SUMMARY:
I would like to attempt the first stages of a recovery to my drive but would like some input on how to proceed and what may be the problem. I am planning on sending in the PCB board to a vendor like HDD-Parts and have them swap the IC and send it back. Does this sound like a good first step?

DRIVE:
2tb Seagate: ST2000DM001 (bought 8/12) contained my Win 7 OS and files.

FAILURE:
PCB starts getting hot right after plugged in. No drive movement or sounds.

PRE-FAILURE DETAILS:
On the day of failure two things happened, possible signs of drive failure and the PCB failure. First Win7 downloaded some critical updates and then crashed on the reboot. After that my programs weren’t working correctly so I decided to try a system restore. All of my restore points were corrupted so I decided to call the OS a loss and transfer my files. A full virus scan of the drive returned negative. I then put the drive in an external case and plugged it in. It did nothing and got pretty hot (1min) before I noticed it wasn’t working and shut it off.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

DIY has its risks , so be careful,
Chances are that your drive PCB failed and another identical PCB with ROM swap should get it back up.
But it will be in the state as you mentioned (my programs weren’t working correctly so I decided to try a system restore. All of my restore points were corrupted so I decided to call the OS a loss and transfer my files.)

You will now have to copy data off this drive immediately .

It is advised to clone/image it to be sure that your data is safe in another working drive.
But you will need another working hdd of same/larger capacity to hold the image/clone.

All this will be :
1) Time consuming(to image 2TB and copy your data from it)
2) cost(you will need another working hdd + getting working pcb with rom swap)
3) DIY risk
4) unsure about the Success in the end...

your choice

Unfortunately the hot area is in the vicinity of one the switchmode regulators. I can't tell whether the Winbond flash memory IC gets its power from this regulator. If it does, then I'd be a little concerned.

If you have a multimeter, measure the resistance between pin #8 of the flash IC and the R47 coil. Also measure the resistance between pin #8 and pin #4. As long as neither reading is close to zero ohms, I expect that you should be OK with a board swap.

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Thank you for your replies. I did not have the tools to test the chip as fzabkar suggested so I sent the board in for a bios swap to a new board. They told me they cloned it but that my chip was bad. I finally received the cloned board back along with my original but the cloned board looks used and slightly different than mine (see photo). The number on my original board reads: 100664987 REV A, the cloned board reads: 100645422 REV A. Was that even the right board they used? Any suggestions on what I could do to try to get my drive working? Also how can I tell if the bios was cloned correctly?

Thank you !

What is the current state of the drive?(after installing the cloned/rom swapped pcb to the drive) ??


means, your rom was faulty, but they could read its contents and program it in into another rom IC and put it into the new PCB ??


You dont have the tools to verify it.

If they have done what they claim, and your drive had only pcb fault, then the drive should detect.
Connect it directly to the PC, not the USB enclosure , and check if the drive spins up, initializes , detects...

If you the flash chip was/is bad you data is virtually not recoverable

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How did they know that the flash content was bad and what's bad in it?

@BlackST: They just told me the BIOS chip was bad and that was all.

Here are a few more questions I have.

1) After I sent the board in for a swap, they told me the chip was bad and the board would not work. Should they have been able to test that before cloning it and save me $50?

2) I ordered and paid for the same model # PCB as mine. They sent me back a similar but used board with a different number (see above photos). Should I ask for a refund?

3) Any final suggestions on what I might try for self-recovery? I plan to try the cloned board unless anyone has any suggestions.

Thank you for your help!

Don't know if "they" have the time or the capability of "testing" (that is useless without having the entire drive at hand, in my opinion) your chip, but it takes time, tooling and know-how and they are not a charity organization. You asked for a PCB and swap a chip, not "half data recovery" service.
Maybe they have read the content externally and a quick snoop at the content revealed that data was garbled.
A REAL professional in any case but not for only $50 neither 500 can solve the problem, in my opinion.
If you ask me a PCB and swap a chip my sole obligation is to sell you a PCB and move a chip correctly without slaughtering the PCB. If you want me to check the content of the chip it's an extra, and it's not exactly cheap. Sorry.



Compatible boards with different P/N DO exist. And the board was of course USED not new (spare parts do not exist outside factories/ASCs). If they knew their stuff it should not be an issue and in this case NO, you are not eligible for a refund. You should check if your boards are actually compatible or not (I don't see clearly pictures, using a phone).



Thought you already tried the "cloned" board.
If the cloned board is OK (let alone the content of the flash) and the HDA is fried, the drive won't ever spin up.
The cloned board can be OK but the content of the flash was already fucked up so you have a working board that doesn't work because of it OR (last possibility) you can have a good flash and a non-working / incompatible board so it won't work either (don't want to think it !).
Latest thing to remember : depending on what the real problem is , when you put the new board on the HDA, functional or not but in working order, it can be fried too. And in your case, from what I can see from a small pic on a phone screen, these possibilities are not small, but only a complete diagnose can tell.

Well, this is a "lectio magistralis" about things were too often picted EASY, INEXPENSIVE, EFFECTIVE but they are not in real life.

In your case, if I had your drive to recover data from, I would have checked everything BEFORE using another PCB / making one that work. But I don't do "inexpensive, DIY works" . I do "expensive, DR works that work" and I don't trust ONLY multimeters . Maybe this is the difference.

Good luck.

Just my $.02:

I suggest you contact them and ask them for a refund and/or they send you the correct donor pcb.
Maybe they have checked and verified that using a similar pcb will do the job, but in my experience this is not the rule. On the contrary, it is nearly never the rule for these drives.

Having said that, using a different pcb # could be the case here and your flash chip could be fine.
But I might be wrong.

I think you should contact them and tell them they used different board and ask them to explain.

Edit: I see BlackST replied to you while I was typing this and there is a contradiction as to whether pcb board is compatible or not. To me it's not a problem, but I think they should have used same pcb number to rule out raising such questions. In my notes I do not see these two boards as compatible, but I could be wrong.

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I know for sure many case on Seagate where you can use different P/N PCB and they do work as long as "some things" are compatible. I cannot see clearly the pcitures right now so I can't tell.

Those "things" are not very clearly visible through a PC screen either

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SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

1) You can choose changing BIOS if you didn't choose cloing firmware
2) 100645422 can be used as 100664987's donor PCB.
3) When using the donor PCB, the HDD still can't work. You can ask the seller to find the reasons.