n00b question

[acforensics]

Hi All - thanks ahead for any replies. I'm trying to recover data from a WD2500JB-00REA00. I think the ROM code is corrupt(among other things since it got a power surge). It doesn't spin up.

I downloaded the ROM code from the patient and put it in the ROM of a good equivalent donor PCB, but it showed zero heads, which makes me think it's corrupt. Then I restarted it and it won't go back into safe mode.

Seems like I read that the ROM code for a drive is specific to that drive only and can therefore not be substituted from a donor. Is this true? Am I screwed? What do you guys do when you get corrupt ROM code?

Thanks for your help,

A

[dobrevjetser]

Hi acforencisc,

When you corrupt your rom code, indeed big chance safe mode is not working any more.
Only solution is to reprogram the rom in an external programmer.

Dobre

[acforensics]

Thanks for the reply Dobre. No problem there. I have an external programmer. What ROM code do I use though if the original one is corrupt? I can't use one from a donor can I?

Thanks for any help.

A

[pepe]

Hi,

U can probably use any code from the same family (WDxx00JB-00REA00). BTW there is something bad with the model number U wrote:WD2500JB-00REA00
it is probably having an extra trailing zero... this way it is hard to tell for what the family code actually is.

pepe

[Mikippp]

Hi,
WD2500JB-00REA0 -> WDC Starling
Rom code must be in the same version...
If U can read native ROM... U probably can read ROM version...
hard-disk-drives-repair-and-data-recovery-f1/read-write-serial-flash-on-wdc-logic-boards-t7192.html
hard-disk-drives-repair-and-data-recovery-f1/wd800ue-data-recovery-t7247.html

Mikippp

[acforensics]

Thanks for all the replies. I will try the ROM code from an identical PCB and see if it works.

Thanks again!

A

[acforensics]

Ok. Here's something that's confusing. pepe says "U can probably use any code from the same family (WDxx00JB-00REA00)." Then why do I read all the time in this forum(and in product manuals) that when you swap PCBs, the ROM from the patient must be moved(either by de-soldering/soldering or by re-programming) to the donor PCB? Can someone clarify?

PS: pepe you are right, I had an extra 0 in the model number

[dobrevjetser]

It depends on the brand and modelnumber of the drive.

Dobre

[acforensics]

Ok. Makes sense.

Thanks Dobre!

[acforensics]

Update: I used a donor PCB and was able to repair the SA defects of the drive(WD2500JB-00REA00) by disabling some of the heads(with all heads enabled, the hdd did not show any SA modules). After repairing the SA modules, I connect it to Linux for imaging and it recognizes, but I get the "too big for this kernel" error. It doesn't show the model(didn't expect it to since it's a different ROM than the original). Any ideas on how I can get this drive to image?

Thanks for any replies.

A

[jono-ats]

I think you've got the wrong ROM image.

In my (somewhat limited) experience with WD ROM reprogramming, I've found that you've got to have a very close match for you to be able to image the LBAs. A lot of ROMs will be "close" and give S/N, etc. but still not work.

It is often possible to repair the code from a damaged ROM and reprogram a good one.

The reason why we recommend that you always swap ROMs with the boards is that the ROMs contain the head maps and defects (IIRC) for that particular drive. WD does change head maps quite often, but I think they generally use all of the heads of that model.

I'm impressed by the technique of disabling heads to rewrite SA tracks. I never would have thought to do this. Do you do this often, and do you know why it works?

Jono

[pcimage]

Those drives have adaptives in ROM, you need the original ROM.

[acforensics]

Jono - Thanks for your reply. The PCB donor I used had an EXACT PCB model number match. But Sean says it doesn't matter(see below). I have done this a couple of times - depopping heads to write modules. It seems to work as far as writing the modules and removing defects. I have yet to recover one completely using this method however(I'm a n00b). I'm curious too why it works. Not sure why when all six heads are enabled, no SA modules show up, but when you start depopping some of them, the SA modules show up. I'm using Salvation Data HD Doctor by the way.

PCImage - Thanks for your reply. So you're saying I'm screwed? This HDD stopped working after a power surge. When I download the ROM code from the original PCB, it's all 00hs Anything at all I can do? If not, for future reference it sounds like the basic rule is: If your drive uses adaptive ROM and it gets corrupted, you're hosed.

Thanks for all the replies and the informative discussion my HDD Guru friends

A

[Starling]

What did you use to read ROM from the patient? External programmer?
If you were able to read ROM from the patient with PC3000 then ROM is fine.

[pcimage]

WD Doctor does not support reading ROM's on these drives AFAIK.

You need to use the little programmer that comes with the kit.

[acforensics]

Starling - Thanks for your reply. The patient PCB gave an error(not recognized) in safe mode. So I assumed something was wrong with the board. I de-soldered the ROM and downloaded the code from the board that you solder the ROM to, provided by SD. It did not give any errors downloading, but it contains all zeros. Maybe I'll try it again.

PCImage - Thanks for your reply. You can put the HDD in safe mode/kernel mode/pcb mode and download/upload ROM code in WD Doctor. And as you mentioned, you can also de-solder the ROM, and use the board and box to program ROM. This is a 25P chip - totally reprogrammable.

So nothing I can do about recovering data from this drive unless I get the original ROM code?

Thanks again to all who have replied.

A

[pcimage]

You can put the HDD in safe mode/kernel mode/pcb mode and download/upload ROM code in WD Doctor. And as you mentioned, you can also de-solder the ROM, and use the board and box to program ROM. This is a 25P chip - totally reprogrammable.

A

Sorry, I assumed this was a "Black I" type of drive ("L" shaped board), which ROM reading is not supported by HDD Doctor.

[masterinhdd]

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[nadirshah]

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[acforensics]

PCImage - I may be missing something, but from the Salvation Data Flash Programmer manual: "Our flash programmer supports only the BIOS chips of SIlver II, Black I and Black II series of drives only; it does not support chips from a Silver I series of drive." Please verify so we're on the same page. Thanks for responding.

By the way, I was able to repair and recover data from another drive(WD200EB-11CSF0 - Silver I) that gave the dreaded "too big for this kernel" in Linux, by repairing the SA modules. So I have the same hopes for this one if I can get the $#^* ROM code to work!

A