ToKuRo

June 21, 2009

Does someone have the first flawed sd15 firmware that bricked the st3500320as???? I need to have THAT firmware. If you have it can you PM me it or Rapidshare it to me, or Megaupload it to me or... you know. I will be very grateful for your help.

Greetings, ToKuRo.

March 5, 2009

Hello Gradius2, hello to all people,
I have a st3500320as 500 gb sata2 with P/N: 9BX154-568 and Firmware SD81.
I can't see it from bios.
Do you think i can use this guide for repair it?
I buy another disk but with FW SD04 and i switch the 2 PCB. With this PCB the pc find the disk in bios but i have an error and i can't use it.
I have updated too the firmware on this PCB (before with the new hard disk and later with same new PCB on my old disk) from SD04 to SD1A, but I don't have results on my disk.
I have worked on a PCB with firmware SD04, not present in seagate firmware download page....
I think this 2 models are differently, but in firmware download page are present too SD15 and SD81 firmware... this manual is for SD15 and I have SD81....
What do u think? Can i resolve my problem with your guide? Or I need to change some parameter?
Thank you alot....

I have the same disk. SD81 too. And I repaired it with this guide. Here is my experience: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...mp;#entry831015

Greetings, ToKu.

February 9, 2009

Aviko, do you know if the method/commands will work for a ST31000340AS that has SD81 firmware?
This is a HDD from a Freeagent Desktop 1TB...
Cheers!

Is it likely that my SD81 drive will run the same commands as SD15?
I have a ST3500320AS with firmware SD81. And I repaired it successfully with the exact commands. See my post HERE.
Greets.

February 8, 2009

Amigos mi cable DKU-5 tiene tres cables rojo, verde y blanco como verifico cual es Rx o Tx?

hombre, pues como preguntaste en el hilo en inglés te respondí en el foro en inglés.

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...mp;#entry834079

Slds. ToKuRo.

Edit: La respuesta contiene ambos procedimientos para identificar los cables: con voltímetro y sin instrumentos.

February 8, 2009

Guys I finally got a DKU-5 nokia cable and it has 3 wires red white and green, which one would be Rx and Tx?

Read the whole thread man. All the answers are already here and have been answered more than a lot of times... Here is yours (No sea flojo man ).

With a little help of a volt meter you can find the ground: connecting the negative pole to the ground wire and the positive to RX or TX you will see that 3.3 voltage in the meter. Once you set up your terminal session, by typing some random chars in the terminal you'll see in the meter that voltage slighty go up or down in the TX line, the other one should stay fixed on 3.3v. With this you can find RX and TX wire too and then you're done, connect TX and RX to the HD and if you don't share a common ground (if you use your notebook for the usb plug and another PSU for powering the HD) connect the ground wire on the HD pin 2 as showed on one of my previous posts.
If you don't have a volt meter, you can also do a very rough test. Set up your terminal session and slightly let touch 2 wires at once. If you see come up strange characters in your terminal window, then you have in your hands RX and GND wires. Then, type random characters in your terminal and do the same with the other wire and when you'll see what you type come back in your terminal window it just means you connected RX and TX togheter (a loopback connection!!).
Do some trial and error and don't be hurry! Good luck!

Slds. ToKuRo.

February 3, 2009

I've colored the important parts in red...

please help me!
When start communication with Hyperterminal it starts to type random characters and my keyboard is disabled...
I have used a ca42 pin 6/7 to TX RX, is it wrong? Do I short my cable?

