WD RED 3 TB WD30EFRX Bios/ROM is dead?

[testuser]

It all started when someone put a wrong adapter into the NAS. It was all click sounds from HDD first and then all is silence. Connected HDD to PC with SATA and there is nothing in PC BIOS.
Took the drive directly to a professional data recovery center. They inspected the hdd and told me the pcb is burned. Demanded tons of money. I declined them and they bargained with me until they dropped to 1/3 of the initial price. I have declined them anyway but the guy got angry and went to get my drive. He was inside more than 10 minutes I have asked his friend? Why is he not coming? Cause i suspected he is doing something to the drive. He returned at last and gave me the HDD but demanded nothing.

After i got my hard drive i purchased a used pcb from internet which has the same serial number as mine.
Then i went to electronic repair shop and asked the repeairman to transfer the ROM chip from my defunct board to the new one.
He inspected the 2 PCBs and said my old PCB ROM is positioned that is looking the otherway compared with the new PCB.
He soldered my original(if data recovery center hadnt already changed my ROM with any other ROM) bios chip to the new PCB using new PCB direction. He also soldered new PCB bios to my old PCB.
I plugged the disk to my PC and now it is seen in PC BIOS as 0.0 GB. The surprising part is both PCBs show it as 0.0 GB whereas my original one wasnt recognizable in PC BIOS.

Here comes the images(cant embed cause of the size)

https://i.imgur.com/yqzTj3X.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YIof86o.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/PKrVJjl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/nsOMJFu.jpg

Attachments

[fzabkar]

Do both PCBs spin up the drive?

[Lardman]

Don't think we should commented on the DR company, so I'll leave that alone.

Why did the repair tech swap the rom orientation - was it just that the board you brought from the internet was the other way around or was there other evidence it had previously been rotated incorrectly . Can we get a high res picture of the rom area, (the bit by the melted connector ) we can then check if the orientation of the chips is correct. On your original board can you see any other signs of work (flux/shiny solder/scratch marks etc) I notice the connector pads on one board have been rather aggressively "cleaned".

edit : never mind checked your image links - both chips look to be correctly orientated now.

[testuser]

Do both PCBs spin up the drive?

No none of them spin up.

[testuser]

Don't think we should commented on the DR company, so I'll leave that alone.

Why did the repair tech swap the rom orientation - was it just that the board you brought from the internet was the other way around or was there other evidence it had previously been rotated incorrectly . Can we get a high res picture of the rom area, (the bit by the melted connector ) we can then check if the orientation of the chips is correct. On your original board can you see any other signs of work (flux/shiny solder/scratch marks etc) I notice the connector pads on one board have been rather aggressively "cleaned".

edit : never mind checked your image links - both chips look to be correctly orientated now.

Okay it is confirmed then. DR company soldered the Bios in reverse position and even that could not be my own Bios chip. Maybe they soldered there another chip.And plus another strange thing my pcb wasnt even recgonized by bios but now it is, though 0.0 gb. That company is a real fraud it seems.
What can i do now? Is there anyway to recover the hdd?

[dick]

I think somehow you need to obtain a good dump from the 'original' rom and see if it matches your drive.
Not difficult to do but it would need a reader and some techie skills etc.

Don't think we should commented on the DR company, so I'll leave that alone.

I agree at the moment no. But......

If the original rom is dead.....then hmmm.

But if the original rom was found not to be then yes of course you should out them.

[testuser]

I think somehow you need to obtain a good dump from the 'original' rom and see if it matches your drive.
Not difficult to do but it would need a reader and some techie skills etc.

Don't think we should commented on the DR company, so I'll leave that alone.

I agree at the moment no. But......

If the original rom is dead.....then hmmm.

But if the original rom was found not to be then yes of course you should out them.

I didnt know what they have done. But it seems the ROM is not working even on another PCB.
Found some sites that you can download firmware. Will it work on my hdd i dont know. But i can buy a reader(if you can direct me what it is exactly) and tech skills no problem, i have friends with electronics knowledge.
Alternatively i can buy the same model and try the pcb from that one.

Attachments

New Hdd

My Hdd

[fzabkar]

Can you tell us the markings on the two ROMs? We can compare the date codes on each ROM against the manufacture date on the label of each drive.

Does each PCB spin up the donor HDD?

BTW, the two HDDs are not the same model. One is a WD30EFRX-68EUZN0 while the other is a WD30EFRX-xxAX9xx. The two PCBs are different - 2060-771824 versus 2060-771945.

[testuser]

Can you tell us the markings on the two ROMs? We can compare the date codes on each ROM against the manufacture date on the label of each drive.

