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The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs


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Hello everybody,

I've just purchased the TTL-232R-3V3 Cable to fix the BSY problems that both of my seagate 1TB drives were having. I manage to get the F3 T> prompt in the hyperterminal. I am also able to key in the command /2 which changed the prompt to F3 2>. However, I am not able to enter command Z.Whenever i enter Z, I would encounter this error: LED:000000CE FAddr:00280569. Both of my drives exhibited the same problems. I have totally detached the PCB from the harddrive. Does anybody know what went wrong? Any help is greatly appreciated!

I also had the option to purchase the TTL-232R-3V3 adapter cable (from ELFA) manufactured by FTDI. But I chose to stick to the RS232 to TTL adapter "module" (from Electrokit) as described in this guide. It just happened to be the same brand (Sparkfun Electronics) as the one Gradius was using. But I have read that other users, in particular those from Sweden (Alexx among others), who used exactly the same adapter cable as you are using have managed to recover their HDD from the BSY state once they figured out how to wire it and set everything up. So, as far as the TTL adapter is concerned, your cable should work flawlessly, so there's no problem there.

However, I am not able to enter command Z - Are you saying that you are not able to type in the Z command in the terminal software? Or are you not able to send the Z command to your HDD?

Did you try to wait 30-60 seconds before typing or sending the Z command to the HDD? I remember that Aviko said to TechnoFreak to let 30-60 pass at this point. TechnoFreak was also having the same or similar error as you have. For details, see the link to post # 458 in the list above in my previous post.

You have two 1 TB drives with the BSY error?

Please try to follow the instructions. You are NOT supposed to remove the PCB completely. For example, according to Aviko, some newer HDD FW's require that the motor contacts of the HDD are connected or it will not allow you to enter the terminal. That's why Aviko pointed out that it's better to insulate the MHA contacts (20 pin) then the motor contacts (3 pin) as Gradius suggested. I think you are only supposed to remove the PCB completely if you're having trouble entering the terminal. If you are using Gradius' method to recover your HDD, then you are supposed to place an insulating material between the PCB and the HDA at the 3 pin contacts for the motor. If you are following Aviko's (originally Okzo's aka Yura's) method, then you are supposed to place an insulating material between the PCB and the HDA at the 20 pin contacts for the MHA (manetic heads assembly). The insulating material can be anything non-conductive, but plastics is not to be preferred since they can be statically charged so you should use some thick peace of paper (card stock or similar).

I just came to think that you may actually have been confused with the whole HDD preparation process. I'll explain it to you in short. Gradius' recovery method (the OP who posted the first post in this thread) suggests ONLY removing one or two Torx screws near the 3 pin contacts for the motor, and then just sliding some insulating material there in between. However, I think that the original source for using this whole Barracuda 7200.11 recovery procedure said that you should REMOVE the PCB completely, and then place an insulator on the MHA contacts and then REPLACE the PCB. And that's the method (the Okzo's a.k.a Yura's method) that Aviko is referring to in this thread.

So in other words, if you are removing the PCB, you are doing it in order to insulate the 20-pin MHA contacts from the HDA and then replacing it back with one or two screws slightly loose (to prevent contact). Gradius' method is a less intrusive one and I think he's aim with it was that he's whole HDD recovery process would be more easy to do even for those who are intimidated by removing a PCB or don't even know what it is. So, originally (Okzo's a.k.a Yura's method) you were actually supposed to remove the PCB, place an insulator, and replace the PCB back on the HDA with one or two screws loose. And then when you get the prompt in terminal, you were supposed to remove the insulator and fasten the screws.

Do I have to remind you to use upper-case letter Z, and not lower-case z? I read before how some user used the small (lower-case) letter z instead of the big Z. Thankfully nothing happened because the HDD didn't react to it. But be aware of this!

Also, you may want to refer to Brad Garcia's description in his own guide titled Fixing a Seagate 7200.11 Hard Drive at Google Sites, who is using Aviko's (originally Okzo's a.k.a Yura's) method.

Here is a check-list of things you have to pay attention to.

