I've got my hands on an IBM DPTA-372050 that was rejected by a data recovery place (who from what I've been told did a really bad job - more on that later). It's one of my drives, and I figure I might as well see what I can do with it. Originally, it suffered from click-death (click-taak-taak-taak, click-taak-taak-taak when reading). After much arguing, the DR place finally admitted their 'engineer made a mistake' - they claim "their repair log" says the tech set it up on PC3000, started a self scan, and the drive failed to come back online afterwards... Methinks it was used as a guinea pig for someone to learn on (to my considerable annoyance). Getting the data back isn't a high priority, I'd just like to do it for fun.

The drive still spins (and sounds healthier than it ever did before the DR place got their paws on it). But it won't respond to any commands - the BIOS can't ID it, and the Status register comes up as:
- BSY, DRDY, DSC on. All others off.
Error register LEDs are all off.

Label says:
MADE BY IBM STORAGE PRODUCTS KFT
MADE IN HUNGARY
MODEL: DPTA-372050 ATA/IDE
CAPACITY: 20.5GB RPM: 7200RPM
P/N: 31L9056 MLC: F42312
LBA: 40,088,160 SECTORS CHS: 16383/16/63

[barcode]
31L9056F423120H04
[barcode]
P/N: 31L9056
[barcode]
S/N: JMJA9648

So the million-dollar question is, can I do anything with this drive to at least get it to ID?
Can it be fixed with freeware tools (or even PC3000, which is a bit out of my price range but interesting nonetheless)? How?

Thanks.

There's a freeware tool called ibm-v2c — IBM Explorer v2c by Anthony Borisow. See if it can recognize your drive. (Even if it can, you won't be able to fix anything with it — and don't try — but at least it'll give an indication as to whether a fix purely through software is possible.)

Good luck!

OK, I'll have a play with that, but the README says it only works on the newer drives (DTLA, Axxx-series).

I'm beginning to suspect that the HDA firmware/microcode has been damaged in some way... there's a .LDR file on the filebase, and I found out last night that someone I know has a PC3000 kit (v14 for DOS - he said he "bought it to fix a stack o Maxtor drives, but never got round to actually doing it")... Is it possible to put a DPTA-3xxxxx drive into some form of 'safe mode' where it will accept a .LDR / firmware / service zone upload?

Assuming, of course, this is the problem; it seems to be the most likely cause of the problem.

Thanks.

OK, I've hooked the drive up in 'safe mode' (auto spin disable). This did nothing at all - the drive still refused to ack commands. So I figure, maybe the board will work on its own...
I chickened out of removing all the Torx screws and pulling the board off, but I did remove the drive motor flex-cable and powered the drive up with it disconnected.

It's responding to commands, which suggests the NVRAM is probably OK and that the PCB is getting upset about something on the HDA (firmware?).

So where do I go from here...?

This drive could have a firmware issue does the drive making any clicking noises now , does it reach the ready state (DRDY & DSC ) after some time ?