Hello folks,

I'm facing some problem with a Western Digital TrailXLS WD5000AZRX, 1 single head, 1TB/platter (500 GB per surface) with some rare problem. I explain:

1. Starting with default configuration makes the device click twice and raise the ERR flag. I wrongly thought this was a bad head after trying a donor PCB and went straight for the HSA swap, with same behavior afterwards -so I'm here exaplining.
2. After I saw it had to be a different problem, I noticed reading ROM modules 30 and 47 would end up in an error. Faulty module #30 shows up a TRANSLATION BLOCK ERROR, meaning of course there's something wrong with the SA translator, which comes to be almost the same for all compatible drives (no entries).
3. Shifting or sparing regions to #1 would make the drive give a fake readiness status, and it keeps spinning (no SA translation block error).
4. I've been able playing with regions and RAM tables to read surface modules. However, drive ID keeps showing an empty device.
5. Trying to download its own loader to the drive, would set the DRQ flag a few times, and then BSY (it resets without completing). I've seen this behavior with other drives; often I've thought it to be due to a non 100% compatible loader, but this time I'm using its own loader.

So, after all these things, I've got SA modules but no access to the user partition.

Any ideas? P.M. me if anybody is willing to help remotely.

Cheers

I have PC3K. I followed all recommendations their technicians and developers gave us with no success. They say they do not (yet) fully understand how loader works for these new families. I've written donor module 47 also, with no success (however, when sparing regions, this problem does not come up: I do not get any ROM modules error). Didn't try any hot swap, though; I couldn't find any firmware matching donor.

Cheers

OK, don't worry. Of course, before starting to play around with ROM and/or modules, I make not one, but two backups of them all. That's our gold rule on DR

I will try out sediv demo tomorrow!

Cheers

Hum, SeDiv demo won't open in my PC3K machine. I get an EOIeSysError Exception in module SeDiv.exe at 0002E941 (Invalid window handle) . I've also tried to change compatibility to other OS versions with same result... I don't see any system requirements in their web, however.

I am willing to pay for a solution if somebody has an idea about this drive.

Cheers

deftrue
can give to look ROM ?

Of course. You'll find it attached. Any help will be very much appreciated. I believe that image should be untouched (I have several copies, some with SA regions changed).

Cheers

deftrue

modules 0Ah,47h and 30h seem normal

Is there anything unusual about these directories? Are you referring to the entry for MOD 01?

ROM directory from MOD 20B:


ROM directory from MOD 0B:

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

OK this is defenitely impossible without a hot swap, as it seems to us.

Can I borrow any L4H from any of you? I will cover the shipping costs and pay some extra you decide; my plan is to return it to you fully functional (no opening, restoring FW -> the donor should be of higher capacity).

So I need:

FAMILY: L4H TrailXLS
Firmware details:



Thanks in advance.

Hi fzabkar,

I am looking at those modules using Sediv, but could not see any Module named 20B on WD3200BPVT drive ( SA). Is this module supposed to be an SA-image of Module 01 of ROM ?

Thanks

MOD 20B exists in ROM. It contains a directory of all the ROM MODs. I don't understand how it is related to MOD 0B, but one way that it differs from earlier models is that it has an entry that points to SA MOD 01.

MOD 01 is a directory of SA MODs. IIUC, earlier ROMs assumed that MOD 01 was located at a particular fixed CHS location, whereas current ROMs allow for this module to be relocated, hence the pointer in MOD 20B.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks for all your replies.

It seems the single head it has is weak... and that's maybe the reason why the loader is not correctly being loaded. I've actually read almost all SA modules in one single shot, but a few of them, non critical, raised a DAM(n) error upon reading.

A little off topic, I wonder how reliable these drives are, having one full installed head disabled by software, mostly because such head didn't pass the quality tests during the manufacturing process, so the 1 TB drive had to be labelled as a 500 GB one.

Cheers

At the Tom's Hardware forum I saw a WD 500GB drive (different model) that benchmarked like a short-stroked 750GB drive. Instead of disabling one head, WD had decided to use all three heads and reduce the number of zones. I can only imagine they did this because they needed to fulfill a 500GB order in a hurry and were forced to use whatever stock was available. If it had been a yield issue, then it would have been a very strange one.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.