Hi, I have a Hitachi Travelstar HTS548040M9AT00 40GB. It started clicking so I got a few donor drives to do a head swap. The head swap seemed to go fine since I don't have any clicking anymore. My problem is I can't get bios to recognize the drive, or MHDD.

I have tried multiple head swaps, pcb swaps and changed/reprogram the eeprom on the pcb's. The donors have matching model MLC and pcb numbers. I have not done anything with the platter itself. The only thing it does on power up is spin up, move the heads to about mid platter, jogs the heads a little, then parks the heads and thats it. I'm not sure if this means there's damage to the SA part of the platter although from the naked eye there doesn't "appear" to be anthing wrong with the top side.

Anything else I can do short of PC3000 or similar? I know a repair shop probably won't touch this at this point and yes I know the more I screw with it the worse it will get. Wasn't sure if I could do anything with a scope or logic analyzer.

Thanks for any suggestions.

WOW sorry to hear that one. No clean room = big problems losts of dust and problems inside HDD. Head changes oops = more problems if not done correct. Sorry form what I see after all this your chances are not so good on all of this. If now you finally decide to take it to a repair shop is is going to be 2 x's the money from the start because you have opened drive to do this work on it. Maybe it is cheaper to buy you a new drive and start over again. Sorry

_________________
Iorana Haraharaini

Wasn't enough warning about DIY around?

Never enough...

Maybe we need to put the warning into the main page's source....
But i am affraid this should not be enough too.

Janos

Wow, I give information, ask a question nicely not wishing to be spoonfed, and even thanks in advance and all I get is hate. You could have answered the question with a simple "no" or not commented at all.

I understand the warnings, the need for clean rooms, the need for expertise and the need for expensive equipment when working with hard drives. I don't have those things nor the money for it but I wanted to at least attempt a fix because it is "my" hard drive and if it gets ruined by trying to fix it then it is "my" problem and I blame nobody but myself.

While searching this forum I came across a thread discussing closing the forum altogether. I really think you should because STFU n00b doesn't help anybody. You could have either a private forum where just the mighty elite could discuss the most important things involving HDDs or maybe a simple webpage with FAQs, actually all you need is one FAQ "You're too stupid to fix your own hard drive so don't even try".

Hate?
Yes, usually it is.
But in this case?
I have read the others posts, but i don't feel hate about you.
Why do you think?
(I need to add: i am wondering, because usually the "hate" really comes....)
No, i am clearly regret you, not hate you!



Well, it happened.
This was worth it?



Yes, but not really.
You need to keep this in mind, the whole world reads this forum...
If you ask or say something what looks good, but not really good, better harmful, nobody will know, you are skilled or not, and will try your suggestion indepedently it is good or not!
Please think again...

Ask, learn, and do what you have decided, but keep this in mind, please...



For your case:
Maybe it is not toooo late.
I suggest to find a really pro, better from this forum, who know the story and regret you too instead of "hate" and double or triple the price, and let as know what he says about your case after diagnose....


results-the-yourself-solutions-t11912.html

Janos

Well, it's like going to the hospital with a hernia and tell the doctors you are going to fix it by yourself asking how to do it with kitchen knife in a garage... what do you expect ? If you want to hear from us that "yes it is possible to fix your drive" we can say it. Probably you have entered the wrong forum : if you search there are a lot of youtube videos and forums where they say... etc. etc. . As a professional, I care about data so it seems crazy to me to ruin data and drives, but it's an opinion.