The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs

[corkyblue]

yeah my bad, after a very sleepless night we're attempting this today again, i'd also like to add that during the free examination by the data recovery co. they actually did change the firmware ......has been changed to ZZ7L ... i found this out using Seatools...where for the record the drive has also failed the SMART test.

will be posting later today the latest,

OK, let me just understand exactly what you did as the reports are very conflicting...

• 
  1. Did you do a loopback test?
  2. Did you get a response in Hyperterminal when you issued commands?
  

If the response to these questions are "YES", then your converter is powered and your hdd as well and you do not need to worry about that. If not, we have to look for the problem.

Funny firmware version is not a major issue and can be flashed to SD1A/B after the fix.

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807&view=findpost&p=892154

the latest strange development is that its showing no firware revision in seatools now..... the ZZ7L has disappeared?? not allowing any tests either!!

[BlouBul]

the latest strange development is that its showing no firware revision in seatools now..... the ZZ7L has disappeared?? not allowing any tests either!!

First tell us exactly what you committed with your hdd during the attempted fix. The more detailed info you give, the better the chance that we can understand what went wrong.

[corkyblue]

the latest strange development is that its showing no firware revision in seatools now..... the ZZ7L has disappeared?? not allowing any tests either!!

First tell us exactly what you committed with your hdd during the attempted fix. The more detailed info you give, the better the chance that we can understand what went wrong.

ok, here goes..

well having received the drive back from the 'free diagnosis' form the data recoverer, i connected the drive back to my PC as an internal and discovered that it spins up, although did not show in BIOS. it was identified through disk management but was 'unknown' and needed initializing.

now, my freind /neighbour is more technical than I am so we have all the cables and adaptor (inclusive of nokia modified cable) ready to attempt the BSY fix, or at least try and get something through hyperterminal as a first thing.

as a first attempt, we were not succesful in getting the HDD to power up, which could be a result in the fact it wasnt talking to our independant PSU???, which was being used from its red cable molex only, in orer to power it up...... he suggested we take a look again to see if the drive was appearing through BIOS, but on HIS pc instead of mine..... it was. however it was showing only a total of 7.87GB and of course the firmware as previously stated as ZZ7L.

This drive should be a total of 640GB and has near 423GB of my data on it!

(i'd like to point out again that the HDD had a firmware of SD33 Prior to its 'free diagnosis' ... they changed it during the week they had the drive...they also said that it WASN'T the BSY fix and that they quouted £300 to get my data back. )

here is what the recoverer has actually said:

'Your drive has multiple failures. It would appear that media issues have caused a firmware lockout, so one problem would have to be resolved before fixing the next one.'

during the session at my friends, we connected the drive using the RX and TX, and tried to check that we were getting the right connections. my freind set up hyperterminal and checked that this matched...however, the actual drive would not spin up.

My freind then suggested we just get the firmware update on the drive, and downloaded the 'Brinks' SD1 something or other firmware, however...he nearly messed his own PC up by this... so aborted.

I am now at home again and connected the drive to my PC, to have another look through Seatools...its firmware is now displaying nothing...blank. which makes me think did he actually wipe off the ZZ7L Firmware? is that possible?

looking forward to your feedback, i'll answer further questions as simply as i can.

Corky

[BlouBul]

Did you get any response from hyperterminal when you tried to fix it. Check the three links given earlier for help (FGA, Read-me-first, and guide by CarterinCanada).

Not sure what is exactly wrong, but you can't update the firmware on a bricked drive - you have to first do the whole procedure correctly before updating.

Just try everything again carefully. and report what goes wrong (or attach log file from hyperterminal)

[corkyblue]

ok latest is I've just looked for my drive in AIDA64......Heres what comes up.

remember my drive is a 640GB Capacity drive.

hopefully this listed info helps a little more to understand my case.

