My WD5000AAKS died during a night when high winds were causing power outages. It would not rotate at all.
I found that the motor controller chip U1, a Smooth L6284 3.0, was showing visible signs of damage.
I managed to get an identical PCB 2061-701477-800 but with letters AF instead of AC. The disk will spin OK with this PCB, but of course will not be detected by the PC due to the different firmware, as I found out after reading many posts here.
It looks to me that I have two avenues to fix it:
1) transfer the rom info from the old board to the new one (I would not know how to do this)
or
2) replace the Smooth controller on the old board (for this I would need to find somebody with the right equipment and procure a replacement chip. I am in the Toronto, Canada area)

Number 2 seems to me the one to try first, what do you think?
Who can remove the bad chip and solder a new one, and where do I get one?

Or if I go for 1) what are your suggestions?

The contents are pictures that I would like to recover, music, etc from many years back, and I have lots of time and little money on my hands now.
Any help will be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Kakuy

In both cases you will need a help of a pro.

First option is more reliable then second, because you never know what could fail besides Smooth chip.

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Thanks for your prompt answer!
Like I said, my resources are rather limited.
Do you know how much a pro would charge to replace the controller?
Or to transfer the ROM info?
Preferably in Canada to avoid cross border shipping. But US is also a possibility.
Thanks

harddrivespecialist, is this something you can do for me?

Or more generally, is there any pro here that can do the job?

We have lab in Toronto suburbs - we can do this job
Do you have money for pro?

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SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

And how much would it cost me?

transfer the rom info from the old board to the new one


can be done by swapping the ROM chips of the boards if they have ones.
The ROM chip is a small, 8-prong FLASH chip labeled something like 25Fxxx.


Desoldering and soldering of such a chip is a piece of cake for every electrician...

Excellent answer
The only problem - there is no eight-pin-chip-to swap on this drive

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SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

Call or chat with our CSR to get a quote (website address in my profile)

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SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.