  1. The TTL-232R-3V3 adapter cable by FTDI is just as good as the RS232 to TTL adapter "module" by Sparkfun Electronics.
  2. Try to wait 30-60 seconds before typing or sending the Z command to the HDD.
  3. Make sure you are typing in the upper-case letter Z, not the lower-case z.
  4. If you're afraid, then don't remove the PCB completely. In this case use Gradius' method of loosening one or two screw near the 3-pin motor contacts and slide in an insulating material in that area (make sure you slide it until you feel it hits an obstacle which is the sponge beneath the PCB).
  5. If you're not intimidated by removing the PCB completely, as you already have done this, make sure to place it back on once you have placed an insulating material on the 20-pin MHA contacts. The PCB needs to have connection with the 3-pin motor contacts! So, you either place the insulator on the 20-pin MHA contacts (involves removing AND replacing the PCB with motor contacts connected) OR you insulate the 3-pin motor contacts and leave the 20-pin MHA contacts connected. You have to chose only one method, so I don't think disconnecting them both by removing the PCB completely and powering it on that way will ever work.

Hope that will help.

Edited by ElectroGeeza
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Also, you may want to refer to Brad Garcia's description in his own guide titled Fixing a Seagate 7200.11 Hard Drive at Google Sites, who is using Aviko's (originally Okzo's a.k.a Yura's) method.

Just my 2c - I've read a few posts that have pointed out that that Brad's guide is missing a crucial step. In his guide he writes:

**********

And do a S.M.A.R.T. erase (create S.M.A.R.T. sector):

F3 1>N1 (enter)

Finally, do partition regeneration:

F3 T>m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 (enter)

***********

According to Gradiss' post, you MUST turn off the hard drive prior to the partition regeneration step and that this is a crucial step.

For me, I followed Gradius' guide and unbricked my drive....if I'm wrong in this, please feel free to jump in and correct me.

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It seems that all of the photos from Gratis have been moved or taken down. Can these be re-posted? I need to know which pins on the back of the drive are TX and RX.

Thanks

Chris

Chris - You can have a look at Brad's site where he has a photo of the pins:

http://sites.google.com/site/seagatefix/

Just keep in mind you should use Gradius' instructions, not Brad's as per my previous post, Brad doesn't have the step of restarting the HDD prior to the partition regeneration. Good luck with the fix!

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Hi All,

Same issue as everyone here, 7200.11 drive not showing up in BIOS, and this is the second time, with a second drive. but i FIXED both of them without the RS232 fix with hyper terminal and here is how.

I swapped the PCB's from each drive to the other, the drives then instead of NOT showing up in BIOS display with 0MB , I then shutdown, swapped back the PCBS between the discs booted up to the Seagate Firmware flash CD and flashed both their firmware, now they work with no issues and all the data has now been backed up externally.

So if you are lucky enough to have another 7200.11 drive hanging about, switch over the PCB, power on and you will see it in bios as 0MB. Power off, switch PCB back and use the seagate Firmware boot disc to flash the drive.

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Hi all! :hello:

I just dropped in to report that I have successfully recovered my Barracuda from BSY state! B) I recovered it on monday (2009-04-20) at about 16:00 CET, and late at night at about 01:00 CET I successfully upgraded the FW on it as well. The operation was successful and the patient survived! :) It was a peace of cake! The only problem I had was that the TX/RX wires were flipped. That's mostly because different people say different things, some say that TX is to the right of RX and next to the SATA port, some say it's the opposite. But that really depends on the point of view. That's why some users call it "UART dyslexia", because there is a standard procedure in electronics which dictates how you should read out the marking on devices, and some people, specially the amateurs don't keep to it. Here is a funny quote that user called MotiveForce wrote as comment on the TTL to RS232 adapter from Sparkfun Electronics at their Website.

Before purchasing this part you need to know if you have a condition called UART dyslexia. This is a neurological disorder that will render you incapable of properly wireing this device no matter how my times you triple check the the wiring. I have this disorder and I have only found three possible solutions:

1) Find someone else without UART dyslexia to wire it up for you

2) When you get the board, immediatly scratch out the silk screen for the TX and RX pins. You will have a better chance attaching the wires at random than attemping to determine the proper connections in your screwed up head. Test the device and if it doesn't work swap the lines. The advantage of this approach is that you didn't spend hours trying to figure out the wrong way to wire the connections.

