Data recovery and disk repair questions and discussions related to old-fashioned SATA, SAS, SCSI, IDE, MFM hard drives - any type of storage device that has moving parts
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WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 26th, 2011, 3:16

Hello,

Patient is:
========
WD200EB-00CPF0
13 FEB 2003
DCM: HSBBYV2A

Spindle controller has visible damage on PCB, after replacing PCB from working donor, drive is BSY and clicking. Probably the heads need to be changed.

Working donor is: (D1)
=============
WD200EB-00CPF0
21 SEP 2002
DCM: HSBBNV2A

Not working donor is: (D2)
================
WD200EB-00CPF0
21 SEP 2002
DCM: HSCBNV2A

When I moved PCB from D1 and installed in D2, drive works without changing the ROM, but when moving PCB from D1 to Patient, drive spins up but stays BSY and is clicking.

Is there a possibility to repair it without replacing the heads? if not, tell me please what are Your suggestions to remove the top cover, I mean the alignment issue, how to work with it?

regards,

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 26th, 2011, 3:28

Check heads map in ROM. Your drive has 1 head (two max), which one is turn on?

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 26th, 2011, 4:02

Hello,
You are right there is one head only in two donors but still don't know if the same one head is in patient.

Here is a screen from DONOR 1:

Image


Here is a screen from DONOR 2 (with PCB from D1):

Image

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 26th, 2011, 4:13

You could try to read ROM from burned PCB to check or just to replace it to be sure.

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 26th, 2011, 11:54

VoodooPL,

A lot of times on these older Western Digital drives you can use a hotswap and the drive will go ready (no ROMswap necessary). As for a straight board swap working on your donors, the ROMs seem to be pretty simplistic on the older drives, hence why sometimes you can do a straight board swap and it will still work. You could also try a straight board swap from D2 to the patient.

Regards,

Dizi

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 26th, 2011, 13:52

Thanks guys for kind advices.

So, I will try hot-swap first, if it will not succeed I will resolder the ROM to be sure as DR-Kiev said.
According to hot-swap steps would You please tell me if I think correct?
First I need to connect donor, enter the utility, then press standby, swap PCB, make recalibration, am I right? or is there something that I forgot?

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 26th, 2011, 14:03

VoodooPL,

Depending on what utility you use for imaging, that sounds about right. However, "recalibration" can be seen as meaning multiple things. It is important to not ID the patient drive (with donor board attached), as this will often cause issues. After you move the donor PCB to the patient drive, cause the drive to spin back up and then you may begin imaging the drive. If it doesn't work the first time, usually we try it a second just in case anything abnormal happened.

If that doesn't work, then maybe try swapping the ROM from the patient drive to the board of D1.

One last thing I didn't note earlier - leave headswap to the last possible solution. Firstly you need a clean room to do it. But also, Western Digital drives are very bad with alignment, and on occasion just opening the top plate can cause alignment issues.

Regards,

Dizi

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 26th, 2011, 14:06

That is correct.

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 26th, 2011, 14:58

Unfortunately, hot-swap doesn't work, during recalibration disk spins and starts to click, after 15-20s. it stops, here You can find the timeout message:

Image

I will try to resolder ROM an let You know about results.

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 26th, 2011, 15:55

Friends,

It looks like everybody forgets one thing:

The PCB was burned, so chance for dead preamp chip is >75%.
I think there is no way to avoid MHA replacement.
With one head is not an impossible thing anyway.

The 2 donnor should have H0 only both, because the headmaps was default on both.
(with H1 only the headmap can't be used with default option.)

Janos

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 26th, 2011, 15:59

add:

In case for dead preamp, in worst case there is smoke inside the HDA wich comes from the preamp chip, and fallen to the surface as well wich can make "dirt" on the head's surface, and at the end, it can overheat the head, wich can crash and scratch up the surface...

so in one word: DR is not a "home made" "DIY" thing....
Most likely not if the data is important!

Janos

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 29th, 2011, 8:20

Thank You friends for answers,

I have already made ROM resoldering (put patient ROM on donor PCB) and the board stays BSY :/ thought I've made wrong soldering but checked joints under microscope and everything looked fine, I've repeated the process once again - just to be sure and the same thing board is BSY. So, I decided to put its original ROM back and the donor worked perfect.

Seems like the patient ROM was burned too... - what in this case do You recommend to do?

I also tried to write ROM using PC-3000 utility (kernel mode), I've got these ROM's found on the Internet:
WDC WD200EB-00CPF0-06.04G06-WD-WCAATE824494
WDC WD200EB-00CPF0-06.04G06-WD-WCAHE1033132
WDC WD200EB-00CPF0-06.04G06-WD-WMAAU1130577
WDC WD200EB-00CPF0-06.04G06-WD-WMAAU1225657
but the writing process has finished with an error (I've forget to note the error message). Do You think that ROM chips on these boards 2061-001113 are write protected?

I'm planning to remove head from donor and put it back, do You think it is a waste of time because of alignment issue?
I've got a clean room, so safety requirements will be fullfilled, but the question is about the chance of success without having special tools for WD head swap.
Waiting for comments guys, thanks...

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 29th, 2011, 9:00

1. Any of those ROMS should work.
2. Jumper PCB into kernel mode to write ROMs
3. I think these heads attach with a screw from the bottom, so alignment issues are not usually an issue.
4. Chances for successful swap are good unless servo info is damaged

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 29th, 2011, 12:14

@ jono-ats:
Thanks for comment, three jumpers were put before entering in kernel mode and then performed ROM writing which ended with an error message saying that's unable to write ROM.

Listen friends, I've took donor, disassemble it in a clean room, moved the HSA out (it's not attached with a screw from the bottom side) after a while I put it back and connected to power.

Donor made a few clicks and entered in DRD DSC mode, it also entered in utility, I performed Head test its results was ok.
What I note is, that after 1-2 minutes of idle work the spindle goes down for a second then it reaches its normal speed, drive is BSY during this moment, it clicks 4-5 time and become DRD DSC again.

I also entered in explorer mode to see files, but after entering Root directory after a while ERR and ABR leds appeared.
Waiting for Your advices.

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 29th, 2011, 14:56

1.) This old drive can have ROM exactly _NOT_flash or EEPROM!
(ROM = One time programmable, read only memory)
(The chip selection depends on the mfg at the build date.)

2.) This looks like something goes wrong during the CR operation.
If you can't work out this on your donor, i suggest to don't try to repeate on the patient...

Janos

Re: WD200EB-00CPF0 - head swap ?

May 29th, 2011, 18:12

Dear Janos, thanks for advice I appreciate it.
I called customer and he said that data are not so important however it's good to have it - in short words customer decided to take a risk by moving the head from patient.

Patient's DCM: HSBBYV2A
Donor's DCM: HSCBNV2A

After removing HSA from patient I found that preamp ("AGERE" chip) has different color (brown) in the middle.
I've installed HSA from donor above, tight the screws, powered on and IT WORKED :D DRD DSC appeared without clicking, I've made autodetect and immediately copied data to ATA-1. Every sector was green no bads :D

I'm not sure how much percent of luck I had, however I'm really glad that I solved my first WD case, and want to thank You guys for kind help and advices - I really appreciate it.
I act in DR not too long, but hope that with Your help my knowledge and experience will increase soon.

Tomorrow I will try to make this donor live again and will write results here.
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