I have a dead 250GB Western Digital Hard Drive. The drive shows up in Windows Device Manager and disappears every 30 seconds, it does seem to be spinning up, and then winding down.

I've had another drive of this exact model fail on me, being inaccessible, and then it suddenly revived itself after being stored vertically for half a year.

Model: WD2500AAJS 55RYA0
DCM: HBRCHV2CBN
PCB: PWB 2060-701444-004 REV A

Also, why do these Western Digital Hard Drives exhibit paint damage on the underside near the motor? Is this due to the heat?

I have a PCB from a the "same" model (WD2500AAJ 22RYA0), however the PCB is a 003 REV A, and the DCM is HARCHA2MAN.

These WD 250GB drives have some issues!

Most likely a coincidence....., but very funny though...



All drives have issues, not only WD.

Could be a problem with PCB or internal... Post accurate pictures of your 2 boards, chips up and we'll tell you whether they are compatible or not.

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Here are the scans. The C4 capacitor on the dead drive looks suspicious, though it could be just a bad soldering job?

Yes C4 looks a bit suspicious. Bad soldering job? By whom? Did anyone attempt DIY on the pcb?

Unfortunately this pcb does not contain external ROM, so swapping the pcb is a little tricky (not a DIY, needs proper equipment). At this point, it shouldn't be too costly if you send it to a pro, assuming the problem is only with the pcb (which i think is the case here).

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Nobody attempted to do any DIY on this board. We had a major power outage and lightning storm the day the drive and many other components of the computer went dead.

I can send it to a local recovery centre here, but does anyone know anyone reliable (and affordable) in the Toronto area?

The Marvell 88i6745-TFJ1 MCU was used in Western Digital's Tornado family. This chip is afflicted by a fault that mimics head or media problems.

See wd5000aaks-00tma0-damaged-t19077.html

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Yes!!! The drive is experiencing exactly the same "sound" symptoms as this one: http://kiwi6.com/file/tqsa4623k4