SEAGATE ST3300831A PCB swap question...

[mac22]

Eum.. I have a friend Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3300831a 300Gb firmware: 3.03 and I know I need a PCB swap, but that firmware is impossible to come by I got a harddrive with firmware 3.01 but it just makes clicking nosises... does that mean it's not spinning up?

Eum.. my dad keeps telling me it's possible to upgrade the firmware.. but I have no clue how to do it or where to get it (not off the fried board, right?).

Seagate people (yeah.. i called them about a pcb swap) said that it's impossible to upgrade firmware... is that true?

Thank you all so much.. help is appreciated..

[darkforce1]

Clicking problem is something different. and if you are thinking that upgrading 3.01 to 3.03 will make your hard disk ok. Forget it. If need data go to some data recovery company.

DF

[mac22]

darkforce, wth? 'something different' meaning? Your post didn't help...

If going to a company and paying 700 bucks for data recovery was an option, do you think I would be posting here?

Why wouldn't upgrade work? I read that it might help.. wow.. such a bad reply...

[pepe]

Hi,

what is the problem with the original board?

pepe

[mac22]

In the original board the protector diode fried.. so instead of removing it (like I read later)... my dad and I put in another one.. which fried some chips...

http://mctrafik.net/hdd/ - photos here

I was hoping to replace burned chips.. but now I know it's useless to do that, so i was kind of after the PCB..but PCB with my firmware is impossible to come by

[darkforce1]

you said that your friend has 3.03 pcb if so on your burned pcb you can see a 8 pin ic that is rom (25p10Vp or 25pxxVP replace it on with your friend's hard disk PCB which as version 3.03.

Am I correct PEPE sir (regards)


DF

[mac22]

Eh.. I have a 3.03 burned! and I have a 3.01 working...

sorry.. it was supposed to say "fried"

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Mac22 ,
I Read Your Topic With Interest .You Need To Replace The Serial EPROM On Your Patient PCB And Install It In Donor PCB .Instructions For Swapping And Finding Identical Logic Board Is In PC-3k Manuals .Also You Just Might Be Able To Get The 3.01 Firmware To Work With Patient Drive [ But Replace the EPROM First ]

[mac22]

This sucks!

I got an exact PCB, and it still doesn't work!!

It just does the clicking noise, and i can't even enter bios...

Any help? Anyone? So it's not the PCB anymore What should I do?

So now I have 2 harddrives of the same model... as spare parts?

Plz, help.

Oh.. the drive does spin and stuff... just not detected (actually bios freezes) and it always clicks, even when i just plug in the power...

[mac22]

also, i left it clicking like that for a minute, and then it stopped.. now it doesn't do anything..

[darkforce1]

may be some internal damage has occur i mean it could be head or preamp got damage.

please post both the hdd details like model, FW and label on PCB.

DF

[mac22]

Both harddrives (donor and the broken one) are Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3300831a FW: 3.03 P/N: 9Y7284-301

The original has the following on the PCB: 05192 87013 100327114
Donor PCB has this: 05270 87013 100327114

I read somewhere that clicking might mean damage inside the HDD Well.. i don't know much about what's inside.. I know I need a clean room to open one.. but since I have a donor... what should I look for?

P.S. I have another harddrive just like that with F/W 3.01 and two harddrives with firmware 4.40 all to play with, for spare parts or whatnot... (Yes, I bought a bunch of harddrives with the same model), so I have what to practice on?...

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Wow ,
Thats Interesting .How Goos Re You In Electronics BTW .Can You Tell Me My Instructions Will Be Based On Your Answer

[rameez]

clicking occurs in the hdd when the pcb doesnot match the hda in some cases then unidentical pcb damages the preamp .

[mac22]

@rameez

that sounds logical. I did try a 3.01 PCB on it before.. so it damaged the preamp?... What can I do about it?

@Amarbir

How good am I... not good, actually. I'm a CS major, with focus on programming.. so I've never opened an HDD before or even been to a "clean room"...but it's never too late to learn.

[darkforce1]

If you don't want data you can open it any time. But if you want Don't do it.

If possible please post terminal . You can make it by your own.

DF

[Starling]

Power surge burnt not only the PCB but the preamp as well.
Where are you located?

[mac22]

@darkforce1

Post Terminal? I'm afraid I'm not sure what you speak of.
About opening it... is it that hard to make a clean evnironment?

@Starling

Yeah.. I am beginning to realize that. Eum.. I'm in Los Angeles.
So what should I do from now?

[mac22]

Okay.. I googled and googled (I'm actually thinking of suiciding my HDD if nothing else comes up, and trying to switch the platters)... but I found this:

I found a site saying that the clicking noise is because the head cannot find sector 0 on the disks so it just reads back and forth looking for it.

Can anyone tell me what that means exactly (apart from what's it's saying, obviously)?

[darkforce1]

Seagate Hard disk can be connected to a Serial Terminal which display the activity of Hard disk when it power on this terminal has cables which are connected on Jumper position on the hard disk and displays the disk status and accept the command of Seagate.
you can see this link for more information. I hope this could help you.

Code:

http://files.hddguru.com/download/Datasheets/Seagate/Seagate%20Diagnostic%20RS-232%20Port/


Example 1
Interface task reset
4096k x 16 SDRAM
TLITE1HD - 1_Disk S.68 05-19-06 10:54

Buzz - Head Mask FFFF - Switch to full int.
Spin Ready
(P)SATA Reset
AT Er 00 Nwt Er 43 RdWr 1a829.00.01a1
ATA St 50 Er 01 Op 00 0,0000/0/00,00 01 00
Niwot: 97f29ff7 b6 97f29ff7.1.6b7 0000 005f 0000 0000
DiskAccess ReadSector EC=43 at 01a829.00.01a1

DF