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The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs


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Erm... the PCB shouldn't "Heat" up; it *might* get warm-ish after being powered

for an hour or so, but it should not get hot :o

  • Make sure the ground wire of the convertor is also connected
  • Are you sure the RS232-end of the convertor is powered with 3.3V
    and not 5V?
  • Try reversing the TX and RX wires

Greetz,

Peter.

Edited by VideoRipper
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NO. :(

The guide uses this one:

http://alldav.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=11

the new version of which is this one:

http://alldav.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=28

Please notice how the word "TTL" is used in the description of BOTH the above.

Notice also how on the product you linked to there is NO mention of "TTL" but mention of "UART".

Cannot say if it means anything :unsure:, but the FT232R:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/FT232R.htm

can output different levels, depending on how the board is made:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/DataSheets/DS_FT232R.pdf

  1. If pin 4 of the IC is connected to pin 17 it is configured for 3.3 V (right for this use)
  2. If pin 4 of the IC is connected to pin 20 or however to + 5v CC (possibly wrong for this use)

So I do not need to plug in the GND or the 5V+ wire to anywhere on the HDD, just the RX and TX.

You are of course perfectly free to do whatever you want :), but this is NOT what is recommended, please check point #7 of the read-me-first:

jaclaz

Edited by jaclaz
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Hi

Thanks "jaclaz" for suggestions

I have re tested the hard drive. It is now detecting but not showing any partition in the Windows XP.

So I rechecked it so I found Bad sectors in this hard drive and , bad sectors are in very huge amount say out of 10,000MB 17000-190000 sectors are bad.

So now my question is what do you think, are these bad sectors are introduced after this firmware reset process?

(Please note - my hdd type is - Laptop SATA disk of Seagate 5400.6 series, is this going to make any issue over here?)

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Hi...

I'm attempting to implement the BSY fix on a 500GB 7200.11 (ST3500320AS) and I'm a bit stuck.

I obtained an RS232 to TTL adapter and connected a 2032 battery. I'm running the whole thing through a USB to Serial adapter, mush as per the set up shown in this tutorial. It shows up for me as COM5. I've set up HypetTerminal connection for 38400, 8, N, 1, no flow control.

I ran a loopback test and it was successful.

I then connected the adapter to the hard drive. Adapter Tx to Seagate Rx and Rx to Seagate Tx , and when I connected in HyperTerminal I got the expected LED:00 00 00 CC FAddr: 00 24 A5 01 code. I figured this confirmed that communications could be properly established with the drive.

I shut things down and then placed an insulator between the circuit board and the contacts as recommended. However, I can't establish a connection in HyperTerminal. When I do a CTRL Z I get a stylized f or some other character but I can not get to the drive's F3 T> prompt.

I removed the circuit board completely from the drive to no effect. I re-attached the circuit board to the drive and get the expected LED:00 00 00 CC FAddr: 00 24 A5 01 again. I tried reversing the Rx and Tx connections just in case but that didn't help.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

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....

I then connected the adapter to the hard drive. Adapter Tx to Seagate Rx and Rx to Seagate Tx , and ....

Grounding? :unsure:

Point #7 of read-me-first:

jaclaz

Hi jaclaz...

Thanks for the comment.

I think I'm OK in respect to grounding. I have the negative (-) of the CR2032 battery connected to the GND of the adapter (with the positive (+) connected to VCC of the adapter). As far as I know that meets the requirements as stated in Point #7.

I'm going to try this gain on a PC that has a fixed serial port so I can bypass the USB to serial adapter and see if that helps.

sb

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I think I'm OK in respect to grounding. I have the negative (-) of the CR2032 battery connected to the GND of the adapter (with the positive (+) connected to VCC of the adapter). As far as I know that meets the requirements as stated in Point #7.

Then, the text must not be clear enough :unsure::

I will repeat myself, you NEED a (black) wire connecting:

  • the HD "Ground" pin
  • the (standard PC) Power Supply black wire
  • the converter "Ground" or 0V pin or connector or wire
  • if a battery is used, the - (minus) side/pin of it
  • if a separate Power Supply is used, it's black wire or 0V pin or connector or wire

Out of 5 4 (as two are mutually exclusive) points you listed 2 only

jaclaz

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I set things up on a PC here at work that had a serial port, thereby removing the need for the USB to Serial adapter. With that done I received the prompt and was able to successfully recover the drive!!!

I'm not well versed in electronics. Perhaps the USB to Serial adapter was the problem or maybe it was causing a grounding problem, I don't know. I do find the the text regarding what needs to be grounded a bit confusing. To help anyone else having problems does it mean that the ground pin on the hard drive also has to be connected to the GND of the Rs232 to TTL adapter?

Thanks

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To help anyone else having problems does it mean that the ground pin on the hard drive also has to be connected to the GND of the Rs232 to TTL adapter?

YES. :)

I really cannot find what is the deceiving part in:

7. GROUNDING:

Since, as seen above the actual 0's and 1's are obtained by a difference of voltage relative to 0V, it is VITAL, to ensure that TTL level communication works as expected, to have the same 0 V level on ALL equipment involved.

