Hi, I posted this at Ace Lab. but no response after few days...

-----

I have a HD103SJ with dead ROM. I know this because I ordered exact
match full donor, transplanted patient ROM to Donor board and I get
identical condition, which is no spinning and solid BSY light in PC3000.
AND, I put Donor ROM on Patient controller and Donor works perfectly.

Then, I went through hot swap procedure. While reading Patient modules
I noticed corrupt ALIST. When finished hot-swap (really had no idea what
modules to transfer because the Hot-Swap procedure Sticky at the top of
the Samung Section does not mention Samsung F3 - so I took a guess
based on the others), Patient seems to work (but shows Donor serial number
after Recalibration in PC3K) but will not read ANY data - all RED errors in
PC3K Express test.

So, I reversed everything and started procedure again, this time replacing
several more modules. Same condition, all RED errors. But now, I cannot
recover/fix the Donor drive, as both HDAs now stay BSY with the swapped
controller data of the Patient.

Obviously I should have addressed the ALIST error (?)

I am stuck. I really cannot afford another Donor#2 to fix Donor#1. An
exact match controller is available for 1/3 price of full drive/donor.

Any idea how that new card could be used to get back to Square One?


Thanks,
-Oy
=================================================================

Hi, just got a new ROM device last week and will set it it
to report internals.

Also, by "MC" do you mean MicroController?

-Oy

PS: Thanks for fast response!

I believe that MC = Maintenance Cylinders.

As for corrupt ROM, search for "FIPS" at Ace Lab's forum. You should be able to paste the donor's FIPS data into the patient's ROM, assuming that is the problem.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Hey Spildit.

I got the programmer to work and I've read the 'dead' 8-pin Flash ROM chip.

Only problem is, I can save it as a HEX or BIN file type, but this Forum will
not accept ANY file extension I can think of. Should I just copy and paste
the raw read AS text? ( I DID)

Here is the data:
----------------------------------------------------------


Any help appreciated...

Oy!
===================================

Hey Spildit.

I've never done a ROM dump before. The reader gives me the opportunity
to save it directly as a .bin file, but this forum doesn't let me upload such
a file. I had to convert to text. maybe that's the problem.

This time I just zipped it. Please check and advise....

I also attached a screenshot from my reader

-Oy

All the checksums appear to be OK.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Okay, results:

1 - Original PCB with Original ROM on Original drive - - drives stays BSY all day long

2 - Donor PCB with Donor ROM (altered during last hotswap) on Original drive - - drives stays BSY all day long

and, just for fun:

Donor PCB with Donor ROM (altered during last hotswap) on Donor Drive - - drives stays BSY all day long

I think I need another Donor.....

-Oy

Hey, thanks for continuing for staying interested!

Yes, drives spin in all cases.

But, I don't get what your asking. What Terminal log?, the drive is BSY.

The drive can`t be identified, the start arrow in PC3K just gives error.

Am I missing something ?


-Oy
=================================================

download/file.php?id=8218&mode=view

The drive has a serial terminal port.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Here the Patient-card-on-Patient-HDA Terminal Data:

*PA VID=0000 PN=0004 Rev=0002- 785x Found
*PA VID=0000 PN=0004 Rev=0002- 785x Found
ChipRev = 63B0
U
S_0
RV En Sensor Circuit
En Shock Sensor Circuit
SO_1
RPM at Handoff: 6765
Temp : 29 degC
SpinOk
mS1 00000003
SK C:105599 H:0
Loaded FIT ( 0: 0: 1)
CalibTable Loaded. Rev:0x14
Selective MARC NX Loaded
ResoTable Loaded. Rev:0x01
Ovly loaded to 0x0001CD00
Ovly loaded to 0x1005B800

---------
-Oy

Hi (anyone?)

First, the drive was NOT spinning. Then, after all the hot-swapping
and chip transplanting, now the drive spins. But always stays BSY.

I checked that A-List article and my terminal does not display the
indications for the AList problem.

When I FORCE into the PC3K Samsung utility by selecting F3 and
model HD103SJ (even though the drive shows BSY), the Terminal
window is blank.

I get the display in the above post only after cycling the power.

..I don't know what can be done next ... please help if you have time.

-Oy
===============================================

It appears that the process comes to a stop after MOVLY001 is loaded into SDRAM.

The next lines should be something like ...

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks fzabkar.

How can I use this to progess further in the recovery?

-Oy
===============================================

Sorry, I don't know how to help you. All the symptoms appear inconsistent or contradictory.

If your initial post had come from an end user, I would have suggested that the no-spin symptom may have been a Power Up In Standby (PUIS) issue. Since the PUIS flag would be stored in ROM on the PCB, then transferring this ROM to the donor would produce the same no-spin symptom. Similarly, transferring the donor's ROM (with PUIS disabled) to the patient PCB would have allowed it to spin up the donor. That said, the patient drive should still have come ready.

Another problem that end users see is an incompatibility between early SpinPoint F3 firmware and certain southbridges, particularly AMD's SB850 and Intel's P67/H67. This problem was addressed in the following update:

Samsung F3 and F3EG Firmware Patch/Update:
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/e ... Q/223631en

I'm not certain whether the above firmware bug produces a no-spin or BSY symptom, though.

Lastly, I could be wrong, but I believe that at least some Samsung models need to detect a SATA controller before they will spin up. However, in such cases I would think that the terminal log should reflect this.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Hi. Okay, I wish to start over from the current state. Here is a Samsung HD103SJ 1TB hard drive
that spins up in PC3000UDMA and here is a screenshot from Safe Mode:

Wow, my post disappeared after posting the Safe Mode screenshot - I was not done.

Anyway, the normal Mode screen is exactly the same.
-The Terminal windows is totally blank in both cases.

Note the drive is spinning and the BSY stays on forever.

There is no clicking or other abnormal sounds.

After in the utility (with 0MB showing) and looking at blank Terminal Window,
if I cycle the power, I can see this output:

*PA VID=0000 PN=0004 Rev=0002- 785x Found
*PA VID=0000 PN=0004 Rev=0002- 785x Found
ChipRev = 63B0
U
S_0
RV En Sensor Circuit
En Shock Sensor Circuit
SO_1
RPM at Handoff: 3333
Temp : 33 degC
SpinOk
mS1 00000003
SK C:101904 H:0
Loaded FIT ( 0: 0: 1)
CalibTable Loaded. Rev:0x14
Selective MARC NX Loaded
ResoTable Loaded. Rev:0x01
Ovly loaded to 0x0001CD00
Ovly loaded to 0x1005B800

This output is the same whether you enter Normal, Safe or Terminal Mode.

So, at this stage, what would a knowledgeable Data Recovery person try?

Thanks!
-Oy
=================================================

Does drive was with other data recovery company before ?
what about donor the drive ? is it still busy ?

I assume you did't perform hot swap procedure in correct way, first you should test all modules on patient drive than backup them and while writing patient modules to donor drive you must skip some overlay modules.. check you manual..

Important: copy the patient ROM with PC3K so that you will have necessary information for compatible donor drive..

_________________
Data Recovery Pakistan

Thanks Mind Merge. And thanks everyone who helped.

I DID learn a lot from all of you.

But my biggest obstacle was not knowing which F3 modules
to copy over to the Patient during Hot-Swap - I could not find
this info anywhere. My first try - no change, second try with
guessing more modules = current impasse.

I have sent this drive away to a DR god...

-Oy