ATA Device Properties

Model ID : ST3640323AS

Serial Number : 9VK0CE3H

Revision : ZZ7L

Device Type : SATA-II @ JMicron

Parameters : 16383 cylinders,16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector

LBA Sectors : 0

Buffer : Unknown

Multiple Sectors : 16

ECC Bytes : 4

Unformatted Capacity : 8064 MB

ATA Standard : ATA8-ACS

[BlouBul]

OK corkyblue,

Just try for once to answer specific questions. Each time I ask you a question, you come back with an answer for a different question

I am still trying to understand how far you came with the fix and what happen there, what error commands you got if any and if you actually had communication with your hdd through hyperterminal.

Please, just FIRST answer those questions and then we can look at the rest.

Edited March 27, 2011 by BlouBul

[corkyblue]

OK corkyblue,

Just try for once to answer specific questions. Each time I ask you a question, you come back with an answer for a different question

I am still trying to understand how far you came with the fix and what happen there, what error commands you got if any and if you actually had communication with your hdd through hyperterminal.

Please, just FIRST answer those questions and then we can look at the rest.

ok just spent several hours trying, but no comms between hdd and hyperterminal. checked the RX/TX leads, swapped and tried checked the loopback which seemed to report ok...but nothing.

tried covering the motor with piece of card, followed the instructions...but nothing doing...any suggestions?

for the record, i am 'seeig' the drive in disk management...but no data or any capacity.

[BlouBul]

ok just spent several hours trying, but no comms between hdd and hyperterminal. checked the RX/TX leads, swapped and tried checked the loopback which seemed to report ok...but nothing.

tried covering the motor with piece of card, followed the instructions...but nothing doing...any suggestions?

for the record, i am 'seeig' the drive in disk management...but no data or any capacity.

A couple more questions (try to answer them all)

1. 
   1.So your loopback was successful?
   2. What kind of converter did you use? Is it powered at 3.3V or 5V?
   3. Did you put SATA power on your hdd?
   4. Is it now seen in BIOS?
   5. Did you have comms with your hdd before?
   

Edited March 27, 2011 by BlouBul

[corkyblue]

ok just spent several hours trying, but no comms between hdd and hyperterminal. checked the RX/TX leads, swapped and tried checked the loopback which seemed to report ok...but nothing.

tried covering the motor with piece of card, followed the instructions...but nothing doing...any suggestions?

for the record, i am 'seeig' the drive in disk management...but no data or any capacity.

A couple more questions (try to answer them all)

1. 
   1.So your loopback was successful?
   2. What kind of converter did you use? Is it powered at 3.3V or 5V?
   3. Did you put SATA power on your hdd?
   4. Is it now seen in BIOS?
   5. Did you have comms with your hdd before?
   

1. loopback seemed to have success as the converter displays LED lights and also on hyperterminal as we typed it showed up as per the carterincanada explanation

2. convertor 3.3 powered from molex from PC PSU

3. SATA power on HDD yes...but not spinning up

4. yes seen in bios on freinds pc (his is XP) not on mine (mine is vista)

5. i dont think i had comms before (in what way do you mean) (through hyperterminal?)

[BlouBul]

1. loopback seemed to have success as the converter displays LED lights and also on hyperterminal as we typed it showed up as per the carterincanada explanation

2. convertor 3.3 powered from molex from PC PSU

3. SATA power on HDD yes...but not spinning up

4. yes seen in bios on freinds pc (his is XP) not on mine (mine is vista)

5. i dont think i had comms before (in what way do you mean) (through hyperterminal?)

Thanks

Now I have a better idea of what is going on. I was not sure if you did half a fix before and that was the reason for the strange things.

That said, there are a couple of strange things that I am not sure about. Let us do it one at a time.

The first one is that it is seen on your friends pc in BIOS and not on yours. One possibility is that your sata power cable is damaged (that would also explain why your converter is not seen by your hdd) Check all cables and connections thoroughly (use different cables if you can).