This is obtained by connecting ALL the 0 V or "Ground" of ALL devices involved together (normally and by convention a black wire is used).

I will repeat myself, you NEED a (black) wire connecting:

  • the HD "Ground" pin
  • the (standard PC) Power Supply black wire
  • the converter "Ground" or 0V pin or connector or wire
  • if a battery is used, the - (minus) side/pin of it
  • if a separate Power Supply is used, it's black wire or 0V pin or connector or wire

In other words, ANYTHING marked "GND" or "GROUND" or "-" (minus) or having a black wire should be connected together.

The idea is to create an equipotential "zero", this post by VideoRipper may help understanding the possible problem:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807&st=2949

as well as point #6 of the read-me-first:

6.SERIAL Voltage and TTL levels:

Serial communication basically works by sending bits as voltage peaks separated by a time interval.

RS-232 sends a "0" by means of a "high level" from +5v to +15v and a "1" by sending a "low level" -5v to -15v.

The above is called "negative logic" (0=high;1=low)

TTL/CMOS sends a "0" "low" when between 0.2 V and 0.8 V and a 1 "high" when between 2.0 V and 5 V

TTL sends a "0" "low" when between 0.35 V and 0.8 V and a 1 "high" when between 2.0 V and 3.3 V

The above is called "positive logic" (0=low;1=high)

Each circuit/board may use a narrower (or wider) interval for the "high" level, but the "low" level is so narrow by design that having the SAME 0 V level on ALL equipment connected is VITAL. (see below "GROUNDING")

If you have an idea or a more accurate wording to better convey this info, please post it (or PM me) and I'll modify the read-me-first.

jaclaz

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Hi all,

thank you for this great post.

Yesterday morning I turned on my pc and the BSY issue came up. I tried contacting Seagate but they said there is no bug, until I finally found many posts on the web.

I've tried searching on the thread without success so excuse me in advance if my question has already been answered.

I have two ST3500320AS, only one of which is currently facing the BSY issue. I'm only interested in recovering data from the dead drive.

What happens if I replace the PCB of the dead drive with the one from the working drive? Is the dead one coming back to life? They are same model and have same firmware.

Thank you.

Ciao!

Max

EDIT: I found some posts of people asking the same question but I found no answers :-(

Edited by mlamagna
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What happens if I replace the PCB of the dead drive with the one from the working drive? Is the dead one coming back to life? They are same model and have same firmware.

What SURELY happens is that your drive WILL NOT come back to life.

Additionally you risk that EVEN the now working drive WILL NEVER come back to life. :ph34r:

The procedure called in jargon "PCB SWAP" can work:

  • easily on drives that have NO specific calibration/setup data (very, very old ones)
  • anyway on drives that have calibration/setup data in a eeprom (BUT you need to either backup and restore the eeprom or physically de-solder it form the old PCB and re-solder it on the "new" PCB)

It CANNOT work on drives where calibration/setup data is stored on the actual hard disk reserved sectors, such as the 7200.11.

Compare with (what you could have found if searching for the right keywords):

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807&st=1821

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807&st=2173

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807&st=2240

And with:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=145290

Basically, every few tens posts comes a new guy thinking that the rather complex procedure this thread is about can be bypassed easily with a plain PCB SWAP, and someone, usually yours truly :), has to convince him that it won't work....:whistle:

So, NO, you need to use this procedure, there are no known workarounds.

Start from here:

feel free to ask for help should something be not clear.

jaclaz

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What SURELY happens is that your drive WILL NOT come back to life.

Additionally you risk that EVEN the now working drive WILL NEVER come back to life. :ph34r:

Hi Jaclaz,

thank you very much for the explanation. Actually I used the wrong search words (I used "replace PCB" "working PCB" etc.)

For sure I don't want to make things more broken than they currently are so I will try going with the standard procedure and let you know the outcome.

Ciao!

Max

Edited by mlamagna
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Just registered to say thanks to all that contibuted to this fix.

Also want to add that this fix was applied to a ST31000528AS which is a 7200.12 drive with firmware version CC35.

I am currently looking to see if there are any firmware updates for this drive, can anybody post information relevant to this?

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Hi

anyone please guide me...

Can we use this RX TX method with other Seagate SATA drives as well?? ( I mean, with Seagate Momentus 5400.6 SATA Drives)

Or we should perform this tricks only on Seagate 7200.11 drives only?

Please guide me

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Hi

anyone please guide me...

Can we use this RX TX method with other Seagate SATA drives as well?? ( I mean, with Seagate Momentus 5400.6 SATA Drives)

Or we should perform this tricks only on Seagate 7200.11 drives only?

Please guide me

Question: Guess why there is a read-me-first? :unsure:

Answer: To avoid having to reply to the SAME questions asked n times before (and also answered n times before)

Please READ it:

EXPECIALLY ponts #1 and #2

jaclaz

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