My WD500AAKS died a few days ago.

It won't spin. The PCB gets warm to the touch.

I have another drive same model and did a pcb swap, now the drive spins. So apparently the PCB is at fault.

I did a search on the forums, but there's "too much" information. Solutions range from faulty diodes to flash swap so I really don't know where to start.

Please help.

Are the PCB's identical part numbers? eg. 2060-xxx etc. Do they have 8-pin ROM chips at the U12 position? If so then you can most likely get the drive back to life by swapping the ROM chip at U12 from the original faulty PCB to the donor one and use the donor PCB. That's if the only problem with the drive was a faulty PCB.

The original PCB could also have some simple solution. Search for 'TVS' on the forum, might help.

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Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Data Recovery Cape Town

Search TVS 12v and use a multimeter...

Yah agree there is tons of posts here on this one and if you search fzabkar you will find tons of posts from him and a cut and paste answer on all of them and you will see what to check on this one

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Iorana Haraharaini

No they are not identical 2060-701477-002 vs 2060-701477-001, I only swapped them to verify it was the pcb and not the motor.

AFAIK WD500AAKS don't have the 8 pin rom.

I'll search for TVS and go from there

Tnx

It seems some WD500 PCBs do have the 8 pin rom, I've never seen one though.

The fact that the PCB becomes warm suggests that, if a TVS diode is to blame, then its associated zero ohm resistor will be open.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

WD500AAKS don't have an 8 pin rom. Addaptives are stored in the Marvel chip, so you must put more efforts on repairing the original PCB. Otherwise you'll need a pro to transfer addaptives from the bad PCB to the new one.

So I should remove the diode and jump the resistor, right? I mean after checking them, of course.

Yes.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

The purpose to jumper the resistor is to better destroy the PCB - like replacing a continuously blowing fuse with aluminum cooking foil, right ?

Yes.

Why is the default answer the TVS? I don't recall ever seeing a TVS as the problem with this model of drive. I have seen the PCB with severe electrical burn on almost every chip and I've even seen one that came in with a U12 ROM...but never a TVS issue.

If your data is not important to you, keep seeking out DIY solutions or RMA the drive while you can (assuming that it is under warranty).

If your data is important to you, seek the assistance of a professional data recovery lab who should be able to easily diagnose and recover the data from this drive, assuming that the problem is not the common failing heads, which is still recoverable, but at a higher price.

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Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

Sure I can go to a recovery service and pay big bucks to get the data back, but where's the fun in that?

You are right it is more fun to screw around with your own drive and the PCB on it. So when this one does not work guess you can sing the HDDGURU remmix my HDD has smoke in my eyes.

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Iorana Haraharaini

smoke gets in your eyes, and 'the magic touch' too.

Some manufacturers, eg Seagate, have no resistor, fuse or polyswitch to limit the fault current. Seagate appears to rely on the external PSU to shut down in the presence of a short circuit.

In the OP's case, the TVS diode has probably shorted, in which case the resistor would have gone open to limit the current through the diode. After removing the diode, the reason for the resistor's failure will most probably be gone. The OP may like to confirm that there are no other shorts on the affected supply rail by measuring the resistance between the diode's pads on the PCB.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

The guy is looking for fun, so don't bother him...

As Fzacbar said, the diode and its accompaning resistors went bad.

Unfortunately cutting the diode and shorting the resistor didn't work. The drive still won't spin.

I think the pcb gets hotter now.

I have a friend who has the tools to do a chip swap. Should I go this route?

As for the fun part. There's nothing in the drive that I can't get back or live without. But I want to make this work, because I know there will be a time when I MUST do this (or something like it) in order to recover data from a friend/family or customer.

I would not guarantee a new PCB would help you in this one even moving the ROM or adaptives over to it. You need to know if you are having problems in preamp or spindle motor on this one. If the smooth chip is getting hotter then you problem can lay else where on this one.

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Iorana Haraharaini

If this is your way of working with friends / family or customer drive, you MUST get insured...
P.S. you were told that shorting the resistors was a bad idea (if they put them , there must be a fucking reason).
Now hope what you need is still ok. Good luck.