The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs

[Magico]

I have a hard drive exhibiting signs of the BSY error. When I connect my interface to the drive I get: (see attached)

Any ideas?

Thank you.

I have got the same problem connected with a bulky CA-42 cable.

Tomorrow I hope to find a RS232 to TTL and i will retry...

[Carni77]

I got this fixed. Thank you for this guide! To some this is obvious, but since the pictures did not include the battery in the holder I initially thought the battery supply to the interface chip was optional. It is not, of course. It may be useful to others to change these pictures. I switched to another computer to resolve the gibberish, and got the "arrow" problem. To fix that I found that you MUST connect a third wire to the ground on the power supply to the HD next to the two data leads. This was fairly easy with my setup (3v from two AA bats). I cannot believe this worked with such a ghetto setup, and it took me all day and the stress no doubt took several years off my life.

Also, the BSY guide is incorrect:

"Wait 5sec and remove the paper card, this will connect the PCB to HDA (spin motor), but since is in Spin Down state (from cmd), you'll feel nothing.

Now screw just enough to make a good contact between PCB and HDA (be real careful here, don't drop the screw, just be calm, relax!).

Then press CTRL+Z again:

F3 2>U

Spin Up Complete

Elapsed Time 7.457 secs (if you get this msg you did everything fine until here)

F3 2>/1"

This is incorrect. DO NOT PRESS CTRL-Z AGAIN after removing the paper card.

Edited February 7, 2009 by Carni77

[chapin4life]

Anybody wants to make a quick buck let me know, I need an already built setup with pins in the end so I can just hook it up to my 7200.11

also I need it shipped to Guatemala by Fedex, UPS or DHL 2-3 days ASAP

send me a pm with price I can send payment by paypal

Edited February 7, 2009 by chapin4life

[eli2k]

I have a question - what do you use to make the connector that will let you connect wires to the Tx/Rx ports on the hard drive? On here (http://www.digitalanime.com.br/sea/fix03.jpg) it would be the connectors for the red/black wires on the left side. For the battery setup, which terminal connects to the ground pin on the RS232-TTL converter? Also, the PCB board on my hard drive is different; just a long rectangle. Can I still remove some screws and be able to normally stick something under there? Attached is a picture of what it looks like:

[Magico]

I have a hard drive exhibiting signs of the BSY error. When I connect my interface to the drive I get: (see attached)

Any ideas?

Thank you.

I have got the same problem connected with a bulky CA-42 cable.

Tomorrow I hope to find a RS232 to TTL and i will retry...

how many wires did u connected to pcb ?

just tried with

CA42_RX->HDD_TX

CA42_TX->HDD_RX

pin near HDD_TX ->GND of PSU

Nothing changed.

A lot random charachters when connected with hyper terminal.

At now I don't have tried with another converter because it's hard to found it.

Internet, ebay my last chances :-(

[basicguy]

I was about to ask the same question. Aviko, since you are the expert here please

any ideas on where is this incorrect test machine pattern and if it can be changed?

Since the event log is said to be directly related to S.M.A.R.T operations I put my 2

cents that the count (ie. 320 or 320 + any multiple of 256) can be affected/exploited

by running short self-tests or off-line data collection.

I made a very simple procedure (using smartmontools 5.39) for almost complete S.M.A.R.T

dump (including some vendor logs 0xa1, 0xa2, etc) except drive serial# at every shutdown

for anyone keeping affected drive under old firmware (AD14, SD15, SD16, MX15, etc) and

interested in a small failure analysis research. Once the drive bricks again and is fixed the

information may help to develop a simple workaround that predicts or avoid drive failure.

Dumping some information at the terminal before fixing a bricked drive may also help.

Level T (/T):
V4 (dump G-List)
Level 1 (/1):
N5 (dump SMART attributes)
N6 (dump SMART thresholds)
N7 (dump G-List)
N8 (dump critical event log)

Just a thought. Has anyone who recovered their disk from the BSY state and not upgraded the firmware experienced this problem again?

If the problem is related to data being left by the test machine, and the solution presented here zeros the SMART log area, does this solution mitigate the original problem? Is it wiping the affected areas?

I have 10 MX15 disks that are sitting in a bag waiting to be re-installed in a machine. It's a fingers crossed type of wait as I have no idea if any or all of them will come back up, but the reports I'm seeing on the SD/MX1A firmware appear to have other "issues" with sleep times and timeouts, while the MX15 has been ok for me. I was wondering if a pre-emptive wipe of the areas required to recover from the BSY state might prevent it from actually occurring ?

how about downgrade it to AD15 ? when you connect to terminal you have only pcb or disk with pcb ?

