The only other thing I can think of that might work is to try the optional commands given by Aviko here All HP firmware before HP26 suffer from the same symptoms (and uses the same fix) So you are suggesting the extra coding in the hyperterminal? correct Drive is busy example, not solution: drive ST3500320AS SD15 remove 3 screws nearest heads connector, motor connected, put something between pcb and hda to lift pcb and prevent contact.power on, wait until drive stops motor, if you dont wait at this moment you got 000000CE error after next command (ctrl+z) F3 T>/2 F3 2>Z Spin Down Complete Elapsed Time 0.146 msecs remove isolation and mount pcb as normal F3 2>U Spin Up Complete Elapsed Time 6.864 secs Quote this part is not necessary, just checking is everything ok, use when first try fails (F712 work only on 500g 7200.11 with firmware SD15, when you updated f/w just skip this part F3 2>/ F3 T>F712 Byte:0712: RealTimeUpdatedFlags = 00 00 Byte:0712: Bit:0, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:1, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX_EXT = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:2, DCO_SET_ACTIVE = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:3, CONGEN_READ_FROM_MEDIA = 0 <- configuration not loaded from surface F3 T>F,,22 Drive Configuration restored to defaults. F3 T>F712 Byte:0712: RealTimeUpdatedFlags = 08 00 Byte:0712: Bit:0, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:1, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX_EXT = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:2, DCO_SET_ACTIVE = 0 Byte:0712: Bit:3, CONGEN_READ_FROM_MEDIA = 1 <- done F3 T3>/1 F3 1>N1 F3 1>/ F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 00, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 0000 User Partition Format 5% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00008DED, ErrCode 00000080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs F3 T> (finished, power off, connect disk to pc and check your data)