Hello. As the title says I have a 3TB Western Digital My Book Essential. I tried to plug in the adapter for a set of bose speakers- AC 12v 1.2a... there was a very minor spark at the plug (like a static shock sized spark) and I retracted immediately. I then checked cords and realized the issue, tried the correct plug and it was a no go. I figured I fried the enclosure, but wasn't too worried about about my data as I have swapped pcb's and bridge boards before, however this encryption bit took me by surprise.

My bridge board, 4060-705089-001 rev.p1 (back side print) same on front sticker except it says rev.AG, does not have an Initio chip on it. It uses the symwave chip.

My pcb, 2061-771698-802 AA , it looked fine upon visible inspection but I tested the R64/D4 12v and R67/D3 5v with my multimeter on the 200 ohm setting.
Results-
R64 and R67 both = .3 and constant buzz
(when touching leads together I get the same reading from resistance of my MM)
D4 read 0, D3 = OL.
So I removed D4 nice and clean, no luck yet...

The drive itself is a WD30EZRS-00J99B0, WWN:50014EE2B04A7AAB
Date 04 MAR 2011

Should I try another bridge board from an exact enclosure? I tried to PM fzakbar but I wasn't allowed to. I can't seem to get clear pics, but nothing seems discolored, just the usual oxidation which I have cleaned up with an eraser...

Does the drive detect and read without the USB bridge? Of course, it will be encrypted, but if that works fine, you are safe to just find a matching bridge. If it does not work, you have a bigger can of worms which is probably better dealt with by a data recovery pro with all the tools to make it look easy.

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Luke
Recovery Force Donor Inventory: 5,000+ Fully Cataloged HDDs & Growing

lcoughey- I just turned off my computer, connected directly to the PCB my SATA power and data cables, turned the comp back on and the drive spins up/ no abnormal noises or anything (seems my D4 snip worked okay).
Under disk management now, of course it want to initialize but I skipped that, the disk is recognized and shows me approx how much free space I had left on it (746.51 Gb unallocated). So this tells me its working, correct?

AIUI, the Essentials models are encrypted, whether they use an Initio INIC-1607E chip or a symwave SW6316.

Depending on the damage, and your level of skill, you may be able to repair your bridge board. There may be a protection device (eg fuse or diode) at the +12V input. Otherwise, another component that sometimes fails on WD bridge boards is the 8-pin dual MOSFET near the SATA power connector. This device switches the +5V and +12V power to the drive, and is controlled by the bridge IC. If you are unable to locate a suitable replacement PCB, then you could remove this faulty IC and hardwire the +12V and +5V connections to the drive. However, before we could help you, we would need to see detailed photos or scans of your board.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

The easiest method is to just get another My Book of the same model and swap the drive out. But, if you have the patience and the skill set, you might be able to trace and fix the USB bridge.

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Donor Inventory: 5,000+ Fully Cataloged HDDs & Growing

Well, I never seem to know what I can do until I do it. I'm a pretty competent DIY'er, and don't mind trying just about anything.

Picture of the component side of the bridge pcb.
Lower right is blackened around the led where the rubber boot cover wears.
On 200ohm scale the fb12 measures .3 and constant tone from my MM.

FB12 appears to be a ferrite bead that is in series with the +12V input. It measures OK.

I would carefully measure the voltages at each pin of U6 (APM4532). Use a plated screw hole as your ground. You may need to scrape away any oxidisation.

I can't see the markings on U4, but I suspect it may be a Winbond W25X20BLNIG serial flash memory device. If so, then it would store the bridge firmware.

