Maxtor 4r080l0 DiamondMax 16 FALCON clicking

[Korgull]

Hello Gurus,

i read google extensively also tried the search function which for most of the results is dead. So here is my prob:

Got a Maxtor Diamondmax 16 4r080l0 80gb drive with firmware ramc1tu0 (printed on drive). Whenever the drive inits it makes clicking sounds.
1. How do i find out if this is a firmware issue as mentioned on many pages for these fantastic drives ?

The Disk is recognized by BIOS (which gives a hd failure) and all the tools as Maxtor Falcon with Firmware ramc26uz (hope i spelled it right).

2. There is no burnt chip on the pcb everything looks fine. i found some spots on the pcb wich are labelled as 'test' etc, thinking it could be possible to do some measurements there. of course i dont know howto, any idea ?

3. Is there any chance to bring the drive back to live ?

4. I also heard about some tool thats able to rewrite firmware to the drive w/o pci3k. is that true/available anywhere ?

5. I do not have loaders for the ramc1tu0 nor do i have an original fw update by maxtor (is there one for this drive at all ?). Only i found is a quite similar loader for the same drive (80 gb dmax16 etc) with code ramb1tu0. would this one be compatible to my drive ?

6abc. Also i read some things bout cleaning g-list and p-list. did i understand that right that a cleant drive would have kinda previrgin state ? does it then learn the defects from scratch ? which tool could do cleaning ?

sorry for all the questions, but i am that curious...

regards,

michael

[harddrivespecialist]

It seems like you have a head 0 problem, not a firmware issue.

[Korgull]

Hi harddrivespecialist,

thanx for your answer. Would be so kind and tell me why you think its a head0 issue ?

Did i get it right then that theres something wrong with head0 or maybe a preamp ?

and is there a chance to get behind it on my own ?

thx,

michael

[harddrivespecialist]

When drive is trying to initialize, it is looking for info located on a disk.
Head 0 is reading the info and if its unable to read it, it starts going back and forth to find tracks. That is why it makes a clicking sound. Sometimes preamp could be a reason, but not likely.


There is always a chance...., but you should ask yourself if its worth it.
Before my first head exchange, I have practised on many drives.

[Doomer]

When drive is trying to initialize, it is looking for info located on a disk.
Head 0 is reading the info and if its unable to read it, it starts going back and forth to find tracks. That is why it makes a clicking sound. Sometimes preamp could be a reason, but not likely.

1. I have NEVER seen Maxtor drives which use head 0 as boot head, usually it is Head 3, for this drive it could be Head 2
2. If Maxtor drive clicks that does not mean the boot head is dead - that means ANY head could be dead because drive is checking them all during the SA boot process
3. Usually this drive has only 2 heads inside (Head 2 and Head 3) ,so you have chances what after you change heads it will work

[harddrivespecialist]

Hi!
1) Doomer is right about Maxtors, they usualy have head 3 or 2 to read SA, but overall problem is the same.
2) I will have to disagree with a statement, that clicking of the Maxtor drive if ANY head will fail.
3) Totaly agree.

Спасибо за поправку.

[hddguru]

In fact you was correct... Physicaly it is head 0 , However, Maxtor's N40P/Athena/Calypso etc etc head specification numbers them typicaly from 3 :O)

[Doomer]

Hi!
2) I will have to disagree with a statement, that clicking of the Maxtor drive if ANY head will fail.

You could disagree but it will not change truth
I have A LOT of expirience with Maxtors and I know what I'm saying

[Doomer]

In fact you was correct... Physicaly it is head 0 , However, Maxtor's N40P/Athena/Calypso etc etc head specification numbers them typicaly from 3 :O)

Why it should be Head 0 if Maxtor is using number 3?
All Maxtor commands for physical access and Heads Map and boot head in ROM are using Maxtor numbers (Head 3 or 2 as boot head), so why it should be Head 0?

[Korgull]

Hello guys,

thanx for your postings. at this time i have still some quenstions.

@doomer: i thought this drive has 16 heads. you wrote it has 2 or 3. did you mean per platter or did i get it all wrong ?

the data on the drive is less important for me. would be fine to recover but if not i will stand. i have more interest in bringing the drive back to life, cause i wont have much money for the near future, but would like to have 80gb. on the top of that i am interested in the secrets of a hard drive.

Last question for today: its really funny that the drive the same moments it clicks is playing a melody or rather kind of a scale. is that a common behaviour of hard drives or maxtors ? i am not kidding...

regards

michael

[Doomer]

@doomer: i thought this drive has 16 heads. you wrote it has 2 or 3. did you mean per platter or did i get it all wrong ?
l

We are talking about physical heads
You are probably talking about logical heads

[harddrivespecialist]

Doomer,
I was not going to answer to your comments, but I have to now.

You can name your dog a "cat", but it is still a dog!!!
And if for some reason someone named a head 0 to be a head 3, it is still a head 0 according to all other drives.

No one has questioned your experience, but it seems like you trying to correct everyone else.
And ONLY REASON people do that (as I belive), people who has doubt about themselfs.

Instead of disapproving someones proposal, provide acceptible proposal.

[pepe]

Hi,

just to enter a bit into this argument...
There are several types of preamps used in maxtors: some of them has only 2 channels (ie: 1776AAA2), this way there should be some translation between the FW that states H2 and H3 is used...
The other types of preamp has 8 channels and the translation is quite plain: the Head numbers in the FW equals to the channel number of the preamp, U will come to the same conclusion if U check the heads' connection to the preamp.

so it might be that U both are right...

pepe

[Doomer]

And if for some reason someone named a head 0 to be a head 3, it is still a head 0 according to all other drives.

According to this all drives should be the same but they don't
You said if Maxtor drive has one head it should Head 0 because on OTHER drives it is Head 0. In this case I can imaging Maxtors should have NVRAM like on IBM drives. It is pointless to try measure all drives with one standard they are all different. Maxtors do not have NVRAM and a one-head-Maxtor-drive does not have Head 0

In your words
You can name a dog as a cat if you want

PS: I just like to argue that's it. Don't resent

[Shortscurcuits]

You've just mentioned something that tells what is wrong with this drive, if it makes musical noises while clicking the spindle is seized. Your drive is not spinning the platters.

[salvationlaura]

Hello guys,

Last question for today: its really funny that the drive the same moments it clicks is playing a melody or rather kind of a scale. is that a common behaviour of hard drives or maxtors ? i am not kidding...

regards

michael

Michael, congratulations!
I tell you a secret, In fact there is a music box in your Maxtor disk. That is a present of Seagate , only one disk among 1,000,000,000 HDD.

You are so lucky! Shush, don't tell anyone else.

Regards,

Laura

[Shortscurcuits]

If you need the data you might get lucky and free the spindle if you just want to save the drive throw it out it will only do it again even if you get it to spin again.
Do a search of spindle seizure and there is a post I made about how you can free the spindle if it is not too bad.

[SALIM]

HELLO TO EVERYBODY
I NEED LDR/MODULE FOR (DIAMONDMAX 16 80GB ATA/133 RAMC1TU0)
PLEASE HELP