joejetson2

Thanks Peter. I will get the cable. Just to contribute to the topic - I have 2 identical Maxtor drives 500 GB each. One Brick and one good. Today I tried upgrading the firmware via dos program (bootable) and it succesfully upgraded for my "Good Drive". The Bad Drive was not recognized at all. So I tried switching the PCB's. Now the Bad Drive with the upgraded PCM is seen by BIOS but wont work (makes noise). Firmware wont update either. The Good Drive with the "bad PCB" wont be recognized and wont upgrade (and it makes noise as well at initial spin. I switched them back.. They both are quite spinners again. But the BRICK is STILL A BRICK!!!! Argghh Im going to get a Nokia Cable CA42 and a TTl board as well. Last 2 tries...if not instead of putting it in the freezer I'll probably put it in the microwave!!!

I dont think I blew my PCM. Dont Worry... I am not using any power source, just t he Ground cable on pin2 of the drive remember? I am powering the sata drive, via sata power cabel, via ATX power supply I also forgot to mention, that I have an identical maxtor drive with same capacity and firmware (both bought the same day) qhich is good and working. I tried switching the PCMs and neither drive worked. Furtehermore both drives clicked a bit while using the each other's boards. Since I got no results I switched them back. The good drive worked fine. The other one went back to being a brick. No clicking, just smooth spinnig. So no harm done. I know that the data is there, but I just cant get to it due to this terrible mistake from the factory. Any other observations with my setup?Would you recommend for me to purchase any specific parts to try again? Thanks for your fast reply!

Hello to everyone: I have read many posts and have been trying to solve this issue without success. I need your help: I have a Maxtor Diamond 22 500 Gb Sata drive. No unusual noises, etc. It just stopped being recognized at all. It powers up fine and after many days reading I conclude that it is BSY... So This is how far I have come: I hooked a USB to SERIAL cable to my USB port on my desktop. This cable comes with drivers which I installed succesfully. When I plug the cable Cin XP detects it (even if nothing is attached to it). I then connect a Female RS232 Cable to the tip of the cable described. (The female cable I cut and spliced the cables). Using a tester with continuity I found the RX , TX and Ground pins on the female tip, and labeled the corresponding spliced cables. I went to Hyperterminal and tried a loopback test, which worked. I hold the TX and RX cable together , type in the screen and I get characters on the screen (same ones I Type) I tested the ground pin with continuity from the metal part in the USB connected to the computer and the spliced cable comming out of the RS232 cable. All other minicables within the RS232 I just moved out of the way) So I have identified all three cables needed: RX, TX and Ground Tearing apart some mini sound cables I managed to connect the 3 required cables on the jumper pins os my SATA drive. I took out the Jumper that comes from factory default, Inserted a cable with a female tip into PIN 2 (for Ground) Inserted a cable with a female tip into pin 3 (for TX) Inserted a cable with a female tip into pin 4 (for RX) All female tips were crimped a bit so that connections were snug and tight. A small amount of electric tape prevents them from making contact with each other. I am using an ATX power supply, with a bent paperclip shorting a Green Cable with a Black Cable in order to have it a stand alone power source (not needing a Motherboard). I have plugged the SATA power cable from the ATX Power Supply into the Hard Disk in repair. The Hard Drive's PCM was removed, a Card was set in the right place (following Graius'instructions), then screwed back on with a TORX 8 tool I connected the (USB-SERIAL CABLE)---->(FEMALE RS232 CABLE)----->(HARD DISK PINS 2,3,4) I tried connecting G->G RX->TX TX->RX (following instructions) So everything seemed set. I powered the Hard Drive by turning on the ATX Power Supply. Drive Spun for a few seconds, waited for it to quiet down.... I went into hyperterminal Selected the COM Port in which the USB-Serial Cable was detected. Then chose 38400,N,8,No etc (as described) The Terminal screen popped up I type Ctrl + z =====Nothing! I Changed Properties/ Windows Key Tried CTRL+ z =====Nothing Tried CTRL + Z (uppercase) ==== NOTHING I flipped Tx and RX cables === then pressed Ctrl +z : Nothing ! I connected the Ground cable not only to the USB-Serial cable's Ground, But ALSO to the ATX power's supply Ground... CRTL Z =NOTHING I checked for loose connections - checked twice then again - STILL NOTHING What am I doing wrong? Some people are using Serial to TTL, others USB to TTL, others CA42 Nokia cable. I assumed my connections would work because I am getting the loopback test, I am getting a com port recognized by win XP I see that some cables require a 3v battery to be attached by I assumed that this is only if the cable itself wasnt detected by windows because it was not auto-powered. Is it correct to assume that I dont need the 3v or 5v power supply for the cable since it DETECTS the cable "äs is" without any device being attached to it??? Although the title of this thread is SEAGATE drives... I am using Maxtor (which is the same now as seagate) I live outside the US and wouldnt want to order parts without being sure that my problem is exactly identified. Can anyone please tell me what I am doing wrong?- I just want to recover my data from this drive and then throw it away! I CANT GET the prompt after CTRL +Z .. THANKS!