References:

APM4532 / APM4532K, Anpec, Dual Enhancement Mode MOSFET (N-and P-Channel), N-Channel 30V/5A, P-Channel -30V/-3.5A:
http://www.anpec.com.tw/ashx_prod_file. ... M4532K.pdf
http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datashe ... 0443_1.pdf

RT8284, Richtek, 2A, 23V, 340kHz Synchronous Step-Down Converter:
http://www.richtek.com/download_ds.jsp?s=566

W25X20BLNIG, Winbond, 2.3V - 3.6V, 2 Mbit serial flash memory, 4KB sectors, Dual I/O SPI:
http://www.winbond.com/NR/.../W25X10BL_ ... 5X40BL.pdf
http://www.dz863.com/downloadpdf-cfkiju ... 0BLNIG.pdf

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

On the 200m V scale of my MM all pins read 0.0 EXCEPT for pin S1 denoted by the dimple in the lower left of the chip- this pin read varying numbers that avg. 1.3

The markings are very hard to see on U4 got out a microscope and found, Pm25LD020, CE1020, SHM7FR8CG.

You should have seen +5V and +12V. The +12V would have come directly from the DC power socket via FB12. Can you measure +12V on both sides of FB12?

BTW, sorry if this is an obvious question, but are you using the DC voltage ranges of your meter?

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

I am using the DC ranges, and no, I cannot get 12v on both sides of fb12. when I read across it, it always reads 0. Maybe I am reading incorrectly... When reading the U6 I am putting my black lead on the ground screw plate, which is clean, black lead plugged into COM, red into VOA and putting my red lead on each pinout, one at a time and seeing nothing.

On another note, just now while having the board plugged in for V testing for a moment... I saw a bright glow and little fizz and smoke and RT8284 at U5 just burnt up.... It's cooled off now and bubbled up and white in one spot near s1, the pin just to the right of s1 (so, just to the right of the pin under the dimple, lower left of chip) seems to be where all the heat was.

RT8284 is the +5V supply. You now need a replacement bridge board.

BTW, when measuring FB12, I meant for you to measure the voltages between ground and each end of FB12. I'm assuming that it is in series with the +12V supply, not the ground return.

Good luck on finding a compatible bridge PCB. Keep the original, as you might need U4.

Pm25LD020, Programmable Microelectronics Corp, SPI (dual output), 2.3V~3.6V, 2Mbit, Serial Flash Memory:
http://www.pmcflash.com/img/Product_Fil ... %20v04.pdf

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Hi guys,

I'm having a weird problem with exactly the same type and board model which i suspect maybe caused by voltage surge.

It has this high pitched buzzing sound when the power supply is connected to the board and it would not power up (LED light on) if the USB cable is connected to the PC.

The board can only be powered up when the USB cable is not connected to the PC (with the power button) and nothing happen if I connect the USB cable to the PC after that. Also the board would not powered off (with the power button) unless if I disconnect the USB cable from the PC.

I've tried different USB cable and power supply but the problem is still the same.

I did not see any fried components when I took out the board, reading at FB12 was consistent at 12V so power input is okay. The readings at the MOSFETT are as below:

S1= 4.97v, G1=11.94v, S2=12.09V, G2= 28.6mV, both D1 = 4.97 V and both D2 = 12.09V

Could it be that the MOSFETT is faulty coz I was able to get connection once when I pressing on that part of the board?

Please advice guys, many thanks!

Hi lcoughey,

Would that work? Coz there are people who said that it wont work because each encryption board is unique...

If you get a drive with the same bridge, you are likely okay. As best as I can tell, Western Digital only has a few different encryption algorithms that they are using.

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Donor Inventory: 5,000+ Fully Cataloged HDDs & Growing

That's what I'm hoping for right now coz the Symwave just fried!! , hopefully it's not the required component for transplant coz I saw fzabkar mentioned only the U4 chip that need to be kept...

I'm now in the process of getting another same HDD model to canabalize it's encryption board. It will bye bye to the new enclosure and board once I'm able to retrieve my data. I rather use cheap enclosure than to be held ransom like this...

