Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Troubles

[Laz]

If you are referring to technical questions please try to contact fatlip or pichi, this is complicated, specialistic stuff and there aren't that many hardware engineers hanging around this forum.

so what's the point of this forum ? I don't want to be here and be insulted for not buying into conspiracy theories...I want to try to find a solution. That mean's I have one 7200.11 that is bsy dead; and I have a few others that are still running with stuff on and one that I can sacrifice to try to restore the dead one. Has anyone tried anything ? pcb swap ? why wouldn't a pcb swap not work ? would I destroy the data on the dead unit if I try a pcb swap ? what about shorting out the sata contacts (unpowered)- similar to clearing a cmos would that work ? is there risk ? that's what I think we need- not another dumping ground for madcap garbage and idiocy

[Laz]

and Laz , i seriously want to choke you out.....hahhahah....really.

internet coward.

if I come up with the solution you expect me to share it with you ?

[DerSnoezie]

Okay, at the moment fatlips' research is bogged down, since his crapped out guinea pig drive experiences much more problems than expected, and he is waiting on the delivery of a friends' drive with similar problems to continue his investigation. When you flip through the thread you'll see he has started some kind of a tutorial, including photographs how to hook your drive up to the adapter and the com port.

Pichi appears to be the member achieving the most progress on the hardware front, but his post usually lack an introduction and largely require a high tech level of the reader in order to interpret.

So with only two members actively posting their findings toward a homemade solution, things are relatively slow on that front. We would greatly appreciate more help from people with a high tech level!

For as far as I know swapping the pcb won't work because every pcb has been manufactured in a way that it only recognises the specific harddrive it was assemblied with. If you swap the pcb I think your data will not be destroyed. Shorting out the contacts goes beyond my knowledge and I would advise against it due to the collaterol damage you might induce. Currently the thread needs serious streamlining, but these things take time, many members live in various timezones and communication is generally slow. This thread is maintained on a pure informal basis and sure is getting a bit messy, but I hope that soon we'll succeed in streamlining the attention this thread receiving.

So I suggested you to PM fatlip and/or pichi, since from them you have the largest chance to receive a technically sound awnser for your questions.

The other purposes of this thread are to draw attention to the problem and collect data.

If you are referring to technical questions please try to contact fatlip or pichi, this is complicated, specialistic stuff and there aren't that many hardware engineers hanging around this forum.

so what's the point of this forum ? I don't want to be here and be insulted for not buying into conspiracy theories...I want to try to find a solution. That mean's I have one 7200.11 that is bsy dead; and I have a few others that are still running with stuff on and one that I can sacrifice to try to restore the dead one. Has anyone tried anything ? pcb swap ? why wouldn't a pcb swap not work ? would I destroy the data on the dead unit if I try a pcb swap ? what about shorting out the sata contacts (unpowered)- similar to clearing a cmos would that work ? is there risk ? that's what I think we need- not another dumping ground for madcap garbage and idiocy

Edited January 12, 2009 by DerSnoezie

[icefloe01]

I don't want to be here and be insulted for not buying into conspiracy theories...

There may be a language barrier happening here, but no one was actually insulting you for not buying into a conspiracy theory.

Has anyone tried anything ? pcb swap ? why wouldn't a pcb swap not work ? would I destroy the data on the dead unit if I try a pcb swap ? what about shorting out the sata contacts (unpowered)- similar to clearing a cmos would that work ? is there risk ? that's what I think we need- not another dumping ground for madcap garbage and idiocy

Yes, if you had read the thread or searched it, PCB swap has been tried. It does not work because the firmware is not encoded in the PCB, it is written on the disk platter itself. As for shorting pins on the connector, there really isn't much of a possibility of that doing anything. That works for a computer BIOS chip because there is A: a battery powering it all the time, and B: when you do the jumper you still have to turn on the computer for it to go into effect. There is no battery on the PCB of the drives, and shorting data pins and powering it on will more than likely damage the controller chips on the PCB of the drive. And, there is no "dumping ground for madcap garbage and idiocy", just frustrated users posting jabs at a seemingly indifferent hardware manufacturer. You came into this topic about 20 or 21 pages into the discussions. The questions you posed showed a lack of thread research on your part, and then you started attacking other posters and trying to tell us how to run this discussion. This has the potential to put in the category of a troll because of your impolite actions.

Edited January 12, 2009 by icefloe01

[glyboual]

From seagate forum, it appears he has a fix/ solution for this problem.

