The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs

[ingenious]

First off, thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to the fix.

NOW... I have two of the 7200.11 drives and they are both having the BUSY error.

I have searched on the following problem and found nothing but some possible correlation to these "unknown diag cmd" drives coming from Fry's Electronics (this is where I bought my two 7200.11's).

I got to the spin up complete, then issue:

F3 2>/1

F3 1>N1

Unknown Diag Cmd Failure 12CC4

I also tried the command to list available commands, and I get the same error. At this point, I have no idea what else I can try. Has anyone else gotten past this error? Anything else I can try short of sending the drives to Seagate?

Thanks so much!

Edited February 14, 2010 by ingenious

[VideoRipper]

What type of drive do you use and what's the firmware-version?

Greetz,

Peter.

[mundy5]

@VideoRipper,

I had the exact same model # and firmware version as yours. I am hoping that the exchanged drive will not be the same firmware.

@ingenious,

did you remove the business card and completely reattach the pcb while the power is still plugged into the hdd? I do not recall getting any errors after I reattached the pcb properly.

[DoomN00b]

I got F3 1>ÿ....

WTF...

Do you guys know what the heck happened?? The prompt froze after that and became unresponsive. I tried starting over, but no go. No response... I tried it again after restarting the comp and the whole shebang, but no response.

I checked with a loopback again after the reboot, and that worked just fine.

Any information or suggestion right now would be deeply appreciated.

If you are in level 1, you need to type /T to get to the lower level. Try the whole process again. I do not understand what you mean by "and the whole shebang, but no response" do you mean by this that when you start over by inserting the card between the pcb and the motor connection etc? Or do you mean after N1 you get no response?

Try the steps again and be meticulous. As Gradius2 warned us, it is very easy to ruin the hdd so please be very careful and follow exactly what he says.

Also, after you unplugged and plugged it back in, did you hit ctrl-z like it says in the instructions?

I redid the whole thing, yeah.

I now know where I erred tho... I forgot to type ctrl-z.. 0_0

I went trough the whole procedure again, and it seems like it worked. =) Well... sort of. It gave off the final ok in the prompt, success. And it then showed up in BIOS, and me and the mate who was helping me, were able to run the firmware-update on it.

So far so good. But then when I get back home, install it in my comp, puts in the necessary jumpers and such, selects it as first boot device ( this seagate is used as my C: disk, loading windows Vista 64.) it doesn't load windows!

Instead it says insert valid boot media.

In short: I have been able to solve the problem from my last post, but now I have a new one. Anybody know why the disk won't load Windows?

I'm currently posting this from my own comp btw, using Asus Express Gate, which seems to load partially from disk, and partially from some memory-circuit on the motherboard.

[jaclaz]

In short: I have been able to solve the problem from my last post, but now I have a new one. Anybody know why the disk won't load Windows?

YES.

http://homepages.tesco.net/J.deBoynePollar...no-answers.html

If you also want to know the reason, it is that you fiddled with it in every which way you can (and one more) and possibly you have some corrupted data in the MBR, bootsector, or both. (Most probably the MBR, judging from the message).

If you also want help in attempting recovering it, start a new thread here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=19

or here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=67

as it has nothing to do with the bricking which is hopefully solved.

jaclaz

[DoomN00b]

In short: I have been able to solve the problem from my last post, but now I have a new one. Anybody know why the disk won't load Windows?

YES.

http://homepages.tesco.net/J.deBoynePollar...no-answers.html

If you also want to know the reason, it is that you fiddled with it in every which way you can (and one more) and possibly you have some corrupted data in the MBR, bootsector, or both. (Most probably the MBR, judging from the message).

If you also want help in attempting recovering it, start a new thread here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=19

or here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=67

as it has nothing to do with the bricking which is hopefully solved.

jaclaz

I see. Cheers for the reply mate, I'll give that a try.

[Corty]

Hi all,

I've got a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 here, which stopped working. I didn't drop it or something, it was just mounted in my workstation, which refused to boot windows 7 x64 overnight. The device does not make any strange noises, so I do not suspect a headcrash or something like that. A bit of googling brought up this thread, for which I now suspect the famous BSY error, as my device is not even detected during POST anymore.

So I've bought a USB RS232 to TTL adapter and wired everything up, as described by @Gradius2. Unfortunately I am not able to see the F3 T> prompt, connecting with putty to my serial port. Pressing Ctrl-z just causes nothing.

I tried flying over the 124 pages in this thread and already checked the following:

- RS232 is configured to 38400 8 N 1.

- RX is not mixed with TX.

- Disconnecting the PCB completely or partly doesn't help.

Any ideas left?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Edited February 14, 2010 by Corty

[ingenious]

@ingenious,

did you remove the business card and completely reattach the pcb while the power is still plugged into the hdd? I do not recall getting any errors after I reattached the pcb properly.