[corkyblue]

1. loopback seemed to have success as the converter displays LED lights and also on hyperterminal as we typed it showed up as per the carterincanada explanation

2. convertor 3.3 powered from molex from PC PSU

3. SATA power on HDD yes...but not spinning up

4. yes seen in bios on freinds pc (his is XP) not on mine (mine is vista)

5. i dont think i had comms before (in what way do you mean) (through hyperterminal?)

Thanks

Now I have a better idea of what is going on. I was not sure if you did half a fix before and that was the reason for the strange things.

That said, there are a couple of strange things that I am not sure about. Let us do it one at a time.

The first one is that it is seen on your friends pc in BIOS and not on yours. One possibility is that your sata power cable is damaged (that would also explain why your converter is not seen by your hdd) Check all cables and connections thoroughly (use different cables if you can).

i can try the drive via usb enclosure if thats worthwhile too?

[BlouBul]

i can try the drive via usb enclosure if thats worthwhile too?

Yes, see what happens

[corkyblue]

i can try the drive via usb enclosure if thats worthwhile too?

Yes, see what happens

ok the drive is being seen in disk management, (not in my computer) its info is below, if it helps at all:

ATA Device Properties

Model ID : ST3640323AS

Serial Number : 9VK0CE3H

Revision : ZZ7L

Device Type : SATA-II @ JMicron

Parameters : 16383 cylinders,16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector

LBA Sectors : 0

Buffer : Unknown

Multiple Sectors : 16

ECC Bytes : 4

Unformatted Capacity : 8064 MB

ATA Standard : ATA8-ACS

[BlouBul]

Just remember you are using a CA-42

ok well i've now received some of the things necessary to carry out the procedure...i seem to have a problem though with the Nokia Data Cable

basically i bought this one:

http://www.uk-mobilestore.co.uk/products/NOKIA-CA%252d42-USB-DATA-CABLE.html

2. convertor 3.3 powered from molex from PC PSU

Nokia converters normally do not need to be powered, try without powering the converter (see if loopback works)

ok the drive is being seen in disk management, (not in my computer) its info is below, if it helps at all:

ATA Device Properties

Model ID : ST3640323AS

Serial Number : 9VK0CE3H

Revision : ZZ7L

Device Type : SATA-II @ JMicron

Parameters : 16383 cylinders,16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector

LBA Sectors : 0

Buffer : Unknown

Multiple Sectors : 16

ECC Bytes : 4

Unformatted Capacity : 8064 MB

ATA Standard : ATA8-ACS

Not sure about it being seen in Disk management (or in your friends bios), might not be BSY.

Try the procedure once more without powering the converter, and if the same, let's wait to see what jaclaz says (might be something else).

[corkyblue]

Just remember you are using a CA-42

ok well i've now received some of the things necessary to carry out the procedure...i seem to have a problem though with the Nokia Data Cable

basically i bought this one:

http://www.uk-mobilestore.co.uk/products/NOKIA-CA%252d42-USB-DATA-CABLE.html

2. convertor 3.3 powered from molex from PC PSU

Nokia converters normally do not need to be powered, try without powering the converter (see if loopback works)

ok the drive is being seen in disk management, (not in my computer) its info is below, if it helps at all:

ATA Device Properties

Model ID : ST3640323AS

Serial Number : 9VK0CE3H

Revision : ZZ7L

Device Type : SATA-II @ JMicron

Parameters : 16383 cylinders,16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector

LBA Sectors : 0

Buffer : Unknown

Multiple Sectors : 16

ECC Bytes : 4

Unformatted Capacity : 8064 MB

ATA Standard : ATA8-ACS

Not sure about it being seen in Disk management (or in your friends bios), might not be BSY.

Try the procedure once more without powering the converter, and if the same, let's wait to see what jaclaz says (might be something else).

Yes the CA-42 cable is the mystery part for me (and i know it shouldn't be) my freind said thtat this cable comes into play later in the procedure...in other words when we get the data back...but i couldnt understand quite how it comes into the set-up...i know i sound a doofus