Donor ROM

Mikippp

Thank you so much!!!
Everything worked out!
At first I was scared because of empty terminal after power up. Even got ready to return donor's ROM. But in last moment I pressed Ctrl-Z:


Then I flashed the native ROM and ... it's aliiiiiiiiive
Amazing
Also, I didn't do any erase on donor, so theoretically it doesn't needed
Thank you for donor's patch also, maybe some day I'l get another donor PCB and make 1 TB SSHD with current donor's HDA

Hello, I work on same model and firmware (Patient: no spin, not recognised by BIOS or OS; Donor: all ok)
Patient: Model:ST1000LM014, FW: LVD3
Donor: Model:ST1000LM014, FW: LVD3
(both from the same date: y/m/d)

I used CH341a to read Patient and Donor ROMs, I did a secure erase on donor drive with SeaTools, write patient's ROM to donor, swap the PCB
I use CH341a for TTL + PuTTY,
I get this:



Can you help please?

Can I use this patched ROM of same firmware to initialise the NAND then write native ROM again? Can it work like this?

I would be very grateful for your help:

1) The issue is similar.

2) Patient: ST1000LM014 1EJ164-071, LVD3 Board, 100705349 REV D

3) Donor: ST1000LM014 1EJ164-071, LVD1 Board, 100705349 REV D

So the difference is that the patient has LVD3, and the donor has LVD1.
Will my actions differ in this case?
Can I use the patched LVD3 firmware posted above?
Many thanks in advance!

Hi,
Please post the disk startup log in the terminal here (connect the terminal and power on the disk).
If the terminal log confirms that the problem is with the NAND Flash, please post the ROM read from the patient's PCB here.
Read the ROM and verify it several times to ensure that the ROM was read correctly.
We are not currently using donor PCB.

Mikippp

The very first thing you should do is save the patient's ROM image. And check that it is not damaged (or upload it here).
There are adaptives unique to each HDD.
If the donor provides access to the terminal, initialize the NAND on the donor (read the topic from the beginning).
Then the patient's ROM is written to the donor's board and the board is transferred to the patient.
A patch of the ROM is made to access the terminal if the NAND is faulty.
IF YOU DAMAGE THE PATIENT'S ROM, NOTHING WILL HELP.

Mikippp, SWM, Thank you very much for your response! The terminal cyclically outputs the following:

I will be able to read and upload the ROM image in a few days — I’ve ordered a CH341A and am waiting for the delivery.
Based on the terminal output, is the issue related to the NAND Flash?

From the background story—and I hope I haven’t done anything irreparable:

1) Patient's history: I decided to use the drive as an external HDD by placing it in a box from AliExpress. Soon after, it stopped powering on. I initially thought the box was faulty, but the HDD didn’t spin up even when connected directly. The motor wasn’t starting. I checked the diodes and resistors in the power circuits—everything seemed fine. I then found a donor HDD.

2) Not realizing the drive was a hybrid model (didn’t even pay attention to that at first—only later learned from forums that hybrid drives require a different approach), I swapped the ROM chips and tried to power it on. The patient began to spin, the heads made noise trying to position, and then it stopped. To my surprise, the drive was detected as the patient (serial number, firmware version), even though the ROM chip was from the donor.

3) Still puzzled, I put the board back on the donor drive with the patient’s ROM chip—and it powered on absolutely fine, behaving just like it did with its original ROM. It was recognized by Windows Explorer and opened normally.

4) I then restored everything back to their original states and wrote to you yesterday, dear experts. I really hope for your guidance and support.

I’m sincerely grateful in advance for any advice and instructions you can provide.

The terminal output shows partial or complete damage to the flash chip. If the ROM contents are completely damaged, the HDD can be thrown away.
This is the output from the processor mask. Read the flash chip marking and clarify its operating voltage. Or measure it.
CH341 cannot do 1.8V without an adapter, and some copies cannot do 3.3V either.

Hello. I’ve read the patient’s ROM using a CH341 programmer and a 1.8V adapter. The chip could only be read after I desoldered it from the board — it wasn’t readable while still on the board. I suspect the terminal was showing a ROM error due to board damage. I’m attaching the file. With this ROM installed on the donor board, the drive starts spinning. Please provide a patched version to initialize the NAND.

Hi,
Try this...

Mikippp

Yes! Yes! YES!!!
Mikippp, thank you! It worked!!! Thank you so much! I'm thrilled!
I installed the patched ROM on the donor board and connected the SSHD:

After that, I flashed the original ROM from the patient and connected the SSHD in the usual way. The drive started working immediately! All my files are intact. Even though the disk was protected by BitLocker, I entered the password and everything opened up!
The disk info shows the patient’s serial number and firmware.
Now I just have to copy the data and stay far away from hybrid drives!

Hello, I have a similar problem to those presented in this thread: an ST1000LM014 hard drive that won't spin and is unresponsive with HPD3 firmware. I generated the HPD3_patch based on the patches for LVD3 and HPM6 firmware presented here, taking into account all the relevant checksums. Although I now have access to the terminal, it returns an error code when I try to execute F3 O>I and almost any other command.

F3 T>/O

F3 O>I

Failed to load overlay 00000004
LED:000000BC FAddr:00004264
LED:000000BC FAddr:00004264
LED:000000BC FAddr:00004264

I've attached the patient's ROM and the patched patient's ROM.

drive cannot load diag overlay because you are using different fw version.
you could upload it (preferably to ram) using a loader...

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Thanks for your reply, Pepe. The firmware I'm using is HPD3, and it corresponds to the SSHD. I followed this procedure:
- The hard drive isn't spinning, it's unresponsive, and there's no access via port F3.
- Diagnosis: Damaged PCB, short circuit at SH6966, Code 100705349 REV D, Rear sticker 8049G.
- I obtained a donor PCB that's exactly the same as the patient PCB, except it has HPM2 firmware.
- I dumped the patient PCB (HPD3.bin) and the donor PCB (HPM2.bin).
- I generated the patch (HPD3_patch_V1.bin) and installed it on the donor PCB.
- I installed the donor PCB with the patched ROM on the original HSA.

With the result described above,

Does the fact that the donor PCB had HMP2 firmware instead of the patient's HPD3 represent the problem?
Thanks in advance

As Pepe said;

Diag overlay needs to match that needed by ROM. Error messages suggests a mismatch; or it's unable to be read.
Upload source diag loader to RAM and see if that makes a difference.

It appears that the NAND flash contains a cached copy of ROM components. You could try to clear the donor's NAND by executing an enhanced secure erase (?), or by using a patched ROM.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

nand contains ram and sa components as well, so it is likely being loaded from there, instead of the surface.
I am wondering why the manufacturer chose to put fw components in nand cache, it is not significantly faster to load, and rarely needed, usually only uppon powerup, so it is not a huge performance enhancement, but a great source of problems at least...

pepe

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

I appreciate Pepe and WebClaw's recommendation to upload the diagnostic overlay to RAM, but it's something I haven't done before; I don't have the necessary software tools.
On the other hand, fzabkar's suggestion to erase the NAND on the donor PCB is something I can do. I tried to do it with the patched firmware from the patient, but it failed. The next step will be to generate the patch for the donor firmware to try again.