3) Try to figure out the proper connections and do the opposite of what you think is correct. I have had some success with this approach.

:rolleyes:

So, I had to flip those TX and RX wires, like so many before me. Well except of that, I had no problem recovering the drive from BSY state.

I will list the parts and methods I have used later.

Edited by ElectroGeeza
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Hi guys, I'm from Mongolia. My Sony Laptop comes with Seatgate Momentus PSD 120gb HDD. Everything was perfect until the OS not found msg comes up. My HDD was in BSY error. And i followed Gradius instruction, i've followed exactly what was in the instruction but i never received any command promt in my HyperTerminal window. Luckily when i restart and thighten my HDD screws and plug it in my PC then it appeared again, now everything is ok. Backed up my files. Do you guys have any idea that why the HDD rebricked still i havent done any reprogramming thing?

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Hi guys, I'm from Mongolia. My Sony Laptop comes with Seatgate Momentus PSD 120gb HDD. Everything was perfect until the OS not found msg comes up. My HDD was in BSY error. And i followed Gradius instruction, i've followed exactly what was in the instruction but i never received any command promt in my HyperTerminal window. Luckily when i restart and thighten my HDD screws and plug it in my PC then it appeared again, now everything is ok. Backed up my files. Do you guys have any idea that why the HDD rebricked still i havent done any reprogramming thing?

Since when is the Momentus on the list of affected drives? :unsure:

This Gradius' (originally Okzo's a.k.a Yura's) recovery method is intended for the Barracuda 7200.11 and various Maxtor disk drives. It was not intended to be used on Momentus disk drives. So I'm not so surprised it doesn't work for you on your disk drive. How did you manage to recover your disk drive then? Well, obviously not by using this method, you said it yourself.

Why do you think your Momentus disk drive is stuck in the BSY state? What made you think that you could use this recovery method on your drive as well? Does it even have any of the symptoms described in this thread?

What do you mean by "rebricked? Is it bricked again? Is it working now or not?

What model is your Sony laptop? If you Momentus disk drive came in your Sony laptop, and it wasn't you who added it in it, then Sony should be able to help you better then this recovery method.

Edited by ElectroGeeza
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Before purchasing this part you need to know if you have a condition called UART dyslexia. This is a neurological disorder that will render you incapable of properly wireing this device no matter how my times you triple check the the wiring. I have this disorder and I have only found three possible solutions:

1) Find someone else without UART dyslexia to wire it up for you

2) When you get the board, immediatly scratch out the silk screen for the TX and RX pins. You will have a better chance attaching the wires at random than attemping to determine the proper connections in your screwed up head. Test the device and if it doesn't work swap the lines. The advantage of this approach is that you didn't spend hours trying to figure out the wrong way to wire the connections.

3) Try to figure out the proper connections and do the opposite of what you think is correct. I have had some success with this approach.

:rolleyes:

:P

Very nicely put.

OFF TOPIC! :ph34r:

It reminds me of truels:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truel

Here is a version, with solution:

http://www.puzzle.dse.nl/teasers/index_us.html#the_truel

:thumbup

jaclaz

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I am confused on which part of the drive I should place the cardstock between. Is it between the PCB and the Motor Contacts or the Head Contacts?? One guide says the Head contacts and the original post says Motor contacts.

Thanks

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Hi.

If using a cellphone cable like the CA-42, the only thing I need to do is connect the cable's RX to the board's TX and the cable's TX to the board's RX, right? No need to worry about ground and +5v?

Thanks!

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Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but does anyone know the command or how to set/enable ERC (similar to TLER/CCTL) timeout on 7200.11 drives? This may or may not help out with long pauses some 7200.11 users are experiencing, and would definitely help out RAID 5 users like myself. I've looked through the command list posted earlier in this thread and wasn't able to find anything. Perhaps someone saw something I missed, knows how to enable this, or just to point me in the right direction?

Thanks again to everyone that contributed to the thread!

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