Tokuro, you're right too.
3.3v is already in RX/GND and TX/GND. With a little help of a volt meter you can find the ground: connecting the negative pole to the ground wire and the positive to RX or TX you will see that 3.3 voltage in the meter. Once you set up your terminal session, by typing some random chars in the terminal you'll see in the meter that voltage slighty go up or down in the TX line, the other one should stay fixed on 3.3v. With this you can find RX and TX wire too and then you're done, connect TX and RX to the HD and if you don't share a common ground (if you use your notebook for the usb plug and another PSU for powering the HD) connect the ground wire on the HD pin 2 as showed on one of my previous posts.
My cable had 6 wires and the right ones were white (GND), yellow (TX) and blue (RX) but sadly there're no standard colors.
If you don't have a volt meter, you can also do a very rough test. Set up your terminal session and slightly let touch 2 wires at once. If you see come up strange characters in your terminal window, then you have in your hands RX and GND wires. Then, type random characters in your terminal and do the same with the other wire and when you'll see what you type come back in your terminal window it just means you connected RX and TX togheter (a loopback connection!!).
Do some trial and error and don't be hurry! Good luck!
Before I chop its head off... anyone knows if this cable should work or not????
It's a CA-45 Nokia Cable. Pictures attached.
It's the same -nameless- brand i bought! The only thing is that mine was CA-42, this is CA-45. I cannot be sure, but I think the only difference is in the phone plug model, the long usb connector seems to be the same as mine. Inside it there's a chinese USB to Serial Arkmicron chip. Note that for those chips there're no Vista drivers, XP only.
You may also check on pinouts.ru website for be sure it has TX/RX/3.3v.
Well, I've just chopped it off. And it has 3 cables: Black, Red and White.
You were right: it installs as "Arkmicro USB to SERIAL" in my XP notebook.
You were also right: my vista PC won't install it. (no drivers)
You were right too: It is a long USB connector identical as the one seen in the CA-42 and DKU-5 pictures on the net.
But... are you sure I've to check if one of the 3 cables is 3.3V???? I was assuming that the 3 cables were for TX, RX and GROUND. Am I wrong???
Greets, ToKuRo.

I guess you are using RX and GROUND instead of TX. If you are SURE that you have TX and RX then you should check if your cables are not short circuiting. (<--not sure if it is the right word)

Greetings.

January 30, 2009

Alex, are you sure the DCU-65 cable has a built-in Serial to TTL converter?

Looking at the pictures I'm pretty sure DCU-65 is too short to have a transceiver inside...

The cables that have been reported to work so far (DKU-5, CA-42, CA-45) have the USB side almost twice larger than the ones that don't.

See?

Greetings, ToKu.

January 29, 2009

Is it likely that my SD81 drive will run the same commands as SD15?

I have a ST3500320AS with firmware SD81. And I repaired it successfully with the exact commands. See my post HERE.

Greets.

January 28, 2009

@ DerSnoezie : Hi!!!! I'm happy to announce that my disk is ALIVE AGAIN and all my data is OK and being backed up as I write this message. I've wrote more details about the procedure at the "7200.11 solution" post.

Anyways, I wanted to tell you this because this has confirmed that my SD81 disk has the same issue on the firmware as all the other SD15 ones. Seagate's support always told me that my disk was not affected, in fact every serial checking tool they released told me that my drive was NOT affected... well... it WAS affected!!!! IN YOUR FACE SEAGATE!!!!

1:9QM7****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09146:2008-10-09:KRATSG:2008-10-15:2008-12-24:N/A:poolcarpet:Malaysia::

2:9QM6****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09115:2008-09-17:KRATSG:2008-10-01:2008-12-28:N/A:DaftMule:UK::

3:9QM6****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:N/A:N/A:KRATSG:2008-12-05:2008-12-19:N/A:DerSnoezie:Netherlands:(no detect in bios):

4:9QM4****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:08503:2008-06-16:KRATSG:2008-08-01:2008-11-01:N/A:dskbrk:::

5:9QM3****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-568:SD81:08464:2008-05-20:KRATSG:2008-08-01:2008-12-23:N/A:ToKuRo:Chile:(no detect in bios): <--- REPAIRED WITH GRADIUS2's GUIDE.

Greets, ToKuRo.

