Question What happens if I don't swap the BIOS chip for a HD controller board replacement?

[tonypisa]

Hi all,
I need to replace the controller board on my HD. I have bought a replacement and have found that most people on the Web agree that you MUST swap in the old BIOS chip to the new board to make it work. I would like to avoid this if possible (some videos on the Web skip it completely). So, what I would like to know is what happens if I DON'T swap the BIOS and the disk doesn't work? Will it damage the disk or board, or will I simply have to comply with the more complicated swap procedure?
Would appreciate any feedback. Regards

 

[helpstar]

which hdd model is it?

it usually won´t damage, but just won´t work, the risk is just higher that it will damage more than till now
why do you think the controller is faulty?
was it used with a wrong ac adapter?
which symptoms does it have?

 

[USAFRet]

Hi all,
I need to replace the controller board on my HD. I have bought a replacement and have found that most people on the Web agree that you MUST swap in the old BIOS chip to the new board to make it work. I would like to avoid this if possible (some videos on the Web skip it completely). So, what I would like to know is what happens if I DON'T swap the BIOS and the disk doesn't work? Will it damage the disk or board, or will I simply have to comply with the more complicated swap procedure?
Would appreciate any feedback. Regards

Go back about 8 steps...

Why do you need to do this?
What specific drive is it?

 

[evermorex76]

What hard drive has a BIOS?

If you mean the firmware, it will be hit or miss whether the new board works perfectly, but it should mostly work without a swap. The chip contains detailed data about the drive such as bad sectors that have been reallocated. If you don't swap the chip, the one on the new board might not be aware of bad sectors on the platters and try to use them, including sectors that were moved during manufacturing due to defects and any that developed since then. But, that data could also be stored on the platters themselves, a method that drives started using two decades ago. If the board itself is bad though, there's a chance that the firmware chip is as well, so I wouldn't particularly want to go through that effort. But if the drive had bad sectors or other issues that are stored in the firmware chip, then using a "clean" new chip may result in the drive damaging some good data.

If the data isn't extremely important, I'd just swap boards and see what happens. If it's really important, and/or you aren't comfortable swapping chips, then you need to pay a recovery specialist.

 

[fzabkar]

"Adaptives" -- why a straight PCB swap doesn't work in modern hard drives:

http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?p=19090#p19090

 

[evermorex76]

"Adaptives" -- why a straight PCB swap doesn't work in modern hard drives:

http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?p=19090#p19090

Ooh good read. I didn't know the exact terms for the things that got stored. Didn't realize it also got so specific as requiring matching firmware versions, or all the parameters like the spacing of the read/write heads.

If the data isn't all that important, it might be worth swapping and not bothering with the ROM. Otherwise, I'm not good enough with a soldering iron so I'd send it for recovery if I absolutely had to have the data.

 

[fzabkar]

If the data isn't all that important, it might be worth swapping and not bothering with the ROM. Otherwise, I'm not good enough with a soldering iron so I'd send it for recovery if I absolutely had to have the data.

This company will supply a PCB and transfer your ROM for US$50.

https://www.hdd-parts.com/

 

[evermorex76]

Oh that's really good, for modestly important data where you're pretty sure the PCB is the problem but the ROM is good, and they can probably just give you one with the right ROM. I presume they can't match every drive and all the requirements that seem to be involved but probably a good number of them.