Hi,

New to the forum, looking for help.

I have two Toshiba X300 8TB HDDs that are refusing to spin.

I have tried them on:

Dell Optiplex 7020

and a PC I built, parts:
X10SAE Mobo
i7 cpu

I have a 850W Seasonic Power supply.

I have also tried them on USB interfaces.

Nothing seems to make them spin.

They used to work, up to a couple of months ago, when I changed my Motherboard from a Gigabyte Gaming 7 to the Supermicro X10SAE. Now they won't work, they did work before.

I have tried masking the third pin, but nothing, tried playing around with the four pins near the sata connections, nothing, USB nothing, tried both systems, nothing. No spin whatsoever.

I had problems initially with a few WD drives I had, but masking the third pin solved the no spin problem only on WD drives.

I would very much appreciate some help in trying to get them working again.

Is there some kind of lock mechanism that needs to be unlocked, do I need to check current and voltage on the power supply connections, I have also tried using a molex to sata power connection and nothing as well.

Any help is very welcome.

Thanks

Manolo

Did you swap modular cables between different PSUs? If so, then you may have damaged the TVS diodes and fuses on the HDD PCBs. Can you upload photos of your PCBs?

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Hi,
Please Upload The Photos Of The HDD PCB's ,Remember To Mark Them So you know which one was on which hdd ,they are not interswappable without changing ROM

_________________
Regards
Amarbir S Dhillon , Chandigarh Data Recovery Labs [India]
Logical,Semi Physical And Physical Data Recovery
Website-> http://www.chandigarhdatarecovery.com

Will do thanks !!!!

Hi, here's the photo of the first board, it looks OK to me.

I had a problem with the second drive that I usually manage to fix well and quickly using a 90 degree pluc on the sata and power connectors, I now took of the biard and sawa that I had pushed back a pin, this probably makes the drive notr work well, but I don't know if it would prevent from spinning. I am attaching photos of the damage. I managed to put the sata pin back in but will need to somehow solder it as it is broken from the drives board.

I am attaching multiple photos of both the damage and the board.

Any suggestions soldering it ?? I have had multiple drives with broken sata connectors but never pushed back a pin before.

Start by measuring the voltages at the e-fuses.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks will do, check both boards and test voltages.

Regarding the broken pin, what do you think is the best way to fix it ?? I have been looking on eBay but no x300 boards, or broken drives, I was thinking of changing the whole plastic bit with all the pins, but I do not want to desolder it and try to fit one I am not sure will work. Soldering something so small and in such a tight place is beyond anything I have done with a soldering iron so far.

I checked all voltages and they seem fine, although on both boards +5V went down to +4.78V on average, while on both boards +12V was +11.87V all round. I tend to think voltages at those points are OK.

I don't know if your model is one of those that won't spin if it doesn't detect a SATA host. Otherwise, is it possible that the drive has been configured to Power Up In Standby (PUIS)?

If you wish to continue troubleshooting, can you tell us the markings on IC6, IC22, IC16, IC14 and IC15. The markings on the e-fuses would be useful also (for my IC database).

Could you measure the voltages in the attachments?

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Will do, thanks for the help. I'll get back to you with voltages and markings.