WWWWWWHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SUCCESS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had a bricked Seagate 7200.11. I followd the instructions on and had success. MANY MANY thanks to all who contributed to this topic and imparted the information to us so that we could get our "bricks" working again. I used a modified nokia clone CA-45 cable. If it's of any benefit there are three wires inside.Black, Red and White. RED = GND Pin 2 on PCB WHITE = Pin 3 on PCB BLACK = Pin 4 on PCB I followed this tutorial and it worked first time http://sites.google.com/site/seagatefix/ Here is the command flowchart I followed: Attach the power supply's SATA power connector to the hard drive. Turn on power to the RS232-to-TTL adapter and the hard drive. If you are using the Nokia clone CA-45 like me make sure you have the GND wire connected to Pin 2 NOTE: Commands for you to type are in red boldface. Pay attention to upper & lower case - it is important. After a few seconds, Press CTRL+z. You should then see a prompt like this: F3 T> If not, you may have the TX & RX wires swapped. Switch them and try again. Access Level 2 (type /2): F3 T>/2 (enter) Wait about 20 seconds, then spin down the motor: F3 2>Z (enter) Spin Down Complete Elapsed Time 0.147 msecs F3 2> If you instead see a message similar to this: LED: 000000CE FAddr: 00280D4D Then you entered the commands too quickly after supplying power to the drive. Cycle power, wait 20 seconds, then begin again. Very carefully, remove the cardstock that you placed between the PCB and the drive head contacts. Carefully replace and tighten the 3 loose screws. If you removed the screws, I suggest using a small piece of masking tape to help you hold the screws while you put them back in place. Then start the motor: F3 2>U (enter) Spin Up Complete Elapsed Time 7.093 secs F3 2> Next go to Level 1 (type /1): F3 2>/1 (enter) And do a S.M.A.R.T. erase (create S.M.A.R.T. sector): F3 1>N1 (enter) When the prompt comes back up, turn off power to the hard drive, wait a few seconds, then turn it back on. Wait about 20 seconds, then finally do partition regeneration: IMPORTANT POINT HERE When I turned the power back on to my drive I was still getting the F3 1> prompt. BUT to do the partition regeneration you need an F3 T> prompt. Hit CTRL+z and press enter this will bring up F3 T> F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter) After 15-30 seconds, you should see something like: Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 00C8 User Partition Format 10% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00004339, ErrCode 00000080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs Do not turn off drive until you see this message. Once seen, drive can be turned off. Power down everything, place drive back into your computer, and confirm that it's working. I hope this might help someone else unbrick their drive
