Hi guys,

I got a WD hdd (WD5000AAJS) which has a shorted controller (PCB: 2060-701477-001 Rev A, Controller: 88i6745-tfj1) but the board has not BIOS chip (empty location). Can I just replace the controller or is there some firmware in it?

thank you in advance!

br,
george

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iPhone & macbook Data Recovery Expert

Other than being 40c is there anything else that makes you think it's shorted ?

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Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

it gets very warm towards hot without connected to the rest of the hdd and also L2 measures dead short to ground in diode mode. 40c comes in seconds.

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iPhone & macbook Data Recovery Expert

Run the rest of the rail if L2 is shorted. Otherwise you'll have to regen from the SA if you have no access to the ROM.

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Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

What's the deal with cameras these days? Are you all just a bunch of mechanics? Break out the multimeter (you know, it's that thing with probes) and measure the resistances and voltages at the power supply test points.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

what do you mean run the rest of the rail? also "regen from the SA" is greek to me please elaborate..



regarding the thermal camera, I first measure for shorts then inject voltage on that line AND THEN I use the thermal camera to find the suspect (as most technicians who know their stuff do) - in this case there was no need to inject voltage as the line comes "alive" (i.e. there is no protection to stop it from getting voltage) directly from the power supply. We use thermal cameras as we often repair macbooks and iphones where a partial short on a cap would NEVER be found without a camera (i.e. 20mA draw). Please stop trying to be smart.

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iPhone & macbook Data Recovery Expert

If you need help, contact Nothwind (Dimitris) via PM or contact him at: http://www.northwind.gr

Regards/ Bosse

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Rescue IT Datarecovery service Sweden
Rescue IT Dataräddning Göteborg AB
http://www.rescue-it.se

don't wanna waste some professional's time (yet at least).. the basic question here is will it work if I replace the controller and if it doesn't work (due to firmware missing) can this action damage the data?

thank you guys.

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iPhone & macbook Data Recovery Expert

I'm not convinced the mcu is your problem. You're not going to be able to do anything without pro tools even if you did swap the mcu unless you can extract the rom for the original chip. Whilst in practice it shouldn't damage the data it theoretically could.

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Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

thank you for your reply! last question before I hand over the drive to an expert. Lets say I swap the controller (I am almost sure it's dead as it get unsually hot) can the system read the firmware from the SA area and work (I googled a little) and if not what would an expert do to this drive?

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iPhone & macbook Data Recovery Expert

easy to fix with a donor pcb and regenerated bios

WD Marvell is enough for a fix + a new pcb ofcourse.

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THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE TILL YOU LOSE IT.

I thought there was a problem with the authorisation servers for wdmarvell can the demo do enough?

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Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

I think so if it can read modules and OP has a rom programmer.

I would not bother if after generation of rom the drive has some other in the SA, then write access to SA will be necessary.

Of-course a donor pcb too.

Oh by the way, How are you sir?
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THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE TILL YOU LOSE IT.

I'll take your word for it as it's been years since I looked at it.
Cursing myself for being unilingual as I would have like to have followed some of the livestream stuff on your channel

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Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

guys you rock! I am now convinced the drive must go to an expert

thank you for all your time and efforts, really appreciated.

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iPhone & macbook Data Recovery Expert

The last time I tried to help someone with this problem, I found that the demo version of WDMarvel produced a corrupt ROM. Instead, I wrote my own tool.

http://users.on.net/~fzabkar/FreeBasic_W32/WD/wdROMreg.bas
http://users.on.net/~fzabkar/FreeBasic_W32/WD/wdROMreg.exe

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Ah! so nice to hear from you. Dad was doing all those live streams. I usually don't interact much on the cam


Namaste Lardman and Fzabkar!

Wow...the tool sounds great!

To the thread starter. If you are willing enough. A group effort can help resolve the issue. Provided you have a mindframe to experiment and the will to tinker at the cost of your data.
Professional tools would have been much better for an instant resolve considering the SA and Heads are ok.

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THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE TILL YOU LOSE IT.

If you will lucky enough and you will get pcb with same version of fw that your pcb had plus it will be from same capacity drive - drive will start without any problems.

Hello Sin, do you mean MCU programmer?

No i mean Minipro NOR FLASH rom programmer. However you would also require 2 resistors to activate the 8pin soic pads on WD MCU donor pcb and a SOIC ROM IC to situate the program into the chip.

You can try Fzabkar's program too, i guess with his program you wont need the above.
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THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE TILL YOU LOSE IT.