I have a 250Gbyte Seagate 7200.8 ATA drive that has failed, just looking for insight. The drive spins up smoothly, no clicking, but also no seek noise what-so-ever. Can the head armature get stuck? I swapped the PCB with a supposedly known good PCB with no change.

Seagate ST3250823A

With that description, I think it's hard to understand what's wrong.

Can you post here terminal log from that drive?

If not, I think it's better to contact a DR company to help you out.

Simple PCB change here will almost certainly not work without transferring ROM. It is likely the failure is not physical, but based on your description could be a number of failures. If data is important, consult a professional. If not, get yourself a RS232 adaptor and post terminal log here.

I assume by RS232 adapter you are talking RS232 to TTL? (As opposed to a simple physical adapter)

This drive belongs to a co-worker, has important data but not important enough to do DR on. I'm using it for a learning experience. Mostly, I'm just a puzzle guy so I often don't know when to give up.

Do all drives have some form of serial/ttl diag output, or is it just Seagate? All the references I see posted out there are for the 7200.11 SATA drives. Don't want to waste anyone's time if it's not possible with ATA drives. Am I correct in thinking that the ROM/Device pairing would not impact gross activation of the actuator arm? I've given it quite a few listens but I really don't think I hear the tell tale initial actuator arm movements.

here is video for swap ROM chip. help can help you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2hgiDHiXKM

_________________
data recovery service[/b]

I picked up a RS232 to TTL shifter from Sparkfun, and this is what I've found. With the PCB installed normally, the drive spins up, but I get no diag output. With the PCB off the drive, or with the motor contacts blocked, I get:

Preamp ID 00 unsupported
Interface task reset
4096k x 16 buffer detected
TONKA - 1_Disk M-27 03-30-05 11:42

This is the original PCB, although donor gives the exact same output. Anyone have any insight into this type of failure?

F>Y
EP=1, TA=1, HiGain=1, OTRd=1, Early Rd=1, Splash=1, Reload=1, NPML=1, MRBias=1
Bst/Zap=1, SrvoThrsh=1, RunOut=1, MaxECC=1, ECC 2=1, ECC 1=1, ECC 0=1
Data=FF, Write=80, ID=FF
F>y
PhysCyl GrayCyl
First System Cylinder 000155AA 00016FBD
First Zero Offset Cylinder 000155B4 00016FC2
First App Code Cylinder 000155C0 00016FC8
Second App Code Cylinder 000155C2 00016FC9
Second Zero Offset Cylinder 000155CE 00016FCF
Third App Code Cylinder 000155DA 00016FD5
Fourth App Code Cylinder 000155DC 00016FD6
Last System Cylinder 000156D7 000170EA

F>TONKA - 1_Disk M-27 03-30-05 11:42
Built for TONKA,PITKIN/YUMA,REDBACK,Agere7531 PreAmp,InternalSpin,SVC123,OneToOne,3Disk,LowDelta,220 Servos,7200RPM,8Pole,NonModGray,133MHz,Code DRAM,Early Exit

Addr 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
000000 A82AA889A889A889A889A889A889A889
000020 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
000040 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
000060 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
000080 A889A889A889A889A8C8A889A889A889
0000A0 A889A889A889A8CDA889A889A889A889
0000C0 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
0000E0 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
000100 A889A889A889A889A8EAA889A889A8C6
000120 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
000140 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
000160 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
000180 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
0001A0 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
0001C0 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
0001E0 A889A889A889A889A889A889A889A889
000200 4E804F80C5848280C584B00464FFC5C5

Does this all point to toasted preamp?

Preamp ID 00 unsupported
Interface task reset
4096k x 16 buffer detected
TONKA - 1_Disk M-27 03-30-05 11:42

Buzz -
Buzz -
Buzz -
...
...