January 28, 2009

I happily announce that my ST3500320AS... IS ALIVE!!!!!! and it has become the first one, as long as I know, with firmware SD81 to be back from BSY state.

Thanks to Gradius2, Fatlip and Pichi for their efforts, guidance and knowledge and to dskbrk too for his precious advices on the nokia cables.

I used a CA-45 cable. So now we know for sure that we can use the "RS232/USB to TTL adapter" main solution and the "cell data cable" one with DKU-5, CA-42 and CA-45 so far.

I did follow exactly the steps that Gradius2's Guide tells. In fact, here is my log.

F3 T>/2
F3 2>Z

Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.126 msecs
F3 2>U

Spin Up Complete
Elapsed Time 9.631 secs
F3 2>/1
F3 1>N1
F3 1>/T
F3 T>i4,1,22
F3 T>
F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22

Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewr
ite Retries = 00C8
User Partition Format   5% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00004339, ErrCode 000
00080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs
User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs

F3 T>

And then I turned the PC off. Connected the SATA data cable, booted up and VOILA!!!! Everything was just like it was one day before my "reboot of death" (dec, 23rd 2008) But, wait... let's see what HDSentinel has to say.

As you can see in the picture I already bought another brand so I will not give a f........ f.... if something happens to my seagate one again.

My firmware is still SD81, ok... the health status is at 100%.... and... What?!?!?! THE CACHE IS NOW ZERO MB????? I thought that happened AFTER updating the firmware, or not???

Anyways, I'm writing to you from my resucitated Seagate HDD... let's see how long it lives this time.

Thanks again to everyone that made the fixing of my drive posible. (AND OF COURSE THE RECOVERY OF MY VALUABLE DATA that is being backed up as I write)

Excuse me for the SCREAMING but I can't help it, I'M SO HAPPY!!!!!

Greetings, ToKuRo.

P.S.: Seagate's support always told me that my disk was not affected, in fact every serial checking tool they released told me that my drive was NOT affected... well... it WAS affected!!!! IN YOUR FACE SEAGATE!!!!

January 27, 2009

Before I chop its head off... anyone knows if this cable should work or not????
It's a CA-45 Nokia Cable. Pictures attached.
It's the same -nameless- brand i bought! The only thing is that mine was CA-42, this is CA-45. I cannot be sure, but I think the only difference is in the phone plug model, the long usb connector seems to be the same as mine. Inside it there's a chinese USB to Serial Arkmicron chip. Note that for those chips there're no Vista drivers, XP only.
You may also check on pinouts.ru website for be sure it has TX/RX/3.3v.

Well, I've just chopped it off. And it has 3 cables: Black, Red and White.

You were right: it installs as "Arkmicro USB to SERIAL" in my XP notebook.

You were also right: my vista PC won't install it. (no drivers)

You were right too: It is a long USB connector identical as the one seen in the CA-42 and DKU-5 pictures on the net.

But... are you sure I've to check if one of the 3 cables is 3.3V???? I was assuming that the 3 cables were for TX, RX and GROUND. Am I wrong???

Greets, ToKuRo.

January 27, 2009

Before I chop its head off... anyone knows if this cable should work or not????

It's a CA-45 Nokia Cable. Pictures attached.

TIA for the info.

Slds.

@Gradius2: Thanks for the tips and advices. Gracias por responderme el privado No te contesté antes porque la wife se quería ir rapido de vacas

January 14, 2009

http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/messag...e.id=4445#M4445

Is it me or AlanM is admitting that there is an issue with the 7200.11s????

I just want to make sure everyone is aware of the troubleshooter that works with undetected drives. It may not solve the issue, but it gets a great deal of the beginning, basic stuff out of the way, and it prevents missing little things at first.

Saludos, ToKuRo.