Yes, I tried doing it the business card way and also removing the whole PCB and putting it back on between "spindown" and "spinup" (while SATA power is attached from the start).

It's probably worth noting that my drive has a second contact point which is a rectangle around one of the screws in the middle of the board.

S/N: 9QJ0PWJ3

ST31000340AS

P/N: 9BX158-335

Firmware: SD15

Date Code: 08434 Site Code: KRATSG

Any other ideas anyone? I'm desparate!

Edited February 14, 2010 by ingenious

[ingenious]

So I've bought a USB RS232 to TTL adapter and wired everything up, as described by @Gradius2. Unfortunately I am not able to see the F3 T> prompt, connecting with putty to my serial port. Pressing Ctrl-z just causes nothing.

I tried flying over the 124 pages in this thread and already checked the following:

- RS232 is configured to 38400 8 N 1.

- RX is not mixed with TX.

- Disconnecting the PCB completely or partly doesn't help.

Any ideas left?

Thanks a lot in advance!

I would try it with hyperterminal, you can download or copy it if you're running Vista or Windows 7. Also, try swapping your RX and TX wires. I thought I had mine right and they were backwards. Good luck!

[VideoRipper]

So I've bought a USB RS232 to TTL adapter

I'm not familiar with that board, but it looks like a "Normal" USB <=> RS-232 adapter

with separate TTL outputs.

You did connect it to your PC using the USB end and leaving the 9-pin sub-D connector

disconnected, did you?

Also make sure you've set hardware flow-control to "None".

During my tests with other drives, I noticed that some older models use 9600 Baud instead

of 38400 Baud (though these were 7200.7 PATA drives).

Greetz,

Peter.

Edited February 15, 2010 by VideoRipper

[jaclaz]

The 7200.11 uses 38400 8 N 1.

Is that board using 3.3V or 5 V TTL levels?

You want 2.8 or 3.3V ones.

Read this:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...807&st=2338

jaclaz

[Kai-Pirinha]

Yay it worked! i finally recovered my drive from busy state even so Seagate support told me it can't be affected by the firmware bug. I posted in this Forum before and i'm going to double post a few things so it's all in one place.

If you are not interested in the history and some (unfortunately necessary) Seagate Bashing continue reading at "solution begins here"

Harddrive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 that was build into a Maxtor one touch 4 1TB (external USB housing)

The Model is ST31000340AS. The Firmware was SD81 (NOT SD18!!!). The S/N is 9QJ0SE0L. The P/N is 9BX158-568. The Date Code is 08454. The Site Code is KRATSG. Product of Thailand. (all information according to the label on the actual hard drive, not the external housing)

Symptoms: Drive was powering up ok meaning LED on the external housing was on and I could hear the Motor of the hard drive starting but drive was not detected in Windows (tried 3 Computers with Win 7, Vista, XP)

I took the hard drive out of its external housing and connected it directly to the motherboard: drive is not detected in BIOS (this causes a warranty void. I did this after calling Seagate support for the first time and they told me to ship them the hard drive to receive a new one in return. Of cause all my data would have been lost.)

At this time I started reading the forums and frequently calling Seagate support always telling them this looks like the busy-state-firmware-bug to me.

Here is how, in 4 steps, Seagate Support denied any help and almost even convinced me to give up on my data.

step 1: Seagate is denying the whole Problem even so lots and lots of Seagate drives are failing (I only read about this in forums, it started about a year ago.)

Step 2: I ask Seagate if my drive can be affected. The answer is no, drives manufactured for external use via USB are not affected.

Step 3: I search the forums and tell them those drives CAN be affected. they tell me ok they can but my drive still can't because it hast SD81 Firmware.

Step 4: I search the forums and tell them drives with SD81 Firmware CAN be affected. They tell me ok they can and ask for my drives S/N. Then they tell me again my drive can't be affected because it was made in a different factory then those other SD81 drives. This is the link you can use to check if your drive is "supposed" to be affected: https://apps1.seagate.com/rms_af_srl_chk/rm...check_index.jsp Seagate support only does the same thing. The outcome doesn't matter really if you drive still works: maybe your drive is affected, maybe not. Backup your Data and update your firmware even if Seagate is telling you there is no need.

If your drive stopped working and Seagate admits it can be affected call their support hotline. from what I heard they are finally doing free data recovery (as they should have done from the beginning)

If the serial checker says your drive can't be affected you are screwed cause there's no help from Seagate. Maybe something else is wrong with your drive or maybe your drive has the Firmware bug as mine had and many others as well.

So what did I do?

What didn't work: First I tried the Nokia CA-42 Cable solution because it seemed to be the cheapest and easiest way. This is risky for two reasons: 1. there are many fake Cables. 2. Even the genuine Nokia CA-42 won't work without a cell phone connected in most cases. (I didn't find out why they work in some but even a guy working in a Nokia Service Center told me it's not supposed to open a com-Port)

===actual Solution begins here!===

For choosing my hardware and connecting the drive I followed the guide from AlexLilic.

