 twice for sectors scan, if scan doesn't start or it shows you a lot of errors since the beginning it means the drive is faulty (or your power supply).

[mystycs]

It's not recognizing my drives unless it doesn't show the names. It 1 as my DVD then 3 and 5 no name

I got one Windows hd then the bad hd.

none of the commands are working says device error when checking smart.

Last edited by mystycs on June 23rd, 2013, 16:12, edited 1 time in total.

[mystycs]

The drive shows in bios at least.

[mystycs]

Okay i will try the hirens boot cd out. But yeah do you think the PCB thing is a viable solution for my issue? I mean it shows up in Bios but nothing else really. And ofcourse ill just send them my PCB. Where can i get the WDR Demo to copy the rom file?

[mystycs]

I downloaded the WDR Demo, but i have no idea how to choose my drive and make a backup of the rom.

[michael chiklis]

Try to swap the drive into another sata port.
Could be a pcb issue, in this case the pcb swap should work, but it can be many other things (heads, firmware, sectors).
If you do the pcb swap i should do the ROM transfer, in this drives usually the ROM is embedded into the MCU chip

[mystycs]

Okay i will try the hirens boot cd out. But yeah do you think the PCB thing is a viable solution for my issue? I mean it shows up in Bios but nothing else really. And ofcourse ill just send them my PCB. Where can i get the WDR Demo to copy the rom file?

PCB "Thing" is only viable if the problem is caused by a bad pcb, like faulty spindle controller chip, etc ....
If the drive have other problems like weak heads or damaged firmware swaping PCB will not get you anywhere.

Free WDR demo can be found here :

http://malthus.zapto.org/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=33

Go to "options" "port" and chose the port where the drive is commected.
WDR will work on win XP.
When you have the correct drive selected go to HDD and select ROYL.
On the window that appears right click, chose actions - flash operations and READ ROM.
It should backup your ROM to a bin file. Do this prior to sending the PCB and keep that backup safe. If something happens you can flash it back on the new PCB. Don't send out the drive, just the PCB.

I see Pimary. Second and Custom.

Not sure if im even selecting that drive because its not showing up in the system. So im assuming i cant back it up in that case? It only shows in Bios at the moment.

[mystycs]

Im going to try the Hirens Boot CD for now.

[mystycs]

Okay im going to try this. Will get back to you guys. Do you think this is a PCB issue or probably something like head or firmware? I heard these drives its usually pcb.

[mystycs]

Yeah im going to start the MHDD scan in a few minutes. Its finishing downloading that boot cd you told me about.

I scanned all four ports.

I get these.

I have 4 ports but 2 ports that only show green with no red. But only one of them opens the WD-Royl.

One shows Green on BSY DRDY and DSC ( Doesnt open up WD-Royl)

Another shows Green only on DRDY DSC. ( Opens up WD-Royl)