Sigh...

So I have a Western Digital WD5000AAKS drive which I recently moved to my new PC. Problem is the power supply didn't have enough SATA power connectors, so I bought a 4-PIN to SATA power adapter and plugged in the drive. First time I did this and powered up, the computer beeped a few times and wouldn't start up. Then I just pushed in all the cables firmly and the computer booted... but the drive was not recognized.

The hard drive was still spinning up at this point.. and it was spinning up the next few times I started up the PC (but still not recognized in the BIOS)... but now the drive does not spin up at all when I turn the computer on. If I put my hand on the PCB while the computer is on I can feel it getting warm in a particular spot... and there was a very slight burning smell (not noticeable unless i put the drive right up to my face). So I'm guessing that 4-PIN adapter wasn't plugged in correctly the first time and fried the PCB.

And yes I've read all I could about PCB issues on these particular drives.... but just to reconfirm... is there no hope of just doing a simple PCB swap? Would there be any hope of repairing this PCB?

I was reading another thread for this same hard drive with an identical problem, and the guy just removed the burned out diode from the PCB and was able to recover his data. Any chance of this being the case for me?

I have to go find my torx screwdrivers so I can take a closer look at the PCB... will post pictures later. This was just my "media" drive, so no crucial data that I would want to spend $1000 recovering... I'm reeeeeally hoping it's fixable...

Hi,
You should try your drive in a more reliable power souce.
If your drive is still bad....you'll need a pro.

Regards/Bosse

_________________
Rescue IT Datarecovery service Sweden
Rescue IT Dataräddning Göteborg AB
http://www.rescue-it.se

I put the drive back in an external enclosure it was in before and still it doesn't spin up...

ok I removed the PCB and took a look... doesn't look promising

Here's the PCB (excuse the size)... notice the two components in the top right look singed:



And here's a closeup... the chip that says "SMOOTH", and also U21 look burned (click on the image for a higher-res version):



So any way to repair these or am I screwed?

Ok here are some pictures of my PCB:

Notice the top right, the chips are singed:

PCB

And a close up: Looks like the SMOOTH chip has been damaged, as well as "U21":

PCB Closet Up

Any hope of repairing this? Everything else looks ok...

Photos might help.

Trying to post photos but it keeps saying my posts need to be moderated... hopefully they show up soon..

edit: here`s the pcb... notice the components in the top-right look singed:



and a close up. the SMOOTH chip is slightly damaged... and U21 looks a bit burned too

Trying to post photos... but it keeps saying my posts need to be moderated.... hopefully they show up soon.

Hello,

Please do not post multiple times. Once moderated, all your posts will be up.

_________________
Dmitry

Hi, You'll need a pro for this case.
On this drive you have adaptive data inside the Marvel-Chip (the big one with an M).
That info needs to be reprogramed into a new Pcb.
If you had an realy bad overvoltage your preamp inside the Hdd could be burnt aswell, in that case you'll need to change the headstack...

Bosse

_________________
Rescue IT Datarecovery service Sweden
Rescue IT Dataräddning Göteborg AB
http://www.rescue-it.se

Oops... sorry for the multiple posts.

What are the chances of the preamp being damaged as well? And if there was an overvoltage, wouldn't other things have been damaged as well? I have 2 other drives in the pc that are fine...

You were very unlucky.

Normally the TVS diodes (D3, D4) and resistors (R67, R64) near the power connector would have protected the electronics from the overvoltage, but it appears that they weren't successful.

A DIY board swap is probably out of the question because drive specific calibration data are stored internally within the Marvell 88i6745 MCU chip. Earlier chips such as the 88i6545 had an external serial EEPROM. This is probably what the unpopulated location at U12 was intended for.

hi,
i can handle this case. i have these kind of PCB for sell and help you program data into PCB. but for your case that preamp may bad. i got one case same as your. i find out hard drive head has been damaged also after i program data into PCB match with original one. that need replacement head for data recovery. please contact me by email if still need help on this case. good luck

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data recovery service[/b]