The "soft" power button is connected to an I/O pin of the bridge IC. When the bridge senses a button press, it toggles the on/off state of the drive. It does this by controlling the gate pins (G1 and G2) of the MOSFET pair. Each MOSFET acts as a switch. One switches the +5V supply, the other switches the +12V. The Drain and Source pins are the inputs and outputs of the switch. From your measurements it is clear that both MOSFETs are working properly. Therefore the drive should be receiving power, assuming that the SATA power connector is OK. That said, I don't understand why you say that you were "able to get connection once when I pressing on that part of the board". ISTM that you are describing a connection problem of some kind. FWIW, many WD users are complaining of physical connection problems with the micro-USB connector.

As for the serial flash memory IC, it stores the bridge firmware. AISI, if your replacement board is unable to decrypt your data, then transferring this IC should account for any incompatibility, assuming the boards are otherwise identical.

BTW, you didn't say whether your drive is spinning up? If not, then the "buzzing" you are hearing may be due to stiction (heads stuck to platters).

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Hi fzabkar,

Thanks for replying. Yep, that what was happening at some point when I was able to get connection ( ie my PC is able to detect the HDD and I'm able to view the files) when i was pressing on the mosfett but it did not last for long. It was really weird coz I can feel that the drive was receiving power coz the HDD was spinning and yet no connection.

The HDD was also confirmed ok with the WD lifeguard check.

As for the high pitch buzzing sound, it was confirmed coming from the board coz it was there despite it not being connected to the HDD when I was troubleshooting the board.

I guess I will never find out what really went wrong with the board coz the MC is fried now. Just to confirm again, the serial flash memory IC is the 8 pin chip at U4?

@MetalMic, U4 is indeed a serial flash memory IC.

The buzzing sound is probably coming from the 220uH coil (L20) in the +5V regulator. Its windings are probably a little loose, so they rattle. If it bothers you, then spray the windings with some PCB lacquer. There are two other coils (L1 and L2) near the symwave bridge chip that could also be responsible for the noise. If you press on them, the noise quality should change.

As for your drive's original symptoms, these are consistent with a bad contact at the micro-USB connector.

When you say that the "Symwave just fried", what exactly do you mean?

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Hi fzabkar,

Thanks for the confirmation.

Personally the buzzing sound did not really bothers me except that I notice when I did manage to get that 2 times short period of connection with the HDD, the buzzing sound dissappears so I thought it could be one of the symptoms or sign of a defective component on the board that might be causing the connection problem.

Haha, that what exactly I was doing, pressing on different parts on the board trying to find the defective parts...kinda crude way of troubleshooting since i'm not an E&E professional. You are right, the buzzing noise did differ slightly when i was pressing on certain parts of the board.

I was also looking at the possibilities of bad USB connectors as what was reported by majority of the users but what are the physical signs of a defective micro USB connector cause I can't seems to find anything physically wrong with my mine such as wobbling connector or loose pin contacts with the board.

I accidentally fried the MC chip when i was doing the V testing just like bigd003, shaky hand coz the test probe to make contact betweed two pins of different volts on one of the mosfett and then small glow and fizzing from the MC chip...sigh, so bye bye to board troubleshooting.

So now i'm waiting to get a new set of same HDD model and plan to clone the current HDD to the new one and see if the new HDD is able to decrypt the contents since the new HDD will be from the same model. If it does not encrypt, guess i I will need to transplant the current U4 chip to the new HDD board.

Btw its a great forum and job what you guys are doing here.

MetalMic,
I have yet to find an HDD to swap bridge boards... I bought one and it had a different revision and did not work. I still have my fried board (with u4) and drive, but don't dare spend the $ again on a 3TB again in hopes of finding the right one.

If you find the correct bridge, maybe we can help each other out, as I do not want anything to do with WD enclosures anymore, I just want my data on the WD drive in a cheapo enclosure, or my PC. I'd pay to get a board, even if you used it first...

Wasn't that weird to see the little chip glow up and fizz out like that. It took me by surprise, that's for sure!
Darren