The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs

[KlingKlang]

Lol!

jaclaz, sometimes you´re just the best!

[jaclaz]

Lol!

jaclaz, sometimes you´re just the best!

I simply try to keep up the morale of the troops with some fun.

jaclaz

[UzY3L]

Thank you for your answer, jaclaz!

Sorry if I was a little ambiguous. It is the first time I've even heard of connecting a hard-drive that way and I'm not into electronics. Let's just say I'm an overall n00b at this whole scenario.

So, here's the schematic that I showed my friend and which he says he's gonna follow : http://www.kmitl.ac.th/~kswichit/MAX232/MAX232.htm

I know, I'd go mad too if every single page in a post had the title : Can I fix my drive?

I'm sorry for not posting all of the available information and I want to thank you for the quick reply. So... Thank you

Love&Peace!

[valkyrio]

So I've got a little issue

I ordered a USB to TTL cable, but all the jumpers, contacts, whatever are joined together

It looks like this:

Should I try and cut them apart and then connect the individual ones?

[mrlondon]

Oh dear... I followed the instructions but I seem to have made things a lot worse.

Maxtor DiamondMax 22 (STM35000320AS) with the BSY problem, not recognised by the BIOS at all but was spinning up fine.

Used a CA-42 and got the terminal working fine

I used a piece of card to isolate the heads contact and all seemed fine until the step to spin back up and I got this:

F3 2>U

Error 1009 DETSEC 00006008

Spin Error

Elapsed Time 13.550 secs

R/W Status 2 R/W Error 84150180

So I shut down hyperterm and the PC at that point thinking I didn't have something connected right....

Next attempt, get to the same point but this time I am getting odd regular noises from the motor (about a second apart and a second each in duration), as though it is attempting to spin up but failing... on the 3rd attempt I decided to leave it trying and eventually it gives up of its own accord...

Error 1009 DETSEC 00006008

Spin Error

Elapsed Time 7 mins 17 secs

R/W Status 2 R/W Error 84150180

F3 2>

Before I started the drive was spinning up fine, just not seen by the BIOS. I have a horrible feeling I've flexed the controller board or something and totally bricked a semi-brick

Any suggestions before I launch this thing binwards?

Thanks

[valkyrio]

Did you isolate the connectors before or after powering on?

[mrlondon]

Before powering on.

I think it's properly goosed now... the motor is doing the same thing on power up whether I have the heads isolated or not.

I tried it 2 other ways now - isolating the motor contacts instead of the heads and taking the PCB off completely to start the process.... as soon as I take that step to spin up the regular noises start.

[valkyrio]

Sad to hear.

I'm still waiting to find out how to go on. x_x

[mrlondon]

On that connector of yours - you should (in theory) be able to push down on the visible metal pieces in the 5/6 way connector and whilst doing that pull on the wire to extract it from the black plastic. It's basically just a spring clip.

Easier said than done and a sharp knife (little swiss army or scalpel) used carefully to just cut the plastic away would probably be quicker. You'd then need to make sure to use some tape or something on the exposed contacts before connecting them to the HD so they don't short.

Not sure but from what I've read, that looks like you will have to supply power to the cable. Does your PC recognise a new device if you just plug the USB end in?

[valkyrio]

Yep, and should be fine for power - the USB supplies 3.3/5v.

I'm assuming all the cables are coded using the same colors as the others. But I'm not hooking anything up yet until I get a definite answer from the person who recommended this cable to me

Edit:

Oh that was beautiful. I just pulled the little black tab backwards and the cable slid right off, thanks! I'm in need of some electrical tape now, or I could split the connector in three and then re-insert the appropriate contacts.

Now just gotta make sure that the cables are color-coded the same.

Editing edit: Crap, well, the connector's far too thick. Will have to get electrical tape.

Anyone know if any old tape will work for this? or must it be -absolutely- electrical

Editing the edited edit:

Found electrical tape and the mechanical details. Apparently orange and yellow = TXD and RXD. Anyone know if those are synonymous with the TX/RX in Gradius' guide?

