Is the website http://pcb-hdd.com worthy of trust?

[madloc]

Please tell me your experiences. Thank you!

[northwind]

Yes no problems so far with everything we have purchased.

[madloc]

Hi and thx again northwind i asked this because this is where i bought the PCB. this is our correspondance via e-mail:

Hello:

The PCB you send me is broken. I have two HDD HD2040UI both with BF41-00314A, one is the broken and the other is ok. With the PCB of the ok HDD, my broken HDD spins, with your PCB the broken HDD does not spin. To be sure also i have tried your PCB on my ok HDD and DOES NOT SPIN neither.

The PCB of yours is visible used and it looks like you sold it to me with the VCM Controller broken. I want a WORKING PCB BF41-00314A fabricated on 2011/09 in any other case i want my money back.

I'll be wating for your news.

P.D: I have attached a photo.
'Jonathan RN'

Mensaje marcado
Jueves 17 de Mayo de 2012 11:22

Hello Jonathan

Thanks for your email, we are sure that pcb we sent you its a good working unit because all our pcb are tested before we ship them out.

We test them by reading the ROM and firmware and writing it back.

To make your hard drive working again you need to transfer rom and rom modules from original pcb to the pcb we sent you, otherwise the hard drive will not ID or sometimes spin up because of the adaptive data.

We can send you another pcb but it`s a waste of time and money because it will be same result.

I recommend you to send the drive here with original pcb and we perform data recovery for you at reasonable price.

If you want us to send another pcb to you send the one we sent you back please.

For any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I hope to hear from you.

[madloc]

Yes no problems so far with everything we have purchased.

By the way, i cannot thank you enough for your help my friend. Great forum with people like you.

[fzabkar]

madloc, when assessing a particular PCB supplier, take note of whether the company offers a firmware transfer service. If not, then you will be left with the task of making the PCB work with your drive. Sometimes this cannot be done with simple DIY tools. OTOH, when a DR professional purchases a board from such a supplier, then such compatibility issues are not a problem, since the DR company has the necessary tools. Those PCB suppliers that advertise their wares as being "for data recovery only" are using this obscure phrase to hide from this responsibility. So beware.

[northwind]

Yes no problems so far with everything we have purchased.

By the way, i cannot thank you enough for your help my friend. Great forum with people like you.

You're welcome. I hope you meet ends with your problem with your drive.

We have never had any problem with pcb-hdd, donordrives onepcbsolution or any other supplier to be honest. Thing is, we sort of know how to deal with fw problems if it comes to that.

[madloc]

Thanks to both of you, now i'm waiting for the reply e-mail of pcb-hdd. I was trying the soldering with other PCB to practice, but honestly i doubt that i being able to do it. Those litlle 8-pins...

And i don't know anyone capable of do it. And like i said before i can not afford large amounts of money to fix it. Anyone knows a reliable and low-cost in spain or near or in the earth?

Northwind website is in greek and i suspect that is no low-cost and donordrives doesn't have my PCB model (BF41-00314A) but i can provide the one i bought.

Greetings

[Keatah]

Key words in the letter is "We test them by reading the ROM and firmware and writing it back." Other parts of the board might be bad.. This is not a comprehensive test whatsoever.

I wonder if a larger "company" will get better service as opposed to one-off DiY guy?

[fzabkar]

I was trying the soldering with other PCB to practice, but honestly i doubt that i being able to do it. Those litlle 8-pins...

And i don't know anyone capable of do it. And like i said before i can not afford large amounts of money to fix it. Anyone knows a reliable and low-cost in spain or near or in the earth?

Your local TV/AV repairer should be able to do it.

[fzabkar]

Key words in the letter is "We test them by reading the ROM and firmware and writing it back." Other parts of the board might be bad.. This is not a comprehensive test whatsoever.

Why not? The firmware is on the platters, so reading and writing the SA would confirm that the PCB is functional in both respects. What functionality of the board is not being tested?

[Keatah]

My bad, I was thinking of the serial rom on the board. If they are doing disk access to the service area, then, that covers everything.

[madloc]

Many thx fzabkar and keatah for the answers and for explain the testing of the PCB. This is the e-mail response of pcb-hdd.com:
-----------------------------------
Hello Jonathan

Because you bought a pcb from us before the price for data recovery will be 150 £.

If you interested please pack the drive safely using bubble wraps around it in many layers and place in the cardboard box and send it to .....
---------------------------------
humm 186€ + 50€ of send, i think i'll have to take risk with my local TV/AV repairer. God help me hahah, you already help me enough. I can not express my gratitude to all the people of this forum who helped me.

P.D: Northwind i hope that my comment about your company that is no "low-cost" do not bother you, i only want to express that a specialist in data recovery and not only pcb rom swap or regenerate must be expensive to me.

[northwind]

No problem, high and low costs are adjective.