It 's post #682 in this thread and can be found here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...8807&st=680

This is still based on the information provided by Gradius and Aviko so thanks a lot to all three of you!!!

1. Choosing an Adapter

At first I couldn't get the parts to fix my drive, but the "FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 USB Cable" suggested by AlexLilic proofed to be a very reliable, easy to use and easy to get cable. Drivers for almost every operation system including Win7 and the 64Bit Versions of XP, Vista and 7 can be found here: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

I paid 29€ for mine including tax and shipping and it arrived within 48 hours!!!

Germans can buy it here for sure but they may also be shipping to other countries:

http://elmicro.com/de/ft232r.html

2. Connection to the hard drive

I found this to be the most difficult part and it took me a few hours to find a way because I didn't want to cut the TTL cable and my electronic store didn't have any jumper cables at all. I managed to McGyver my own connection using simple wire and some parts from a model railway store.

there are two ways to do this:

simple way: connect every wire of the adapter cable to a jumper cable (eventually cutting the adapter cable at the end to do so)

hard way: carry your hard drive and your adapter cable to a few stores dealing with small electronics (as I said I found my parts in a store for model railways) and see what you can find.

3. resetting the hard drive

As a Terminal software I wanted hyper terminal so I could precisely follow the guide I was using and wouldn't have to improvise. As a Windows 7 user I had to find it first. it's not a part of Windows anymore (not sure for Vista) but you can download it here: http://digitizor.com/downloads/apps/hyperterminal.zip

Just extract the zip and keep the .exe and .dll in the same folder on your hard drive.

from here I used this guide find out what to type into hyper terminal:

http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html

It's very detailed and clear plus it suggests you block the motor connectors under your hard drives Board with a piece of paper instead of the data connectors. This way you only have to remove one single screw.

4. updating the drives firmware.

When the drive was back and and i did a full backup I updated my firmware to SD1A. As posted in many threads and guides this is the Link to the Seagate Firmware site: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/self...sp?DocId=207951

But here is what was new to me: The Firmware update utility reported "no Firmware match" and didn't work. You will have the same Problem if Seagates serial checker returns your drive is not affected and you don't need to update. The Firmware update tool will do the same check and if Seagate thinks you don't need an update, you don't get it. Fortunately you can do it the old fashioned way and install the new firmware from a bootable CD using the iso image on the same web page.

===end of solution and back to the seagate-bashing I need to do to lose the frustration build over the last few weeks===

After all this was done and it was therefore proven my drive had firmware bug I called Seagate support again with the appeal to review their way to determine which drives they admit to be affected. The guy on the phone told me as far as they know this was the first time a drive like mine (not affected according to the serial checker) had the bug. He said he will give my appeal to his Manager but doesn't think anything will change.

And here comes the best bit: when the Firmware update didn't work I thought I would be stuck with an absolutely unreliable drive, so I was asking this Question: "I could prove the drive was messed up from the beginning being 100%seagates fault. I had no choice but to remove the warranty seal to prove it and to get back my data. There is a Fixed Firmware available but I can't install it because Seagate-Software just won't let me for a reason that's 100% Seagates fault. Will you grant me warranty and Fix my drive or provide me with a fixed one?" The answer was still NO!!!. Seagate just doesn't care at all! If they can they are willing ignore costumer rights, sell you a useless brick for the full price of a hard disc and just leave you with it. Lucky the Firmware update worked at the end so it didn't come to that but I think it's good to know!

If you are in or around Hamburg, Germany and need help with this just drop a PM!

[jaclaz]

(I didn't find out why they work in some but even a guy working in a Nokia Service Center told me it's not supposed to open a com-Port)

You can tell that guy he could have a career at Seagate.

jaclaz

[wnich001]

It worked, the part about spin down is INDEED necessary, but is a hell of tricky!

I'll post some photos and the entire process on next msg.

F3 1>/T

F3 T>i4,1,22

F3 T>

F3 T>m0,2,2,,,,,22

Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 14, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 00C8

User Partition Format 5% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00004339, ErrCode 00000080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs

User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs

F3 T>

Gradius,

I know you must be a busy guy but would you consider performing this fix for me? I'm just not willing to risk all the data on my drive if I screw it up. I think I have the BSY error as my hard drive is powering up, everything sounds fine, but BIOS can't see anything. If you would consider it, please email me at willnicholson724@yahoo.com. Thank you for your posts here, I know you have helped countless people that the manufacturer has written off.

[sapper]

Hello to everyone here I've boutgh the RS232toTTL from alldav.com and the USB to Serial Convertor from local store. Now Iam having problems getting HyperTerminal connection. Ive fliped the TX and RX - nothing. Should I try to change the 5V to less voltage? please help! The only thing Iam gettind in HT sometimes is one ACSII symbol nothing else. thanks in advice