Jump to content

Kai-Pirinha

Member
  • Posts

    4
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Donations

    0.00 USD 
  • Country

    Germany

Everything posted by Kai-Pirinha

  1. Yay it worked! i finally recovered my drive from busy state even so Seagate support told me it can't be affected by the firmware bug. I posted in this Forum before and i'm going to double post a few things so it's all in one place. If you are not interested in the history and some (unfortunately necessary) Seagate Bashing continue reading at "solution begins here" Harddrive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 that was build into a Maxtor one touch 4 1TB (external USB housing) The Model is ST31000340AS. The Firmware was SD81 (NOT SD18!!!). The S/N is 9QJ0SE0L. The P/N is 9BX158-568. The Date Code is 08454. The Site Code is KRATSG. Product of Thailand. (all information according to the label on the actual hard drive, not the external housing) Symptoms: Drive was powering up ok meaning LED on the external housing was on and I could hear the Motor of the hard drive starting but drive was not detected in Windows (tried 3 Computers with Win 7, Vista, XP) I took the hard drive out of its external housing and connected it directly to the motherboard: drive is not detected in BIOS (this causes a warranty void. I did this after calling Seagate support for the first time and they told me to ship them the hard drive to receive a new one in return. Of cause all my data would have been lost.) At this time I started reading the forums and frequently calling Seagate support always telling them this looks like the busy-state-firmware-bug to me. Here is how, in 4 steps, Seagate Support denied any help and almost even convinced me to give up on my data. step 1: Seagate is denying the whole Problem even so lots and lots of Seagate drives are failing (I only read about this in forums, it started about a year ago.) Step 2: I ask Seagate if my drive can be affected. The answer is no, drives manufactured for external use via USB are not affected. Step 3: I search the forums and tell them those drives CAN be affected. they tell me ok they can but my drive still can't because it hast SD81 Firmware. Step 4: I search the forums and tell them drives with SD81 Firmware CAN be affected. They tell me ok they can and ask for my drives S/N. Then they tell me again my drive can't be affected because it was made in a different factory then those other SD81 drives. This is the link you can use to check if your drive is "supposed" to be affected: https://apps1.seagate.com/rms_af_srl_chk/rm...check_index.jsp Seagate support only does the same thing. The outcome doesn't matter really if you drive still works: maybe your drive is affected, maybe not. Backup your Data and update your firmware even if Seagate is telling you there is no need. If your drive stopped working and Seagate admits it can be affected call their support hotline. from what I heard they are finally doing free data recovery (as they should have done from the beginning) If the serial checker says your drive can't be affected you are screwed cause there's no help from Seagate. Maybe something else is wrong with your drive or maybe your drive has the Firmware bug as mine had and many others as well. So what did I do? What didn't work: First I tried the Nokia CA-42 Cable solution because it seemed to be the cheapest and easiest way. This is risky for two reasons: 1. there are many fake Cables. 2. Even the genuine Nokia CA-42 won't work without a cell phone connected in most cases. (I didn't find out why they work in some but even a guy working in a Nokia Service Center told me it's not supposed to open a com-Port) ===actual Solution begins here!=== For choosing my hardware and connecting the drive I followed the guide from AlexLilic. It 's post #682 in this thread and can be found here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...8807&st=680 This is still based on the information provided by Gradius and Aviko so thanks a lot to all three of you!!! 1. Choosing an Adapter At first I couldn't get the parts to fix my drive, but the "FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 USB Cable" suggested by AlexLilic proofed to be a very reliable, easy to use and easy to get cable. Drivers for almost every operation system including Win7 and the 64Bit Versions of XP, Vista and 7 can be found here: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm I paid 29€ for mine including tax and shipping and it arrived within 48 hours!!! Germans can buy it here for sure but they may also be shipping to other countries: http://elmicro.com/de/ft232r.html 2. Connection to the hard drive I found this to be the most difficult part and it took me a few hours to find a way because I didn't want to cut the TTL cable and my electronic store didn't have any jumper cables at all. I managed to McGyver my own connection using simple wire and some parts from a model railway store. there are two ways to do this: simple way: connect every wire of the adapter cable to a jumper cable (eventually cutting the adapter cable at the end to do so) hard way: carry your hard drive and your adapter cable to a few stores dealing with small electronics (as I said I found my parts in a store for model railways) and see what you can find. 3. resetting the hard drive As a Terminal software I wanted hyper terminal so I could precisely follow the guide I was using and wouldn't have to improvise. As a Windows 7 user I had to find it first. it's not a part of Windows anymore (not sure for Vista) but you can download it here: http://digitizor.com/downloads/apps/hyperterminal.zip Just extract the zip and keep the .exe and .dll in the same folder on your hard drive. from here I used this guide find out what to type into hyper terminal: http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html It's very detailed and clear plus it suggests you block the motor connectors under your hard drives Board with a piece of paper instead of the data connectors. This way you only have to remove one single screw. 