Smoked Seagate ST3200827AS 200GB drive

[Deviation]

Well I literally watched my 200GB Seagate drive go up in flames. Smoke and flame shot out of the PCB.

Dead Hard Drive
S/N: 5ND3kWYS
ST3200827AS
P/N: 9BD13E-304
FW: 3.AAH
Date Code: 06415
Site Code: WU

So I started searching around on eBay to see if I could find a PCB or donor drive. I found one PCB. It didn't list what the FW, site code, etc. was. But I figured what the heck.

I removed my old one and put this one on. The drive spun up, but that's it. I couldn't see it in Windows. So after some searching, I found out that I needed to try to match the FW at the very least. So I bought a donor drive.

Donor Drive
S/N: 5ND48K01
ST3200827AS
P/N: 9BD13E-620
FW: 3.AAH
Date Code: 06457
Site Code: WU

Swapped PCBs and I still can't see it.

Any ideas on what to try next? The donor drive does work. I tested it prior to pulling the PCB off.

[thatdellguy]

Post a clear picture of the failed pcb and the donor pcb.

[pcimage]

P/N is not the same, you'll at least have to move the ROM (or contents thereof)

[Deviation]

Donor PCB (click to see larger pic)


Dead PCB (click to see larger pic)


More pics -> http://gallery.digitaldeviation.com/v/j ... ard-drive/

P/N is not the same, you'll at least have to move the ROM (or contents thereof)

How would one go about that? I saw the last 3 digits were off. Guess I wasn't close enough?

[networkpc3000]

you can try to find out the same main chipset and mortor chip and sold the original ROm on new PCB. but i think your PCB change the mortor and diode will be fine.

[harddrivespecialist]

I can garantee 98%, that heads are dead. That powersurge took everything. If you will proove me wrong I will pay you $50.00 towards data recovery.

[drc]

With dead heads would you not expect to hear some clicking?

Personally I am curious to know what was happening when this event occurred.

[pepe]

I can garantee 98%, that heads are dead. That powersurge took everything. If you will proove me wrong I will pay you $50.00 towards data recovery.

I am not that pessimist, since the burnt TVS belongs to the 12V line. Flash ROM is located on the left side, near the edge of the PCBs close to the white sticker.
OP should desolder that component from the patient and solder onto the donor PCB (after removing the same from the donor of course )

pepe

[Deviation]

With dead heads would you not expect to hear some clicking?

Personally I am curious to know what was happening when this event occurred.

There's no clicking at all. It spins up fine. I'm really not sure why it smoked. I just noticed that my PC was off. Tried to turn it back on and POOF. Out comes smoke.

I can garantee 98%, that heads are dead. That powersurge took everything. If you will proove me wrong I will pay you $50.00 towards data recovery.

You're everywhere!

I am not that pessimist, since the burnt TVS belongs to the 12V line. Flash ROM is located on the left side, near the edge of the PCBs close to the white sticker.
OP should desolder that component from the patient and solder onto the donor PCB (after removing the same from the donor of course )

pepe

Is it this chip?


I can solder. I've just never done this before. If its that chip, I'll have to get some smaller tips for my iron. Fortunately, I have a spare PCB to practice on.

Thanks for the help so far.

[drc]

Yep... if you're using an iron, be careful not to lift any of the traces off of the board.

[Deviation]

Yep... if you're using an iron, be careful not to lift any of the traces off of the board.

I'll give it a shot. I'll have to go hunt down some smaller tips and some thinner solder. Thanks.

[Mr Wolf]

WTF! Was it an external hard disk?

The hard disk smoked... and got high! AH!AH!AH!

[Deviation]

WTF! Was it an external hard disk?

The hard disk smoked... and got high! AH!AH!AH!

Nope. It was an internal disk. Smoke and flames! It would've been funny except it had useful data on it.

[Mr Wolf]

So, there was a short circuit inside your PC?

You have all my solidarity: my hard disk maybe had a similar issue:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10202&p=63090&e=63090

And no, it was not funny at all!

[Deviation]

So, there was a short circuit inside your PC?

I think it was just this device. Everything else is ok.

Sad part is I just just loaded a new disk array with 16 Seagate drives (8 FC & 8 FATA). *ugh* I hope these last longer than the consumer drives.

[BlackST]

Disks nowadays are like russian roulette... If only 1 in a row, could be infant mortality or statistical or wear, on RAID you have to design the array according to RTO and RPO, that's all. However, I think some things can be made safer, i.e. Power conditioning.

[Deviation]

Disks nowadays are like russian roulette... If only 1 in a row, could be infant mortality or statistical or wear, on RAID you have to design the array according to RTO and RPO, that's all. However, I think some things can be made safer, i.e. Power conditioning.

Fortunately this array I'm setting up is well equipped to handle multiple failures. I spec'd it out that way. And of course we run large UPS units for power conditioning.

[BlackST]

You'll sleep well.

[adamsebire]

I just had the exact same experience as you, Deviation, when my Seagate ST3300831AS caught fire 30 mins ago. Today it was not spinning up, and instead had started smelling funny, so I removed the external enclosure's outer case, but left it plugged in to the chassis. It seems the exact same component as has burnt in your pictures started smoking then suddenly there was a flame from there, at which point I turned off the power.

This was not a power surge - I had other drives spinning at the time on the same power circuit, and other drives still work in this external USB2 housing.

I am mystified why a drive would suddenly do this. Is there any known issue with Seagate Barracuda SATA 7200 RPM HDDs catching fire? I'm very reluctant to touch the brand again till I can find out.

Looking for my warranty card now!

Adam

[Mr Wolf]

Mmmmm... Barracuda SATA 7200, eh? I know something! (And I read other stories)

Again: FUCKING SEAGATE!