Question Seagate Archive HDD Failure. No Crash, No Spin, Silent. Troubleshooting Advise…

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needspractice

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I have a Seagate Archive HDD (Seagate (STEB8000100) Expansion Desktop 8TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC Laptop). It was in an external enclosure. I have several external hard drives including a WD. I may have accidently used my WD power adapter for my Seagate Archive HDD. Nevertheless, my Seagate Archive HDD is no longer working.

I bought several of these Expansion Drives. I opened another one and it is a Seagate Barracuda instead of a Seagate Archive HDD. I was just hoping to have a Donor for parts but no luck there.

I went ahead and ordered from an online website the exact match PCB boards to see if I can get this hard drive working by myself. I am not looking forward to sending this off to a Data Recovery Service, but I am thinking about it.

If someone could help me troubleshoot this a little beforehand to see if I can get this working without having to send it off that would be greatly appreciated.

Here are my thoughts.

The drive is completely silent, there was never a horrific ending to the drive. Like it is spinning up and crashing, knocking, beeping, whatever. Just one day I plugged it in and nothing.

Now here is the odd part. It seems like something is barely connecting because in keeps connecting and discounting in windows. You hear the Windows Notification that it connects and then disconnects. Sometimes it stays connected and you can see in “Computer Management” under “Disk Management” the drive. It is like it is barely connected on a sub low level.

What will happen is that in “Disk Management” a window will pop up and say you must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it. MBR vs GPT. Of course, after doing this, I get the error “The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error”.

Disk 2, red down arrow, Unknown, Not Initialized

Most of the time the partition data or the available space does not show up in disk management, but rarely it does show up, i.e., size of partition and available space to create a disk partition. However, even when that shows up it still gives me the error “The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error”.

My thoughts are that the drive is fully functional, but I may have blown a diode or something. The hard drive was sitting in an enclosure and had an extra PCB Board that was a bridge between the power supply and the hard drive. This other PCB board on the external enclosure is working perfectly. I popped out another Hard Drive from another enclosure used it on the bridge and everything works perfectly. So, I am not sure how the Seagate Archive HDD failed even when the External PCB power supply which held it did not.

This is what leads me to be that somehow the PCB Board is no longer working on the Seagate Archive HDD and this may be a simple solution. I ordered a new PCB Donor Board and was hoping all I must do is transfer the “Bios” and install the new Donor Board and everything works.

My question is troubleshooting.

Before messing around with my vital “Bios” chip. Can I just swap out my Donor Board to just see if power is restored and the drive spins up? I know I will not be able to access the Data however, I would be able to confirm that my other original PCB board is the main culprit. Then proceed to swapping the “Bios” chip on the Donor Board.

Will swapping the PCB board without swapping the “Bios” chip cause any “Data” loss or damage the Seagate Archive HDD?

Troubleshooting Steps

-1 Order Donor PCB Board
-2 Swap Original Board with Donor Board without Swapping Bios Chip
-3 See if Seagate Archive HDD powers on whatsoever, spins, etc.
-4 If powers on and spins up, swap out Bios Chip
-5 If Bios Chip is swapped and drive is still not responsive begin consultation with “Data Recovery Service”.

Another question is do I simply just send this off to a “Data Recovery Service” I would hate to swap out my Bios chip and make it more difficult for them to recover. However, if it is a simple PCB Board Swap and Bios Swap, I would prefer to do it myself.

Please feel free to give me any other pointers. I am just trying to perform some basic troubleshooting tactics before sending this drive off for an expensive recovery. I just have a feeling that this might be as simple as a PCB Board/Bios swap because the drive was never dropped, and in perfect condition. It is not that old either.

Thanks!
 

needspractice

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You need to spin up a PUIS enabled drive using HDAT2's /w option (w = wake up). After the drive has woken up, you can then disable PUIS using HDAT2.

That said, it would be very unusual for PUIS to have been enabled without user interaction, so we're just clutching at straws and eliminating possibilities.

I'm assuming that your drive is now connected via SATA, not USB.

Yes, I have it connected directly to the motherboard via sata and not USB. However, HDAT2 cannot connect to the drive, says check scsi connection, it sees my two other SSD no problem however, the problem drive says 0 sectors, etc. I am booting up using ulimate boot cd and using HDAT2.

Can I run HDAT2 within windows?

How do I specify exactly which drive to wake up? I just ran HDAT2 /W in the command line when I booted up using ultimate boot cd so I assume it tried to wake up all the drives. However, the drive did not spin up when I did this.
 

needspractice

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You need to spin up a PUIS enabled drive using HDAT2's /w option (w = wake up). After the drive has woken up, you can then disable PUIS using HDAT2.

That said, it would be very unusual for PUIS to have been enabled without user interaction, so we're just clutching at straws and eliminating possibilities.

I'm assuming that your drive is now connected via SATA, not USB.

Also, the repair shop never had the drive. So the drive is in whatever state it was originally in. I just sent off the bios chip and the pcb board. Are these pcb board settings or hard drive settings?
 

needspractice

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PUIS is a PCB setting. (It's obvious when you think about it)

HDAT2 is a DOS application. It cannot run under Windows.

"HDAT2 / w" wakes up all drives.

Remember I'm an idiot.

I performed HDAT2 /W in DOS. The drive did not spin up. Does the drive have to spin up in order to enable/disable PUIS? How do I diable PUIS?
 

needspractice

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PUIS is a PCB setting. (It's obvious when you think about it)

HDAT2 is a DOS application. It cannot run under Windows.

"HDAT2 / w" wakes up all drives.