---sorry for the delayed reply - had to earn some money - does anyone know where I can download a copy of the AD15 firmware? I've scoured the seegate site without success.

[WeatherPaparazzi]

I have a hard drive exhibiting signs of the BSY error. When I connect my interface to the drive I get: (see attached)

Any ideas?

Thank you.

I had the same problem but it was fixed when I added the ground wire. See a few pages back about how I fixed my problem.

[WeatherPaparazzi]

I have a question - what do you use to make the connector that will let you connect wires to the Tx/Rx ports on the hard drive? On here (http://www.digitalanime.com.br/sea/fix03.jpg) it would be the connectors for the red/black wires on the left side. For the battery setup, which terminal connects to the ground pin on the RS232-TTL converter? Also, the PCB board on my hard drive is different; just a long rectangle. Can I still remove some screws and be able to normally stick something under there? Attached is a picture of what it looks like:

I did it old school and just ripped the wires out of an old computer case and used wires that went from the front of the case to the computers mother board (usb power and reset wires). Hey, it worked since radio shack and several of the local computer stores had nothing that would work on hand.

[basicguy]

AD15 Firmware. Anyone?

Looking for the AD15 Firmware. Does anyone have a copy?

Thanx in advance.

Edited February 7, 2009 by basicguy

[WolfDie]

Hi everyone !!

Thank you very much for this tutorial.

I've made a RS232 cable buy at sparkfun.

I've got a 500Gb barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS SD15 in BSY

In hyperterminal I've the correct connection but I've a big problem.

F3 T>/2

F3 2>Z

Spin Down Complete
Elapsed Time 0.141 msecs

[color="#4169E1"](here I connect the pcb after a little moment)[/color]

F3 2>U

[color="#4169E1"](here I listen the hdd motor with a little "clic-clic")[/color]

Error 1009 DETSEC 00006008
Spin Error
Elapsed Time 7 mins 21 secs
R/W Status 2 R/W Error 84150180
F3 2>

I've try the 2 methods, with a card or by removing all the pcb ...

Thanks for your help !!

Edited February 7, 2009 by WolfDie

[my77stang]

I finally got my CA-42 cable, hooked everything up and got the exact same error. PLEASE someone help me im going nuts!

*edit* hey WolfDie, I just realized before we enter the "U" command (spin up) we need to reconnect the PCB to the drive. I was able to do everything, going to reboot and see what happens now. I am using the directions as given by Aviko on page 27 (I think it was)

*2nd edit*

Just rebooted, flashed drive to updated firmware, rebooted, and everything is up and running.

THANK YOU EVERYONE who helped make this fix available!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited February 7, 2009 by my77stang

[eli2k]

I did it old school and just ripped the wires out of an old computer case and used wires that went from the front of the case to the computers mother board (usb power and reset wires). Hey, it worked since radio shack and several of the local computer stores had nothing that would work on hand.

Thanks; I might try that if I can't find anything else. How do you ground pin 3? I saw your previous post talking about it. I was going to use a 3v cell battery, and someone else posted this diagram, is this the right way to ground it? http://www.bizzynesshost.com/temp/setup.jpg

[WolfDie]

thanks my77stang, I've try what it's wrote on page 27 as you say but without result.

I reconnect the pcb after the Z command since the begin yes but without sucess.

[mrkimrkonja]

Am I screwed???

This is what I get in Hyperterminal..... BTW, it's accompanied with the "click of death"!

Error 1009 DETSEC 00006008

Spin Error

Elapsed Time 25.907 secs

R/W Status 2 R/W Error 84150180

i have the same problem on busy fix:

F3 T>/2

F3 2>Z

Spin Down Complete

Elapsed Time 0.155 msecs

F3 2>U

Error 1009 DETSEC 00006008

Spin Error

Elapsed Time 21.652 secs

R/W Status 2 R/W Error 84150180

i have also tried the LBA0 solution

The disk is recognized by bios with 0MB

but after 5-6min

i makes abnormal head cliking noises several

times when conected to power and then spins

the motor down

firmware upgrade ISO cant find the drive

i have 3 other ST3500320AS with SD15

and they are all successfully updated to SD1A

they where all 4 part of RAID0 array

please HELP!