Edited September 22, 2009 by valkyrio

[mrlondon]

I used Sellotape on mine to stop them touching as I'd run out of proper insulating tape...... but.. um yeh... I'm probably not the best person to advise lol

That said I can still get the serial connection to work.

[valkyrio]

IT WORKED

Hooray!!!!!!

Since this was a much simpler way of setting it up, I'll outline my steps:

I bought the USB to TTL cable from http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_pag...oducts_id=70%29

I took out all the cables from the 6 way connector.

I wrapped all the connectors in electrical tape.

I hooked up the connectors to the pins (RXD, TXD, and GND, black, yellow, orange and black respectively)

I hooked up the sata power to my drive.

I plugged in the USB. Installed the driver from the manufacturer (http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm) VCP stands for virtual com port.

Once it was installed, checked what com it was on my PC (showed up as Serial Bus, COM 3)

After that, followed the directions to the letter. Ran the Hyperterminal using COM 3, with all the other settings. Ran the commands, etc.

Did that for both my drives, worked perfectly. It was amazing. I will probably rewrite this once I'm finished setting up all of my drives, but for now this will work. If anyone has any questions email me at j_tarraga(at)hotmail(dot)com. I'm also currently on MSN so if you want to add me, that's fine as well.

Edited September 22, 2009 by valkyrio

[KlingKlang]

To valkyrio

Based on what i have read at the manual to the cable, (assuming you have the cable at 4.1 in the pdf), you should connect

Orange, yellow and black.

Black = Gnd (and it might not be necessary but it won´t hurt connecting it anyway).

Orange = Tx(D)

Yellow = Rx(D) (I put D in paranteses, becuase D is simply for Data).

The power to the PCB on the harddrive is powered by the Sata-power-contact.

I used heat shrink hose to isolate my contact. It can be bought in a electronics shop

and shrinks when you heat it up. It might be overkill to do, but i doesn´t risk anything.

Glad to hear it worked out for you!!

Don´t forget to update the firmware to the drive!

Edited September 22, 2009 by KlingKlang

[KlingKlang]

To UzY3L

I don´t know if your schematic will work, because it is different from the "Schmartboard".

I´m however no electronic expert, but i guess that jaclaz could tell you.

The schematic to the Schmartboard is here in .pdf.

[jaclaz]

So, here's the schematic that I showed my friend and which he says he's gonna follow : http://www.kmitl.ac.th/~kswichit/MAX232/MAX232.htm

Hmm, I guess it's ahead of it's time:

http://www.kmitl.ac.th/~kswichit/MAX232/MAX232.htm

Build Your Own uC Projects

Last updated, 9 October 2542

Seriously, now, everything is inside the MAX232, there is no reason why it shouldn't work, though you must be aware that there are at least two versions of the MAX232, a 3.3V and a 5V one.

Be aware that there are a number of WRONG/INCOMPLETE schematics around, particularly in the one you posted, I am perlexed by the

I bought a MAX232 MCU, five 25V 10uF capacitors

10uF capacitors, there should be ONLY 1x10uF and 4x1uF

See this other schematics, which is also simplier to follow for a DIY job, as it represents the actual casing of the MAX232:

http://sodoityourself.com/max232-serial-level-converter/

this one:

http://freecircuitdiagram.com/2009/04/24/t...sing-max232-ic/

has either ALL FIVE 1uF or 0.1uF

This one:

http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/aug97/cable.html

confirms that the MAX232A needs ALL 0.1uF, but talks about

The original MAX232 required 4.7 and 10uF capacitors, which are bigger and cost more.

This one:

http://news.robot-golem.org/parallax/6-col...-un-max232.html

says that the MAX232 from Texas Instruments is OK with 1uF ones, whilst the MAxim Max232 "needs" 10uF

It is very difficult to say which is which.

Personally, but mind you your mileage may vary, I would double check the datasheet of the IC you have in your hands, but I would go for the:

http://sodoityourself.com/max232-serial-level-converter/

which is a simplified version of this one:

http://www.adrirobot.it/bs_autocostruita/b...-sx_seriale.htm

with the 1x10uF and 4x1uF

The "schmartboard" should be as well allright, provided that the IC you have in your hands is the MAX232A that needs the smaller capacitors.

jaclaz