===================================

fuzzby

Message 41 of 42

Viewed 25 times

I had the same issue with no detect in BIOS on boot. I also had the same frustrations in trying to get this acknowledged by support. However after much research I've found out that the firmware locked the drive in a BUSY state that does not allow BIOS detection. I ordered a repair kit online and it was able to reset the firmware and I have the drive working 100% now. No data lost, and I'm still using the drive so no need for RMA either. Kit was expensive though but this issue IS fixable.

If anyone needs help please feel free to PM me. I'm not a professional recoverer, just a determined Seagate customer but given the lack of recovery options Seagate is providing I'm hoping I can help other people out through this most frustrating experience.

I'm based in Toronto, Canada.

Message Edited by fuzzby on 01-12-2009 07:33 AM

Message Edited by fuzzby on 01-12-2009 07:52 AM

[DerSnoezie]

Thanks. Most of the information is there, but I'm not sure about last 5 digits of your firmware code, which are oddly resembling a date code. And from your text description the failure date was 11-01-09. Final question for you: was it a retail or OEM drive? You'll probably find the OEM statement printed on the sticker on top of your drive.

And for future posters: please present your data in this format:

Number in list:Serial N°:Model:Part N°:Firmware:DateCode:SiteCode:PurchaseDate:FailedDate:OEM/RETAIL:UserName:Country of the User

====================================================================================================

==========

example= 40:9QM66SGE:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09082:KRATSG:1Dec2008:11Jan2009:OEM:SeaGAYBarracuTARD:Canada:(no detect in bios)

Mine died yesterday I bought it the end of september 2008 from overclockers, was working fine the night before turned it on yesterday morning and nothing! tried it with a caddy and it kept saying the usb device has malfunctioned

this is the info off it

S/N 9QM69YWS5

ST3500320AS

P/N 9BX154-303

Firmware SD1508315

Date Code 09085

Site Code KRATSG

Product Of Thailand

this is my first time posting here I only registered due to the thread so if I have done anything wrong or missed out any information etc please let me know.

cheers

Edited January 12, 2009 by DerSnoezie

[BigSilverHotdog]

In response to a couple of private message posts I attempted to run the 500gb internal on the same freeagent desktop sata->usb connector board from my disassembled external drive, but this time with it sata 1.5mbps jumpered. I'm sorry to report the same result: failure without any detection or response in any way.

[kiave]

I encourage you to post the story on all these Digg clones in your countries. Let's bring more public attention to this case (and warn the others as well!). I've already posted it Wykop here in Poland and found even more people suffering from the same problem.

[DerSnoezie]

You are referring to this guy:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/248044...tect-bios-fixed

He has spend big bucks on a software hardware complex, which was already known to fix the problem.

From seagate forum, it appears he has a fix/ solution for this problem.

===================================

fuzzby

Message 41 of 42

Viewed 25 times

I had the same issue with no detect in BIOS on boot. I also had the same frustrations in trying to get this acknowledged by support. However after much research I've found out that the firmware locked the drive in a BUSY state that does not allow BIOS detection. I ordered a repair kit online and it was able to reset the firmware and I have the drive working 100% now. No data lost, and I'm still using the drive so no need for RMA either. Kit was expensive though but this issue IS fixable.

If anyone needs help please feel free to PM me. I'm not a professional recoverer, just a determined Seagate customer but given the lack of recovery options Seagate is providing I'm hoping I can help other people out through this most frustrating experience.

I'm based in Toronto, Canada.

Message Edited by fuzzby on 01-12-2009 07:33 AM

Message Edited by fuzzby on 01-12-2009 07:52 AM

Edited January 12, 2009 by DerSnoezie

[Fuzzy_3D]

Hmm.. all listed 7200.11 models coincidentally appear to have that 0,34% annualized failure rate.. 0,34% of how many drives in total would that be?

Well, my drive 100% failed in 4 months, so that's and Annualized Failure Rate of 300% !! I Win !!

Awwwsommmme !!! i think we should all throw in and get Fuzzy a WD Black as a first place drive, for real, that really is bad luck dude............

Heh, already bought one, but Thanks

From seagate forum, it appears he has a fix/ solution for this problem.

===================================

fuzzby

Message 41 of 42

Viewed 25 times

I had the same issue with no detect in BIOS on boot. I also had the same frustrations in trying to get this acknowledged by support. However after much research I've found out that the firmware locked the drive in a BUSY state that does not allow BIOS detection. I ordered a repair kit online and it was able to reset the firmware and I have the drive working 100% now. No data lost, and I'm still using the drive so no need for RMA either. Kit was expensive though but this issue IS fixable.

