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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
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Hitachi Travelstar Firmware Chip

December 20th, 2006, 17:16

Hello,

I have Hitachi Travelstar
MDL: HTS726060M9AT00
Problem: Drive is clicking

I have a downer drive, same model
but different P/N and Firmware revision.

I thought, ok It's either Heads, preamp or PCB.
I changed the PCB and the drive stoped clicking and is now running smooth. But ofcourse BIOS can't detect the drive cause of the different firmware revision. Also Media tools can't detect the drive either. I want to swap the Firmware chip, but have never done this before. I hope that the Firmware chip of the original drive is functioning, so that I can swap this to the new PCB. My main concern is that I might fry the Firmware chip when removing or soldering back on to the new PCB. It has been several years since I used a soldering iron. I guess I need to buy one with a very fine tip, does anyone have recomendation or preference to a particular model or brand?

I think that this will resolve my problem, but I am not 100% sure that my Firmware chip on the old PCB is perfectly intact. It looks good, but that doesn't mean anything. Is there a way for me to ensure that the Firmware chip is good, before I swap it?

Any tips for to remove and re-solder the chip without overheating it?

Many, many, MANY, THANKS :D :D :D

December 20th, 2006, 19:11

Hi,
First U should try to exchange the 93LC86 (may be 76?? ) ic. this is a 8 pin IC, probably only LC86 is printed on the case.

pepe

December 20th, 2006, 19:26

Hello Pepe,

Thanks for the reply.

If I am looking at the right IC it says: L58R W30S 4S
This is the only 8 pin IC on the board. It's located at U6.

The new one on the downer PCB says: S93C 56B V5 1735

Is this the right one?
Excuse my stupidity, but what is this IC for?

December 20th, 2006, 23:54

Hallo,

that's NVRAM, what pepe mean is you need to unsolder this ic. from broken pcb and then solder it back to good pcb.
Give it a try.
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