Hi,
Yesterday, after a day of work I turned off my PC (unplugged the power cable from the contact because of thunder), later that evening, I plugged the power cable back in and I tried to boot... a deadly message showed up on my screen... "select proper boot device..." Argh, I opened up my case, and indeed BOTH my HD501LJ weren't spinning up when trying to boot! There was no reason to assume my HDD were in a bad shape (no clicking, ticking or whatever).

Because the sudden defect on both HDD's I assume that it's the PCB's thats causing the problem. However for replacement I need a new PCB, I googled around but I can't locate the firmware version and PCB REV... The closest description I found is the following:

"Samsung hard disk drives require a matching of firmware revision and also preferably same PCB REV. The firmware revision is normally labelled onto the flash firmware IC for older Samsung hard disks; however on the latest Samsung drives you will find the firmware revision on the top label http://www.ultratec.co.uk/images/PCB/fig9.jpg"

1. When I look at my HDD's I see REV.A but I can't seem to find the firmware version. Maybe I overlooked it but maybe someone can tell me where to look... http://www.storagereview.com/images/HD501LJ_top.jpg

The warrenty on Samsungs (HDD) website states:
# SAMSUNG is not responsible for :
- Data loss
- Data recovery
# SAMSUNG will replace defective drives with a refurbished drive.
# SAMSUNG will inspect the HDD and if its damage was caused by neglect, misuse or other forces outside of SAMSUNG's control (isn't this always the case?), it will be returned unrepaired through freight collect.

2. Is it in my case worth to send them back? (My tought) I could try to replace the PCB and if that does(n't) work I still can send both HDD's back.. Does replacing PCB also void any and all warranties?

My English is improving but far from perfect sorry if I made some mistakes or used the wrong words :-p
Regards,
Dalie

I've had a similiar issue with my drive. The board is fried. The good news is the rest of the drive is just fine and is the same model as your drive.

What year is your drive? The date should be on the label half-way down on the right. It should read something like 2008.02 (the date for my drive).

Unfortunately, I have failed in finding a replacement PCB board for my drive either. If you have found anything in the mean time please let me know.

hello,
please check PM

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you must match the firmware for it to work again like this

Rev . A

F/W: TW 100-08

it all must be the same

Maych the date code as close as possible also

Thanks for you reaction, indeed the board was fried. I contacted samsung directly and explained the situation. After that they provided me new PCB's. That is what my advise would be (it must be in it's warranty period though, which it was in my case).

You are lucky. Here under warranty, We don't get any replacement for BURN/Physical Damage (Dropped or broken that can be seen at open eyes) any branded drives.

Where are you from?

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Yeah I guess I was lucky then. I must mention that I didn't return the HDD's (in first place). They asked me to provide them the serial number from the HDD, based on that they send me new PCB's. After replacing the PCB's I could get my data back. After that I requested an RMA which got accepted. Then I got 2 brand new HDD's. When I read this post over I guess it's looks indeed that I was very lucky.......

Regards,
Dalie

P.s. you could not see any burned/physical damage from the outside...

Hello everybody!
It's my first post. First of all sorry for my bad English. I've got a HD501LJ and it stopped work two days ago. It doesn't spin and the BIOS doesn't recognice anything when it's plugged. It was in a conceptronics multimedia box that runs prefectly. It's REV A T166S too. I attached a photo.
I think I have the same problem than you. Could you tell me where did you write to pay the board, please? I want to recover the data

Thanks you very much.

Hi all,
I receive a lot of PM's from people asking me how/and if I solved the problem. I will try to answer all the questions at once since you guys pretty much ask the same. Okay here it goes:

1. One day my HDD's weren't detected in the BIOS, I opened my computer case and indeed the HDD's didn't spin up when trying to boot (laid my hand on the HDD's)
2. It happened out of the blue (I didn't even touched my HDD's, so I can't tell you what the cause of the problem was, and since I am as newbie as you guys probably are I definitely can't tell you the cause of your HDD's crash ).
3. I didn't use any equipment to test if the board was fried, I just assumed it.... So I had no evidence.
4. I contacted the reseller (the place where I bought the HDD's), they said I could request an RMA (return the product and get new one, but I didn't want to loose my data so I did not send my HDD to my reseller). INSTEAD they gave me a contact number from the company which provides the logistics (transportation etc.) for SamSung in the Netherlands (Holland). But these contacts can also be found here:
5. http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/ (here you find can the contacts you need, look under contact or something, I don't now the e-mail address anymore ).
6. I explained the situation via e-mail, and they were very kind and offered their help. They asked me to provide (give them) the Serial Number from my HDD's, which I did. So I don't now which PCB you guys need trust me I am a real noobie :p
7. I must mention that my HDD's were both in the warranty period of (if I remember correctly it's 1 year).
8. After a week or so they send me 2 PCB's.
9. I replaced the PCB's myself (just unscrew a couple of screws, replace PCB's and put screws back).
10. After that I hooked them up to my PC and YES they started spinning again and YES I got all my data back (about 750GIG's). Of course in the meanwhile I borrowed a 1TB HDD so I could BACKUP all my data.
11. Since the PCB's are not the original PCB's of the HDD's, SamSung advised me (even though the HDD's worked again) to request a RMA, I got all my data backed up, formatted my HDD with a fancy freeware program (to make sure no one could ever trace back those HDD's to me) :p and send my HDD's back to SamSung not my reseller, therefore I had to fill in some paperwork which the dutch company provided me with (the company that does the logistics for SamSung in the Netherlands, which will be different in every country I guess, and no I don't know who to contact in your country).
12. After a couple of weeks I got 2 brand new HDD's....
13. So that's how this love story ends.....
14. I must say, and I do realize, I had a lot of luck, but I got my data back and I hope the same will happen for you (all those who PM'ed me...). I think I covered all I know and what I did... Wish you guys luck out there... and remember always backup you data :p

Kind regards,
Dalie

Wow, I've never heard of a manufacturer doing this sort of thing.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Thanks you very much Dalie!
I'll notify my experience.

Point 14

Wow it was so weird!
I probed the disk again and now it runs! I've connected it to a SATA controller and backuped all the data.
I only left the disk one week without turning it on.
Thanks to all!
Regards.

You are very lucky this doesnot happen .

(Apologies for ressurecting an old post)

I'd be *keen* to determine who you contacted for this. Samsung themselves have simply refused, stating they have no involvement in terms of PCB replacement. If a distributor is prepared to do this, I'd be happy to pay whatever costs are involved to source another PCB.

I have also just had a sudden failure of my drive. Mine was in a SUMO external enclosure.
Just stopped being recognised by my PC, accompanied by a nasty smell.
Looking at the drive, the chip with SAMSUNG written on it has a dark spot.

Some of the data on this drive is quite important, it was my back-up and archive drive.
Some of the archive stuff is unique now the original drives have been replaced.

So, is it possible to resurrect this drive with a new PCB and where could such an item be found, given that this drive is 3 years old?

and you expect it will work?

Can we see a detailed photo of the PCB?

I'm not a DR guy, but AIUI, if the SDRAM has failed due to an overvoltage, then anything connected to the same supply would also be suspect. This would include the EEPROM and MCU. If your board has adaptive data stored in EEPROM, either internal to the MCU or external, then these data would probably be lost. These data would need to be transferred from patient to donor, so any damage to the EEPROM or MCU would mean that you would have to be very lucky with a replacement board.

Quick pic of pcb. Suspect chip is the lower one on the board "Samsung"