WD5000AAJS WD CAVIAR SE Drive suddenly died.

[atomical]

WD5000AAJS WD CAVIAR SE Drive suddenly died.

Was running on windows 7 then the system froze, shut down the system by hard reset then rebooted and no drive detected.

In the bios its just a blank area instead of the drive model or saying NONE when it detects either a drive or no drive installed.

The full model number is WD5000AAJS - 32YFA0
The PCB board rev is 2061-701477-900 04P XW 4V05 C8AR 4 0005030 8035

There is no U12 rom chip on the board and no physical damage to the board either.


Anyone know of any known problems the pcbs get either caps / components to check for to replace or if any one can replace it with a donor board and rom data replacing.

Hopefully someone can help... before my wife kills me for not backing up the latest photos

(I am in the Computer / Game console repair trade so have most of the kit required for component replacement / reballing etc)

[pcimage]

Is the drive spinning up (and staying spinning) ?

Or totally dead, no signs of life?

[ShaneWard]

might want to post some images of the PCB board. If the drive does not spin up at all, you might have had a power serge that shorted the diodes.

Need to see the images and more information.

Shane

[atomical]

Thanks for the swift responses guys..




The drive does power up but its more of a errrkkk like a floppy drive but not as loud..

[atomical]

Posted some images but the post is moderated for now. Thanks for the swift replies.

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/862x485q90/545/ujwr.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/862x485q90/541/xf72.jpg


The drive does power up but it sounds like errrkk simlar to an old floppy drive but not as loud.

[pcimage]

The fact that it spins up makes it much less likely to be a PCB problem, but more like a physical issue

Even if it is a PCB issue (less than 5% chance IMHO) you'll need someone with PCB adaptation tools to recreate the ROM adaptive data (with is currently inside the MCU) from the SA (service area) info on the platters.

If you really want to try DIY then just get a PCB from another working drive of the same family (WD5000AAJS-xxYFxx) and just switch it over. If the drive spins up and sounds relatively normal (apart from you'll get no calibration noise) then the PCB could well be at fault, but if it still makes odd noises then switch it off immediately and seek pro assistance.

[atomical]

I did that with a WD 250gb pcb and swapped it over. Drive spins but clunks.

[pcimage]

I did that with a WD 250gb pcb and swapped it over. Drive spins but clunks.

The family and head map on that drive will be totally incompatible, so that tells us nothing.

[atomical]

Just tested the board again and the drive spins perfectly then you can hear the clunk as the calibration data isnt there

Edit: Put the old board back in and it sounds like its not getting enough power to spin the platters....

[ShaneWard]

judging from the image, the PCB looks like its got a lot of crap all over it. Clean it up and give it another try. Otherwise the SMOOTH chip might have overheated and sustained some damage. if that does not work and since you are in the Computer / Game console repair trade you could try and move the MCU from the bad board and place it on the good one. Crazy Idea and probably won't work because of the complexity of it.

Shane

[atomical]

Will clean it up tomorrow.

The other boards chips are a different brand and layout is slightly different.

Ill try and get another board that's the same and see how that goes. Where is the rom data stored on these boards? the Hynix?

[fzabkar]

The "ROM" data is embedded within the Marvell 88i6745 MCU. Unfortunately this MCU is responsible for a lot of head "mimic" faults, so there would be no point in transferring it to your donor PCB. Instead it would be far easier to read the ROM contents and reprogram your donor. There are tools such as SeDiv and WDR that could do this.

[labtech]

Just a thought: those tools above could read the ROM as long as that part of the PCB is accessible. Depending on the damage extent, it may not be accessible.

[atomical]

Yeah I think that will be a problem reading it. Nothing detects the drive in windows or bios..

Looks like its off to a pro for diagnostics

[atomical]

I take it if I did try to read it I would need a Rs232 adapter for it?

[atomical]

I cleaned the original board up and now its spinning but a slight clink is heard on the drive, but still not detected in windows or bios..

I think I will try to get a donor board and transfer the marvel chip, not got anything else to lose but to try it.

[labtech]

If there is some activity, then it is likely the PCB is functional enough, therefore fzabkar's suggestion might be feasible.

[atomical]

What sort of kit would I need to follow feasibles suggestion?

[fzabkar]

SeDiv has a demo version that should allow you to read the "ROM" contents.

http://malthus.zapto.org/viewtopic.php?f=84&t=31&p=2075

Other tools will allow you to write the ROM to your donor PCB.

AISI, there is still a chance of a DIY fix.

Best of luck.

[BlackST]

Looking at the picture, math doesn't add up. If it wasn't Christmas I would have smelled the sulphur... anyway everything looks like there was flux applied to the ics, especially clearly on the Marvell and then gave hot air a go. It seems like RL4 or similar but from the picture it is unclear.
Noticed also something else...