[SOLVED] HDD repair help needed

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mirdza83

mirdza83

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May 12, 2019
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I'm trying to fix a dead hard drive (WD2500AAJS) that won't spin up.
I checked the PCB for shorts and i couldn't find any also the board doesn't have any physical damage. So i suspected that maybe the motor is dead.
I bought another drive with the same model number and identical PCB to perform a platter swap. I couldn't swap the bios/firmware because it's incorporated in the IC.
I moved the plater and PCB from my old drive to the new one but the drive still won't spin up.
At this point, I'm pretty sure that the old PCB is not working properly.
I checked the voltages across the board of both PCB's and they are identical.
I suspect that maybe the spindle controller is bad but I'm not sure.

Any help, please..

https://imgur.com/a/LCVtunK
View: https://imgur.com/a/LCVtunK
 
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Solution
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mirdza83 said:
Maybe I can copy the original ROM from patient PCB and write it on the donor PCB or move the platter in patient housing with the donor PCB and patient original ROM
Click to expand...

That's sad news. Clicking and spinning down is usually a symptom of a failure to read the servo information. Like you say, you have nothing to lose by trying the original, unmodified patient ROM. If that fails, you could try the unmodified donor ROM, but I don't know how it will go.
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vov4ik_il said:
Likely a shot motor driver (L7251), the . You can change the IC to retain data and calibrations...
ac4NpEL.jpg
Click to expand...

Yes that is my prime suspect also but I will try the WDMarvel first
 
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Here is a quick test you can do to see if the MCU and SMOOTH chip are talking to each other.

Monitor the -5V test point with your meter as you switch on the power to the PCB. Does the voltage momentarily rise to -5V before shutting off? If so, then this would suggest that the MCU is telling the SMOOTH IC to turn this voltage on and off.

It may help to install the PM2 jumper. This will tell the MCU not to spin up the motor and remain in standby. It should then immediately become ready, assuming that it doesn't sense any problems with the other ICs.
 
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So... The diode on D2 is not getting -5v. I connected the probes before I turn on the PC.
On the positive side I did measured 0.04v and it drops to 0 after 1-2s.
With jumper on PM2 I didn't measured any voltage.
The resistance from + to - is 120ohm and form - to + is 1k
 
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On the donor board votage jumps to 3v and imidiatly drops to 0, I bearly saw it.
On second and third time it jumps to 2v only but maybe my multimeter is not fast enough. It was very quick
Yes I measured on anode pin(the diode right side on images). Left , cathode is connected to ground
With PM2 enabled it also reads 0v like on the patient board.

Better image of the patient in case you need it.
https://imgur.com/a/gw10z5r
View: https://imgur.com/a/gw10z5r
 
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That would suggest that the MCU is not able to communicate with SMOOTH IC on the patient. It's hard to tell which IC is at fault.

The PM2 jumper is sensed by the MCU. The fact that the MCU does not control the preamp's -5V supply when this jumper set would indicate that it doesn't care about the preamp until the OS commands it to spin up.

Can WDMarvel talk to the donor PCB? Can you read the ROM and save it to a file?
 
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When i select SATA/AHCI or IDE Compatible its starts searching and then it says 1 device found

Mon, 28.03.2022 3:00:09 AM: Controllers search, found 1 devices

After that, it returns to WinAPI ATA

On reading rom it says rom successfully read
 
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It seems that it may not be possible to read the ROM via SATA. This is probably because the command for reading the ROM may need to be loaded from the firmware area on the platter. Does the PCB behave any differently if you remove the PM2 jumper and cycle the power?

Another approach would be to purchase the USB-TTL adapter and try to read the ROM via the drive's serial terminal port.

BTW, my WD1600AAJS-22WAA0 drive is detected as Family "0091 Unknown" and F/W version 58.A6H, so it would appear that your MCU is alive.
 
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