Sadly, I used the wrong modular power supply cables and damaged (maybe fried) the PCBs on the drives.

The first drive is a WD15EARS with PCB 2060-701640-002 REV A. I did purchase another drive but unfortunately it is a WD15EARX with a PCB 2060-771698-004 REV A so I presume swapping the PCB will not work or could it?

The PCB (701640) doesn't appear to have sustained any visible damage (unlike the other 2TB drive where the Smooth chip has left some slight marks on the insulating foam). Upon reading another post here, I did check D3 and D4 as well as R64 and R67. D4 seems fine but D3 is open (current going both ways). R64 reads 0 ohms and R67 27.8 ohms. So where do I go from here? Snip D3 and hope for the best?

Now for the other drive, I do have an identical drive and PCB replacement. Again like the previous drive E3 seems busted but I suspect the Smooth is damaged as well (given it left modest marks on the insulating foam). I did swap the PCB which got the drive to begin spinning but resulted in small clicks... Drive seems to try to wind up but then clicks again. Clicks are feint not the big clack or heads smacking something. Would this be expected given the U12 (EEPROM) hasn't been replaced?

BTW this damage occurred as I swapped power supply and applied power for the first time. I realize that the PCB's got damaged but how likely is the damage to have spread beyond the PCB and damage heads, motor, etc?

P.S. I actually have 2 identical replacement PCBs for this 20EARX drive. One from a 15EARX and one from a 20EARX.

hi,
let's try to check point by point:



No will not work, they don't even have the same MCU
PCB 2060-701640-002 MCU MARVELL 88i9045-TFJ2
PCB 2060-771698-004 MCU MARVELL 88i9146-TFJ2


as you probably inverted 5V and 12V i would be mostly worried on the 5V part of the PCB (MCU, Flash...) than 12V, is quite normal to see some marks on the foam due to heat...


For sure without original ROM i would expect this behavior due to adaptives data in ROM, try swap U12 and let us know


Yes i would be more worried about 5v part of PCB and head/preamp...

I hope this will help you.
Bye
Luca

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Data Recovery pro in Italy
www.ultrarecovery.com

If you have a lot of problems on this and can not get the right PCB or figure this one out might be a good idea to contact Thatdellguy he is out of California and could do this onr for you and I am sure if you have not damaged it further or there is preamp head problems it should not be too much on this for your repair. Send him PM

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Iorana Haraharaini

Swapped U12 and no luck. Drive begins to spin but then I hear a few very feint ticks and the drive tries again.

Could the rom have also been damages?

What are my next options?

U12 must be OK, otherwise the drive wouldn't attempt to spin.

When you say "begins to spin", does the drive actually spin up, even if it spins down again?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

(edit) Yes the drive does appear to begin to spin... Followed by one or two feint ticks...

I used a new PCB from another identical drive. Swapped U12 from the damaged PCB to the new PCB.

The behavior of the drive (with this new pcb) is the same as prior to when I replaced U12. Meaning I had tried just a PCB swap (no U12 swap) and the drive would begin to spin but then I hear a feint tick or two. Then the drive seems to repeat this cycle.

Btw: when putting this PCB back on its original new drive but with the replacement U12, the behavior is identical. Ie the drive begins to spin followed by a few feint ticks... And then the cycle repeats.

Hopefully my description makes sense.

First off PCB swap with out transfer of ROM or adaptive does this. The adaptive are not the same.

Second you moved the U12 ROM to the donor PCB and it still did the same thing. Spins up three clicks and spins down then it repeats this until it no longer spins at all. Correct?

If this is the case then you have more problems than just the PCB and ROM transfer. You might have some internal preamp damage to the heads on this one. It is not reading correctly and that is why it spins up and down and tries again.

When you replaced your PCB on your new drive and leave on the ROM from the other drive it will do this one. The Adaptives are not the same. Put back on your original ROM on the drive and your new donor drive should work again.

Also try and contact Thatdellguy he is in California and can fix this drive for you. You have tried the ROM swap with a new PCB and it did not work for you. Put your ROM back on your original PCB and put back on the other ROM on your donor drive PCB. Send the drive to Thatdellguy for an ananlysis on this one. But if you send him the drive send him origianl PCB with Original ROM on it.

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Iorana Haraharaini

So at this stage, sending it to someone like thatdellguy is my most logical option?

The original PCB is toast... The drive doesn't try to spin with that one at all... Should I bother remounting U12 back onto the bad PCB? Clearly I need to remove it from the new replacement PCB...

One last question, while watching a YouTube video of Scott Moulton, he made a reference to WD drives with the same "triangle shape" PCB that I have and how swapping U12 on those doesn't work due to some filter issue?

Has anyone heard about this and what was he referring to?

Is there a work around for this and could this be why swapping U12 didnt work in my case?

Part of the drive's POST routine is to confirm the integrity of U12. It does this by calculating checksums over the ROM's component modules. AIUI, if there is a checksum error, then the drive won't spin.

What does Scott Moulton mean by "won't work"? Does he mean that the drive doesn't spin, or does he mean that the drive spins but doesn't come ready?

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

In that YouTube video he seemed to imply that for other WD drives, swapping U12 would / could work but that for that particular PCB version, that it would not work ... Due to some filter issue... Perhaps has you suggested, maybe for that version of PCB WD added a check sum ...

Is this something that others have encountered? How would you get around that? How would I go about finding out why the drive fails its post?

Like I said in previous posts, with the replacement PCB with transplanted U12 the drive begins to spin and then clicks a few times... Tries again but never gets past that point?

The fact that the drive spins up means that it has passed its POST.

The firmware in every U12 chip is checksummed, even in old models.

Poehere is telling you that your drive has internal damage. She is a data recovery professional. I am not. However, it may be interesting to see whether your drive spins up if you place some insulation tape over the preamp contacts on the PCB.

As for the "filter" issue, I confess that I don't know what Scott Moulton is talking about.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Power supply can damage a preamp but the drive can still spin up like Franc is saying on this one but what happens is that the drive will also click. Even if you change the ROM to a new PCB there can be problems in preamp. You have tried the ROM transfer to a donor PCB and your drives now spins up but is still clicking. That means you have more internal issues that have to do with the preamp on the HSA.

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Iorana Haraharaini

Thanks for all the feedback.

Last final question (sort of technical question that is...) Since this drive suffered a power supply issue and nothing mechanical in the sense of plater damage, heads, motor, etc... How likely is a pro to be able to recover the data?

I did contact ThatDellGuy as you suggested but he appears to have his hands full. I also contacted MyHardDriveDied.com and awaiting a response from them.

Any other suggestion on which other trusted and reputable recovery pro I should contact to get my data recovered off this drive?

Try member jono-ats he is in Atlanta. He will do it for you.

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Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

There is also Quasimodo out of Florida he can do this one for you also. There are 3 excellent people who are highly trusted and can do this for you. I would use one of the three of them

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Iorana Haraharaini