Data recovery and disk repair questions and discussions related to old-fashioned SATA, SAS, SCSI, IDE, MFM hard drives - any type of storage device that has moving parts
December 8th, 2013, 8:46
Hi, there,
First you guys may excuse some of my stupid questions.
I have a ST3000DM001, which one day suddenly no response, still covered with warranty but Seagate has no guarantee of data.So took it to a data recovery company to check it up, the result is the problem with the bios chip, a 25FS406, the disk and pcb are OK.And they sure offered a 'handsome' price to fix it.
My cheap USB programmer can't support this NOR flash, so I wonder where shall I set the PCB board to the 'saft mode',the pcb board is 10645422 REV A firmware CC9B quite similar to this one

Now the disk is not spining at all, the question is:
Can I try to copy the firmware to the flash in ‘safe mode ’ by jump setting the pcb? where to connect in those 18 dots?
Seagate has firmware in exe and IOS format in higher version like CC9D,that shall needs the disk at least be recognized by bios and can updated in linux tiny core environment.
If other info from the user like MBR is missing, how can I fix this disk? this disk is only one partition with lots of photos and files.
If the flash is burnt, not visible, I believe this is quite rare, what can I do? Only clean room disk openning for data or PC3000 UDA?
Thank you.
December 8th, 2013, 14:52
Ignore my post, should have read the topic properly at the beginning. Delete my post please...
Thanks
December 8th, 2013, 15:15
eeff11 wrote:I have a ST3000DM001, which one day suddenly no response, still covered with warranty but Seagate has no guarantee of data.So took it to a data recovery company to check it up, the result is the problem with the bios chip, a 25FS406, the disk and pcb are OK.And they sure offered a 'handsome' price to fix it.
Could we see a terminal report?
Was the drive spinning before you sent it away?
BTW the chip is a 1.8V device.
LE25FS406, Sanyo, 4M-bit (512K×8) Serial Flash Memory, 1.8V:
http://datasheet.elcodis.com/pdf2/114/3 ... 5fs406.pdf
December 8th, 2013, 23:41
fzabkar wrote:eeff11 wrote:I have a ST3000DM001, which one day suddenly no response, still covered with warranty but Seagate has no guarantee of data.So took it to a data recovery company to check it up, the result is the problem with the bios chip, a 25FS406, the disk and pcb are OK.And they sure offered a 'handsome' price to fix it.
Could we see a terminal report?
Was the drive spinning before you sent it away?
BTW the chip is a 1.8V device.
LE25FS406, Sanyo, 4M-bit (512K×8) Serial Flash Memory, 1.8V:
http://datasheet.elcodis.com/pdf2/114/3 ... 5fs406.pdf
Hi, thank you for your help.
I can easily get the terminal report from almost any wireless router, but how to get it from this board?
The drive stopped spinning before I sent it away.
The report says the bios chip is 25FS406 as you listed, but I saw "FEON S40 7561P“, it's from FEON.
December 9th, 2013, 1:25
With PCB facing up and you looking at the 4 pins next to the SATA connector:
1 2 3 4
n/C GND TX RX
connect at 38,400 8N1. look elswhere on the forum for plenty of info for what serial adapter and even serial tutorials.
December 9th, 2013, 2:46
EN25S40-75XIP, Eon Silicon Solution Inc, SPI flash, 1.8V, 4Mbit:
http://www.essi.com.tw/upfile/p200961794943.pdfThe two devices are compatible.
I would measure the supply voltages on the PCB and perhaps test for shorts before doing anything else. If you would like to proceed, and if you need me to help you, I would prefer to see the original board.
December 10th, 2013, 0:22
fzabkar wrote:EN25S40-75XIP, Eon Silicon Solution Inc, SPI flash, 1.8V, 4Mbit:
http://www.essi.com.tw/upfile/p200961794943.pdfThe two devices are compatible.
I would measure the supply voltages on the PCB and perhaps test for shorts before doing anything else. If you would like to proceed, and if you need me to help you, I would prefer to see the original board.
Hi, fzabkar,
Thank you so much. I know they are compatible. Now I had suspicion that the bios chip was replaced on purpose so that the data recovery guy can sure lock up this business.They took the harddisk to a room that I can only wait outside.
Anyway, I don't want them touch my harddisk again.
Here are the photos of the pcb.I would follow your advice strictly, quite new to this HDD world.
December 10th, 2013, 4:26
It looks like the chip has been swapped. It also looks like they cooked the board when doing it.
What are the numbers on the bottom line of the chip?
What is the date code on the drive's label?
December 10th, 2013, 4:44
Hi, Not sure the whether the chip is the original one, but they said they had to use the original one in another board with same model to judge.
And they insisted they have soldered back the original bios chip.
From my experience with PCB that it's not cooked, it's only rosin flux left.
the numbers on the bottom line of the chip is "102718BA".
Date code on the drive's label "12203" FW: CC98
Will it respond if I connect RX, TX with putty in this case?
December 10th, 2013, 4:52
eeff11 wrote:Will it respond if I connect RX, TX with putty in this case?