[AlexLilic]

WOOHOOO!! I just successfully unbricked my drive by following the instructions from this thread. All of my data is accessible again (and now safely copied to a new drive).

Let me just extend a heartfelt "thanks" to the people who contributed to this happy day!!!! Over the past months I have read posts from Gustek, Fatlip, Gradius, Aviko (and of course others). In actual fact I am really glad for the timing of my fault - because it let me share this journey with them by reading their posts as the solution unfolded.

The funny thing is that if the DR companies had just been transparent about what they do, and charged a little less for this fix, I would have used them weeks ago. I called 2 local DR companies and asked "how much *IF* it turns out to be the well known 7200.11 SD15 BSY error?". If they had been transparent and said "Quick fix - but we still need 300 Euros to cover our overhead" I would have said "fine" and given them the disk. Instead they they basically said "How much is your data worth so that I know how much to charge you?" (i.e. quoted 600-900 Euros). As a result they didn't get my business, and I suspect they won't get many others. When I finally got a working TTL adapter (thanks Alexx86) the solution indeed took 3 minutes.

Because I had many difficulties with my first adapter - I have included my tips here:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 - Buy an adapter which you KNOW works and is EASY! (Easier == less steps == less risk)

The first adapter I purchased was a USB Signal to RS232 TTL UART

Despite a LOT of effort, I could NOT get a terminal session established with the drive. I tried all suggestions (grounding, different power supplies, with and without PCB connection, etc.)

Shorting TXD and RXD (loopback test) worked so I knew the UART was not faulty - but connecting to the Seagate PCB gave nothing other than the "Arrow" in Hyperterminal. A further problem occurred because i didn't realise that for my chip, VCC on the TTL output was connected to 5v, so when I connected my 3v batteries to it they were "charged" by the UART chip and literally popped whilst connected to the drive (at this point I was sure it was game over :-))

2 - Keep it Simple

I decided to try one last time with a known adapter. I contacted a local poster in this thread (alexx86) who confirmed for me that this part number had worked for him: FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 USB Cable

This adapter rocked - it was soooo easy by comparison:

- No guesswork. Good documentation. Good drivers.

- It is USB, so no RS232 port required.

- It came with drivers for XP, Vista, etc. - but I didn't need them (just "plug and play" on my machine)

- There was no need for additional battery power supply. The cable includes a 3.3v VCC already.

3 - Connecting it (these steps thanks to Alexx86)

Connect a Standard SATA power cable to the drive, and then connect the USB<->TTL cable as described below. Note that there was no need to ground between the USB<->TTL cable and the SATA cable (i.e. they are seperate). I did however connect 3 USB<->TTL wires to the drive PCB (3rd one being GND) and I used the same PC to provide both SATA power and USB<->TTL cable).

This USB<->TTL cable has 6 wires. Only 3 are connected to the Seagate PCB. Of the remaining 3 wires, 2 are joined together and the final one is unused.

USB<->TLL Cable Connections:

- Orange (TXD) - Connected to 1st terminal pin on PCB (closest pin to SATA adapter)

- Yellow (RXD) - Connected to 2nd terminal pin on PCB (2nd closest pin to SATA adapter)

- Black (GND) - Connected to 3rd terminal pin on PCB (3rd closest pin to SATA adapter).

- Brown (CTS) and Green (RTS) are tied to each other and nothing else (for flow control). I would have thought this was unnecessary - but I did it to be sure.

- Red Wire (VCC) is not used.

4 - Fix your drive

Open Hypterm and Ctrl-Z to confirm you have connection. Then follow the commands from Gradius/Aviko. I had trouble deciding whether to follow Gradius or Aviko's solution. I felt loyal to Gradius, and found his instructions more readable - but some of Aviko's advice was also clearly valuable.

In the end I mixed a little. I used 2 pieces of paper card to isolate both the Motor connector (3 pin connection) and HDMA contacts (IC-style connection) and started with Gradius' approach. As I have a 500gb Seagate however, I couldn't resist trying the F712 commands that Aviko mentioned which are only apply to my drive (see post #610). Therefore I ended up not using the Glist Erase command ("F3 T>i4,1,22 (enter)").

My summary is that Aviko's advice is clearly knowledgable and he has added additional value to Gradius' excellent solution thread (note that I did not say it was Gradius solution - but it IS Gradius' thread, so please don't point out that someone else created the solution first). Without Gradius however, most of us would not have our data - me included!

Gradius and Aviko - thankyou BOTH so VERY much!!!!

Edited February 8, 2009 by AlexLilic