Model: WD2500KS-00MBJ0

WD Caviar SE16

Date 30 JUL 2006

DCM: DSBANTJAHN

PCB: 2060-701335-005 REV A
PCB Chip: 88i6545-TFJ1

I can post pics if needed. 250GB hard drive just stopped working. No clicking noise of death. About 50 gigs of pictures over the last 5 years, as well as about 100gb of music I would like to recover if possible.

I've heard some people having luck getting a PCB with everything the same other than the DCM and it worked.. However i've heard more stories about it not working.

What kind of needle in a haystack is this going to be to find a PCB with a similar date, and DCM? I have found plenty on eBay with same model, same PCB # but dates and DCM are off. If I were to buy one of these and switch the chip at U12 location would that put me in business, or do I still need same DCM and dates? Ugh..

Can anyone here help me?


Thanks, Matt

Why *must* be the pcb ? It is unclear if the drive is spinning or not.

Sorry, No clicking noise of death, yet the computer won't recognize the drive. Took it out and placed it in my external enclosure and plugged it in via USB and still nothing. So I guess to answer your question, I don't know if it must be the PCB, but that was going to be my next option since the drive isn't recognized when plugged internally or externally, and I didn't hear any noise. When I gently shake the drive I can hear the discs moving and sounds the same as a new drive.. so I don't think the platters are damaged...

Also, it looks like the PCB may have overheated, unless it's common for the foam covering to look like this:


Here are some other pics of the PCB if that helps anyone..

The answer is that a U12 swap should work. If you are not adept at soldering, then your local TV/AV repair shop should be able to do it for you.

Otherwise the following supplier includes a firmware transfer for US$20:
http://www.hdd-parts.com/20091010.html
http://www.hdd-parts.com/11010901.html

That said, if your original board spins up the drive, then it is most probably not a PCB problem. What is the actual symptom? Sometimes there is an easy, no-cost DIY fix.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Goodness.. I've never been to a forum that requires pictures and links to be approved before posting! I've been foiled twice now.

Copy paste w/o links or pics...

"The drive is not recognized by the computer. I never heard any clicking or anything else. I took the drive out of the PC and plugged it in to my external enclosure, and still nothing. No discs are spinning or noise of any kind, no recognition by the computer either.. When I put the drive up to my ear without power, I can hear the discs moving just as you would a brand new drive, so I don't think the platters are broken.

I am lead to believe it's the PCB since the computer won't recognize the drive either internally or externally. Also, here is a picture of the foam that was on the PCB, looks like it got quite hot in there.


And the links for the other pics of the PCB"


I can pm you the link to the pictures if that would be helpful, since I can't post them here.

Here are the OP's photos:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/ ... G_1569.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/ ... G_1568.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/ ... G_1571.jpg

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks for the replies.

I guess I will just buy one of these I've found on ebay that match the HD model number, and has the same PCB model number and have the U12 chip swapped...

Does swapping the U12 chip fix the issue with the DCM or the Build Date? Or both? Or either?

AIUI, the DCM is important when matching HDA parts, but not when matching the PCB.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Hey thanks for the snide remarks guys. You're really going to waste your time offering no help at all? Why even lurk these boards, and post useless comments? To get more posts on your post count? You seriously have nothing else to do? Woo hoo, you have 1000+ posts, here's your gold star!

If the data on the drive was worth the $$ that a data recovery place would charge me, I wouldn't bother with DIY, but since it's mainly music that I really don't listen to anymore and some pictures that aren't sentimental or anything, I don't think it's going to kill me to first try a little DIY.

I don't get/understand the mentality of some of you people who visit these forums. I've had several people PM me and offer me some really good help... But then there's the pompous arrogance of some others, who clearly are bothered that people can actually fix their own problems without their precious help. It's people like you last two posters who really tick me off when it comes to using forums. You try to show how high and mighty you can be.. Get a life.

Guess this was the wrong place to look for some help. Thanks to all those who PM'd me and offered help, and thanks to the others who PM'd me and warned me about the plethora of trolls that would likely show up and refuse to help, they've apparently reared their ugly heads.

A whiny sense of entitlement will keep a lot of would-be helpful people away . . .

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

No sense of entitlement here. Just call 'em as I see 'em.

Unless it's wrong to expect a little common decency out of people. If they have nothing but snide comments to offer on a thread asking for help, they shouldn't say anything at all... Again, unless that's wrong to expect of individuals.

Listen :

You started with this scenario : DRIVE STOPPED WORKING suddenly . Power off then on, the drive spin up but nothing else : not recognised and no clicking.
And you think it was the PCB, right ?

Looking in my Black Crystal Ball , I can tell you , if things went THAT way, that the chances of being the PCB are less than 5%. No I won't suggest you to waste even as little as 40-50$ on a new PCB and chip swap because I'm not convinced from the symptom that this is the problem. And if it is what I think, you simply can't do anything at home (unless you dig in your pockets and buy what is needed).

No wonder, when it's not what people want to hear, data has no importance (1st principle of BlackST DR dynamics : when DR cost is > 1, data importance goes to 0). But things like "thanks to all the people who PMd me offering help and warning about trolls" , as you registered yesterday night, according to timezones it is a very difficult thing to believe. Beside seeing Aurora Borealis on the bathroom in the morning without drinking and smoking, we have seen EVERYTHING.

To the OP:

Sir - may I ask what your vocation is?

Thank you.

_________________
http://www.datasaversllc.com

No, no spin up. No recognition by computer, not showing in bios, no noise, nothing, nada, zip.

Not relevant to the situation.

No harm in revealing it then, is there?

_________________
http://www.datasaversllc.com

Oh I see, there is a double standard here.

You are outraged when you feel that people who possess technical information relative to their vocation aren't falling over themselves to answer your questions, just because you ask.

Yet when I ask a very simple and harmless question related to your vocation, look at the answer and attitude that you display.

There are people on this forum who do reach out to help strangers - I am among them. But when we get attitude like yours, sometimes I wonder why we bother!

_________________
http://www.datasaversllc.com

and they wonder why they get banned and threads eliminated...

Well look who has a whiny sense of entitlement now? Ha! Clearly Jono, you can see from my profile I work in Law Enforcement. Do you really need more info than that? I'm a cop. It says Federal Law Enforcement right there, I know you saw that, and that's why you asked. Back to my original statement though, what on earth does that have to do with anything?

You guys are worthless, whining and moaning about me not telling you my vocation, not doing anything but telling me to go get it looked at by some HDD repair shop, blah blah blah... Why even have these forums if you can't offer some DIY tips for people? One look through Thatdellguy's profile and you can see that 80% of the garbage he posts is negatively based, a lot of good advice he's offering people there..

I've followed the help offered from the people who PM'd me. I'll post the progress when there is something worth posting.

I guess I missed that ad
Since when it's a DIY forum?

Anyway, about your problem. Buy a PCB which looks like yours and swap flash. If you lucky it's gonna work.
No tricks with this but because you don't know it's a PCB problem - no guarantee either
There is a chance that you could fry flash or preamp and that would make recovery much more difficult and expensive

If you need a guarantee in recovery then it is better to find a professional


That's the best advice but you are too angry to understand that now

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SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.