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Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 16th, 2015, 10:52

Hello experts!

Another drive to repair :)
SSD OCZ Vertex 2 with Sandforce, no detection ( 5 PC, 3 NB ), xtimes unplugged, replugged, IDE, AHCI, chipsets, ports ...
Nothing ... only solid green LED ( after power up only red short blink, maybe test )
I read that its probably Sandforce bug - panic lock.
Tried every ressurection method I found, also praying and nothing ...
I read that when its solid green LED, still chance to ressurect ...
Any ideas?

Thx for help.

Daniel
Attachments
SSD2.jpg
SSD.jpg

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 16th, 2015, 12:21

you could see what the serial port gives, the VCC, GND, TX, RX connections using a serial-usb adapter.

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 16th, 2015, 14:10

You could send it to one of the labs who claim that they know how to recover from bricked Sandforce controllers.

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 16th, 2015, 14:28

Thx for quick answer,

any chance for instructions? USB-serial adapter n(https://www.google.cz/webhp?sourceid=ch ... al&es_th=1) and terminal?
What pin where and wahat terminal commands?
Thx for info ...
Daniel

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 16th, 2015, 14:36

No data on SDD, and I want to try it myself, labs ressurection will be expensive for this old and relative small drive ... Daniel

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 16th, 2015, 19:48

danikd wrote:any chance for instructions? USB-serial adapter n(https://www.google.cz/webhp?sourceid=ch ... al&es_th=1) and terminal?
What pin where and wahat terminal commands?

You would need an adapter that provides a 3.3V LVTTL RS232 interface at the SSD end. The other end could be USB or a regular PC COM port. The USB type would probably be the more universal one.

You could choose to power the adapter from the SSD's 3.3V pin, or you could leave this SSD pin disconnected and use the adapter's own power supply. Don't connect the adapter's power supply to the SSD's 3.3V pin. In fact it's probably safest to leave this SSD pin unconnected.

You can't do any damage by mixing up the Tx and Rx pins. It just won't work.

You could use a terminal program such as HyperTerminal or PuTTY for communications. I'm guessing that the data format is probably 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit (8N1). You may need to experiment with baud rates.

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 17th, 2015, 3:52

something like this:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-2-0-to-TTL-UART-5-PIN-Module-Serial-Converter-CP2102-STC-SOZ-/171829689407?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item2801d8fc3f

you connect ground together as Fzabkar said and

rx <-> tx
tx <-> rx

set it all up and power SSD, and see what happens on the terminal. Garbage text usually means baud rate is wrong. try another value.

here is an example:

http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=31141

also have very helpful JTAG pins labelled, but honestly without some info to go, or knowing a bit about the system and how to navigate JTAG on these ..probably not going to be much use.

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 17th, 2015, 12:40

Hello,

thx for advice, found TTL Serial, connected see photo, when I power it on, on terminal there is only garbage text, change baud rate, still garbage text. Higher speed - more text ...
Connection settings :
Baudrate - Variable
Data Bits - 8
Stop Bits - 1
Parity - None
Flow Control - None

Any ideas? Or I made some mistake?
Connection is same as unbricking old Seagate 7200.11 drives ...

Thx for info.
Daniel

IMG_20150717_165416 (Large).jpg
Attachments
IMG_20150717_165451 (Large).jpg

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 17th, 2015, 20:03

Hi, test all the common baud rates in order, and post a list of the ones you tried.

I don't use hyperterminal due to the limited config of the output window, but for this purpose it will suffice for you.

try:

Baud rate: 115200
Data bits: 8
Stop bits: 1
Parity, Flow control: None

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 18th, 2015, 0:54

@danikd, you can capture the output to a file by selecting Transfer -> Capture Text.

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 18th, 2015, 7:24

Hello,

ok, on Monday I will do it, but on which baudrate? Because everytime is different, as I wote, higher baudrate = more characters ... And I think that on same baudrate every connection, different character set ...
I post captured text here.

Thx.

Nice weekend.

D

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 18th, 2015, 12:26

try 115200

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 18th, 2015, 15:40

Here is a terminal dump from a "dead OCZ Vertex2 SSD built around the Sandforce SF-1222":
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/ocz ... -firmware/

There should be some text output followed by binary stuff, all at 115200 bps.

No it does not changes the baud but outputs binary stuff (I have checked it with my Saleae logic analyzer with autobaud).

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 20th, 2015, 3:16

Hello,

I try 115200, with hyperteminal and with putty, same result, garbage characters, every try its different.
Attached 2 logs.
What next? Short something?

Thx.

Daniel
Attachments
SSD1.TXT
(3.78 KiB) Downloaded 1443 times
SSD.TXT
(3.77 KiB) Downloaded 985 times

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 20th, 2015, 3:25

ground is connected ?

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 20th, 2015, 7:48

No, only TX RX, so I must connect ground from power supply to SSD ? I thought that ground connected via SATA power connector ...
Thx for info ...

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 20th, 2015, 19:54

Adapter-SSD
---------------
GND-GND
TX-RX
RX-TX


and remove the red and brown power and ground that are connected to the power supply

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 21st, 2015, 2:49

Hello, thx, I will connect ground from adapter to SSD, but red and brown are only powering TTL adapter ...Daniel

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 21st, 2015, 3:10

OK, I guess that's fine then. BTW what chipset is the adapter?

Re: Bricked OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

July 21st, 2015, 3:57

Chip is MAX232A ...
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