Does each PCB spin up the donor HDD?

BTW, the two HDDs are not the same model. One is a WD30EFRX-68EUZN0 while the other is a WD30EFRX-xxAX9xx. The two PCBs are different - 2060-771824 versus 2060-771945.

No none of them can spin the Hdd.

Original PCB with the replacement ROM (this rom writings are very clear)
---------------
Winbond
25X40CLVIG
1348

Replacement PCB with original ROM transferred to it (this ROM has writings washed out)
--------------------
Winbond
25X40CLVIG
1853 or 1653

[testuser]

HDD in BIOS 0.0GB attached.

Attachments

[testuser]

Does each PCB spin up the donor HDD?

Sorry i was wrong about this. I have just tried it with replacement pcb + original ROM = Disk Spins Up.
Should i try to initalize it Disk Management?

[dick]

Does each PCB spin up the donor HDD?

Sorry i was wrong about this. I have just tried it with replacement pcb + original ROM = Disk Spins Up.
Should i try to initalize it Disk Management?

NO!
Whatever you do is don't do that!

[fzabkar]

"My HDD"

manufacture date: 24 Feb 2016

"New HDD"

manufacture date: 28 Jul 2012

Original PCB with the replacement ROM (this rom writings are very clear)
---------------

1348 -> week 48 of 2013

Replacement PCB with original ROM transferred to it (this ROM has writings washed out)
--------------------

1853 -> week 53? of 2018
or 1653 -> week 53? of 2016

Your "original" PCB has a date stamp of 0514. This would suggest that the PCB was manufactured in week 05 of 2014.

So it would appear that neither the PCB nor any of the ROMs are original.

[mr_spokk]

Why don't just go back to them and tell them to give you the right ROM or ROM-File, as you know they fiddle with it...if not, hang them out.

[fzabkar]

I'd be wondering whether the HDA is original.

[testuser]

"My HDD"

manufacture date: 24 Feb 2016

"New HDD"

manufacture date: 28 Jul 2012

Original PCB with the replacement ROM (this rom writings are very clear)
---------------

1348 -> week 48 of 2013

Replacement PCB with original ROM transferred to it (this ROM has writings washed out)
--------------------

1853 -> week 53? of 2018
or 1653 -> week 53? of 2016

Your "original" PCB has a date stamp of 0514. This would suggest that the PCB was manufactured in week 05 of 2014.

So it would appear that neither the PCB nor any of the ROMs are original.

Sorry for confusion. For the new HDD i have just posted an image of a HDD that i want to buy in hopes of transferring ROM. Yeah but was a whole different number.
The new PCB that i own is ordered from hddzone.(no hdd just pcb)

Okay finally got a clear picture of the ROM after clearing with alcohol and some zooming. It is 1553. Check the Original ROM date picture.

So you are saying the date on the PCB should be same as with the ROM? It is for certain?

Also can you make it clear for me. The data on my PCB ROM is unique in the whole world? If i can find the same HDD, same model, same year, same pcb, same everything then data inside the ROM would still be different? If it is not, i can find the very same HDD somewhere in the world.

Edit: Hmm i found this: https://www.cheadledatarecovery.co.uk/2 ... n-wd-hdds/

Attachments

[fzabkar]

The date codes should be close. That's because manufacturers generally have "just in time" manufacturing philosophies. That is, manufacturers generally hold just enough stock to keep the production line going.

A date code of 1553 would suggest that the ROM chip was manufactured in the very last week of 2015, which predates your drive's manufacture date by 2 months. That seems consistent, so it could very well be your original ROM. The PCB has been replaced, however.

[DR-Kiev]

This is Diablo 3S with full map of heads. It has nothing unique inside ROM , donor PCB with same exactly FW version should do the trick. But windows won’t help you access the data normal way . This is NAS and there is Linux file system.

[testuser]

This is Diablo 3S with full map of heads. It has nothing unique inside ROM , donor PCB with same exactly FW version should do the trick. But windows won’t help you access the data normal way . This is NAS and there is Linux file system.

Okay then i will order another PCB. How can i fully sure of firmware version? I have Linux so no problem reading if it is succesfully recognized in BIOS.

[Lardman]

Okay then i will order another PCB. How can i fully sure of firmware version? I have Linux so no problem reading if it is succesfully recognized in BIOS.

Worry about the logical recovery once the drive is physically working. Just because the rom can be reconstructed doesn't mean it's a DIY job to do it.

Curious

They inspected the hdd and told me the pcb is burned. Demanded tons of money.

What do you think is a ton of money?