If anyone needs help please feel free to PM me. I'm not a professional recoverer, just a determined Seagate customer but given the lack of recovery options Seagate is providing I'm hoping I can help other people out through this most frustrating experience.

I'm based in Toronto, Canada.

Has anyone contacted this man? He may be able to listen to the TX - RX lines and give us exactly the commands we need.

[DerSnoezie]

Has anyone contacted this man? He may be able to listen to the TX - RX lines and give us exactly the commands we need.

I do not know. Feel free to do so since most of the tech stuff is out of my league.

Edited January 12, 2009 by DerSnoezie

[icefloe01]

Just did a search for "beware 7200.11". avsforums was 1st and this thread was 2nd!

[bp2411]

Thanks. Most of the information is there, but I'm not sure about last 5 digits of your firmware code, which are oddly resembling a date code. And from your text description the failure date was 11-01-09. Final question for you: was it a retail or OEM drive? You'll probably find the OEM statement printed on the sticker on top of your drive.

And for future posters: please present your data in this format:

Number in list:Serial N°:Model:Part N°:Firmware:DateCode:SiteCode:PurchaseDate:FailedDate:OEM/RETAIL:UserName:Country of the User

====================================================================================================

==========

example= 40:9QM66SGE:ST3500320AS:9BX154-303:SD15:09082:KRATSG:1Dec2008:11Jan2009:OEM:SeaGAYBarracuTARD:Canada:(no detect in bios)

Mine died yesterday I bought it the end of september 2008 from overclockers, was working fine the night before turned it on yesterday morning and nothing! tried it with a caddy and it kept saying the usb device has malfunctioned

this is the info off it

S/N 9QM69YWS5

ST3500320AS

P/N 9BX154-303

Firmware SD1508315

Date Code 09085

Site Code KRATSG

Product Of Thailand

this is my first time posting here I only registered due to the thread so if I have done anything wrong or missed out any information etc please let me know.

cheers

sorry not sure what happend there the firmware code is SD15 not sure where the 08315 come from tbh! and its an oem drive

Edited January 12, 2009 by bp2411

[SeaGAYBarracuTARD]

fuzzby

Message 41 of 42

Viewed 25 times

I had the same issue with no detect in BIOS on boot. I also had the same frustrations in trying to get this acknowledged by support. However after much research I've found out that the firmware locked the drive in a BUSY state that does not allow BIOS detection. I ordered a repair kit online and it was able to reset the firmware and I have the drive working 100% now. No data lost, and I'm still using the drive so no need for RMA either. Kit was expensive though but this issue IS fixable.

If anyone needs help please feel free to PM me. I'm not a professional recoverer, just a determined Seagate customer but given the lack of recovery options Seagate is providing I'm hoping I can help other people out through this most frustrating experience.

I'm based in Toronto, Canada.

Thanks for the tip, I've msged him I will let you know more information if I get a reply about how he fixed his problem and if he's willing to help others. Stay tuned.

Edited January 12, 2009 by SeaGAYBarracuTARD

[f00kie]

fuzzby

Message 41 of 42

Viewed 25 times

I had the same issue with no detect in BIOS on boot. I also had the same frustrations in trying to get this acknowledged by support. However after much research I've found out that the firmware locked the drive in a BUSY state that does not allow BIOS detection. I ordered a repair kit online and it was able to reset the firmware and I have the drive working 100% now. No data lost, and I'm still using the drive so no need for RMA either. Kit was expensive though but this issue IS fixable.

If anyone needs help please feel free to PM me. I'm not a professional recoverer, just a determined Seagate customer but given the lack of recovery options Seagate is providing I'm hoping I can help other people out through this most frustrating experience.

I'm based in Toronto, Canada.

Thanks for the tip, I've msged him I will let you know more information if I get a reply about how he fixed his problem and if he's willing to help others. Stay tuned.

I've been keeping tabs on this thread (I bought 2x 500GB drives on boxing day, and after 2 weeks of mess with them, I finally figured out the write speed on both the drives was 10MB/sec), and it seems a lot of people posting in this thread are from Canada. I know other countries are represented here too, but it seems abnormal how many of us are from Canada. Just an observation... I'm from Canada too.

By the way, I have 3x 1.5TB drives that I plan to replace with WD 2TB drives when they come out. It seems the 1.5TB's don't fail with this problem though?