hi folks. i have two problematic HDD's. one is a ST340014A which has a burned motor IC. the other is a ST340016A, which has a problem whereby the HDD makes a munching sound, isn't recognised by bios, and intermittently powers itself off and on. when i change the PCB (PCB from similar model) it just spins normally with no sound. so there's obviously a problem somewhere it its PCB. but i have no idea how to find out where.

so basically,the situation is this:
1. burned motor IC in ST340014A (due to power surge i believe - HDD spins perfect with other PCB)
2. Unknown problem in PCB of ST340014A (again, HDD spins perfect with other PCB).

any suggestions on how i should go about fixing these?
also.... there is an 8pin chip 2P102 on the ST240014A... is that the ROM IC???

many thanks.

Connect it to the terminal and post log here .

it is not detected by bios. today i got hold of a ST340016A HDD, but the firmware version was 7.73 instead of 3.05. i tried it anyway...... the HDD started spinning, then clicked for a few seconds and powered down. would it be advisable to take the platter out of my old HDD (firmware 3.05) and put it into the donner HDD (firmware 7.73)? or is the platter specific to the firmware?? or.... would a live swap possibly work? if there's virtually no chance, then i won't risk damaging it...........

If swapping the platter, there's virtually no chance.

even if it's single platter? why?

I can't possibly see why a platter swap would be the next move here. Using this to judge your abilities, I'm guessing a platter swap will result in no data recovered. You will need:

1) A correct diagnosis
2) The experience to fix the specific problem

It sounds like you have at least been doing some research. Keep going.

this is what my ST340016A outputs.


here is some other diagnostic information:

any suggestions???

as for the other drive, (ST340014A which has fried motor IC).... i tried it with a PCB that has the same firmware but different site code (the PCB is slightly different too), and i was actually able to copy a couple of files, but not the ones i need..... shoud i persist with this "same firmware/different sitecode" PCB?