4. updating the drives firmware. When the drive was back and and i did a full backup I updated my firmware to SD1A. As posted in many threads and guides this is the Link to the Seagate Firmware site: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...sp?DocId=207951 But here is what was new to me: The Firmware update utility reported "no Firmware match" and didn't work. You will have the same Problem if Seagates serial checker returns your drive is not affected and you don't need to update. The Firmware update tool will do the same check and if Seagate thinks you don't need an update, you don't get it. Fortunately you can do it the old fashioned way and install the new firmware from a bootable CD using the iso image on the same web page. ===end of solution and back to the seagate-bashing I need to do to lose the frustration build over the last few weeks=== After all this was done and it was therefore proven my drive had firmware bug I called Seagate support again with the appeal to review their way to determine which drives they admit to be affected. The guy on the phone told me as far as they know this was the first time a drive like mine (not affected according to the serial checker) had the bug. He said he will give my appeal to his Manager but doesn't think anything will change. And here comes the best bit: when the Firmware update didn't work I thought I would be stuck with an absolutely unreliable drive, so I was asking this Question: "I could prove the drive was messed up from the beginning being 100%seagates fault. I had no choice but to remove the warranty seal to prove it and to get back my data. There is a Fixed Firmware available but I can't install it because Seagate-Software just won't let me for a reason that's 100% Seagates fault. Will you grant me warranty and Fix my drive or provide me with a fixed one?" The answer was still NO!!!. Seagate just doesn't care at all! If they can they are willing ignore costumer rights, sell you a useless brick for the full price of a hard disc and just leave you with it. Lucky the Firmware update worked at the end so it didn't come to that but I think it's good to know! If you are in or around Hamburg, Germany and need help with this just drop a PM!
  2. Hey guys thank you very much the the answers in both threads. I'm currently trying to get the components to unbrick my drive. when i do a Forum search for SD81 i can find a couple of reports from who successfully unbricked their drives with SD81 (NOT SD 18) Firmware so they obviously had the firmware problem. When i call seagate support they tell be only one factory had the Firmware problem (even though they are all using the same firmware) and they can tell from my serial number my drive doesn't have that Problem, so it must be the control board. I have no idea if I should believe them. first they deny the whole firmware Problem. Next step: they say "7200.11 barracuda drives a the Problem but yours with SD81 Firmware doesn't". Now they say "SD81 drives can have the Problem too but yours still can't so we don't have to help you" The guy told me to use the following link (https://apps1.seagate.com/rms_af_srl_chk/rms_af_serial_check_index.jsp) and enter my serialnumber: according to the website i don't need to update my firmware. The support guy said that's how they check it and i can't have the firmware Problem. I can see the following situation coming: I get everything to unbrick my drive, it doesn't work and i have now way of knowing if i got a broken CA-42 cable, did something wrong or if i really don't have the Firmware problem. So here is what would be a great help for me and certainly other people with SD81 firmware drives: If you have a barracuda 7200.11 with SD81 Firmware and successfully unbricked it please use the link i mentioned above and enter your serial number. If it tells you not to update we know seagate is giving us bull**** again! I would be very very thankful for everyone who takes the time to do that. Kai Edit: ok i spent another evening on reading many many pages to prepare for fixing my drive and also found several reports about SD81 firmware drives being successfully recovered from busy state even so the seagate serial-number-tool said they couldn't have been affected. one exaple is the report from ToKuRo (http://www.msfn.org/board/solution-seagate-7200-11-hdds-t128807-pid-831015-page-280.html#entry831015) however those postings are very old and they may have updated their tool in the meantime. If i can fix my drive and therefore proof they are still covering things up or don't know better (i don't know witch is worse) i'm looking foreward to call seagate support again and give em hell!!!
  3. Does not work with windows 7: its complaining about a missing driver and can't be switcht to PIO mode i also tried starting Victoria in Windows XP Mode (Virtual PC under Win7): first it worked but showed virtual devices only. next session it didn't start up any more for unknown reason. (i tried everything with Win7 Ultimate 64Bit) Fatlips post is almost one year old so i have two questions: is there a newer tool available that will work with Vista/Win7 Victoria is one example for tools that can find a hard drive not detected by bios. Is it still impossible to update the firmware without a self-build interface?
  4. first of all: I'm not sure if my case is related to this problem. I'm posting this be course I need to know and I don't trust Seagate support anymore. I own a Maxtor one touch 4 1TB (external USB Hard drive) which failed 3 Days ago. Seagate Support tells me I can ship it over to them and they will replace it but all my Data will be lost. So I carefully removed the actual hard drive from its external housing, hoping the drive itself is not damaged. The harddrive turned out to be a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1000GB and its not working internal as well meaning power is ok, motor is started but BIOS is not detecting it. The Model is ST31000340AS. The Firmware is SD81. The S/N is 9QJ0SE0L. The P/N is 9BX158-568. The Date Code is 08454. The Site Code is KRATSG. Product of Thailand. (all information according to the label on the actual hard drive, not the external housing) Model and Sitecode match plus seagate is offering the same Firmware update for my drive they offer for the SD15Firmware. So I expected it to be the Firmware problem and called Seagate support again. They asked me for the S/N only and told me my drive (and all drives manufactured for external use) don't have the Firmware problem. So I asked him why my drive died without any warning and the same symptoms. The answer I got is they often receive drives with the same symptoms that don't have the firmware problem but a malfunctioning circuit board instead. Even though the board has this Problem they say it's not Seagate's fault but in the normal 1% failure rate for hard drives and could have been solved within the normal warranty I don't have any more be course I opened the external housing. (if i shipped it to Seagate for warranty unopened all my data would have been lost and I wouldn't even know I had a barracuda 7200.11) according to Seagate I can get my data back in one of two ways: 1. let a professional Data rescue service handle it for 300EUR-1000EUR 2. buy another hard drive with the same S/N and use its control board i think it's unacceptable to spend money for another unreliable 7200.11 espacially be course i don't know if this will bring back my data. There are a few reports on the web about drives with SD81 Firmware that could be restored with a firmware update. Can anyone tell me what I should do? Can anyone say if my Hard drive COULD have the firmware problem? Is there anyone from Hamburg or north Germany who already fixed a "busy" barracuda 7200.11? I don't know where to buy the components and I'm afraid to lose my Data if I try it myself. sorry if i double posted something, i read a lot of those 60 pages but not all of them
×
×
  • Create New...