[madloc]

Key words in the letter is "We test them by reading the ROM and firmware and writing it back." Other parts of the board might be bad.. This is not a comprehensive test whatsoever.

I wonder if a larger "company" will get better service as opposed to one-off DiY guy?

I't seems. My e-mail after the help of fzakbar (a million thx to him):

-----------------------------------
Hi ....:

I wonder how you "test them by reading the ROM and firmware and writing it back." if there is not current present in the PCB. I have measured my three PCB and only in the one i bought from you there is not current (0v). I'll send you pictures of the components and his measures in the PCB damaged and in the good one. The pictures correspond to a very similar model, the components and their situation are the same, as you could see.

"we are sure that pcb we sent you its a good working unit because all our pcb are tested before we ship them out" i suppose this only applies to big companies of DR. For one guy like me is much to ask. Well, my money is good.

I only want a PCB that fully works ("we can send you another pcb but it`s a waste of time and money because it will be same result"), or be refunded. It's all. I hope this can be resolved in good terms.
------------------------------

[Vulcan]

"we are sure that pcb we sent you its a good working unit because all our pcb are tested before we ship them out" i suppose this only applies to big companies of DR. For one guy like me is much to ask.

I don't work for a DR company, but personally, I would not accuse that supplier of lying (which seems to be what you are saying, in your email above). There is at least one possible reason for the board not working with you, even after it passed the test which the supplier say that they performed: ESD damage.

Unless you can prove that ESD damage has not occcurred after the board arrived with you (which I doubt you have the equipment to prove!), then I suggest you consider that the supplier could be telling the truth about the testing they did.

Just my Euro 0.02

[madloc]

Hi Vulcan thx for your response. Well i know a little about ESD i'm sysadmin, and i know how to handle PCB and hardware components to prevent damage from ESD.

[Vulcan]

i know how to handle PCB and hardware components to prevent damage from ESD.

So therefore you know that the damage is invisible (without an electron microscope), and you cannot prove (without more detailed investigation) that this damage did not occur. I have seen engineers who thought they knew about ESD, make mistakes with PCB handling (which could cause ESD damage) due to insufficient training and equipment.

ESD is just one example of a possible reason why the board is now faulty (which your results have shown, following the diagnosis explained by fzabkar in your other thread).

I'm simply suggesting that until you have proof that the PCB supplier didn't test the PCB, as they say that they did, then it may be premature to accuse them of lying. All IMHO of course.

If you have proof that the PCB supplier did not test their board before shipping it to you, then of course I am interested to read it!

[madloc]

i know how to handle PCB and hardware components to prevent damage from ESD.

So therefore you know that the damage is invisible (without an electron microscope), and you cannot prove (without more detailed investigation) that this damage did not occur. I have seen engineers who thought they knew about ESD, make mistakes with PCB handling (which could cause ESD damage) due to insufficient training and equipment.

I don't want to argue with you Vulcan. The thing is i spent many years working as a hardware&software IT Technician (with my own hands) and i have never damaged anything with ESD.

ESD is just one example of a possible reason why the board is now faulty (which your results have shown, following the diagnosis explained by fzabkar in your other thread).

What other examples where the problem is my fault do you have?
now? you have proof that not was before ?

I'm simply suggesting that until you have proof that the PCB supplier didn't test the PCB, as they say that they did, then it may be premature to accuse them of lying. All IMHO of course.

I wonder why you suggest things only in one direction

If you have proof that the PCB supplier did not test their board before shipping it to you, then of course I am interested to read it!

Have you the proof that the PCB was not faulty before i open the package? I suppose we will have to blame to the powerful ESD of the postman. Happy?

[Vulcan]

I am just trying to help you to avoid looking foolish when you call the PCB supplier a liar but you cannot prove it, by suggesting that you keep an open mind about other possibilities. That is all. If you want to risk getting a bad reputation by accusing a supplier without proof, then please do carry on. Your reputation; your choice

As I said before, one possible concern is ESD (there are others). Unfortunately you are saying: "i have never damaged anything with ESD" so we have nothing more to discuss. No-one who works with electronics can ever know that they have "never damaged anything with ESD" - for the explanation, go and learn about latent defects caused by ESD.

You obviously don't like my suggestions, and I choose not to work with people who do not keep an open mind. So it suits us both for me to say: Goodbye and good luck with your problem!

[fzabkar]

As I said before, one possible concern is ESD (there are others). Unfortunately you are saying: "i have never damaged anything with ESD" so we have nothing more to discuss. No-one who works with electronics can ever know that they have "never damaged anything with ESD" - for the explanation, go and learn about latent defects caused by ESD.

I used to do contract work for a certain minicomputer manufacturer who processed a large volume of repairs. They had an extremely strict ESD policy. After implementing it, the failure rate fell dramatically.