Hello,

I recently had my Western Digital 1200JB-00DUA3 become "invisible" to the BIOS. I was running Windows XP, and without warning, it lost the ability to see my IDE drives. When I rebooted, it did not detect either of them. (I found out later that removing the master IDE allowed the slave IDE to be recognized). I don't believe there's any physical media problems (yet), as there were no unusual clicking sounds or access problems prior the failure. I switched it to the slave IDE position in the first computer, put it into a USB enclosure and tried that in several computers--none of these methods have allowed it to be recognized.

I think (hope) it is a problem with the circuit board. Before sending it off to a data recovery service, I am in the process of obtaining HDs with the same model #, identical LBA #. Most of this effort was driven by this:
http://forums.actionfront.com/showthrea ... t=wd1200jb

The DCM I have heard different things about. Some say the last 3 have to match, others say it does not matter at all:

hard-disk-drives-repair-and-data-recovery-f1/can-i-fix-this-western-digital-raptor-newbie-wd360-t7396.html

I have also heard that the PCB board model should match, which makes perfect sense to me.

A couple of questions:
1) So does DCM need to match? I read on this post what it stands for:
hard-disk-drives-repair-and-data-recovery-f1/western-digital-what-is-dcm-t6488.html

2) Will I have to solder out/in and swap the firmware chip regardless of how close the match is?

Thanks.

Hi,

If the HDD is spinning and not clicking, it is not very likely there is anything wrong with the PCB, it can rather be a FW problem...
So is it spinning?

pepe

_________________
Adatmentés - Data recovery

Wow, really? To me it sounds like it does spin, quite normally. I will check again.

So a firmware can get corrupted just like that? And cause loss of BIOS recognition?

Sounds pretty normal when I put it in the USB enclosure and turn on the juice. Aggh, now this becomes more complicated.

It can't ID in BIOS because it hangs in BSY trying to read corrupted firmware modules several times.
Try to enter BIOS setup and wait for a while, then refresh drive list and see if it's there.
It should show up in a minute or two if it's a firmware damage.

Put your ear right up to it when powering up.

Do you hear a faint "buzz buzz buzz" noise?

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Starling, you are spot on. I put it back into the computer and sat in BIOS setup for a minute. After a couple of refresh attempts, it pops up. Correct model name and all. States, "New device found. Please reboot." Of course, neither BIOS nor Windows will find it if I do the normal reboot.

I'm guessing there is no software available to fix this easily? No use with copyr, etc?

Pcimage:
Hmmm, maybe I need to attach a mp3 =). I don't think the disk buzzes. Spins up when I turn it on. Sounds like it parks the heads when I turn it off.

Sounds like f/w corruption.

Slow detection is common in WD drives with corrupt f/w modules, particularly transalator related ones.

You DO need specialist tools and knowledge to fix this, there is no free solution

Sorry.

Where are u based?

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

fast easy thing to try since you are using XP leave the slow drive connected and boot normally. Go to control panel,to system,to hardware,to device manager and right click on disk drives.Click scan for hardware changes and it may pick up your sluggish disk long enough to copy the stuff you need. Has worked for me in the past.

_________________
I think ST is a sub company of Lucas