January 10, 2009

hi all,
I'm from germany and bought an external USB drive "Maxtor Basics Desktop 500 GB" two month ago
a few days ago i wanted to speed up the drive by removing it from the external case and using it as a normal internal hdd
after breaking it open the case revealed a ST3500320AS with firmware SD81 made in China
I attached it to my mainboard and voila, the bios didn't recognize the hdd
plugged back into the case it worked again.
Maybe the hdd is locked or something to work only inside the external case
or could it be possible, that it suffers from the busy problem, but the controller in the external case can read it anyway?
Someone here could try his hdd in an external case. the Maxtor Basics Desktop seems to be sold only in europe
I'll provide the exact data for the list next week, cause I'm not at my office over the weekend

What!!?!?!?!! SD81 at last!!!! You're the first here that have the same firmware that I have!!! Mine is made in Thailand thou but... you say when it is in an enclosure it works but when it is connected directly to the sata port on the MB it does not??!?!?! **** I have not tried that!!!! On monday first thing is to buy a sata enclosure... Do I have to buy some special one or anything should work???

Saludos, ToKuRo.

January 10, 2009

Just a couple ideas...
My PCB has some excessive tarnishing on most of the silver areas. Anyone else?
The PCB is labeled as, "PCB 100466725 REV A DLAJ-4"
Mine was an OEM drive purchased from Newegg. Any retail drives dying?
Keddar my PCB label is identical to yours. Also OEM, also purchased from Newegg.
And sorry about country (I'm in USA of course), I saw other people in the list writing MADE IN and assumed thats what it was for.

Interesting, but I guess the fundamental question there is if our PCBs are tarnished or not. Maybe everybody should (if you can) post pictures of our PCB's to compare them and see if they are ok or not. I'll post mine later (it's Saturday and my daughter wants her dad to spend his time only with her.) btw:Updated some OEM values...

LIST UPDATED.

Number:Serial N°:Model:Part N°:Firmware:DateCode:SiteCode:PurchaseDate:FailedDate:OEM/RETAIL:UserName:Country of the User

====================================================================================================

==========

01:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09146 (09/Oct/2008):KRATSG:Oct2008:24Dec2008:OEM:poolcarpet:Malaysia

02:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09115 (17/Sep/2008):KRATSG:Oct2008:28Dec2008:-:DaftMule:United Kingdom

03:9QM*****:ST3500320AS: - :SD15: - : - :5Dec2008:19Dec2008:OEM:DerSnoezie:Netherlands (no detect in bios)

04:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:08503 (16/Jun/2008):KRATSG:Aug2008:Nov2008:OEM:dskbrk:Italy (no detect in bios)

05:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-568:SD81:08464 (20/May/2008):KRATSG:Aug2008:23Dec2008:OEM:ToKuRo:Chile (no detect in bios)

06:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-501:SD15:09134 (30/Sep/2008):KRATSG:28Oct2008:07Jan2009:-:jeroen__online:Netherlands

07:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:08406 (10/Apr/2008):KRATSG:12Apr2008:23Dec2008:-:quattro150:Malaysia

08:9QJ*****:ST31000340AS:9BX158-303:SD15:08496 (12/Jun/2008):KRATSG:Aug/Sep2008:8Jan2009:-:Nichev

09:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09114 (16/Sep/2008):KRATSG:13Oct2008:14Dec2008:-:PrOdiGy1:UK

10:9QJ*****:ST31000340AS:9BX158-303:SD15:09063 (11/Ago/2008):KRATSG:Nov2008:27Dec2008:-:AVINNC:USA

11:9QJ*****:ST31000340AS:9BX158-303:SD15:08515 (2/Jul/2008):KRATSG:Aug2008:4Jan2009:-:Ruddrage:UK

12:9QM*****:ST3500820AS:9BX134-505:SD15:09084 (26/Ago/2008):KRATSG:July2008:20Dec2008:-:rainshower:Germany

13:9QM*****:STM3500320AS:9GT154-325:MX15:08396 (03/Abr/2008):KRTASG:Sep2008:30Dec2008:-:fabio.cillo:Italy

14:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:08367 (14/Mar/2008):KRATSG:Dec2007:Dec2008:-:Death_Angel:Malaysia

15:9QK*****:ST3750630AS:9BX146-621:HP24:08511 (21/Jun/2008):TK:Oct2008:7Jan2009:-:Taiketo

16:5QJ*****:ST1000340AS:9BX158-303:SD15:09121 (20/Sep/2008):WUXISG:October2008:28Dec2008:-:Styleman

17:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15: - (13/Oct/2008):KRATSG:06Dec2008:24Dec2008:-:roadstarter:Philippines

18:9QM6****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09076 (21Aug2008):KRATSG:15Oct2008:29Dec2008:-:labraticmp3:USA

19:9QM6****:ST3500320AS: - : SD15 - : - : Oct2008:2Jan2008:-:eli2k

20:9QM5****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09063 (11/Ago/2008):KRATSG:6Nov2008:27Nov2008:-:poim76

21:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:08382 (23/Mar/2008):KRATSG:August-08:Nov-Dec-08:-:caba212:Spain

22:9QJ*****:ST31000340AS:9BX158-303:SD15:08496 (05/Jun/2008):KRATSG:July2008:26Dec2008:-:GrayGhost:USA

23:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:08381:DEC 08:JAN 09:-:timha

24:9QJ0****:ST31000340AS:9BX158-303:SD15:08495:KRATSG:Oct2008:02Jan2009:-:viniciusferrao:Brazil

25:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09076:KRATSG:31 October 2008:Dec 2008:-:RiderZen:Australia (BSY)

26:9QJ*****:ST31000340AS:9BX158-335:SD15:08457 (16/May/2008):KRATSG:Jul2008:20Dec2008:-:Macprk:USA

27:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09071:KRATSG:(04/Nov/08):(09/Jan/09):OEM:BigSilverHotdog:USA

28:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:08382(??):KRATSG:Aug2008:1Jan2009:OEM:Keddar:USA

29:5QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:08383:WUXISG:jUL2008:02Jan2009:-:waly2k1:Argentina (no detect in bios).

30:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09063:KRATSG:JUL2008:25DEC2008:-:criverock:Italy (no detect in bios).

31:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09076 (21Aug2008):KRATSG:Oct2008:20Dec2008:-:sarahcoco:France

32:9QJ*****:ST31000340AS:9BX158-303:SD15:09104 (10/Oct/2008):KRATSG:3Jan2009:-:artpav:Canada

33:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:08371 (15/Mar/2008):KRATSG:7May2008:29Dec2008:-:KillerB :Korea (no detect in bios)

34:5QJ0****:ST31000340AS:9BX158-303:SD15:09045:WUXISG:CHINA:August2008:Dec24th08:-:Fuzzy_3D:Canada

January 10, 2009

Look at the middle part of the drive (photo as attached), is there a note saying it's for OEM?? Does everyone's failed drive have the OEM note? or are some of the failed disks retail versions??

OMFG!!! How come I didn't see that!!! YES, my drive has exactly the same note that yours. This deserves a list Update i guess.... added OEM/RETAIL field.

LIST UPDATED.

Number:Serial N°:Model:Part N°:Firmware:DateCode:SiteCode:PurchaseDate:FailedDate:OEM/RETAIL:UserName:Country of the User

====================================================================================================

==========

01:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09146 (09/Oct/2008):KRATSG:Oct2008:24Dec2008:OEM:poolcarpet:Malaysia

02:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09115 (17/Sep/2008):KRATSG:Oct2008:28Dec2008:-:DaftMule:United Kingdom

03:9QM*****:ST3500320AS: - :SD15: - : - :5Dec2008:19Dec2008:-:DerSnoezie:Netherlands (no detect in bios)

04:9QM*****:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:08503 (16/Jun/2008):KRATSG:Aug2008:Nov2008:-:dskbrk