halbarad

Thanks, I emailed the seller and he confirmed that the cable is self powered. Also as GAG said, when I plugged in the cable it was recognized and installed as a USB to COM adapter. I tried the loopback test yesterday whith the HD connected but there was no response, I'll try again today without connecting the HD. All of my questions arise from the fact that yesterday I started the procedure with the board disconnected from the HD and the 3 cables (RX TX GND) connected to the board, but Ctrl+Z wasn't giving me any prompt in Hyperterminal Hi, I'm trying again with this cable, now with the HD connected I press ctrl+Z and I get only a right arrow on the HT screen (echo is off). With the HD disconnected, I don't get any characters I type on the HT screen. To do the loopback test should I connect RX to TX or that should work anyways? In conclusion, do I have to supply power to this cable or not? Thanks for your help, I'm desperate

Thanks, I emailed the seller and he confirmed that the cable is self powered. Also as GAG said, when I plugged in the cable it was recognized and installed as a USB to COM adapter. I tried the loopback test yesterday whith the HD connected but there was no response, I'll try again today without connecting the HD. All of my questions arise from the fact that yesterday I started the procedure with the board disconnected from the HD and the 3 cables (RX TX GND) connected to the board, but Ctrl+Z wasn't giving me any prompt in Hyperterminal

No... You should supply power (3V) to that pin, the pin doesn't supply power So put a 3V (or 2 1.5V batteries in series) between Vcc and GND to get it to work. (Don't forget that the GND-pin should also be connected to the GND-pin on the drive) Greetz, Peter. I thought to understand from every guide I read that when you use that sort of cable you don't need the battery because the power is supplied by USB port, I think even Jaclaz mentioned it when he suggested to buy that same cable. I'm confused

Thanks for this explanation, it's clearer now However I have another question already. I bought this cable http://cgi.ebay.it/Cavo-Seriale-JTAG-USB-TTL-rs232-fonera-DD-WRT-Seagate-/230488097483?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Cavi_Prolunghe_Convertitori&hash=item35aa2942cb It's got 4 plugs, GND, TX, RX, and VCC (which should supply the power). My question is, where do I plug the VCC? I don't want to mess my HD even more by putting power in the wrong place! Thanks in advance and bear with my ignorance please! Elena

Yep , I am sorry I mistook abnfire's post as coming from you, my bad. However the doctor joke is still valid. You did report that your BIOS did not detect the drive (which IS a symptom of BSY state and NOT of LBA0). Applying to the drive the fix for LBA0 would in the best case, do nothing, in the worst one create a worse situation. The "doctor" (VideoRipper ) may have worded it in a bit too "funny" way, but given the symptoms you reported, his diagnosis was correct. Thinking to apply a fix "because it's easier" sounds NOT logic (at least to me and to my Vulcan influenced mind) . I wouldn't be so sure about the HP24 firmware not being fixable, though of course NOT part of this thread original scope. I mean, the BSY caused by the stoopid firmware bug bricks the drive. A drive in BSY state can be re-vived by using the BSY (and NOT the LBA0 ) fix. Basically the fix is a "low-level" kind of re-set. It is possible that the reset will "unbrick" also a drive gone into BSY state for a different cause, jaclaz I didn't understand that Peter's reply meant my drive was in BSY state, sorry I am a poor girl not trained at all in electronics, so I'm not sure I can manage to apply the BSY fix, it scares me a bit when I read it (in Italian!) and not understand many of the terms, that's why I was hoping it was LBA0 state. But since the drive is already dead, I might as well give it a try. By the way, in the Italian version of the fix the pictures don't show up, I thought I'd mention it in case you didn't notice and maybe want to fix it Elena EDIT: I already have a question, bear with me! I read the whole procedure again, and I don't understand this part: "First, make sure you have your hard drive accessible; on a table with open access to the drive is best. Second, you need to remove the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) from HDA case using a Mini Torx 6 screw driver. Third, connect RX & TX cables from your RS-232 adapter, verify that all is correct, and then connect the power supply to Hard drive circuit board." QUESTION: How do I connect the power supply to the circuit board?

A man goes to the Doctor.... Doctor: you have a rally bad pneumonia, you need to take these antibiotics thrice a day for one week. Patient: I'd prefer to take an aspirin once. Now seriously, if your drive is sometimes detected (even improperly) and sometimes not, your drive is NOT affected by ANY of the TWO problems this thread is about: BSY LBA0 so it is actually pointless to apply to it the (hopefully) cures for them. If you read attentively the read-me-first: you should be able to see in point #1 that this is pretty miuch a "non-target" of this thread. jaclaz I never said that my drive sometimes is detected, I just asked how to tell if it's 0LBA or BSY case stating what I see on my BIOS, and Peter replied "you don't want to know", so I had no idea which case I was in and I was thinking about starting with the easiest fix because removing the electronics from the HD I think is too difficult for me. I also found searching this thread that having HP24 firmware this fix won't work, so never mind. Elena

I was thinking about starting with LBA0 fix first since it seems easier as I don't have a Torx 6 and stuff ... any reason in particular why I should start with BSY first?

Hi all, I'm new here, my HD just died on me on Saturday and it is a Seagate 7200.11 . I was wondering how can I understand if I am in BSY situation or 0 LBA situation. My BIOS says 1st drive [none] and if I enter this section it says 0 mb. So what is the case? Thanks for the help! Elena