The drive needs to power to do this. Have you done the electrical testing fzabkar suggested?
If it does power, and doesn't spin it could be stiction or seized spindle, or other mechanical issues, which Im sure you shouldn't power it and seek a professional. If the drive doesn't spin because of no power, terminal will not work of course
December 10th, 2013, 5:06
http://www.westernnetworks.com/tools/se ... ecode2.phpDate Code Year: 2012
Date Code Week: 20
Date Code Day: 3
Build Date: Sunday, November 13, 2011
The YWW (Year / Week) date code on the Samsung SDRAM chip is "134". That's week 34 of 2011.
The date code on your flash memory appears to be "1027". That's week 27 of 2010, more than one year earlier.
ISTM that they've returned the wrong chip.
And their workmanship is shoddy.
December 10th, 2013, 5:20
is there a photo of the board before you took it to them?
December 10th, 2013, 5:58
In my experience, these drives usually have a "FEON" chip as in the photo.
I don't believe they have given the wrong ROM chip back.
Unless I'm missing something, a new PCB (of same P/N) has not been fitted with this ROM chip transferred.
I would try this first before maligning the company for bad practice.
Also I wouldn't call their soldering "shoddy" because they've left some flux on the PCB. "Inelegant" maybe, but not "shoddy"
December 10th, 2013, 10:32
It looks shoddy to me, ignoring the failure to clean up the flux residue. Looks like cold solder joints on at least one of the pins.
December 10th, 2013, 12:44
pcimage wrote:In my experience, these drives usually have a "FEON" chip as in the photo.
I don't believe they have given the wrong ROM chip back.
Unless I'm missing something, a new PCB (of same P/N) has not been fitted with this ROM chip transferred.
I would try this first before maligning the company for bad practice.
Also I wouldn't call their soldering "shoddy" because they've left some flux on the PCB. "Inelegant" maybe, but not "shoddy" :-)
The date codes clearly tell the real story. You don't see a 2010 chip on a 2011 board. Why can't you see that?
As for the "flux", since when does anyone distribute it over such a wide area? I use resin cored solder and the flux always remains at the joint. To the OP, to confirm whether this really is flux residue, try to clean it up with a cotton bud dipped in isopropyl alcohol.
December 10th, 2013, 14:51
pcimage wrote:In my experience, these drives usually have a "FEON" chip as in the photo.
I don't believe they have given the wrong ROM chip back.
IME Seagate does sometimes use the Sanyo part, at least in the ST2000DM001.

- 25FS406.jpg (37.8 KiB) Viewed 22374 times
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December 10th, 2013, 17:19
LarrySabo wrote:It looks shoddy to me, ignoring the failure to clean up the flux residue. Looks like cold solder joints on at least one of the pins.

Ok, I didn't notice those cold joints! So I'll upgrade my judgement to "substandard"

They obviously didn't pay great attention to replacing the ROM chip to the patient board before returning it after a quote refusal.
I still reserve judgement on whether or not they've deliberately switched the ROM chip until it's been checked properly. Of course there are some shiesters out there who would do this sort of thing after quote refusal, but I don't think (well, hope not) it's as prevalent as some would have us believe.
December 10th, 2013, 17:21
fzabkar wrote:pcimage wrote:In my experience, these drives usually have a "FEON" chip as in the photo.
I don't believe they have given the wrong ROM chip back.
IME Seagate does sometimes use the Sanyo part, at least in the ST2000DM001.
25FS406.jpg
I'm sure they probably do, that's why I said "usually". All the 3tb Seagate drives I have here use the FEON part.
February 16th, 2017, 15:19
Chip 25fs406 Is usually used in Toshiba HDDs.
February 16th, 2017, 21:50
If the ROM is readable, you can read & dump the contents and look for a serial number match with the drive.
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