Help diagnosing a potential firmware issue needed

[quinatchie]

Hi,

I have a 3tb seagate drive, the dreaded st1000dm001 which has stopped working. I've spent a good few hours on this forum reading about the myriad of issues with this drive, but I think this case might be slightly different. It's actually two identical st1000dm003's that were plugged into the same system (not in raid), that have developed the exact same issue within a week of each other. There were other drives also connected that are all fine.

The drive spins and is detected in bios, there was no physical damage or power issue. When first powered on it clicks exactly 16 times, makes a few strange shuddering vibrations, then spins on without an issue. When scanned in MHDD it returns every sector as aborted. When plugged in via sata to usb adapter in Windows, it shows up in device manager with its correct name, and some data recovery programs can detect it. But when they scan it they just show every single sector as bad.

It could well be bad heads, in which case its game over I understand that. But previously with bad heads I haven't been able to get any recognition of the drive, let alone scans that run through each sector (even though it returns them all as bad).

So my question is,

Could these symptoms indicate a firmware issue? I'm in the process of getting a TTL adapter so I'll be able to post some output from that.

Otherwise could it be a PCB issue? That seems more unlikely, but is it possible for a PCB issue to make the drive unreadable like this?

The data is not valuable enough for professional recovery, but I thought there may be a few things I could try.

Thanks for any advice

[labtech]

99% not a PCB issue.
Likely firmware.
Full terminal output post recommended BEFORE tinkering with commands, which shouldn't do without clear understanding anyway.

[quinatchie]

Ok I'll do that and report back. Thanks

[quinatchie]

Ok this is the output from Hyperterminal, after I connect the usb adapter and then power on the drive.

Boot 0x40M
Spin Up
RECOV Servo Op=0100 Resp=0005[LBA=0x000042F9]N01010C10o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0[LBA=0x00
0042F9]NO1111
RECOV Servo Op=0155 Resp=0005[LBA=0x00066E3B]N01010C10o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0[LBA=0x00
066E3B]NO1111
RECOV Servo Op=0055 Resp=0005[LBA=0x00028F1D]N02010C10o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0[LBA=0x00
028F1D]NO1111
RECOV Servo Op=0155 Resp=0005[LBA=0x0008BA5F]N01010C10o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0[LBA=0x00
08BA5F]NO1111
SimError - Remaining in BootFW
Perform a double download without a power cycle

Any ideas?

[day1data]

Ok this is the output from Hyperterminal, after I connect the usb adapter and then power on the drive.

Boot 0x40M
Spin Up
RECOV Servo Op=0100 Resp=0005[LBA=0x000042F9]N01010C10o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0[LBA=0x00
0042F9]NO1111
RECOV Servo Op=0155 Resp=0005[LBA=0x00066E3B]N01010C10o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0[LBA=0x00
066E3B]NO1111
RECOV Servo Op=0055 Resp=0005[LBA=0x00028F1D]N02010C10o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0[LBA=0x00
028F1D]NO1111
RECOV Servo Op=0155 Resp=0005[LBA=0x0008BA5F]N01010C10o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0[LBA=0x00
08BA5F]NO1111
SimError - Remaining in BootFW
Perform a double download without a power cycle

Any ideas?

This indicates either
1. ROM is not native.
2. PCB Issue.
3. Your shorting read channels while powering the drive on.

Are you sure the PCB is original?

[datahdd116]

I'm also working with a message like you st1000md003 no desire to solve your help
https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33333

[quinatchie]

Are you sure the PCB is original?

Actually no, replacement PCBs were purchased but I realise now these would need a firmware chip swap to work properly.

So the PCBs did get mixed up, but when I tried to find the original this was the only board that allowed the computer to at least recognise the name of the drive when plugged in. So I assumed that was the original board. I'll try the other boards and see if I get different results in Hyperterminal.

Also no I haven't shorted anything.

[quinatchie]

OK I switched the PCBs, when plugged in they aren't recognised now. But they don't beep/click on startup, they just spin up normally.

The output in Hyperterminal is just this

Boot 0x40M
Spin Up
Trans.

Spin Up
SpinOK
(P) SATA Reset

[jermy]

OK I switched the PCBs, when plugged in they aren't recognised now. But they don't beep/click on startup, they just spin up normally.

The output in Hyperterminal is just this

Boot 0x40M
Spin Up
Trans.

Spin Up
SpinOK
(P) SATA Reset

this one is the right ROM and its not a PCB issue (if this is the original one)

[quinatchie]

this one is the right ROM and its not a PCB issue (if this is the original one)

So does that mean its a heads or media issue?

[jermy]

So does that mean its a heads or media issue?

not necessarily, could be a simple SMP flag issue, what tools do you use ?
maybe hardware like PC3K, DDI, Etc. have no problem to access User Data at all.

[quinatchie]

No I don't have any dedicated hardware.

Is there anything I can try without them?