Q19: Hard disk doesn't spin up - PUIS (Power Up In Standby).
A19: The optional Power-Up In Standby (PUIS) feature set allows devices to be powered-up into the Standby power management state to minimize current at power-up and to allow the host to sequence the spin-up of devices.
This optional feature set may be enabled or disabled via the SET FEATURES command or may be enabled by use of a jumper, or both. When enabled by a jumper, this feature set shall not be disabled via the SET FEATURES command.
Once this feature is enabled in a device, the device shall not disable the feature as a result of processing a power-on reset, a hardware reset, or a software reset.

If the device implements this SET FEATURES subcommand and power-up into Standby is enabled, the device shall remain in Standby until the SET FEATURES subcommand is received.
If the device does not implement the SET FEATURES subcommand to spin-up the device after power-up and PUIS is enabled, the device shall spin-up upon receipt of the first command that requires the device to access the media, except the IDENTIFY DEVICE command or the IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE command.
Solution for HDAT2 program: if you have a hard disk with enabled PUIS (cannot spin up and BIOS cannot recognize this drive) run program with parameter /W Wake/Spin-up the drive:
HDAT2 /W
List of parameters: HDAT2 /? or HDAT2 /h.​

Oh well I did this within DOS and the drive did not spin up.

I used ultimate boot cd, had drive connected directly to the motherboard, and ran command HDAT2 /W. The drive did not spin up.
 
I believe that the drive would need to spin up in order to disable PUIS. That's because the relevant part of the firmware which supports this command is stored on the platters, not in ROM.

That said, it is not clear that PUIS is enabled. In fact I very much doubt that it is.
 

needspractice

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One thing you could try is to place a business card between the PCB and HDA contacts ("heads contacts"). This will prevent the PCB from detecting the preamp inside the drive. If the drive then spins up, this will point to the preamp as the culprit.

HDD from inside: Hard Drive Main parts:
https://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

Tried the business card thing. Cut it perfectly. Nothing.
 

needspractice

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One thing you could try is to place a business card between the PCB and HDA contacts ("heads contacts"). This will prevent the PCB from detecting the preamp inside the drive. If the drive then spins up, this will point to the preamp as the culprit.

HDD from inside: Hard Drive Main parts:
https://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

Also what do you mean about hot swap? Maybe we could try that.
 

needspractice

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One thing you could try is to place a business card between the PCB and HDA contacts ("heads contacts"). This will prevent the PCB from detecting the preamp inside the drive. If the drive then spins up, this will point to the preamp as the culprit.

HDD from inside: Hard Drive Main parts:
https://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

Okay I got the device, what kind of ROM BIOS chip is this? Is it a straight connection 1 to 1 or a not straight connection? I am trying to setup the wiring on the clip.
 

needspractice

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One thing you could try is to place a business card between the PCB and HDA contacts ("heads contacts"). This will prevent the PCB from detecting the preamp inside the drive. If the drive then spins up, this will point to the preamp as the culprit.

HDD from inside: Hard Drive Main parts:
https://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

Okay, I dumped my ROM that was supposedly transferred over to the new rom from my old damaged rom. Please see below:

https://ufile.io/v66yjwgy

However, I am skepitcal because my original rom that they put on a random board can't be read (maybe its too damaged now?) (Or is this some random rom, and they said they transfered it over but really didn't, lol). I connected to it just like I did the new rom and I get no readings, everything just stays all "ff"s. I mean, I could take it off the board and see if I can get a better connection and then read it again.

However, what do you think about the above ROM?
 

needspractice

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One thing you could try is to place a business card between the PCB and HDA contacts ("heads contacts"). This will prevent the PCB from detecting the preamp inside the drive. If the drive then spins up, this will point to the preamp as the culprit.

HDD from inside: Hard Drive Main parts:
https://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

Whoops, this one probably is better:

https://ufile.io/97dxkgne

This rom is definitely jacked. I programmed into another Donor Board, I have a ton. One that was booting up the drive and now after I programmed it with this same rom, its dead and doesn't do anything. Whatever the problem is, it is with this ROM. It got corrupted somehow.

Maybe File System Corruption or something?
 

needspractice

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One thing you could try is to place a business card between the PCB and HDA contacts ("heads contacts"). This will prevent the PCB from detecting the preamp inside the drive. If the drive then spins up, this will point to the preamp as the culprit.

HDD from inside: Hard Drive Main parts:
https://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html

FYI, when I still attach my best donor board it kicks the drive right up and stays on and sounds awesome. That original rom is the problem. I transfered it to another pcb board that was booting up the drive before but now its dead with that rom.
 
The ROM is bad. The serial number in the DL_SAPM firmware segment is Z84116C0. Does this match your drive?

F3RomExplorer is reporting that all 3 "adaptive" segments have bad CRCs. This is bad news.

I would try to read the ROM several times and compare the dumps. Maybe you will get one good read out of several attempts.

In F3RomExplorer the critical segments are DL_SAPM, DL_RAPM and DL_CAPM. If you can read these without error, then the prognosis for a cheap data recovery is good.

Edit:

You may have chosen the wrong chip part number. It should be W25Q16DW, if I understand correctly. That's a 2MByte chip. Your dump is empty after offset 0x80000 (= 512KB). You can see this in a hex editor (HxD, freeware).

Alternatively, your repairer may have chosen the wrong chip and only copied the first 512KB, in which case he's an idiot.
 
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needspractice

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The ROM is bad. The serial number in the DL_SAPM firmware segment is Z84116C0. Does this match your drive?

F3RomExplorer is reporting that all 3 "adaptive" segments have bad CRCs. This is bad news.

I would try to read the ROM several times and compare the dumps. Maybe you will get one good read out of several attempts.

In F3RomExplorer the critical segments are DL_SAPM, DL_RAPM and DL_CAPM. If you can read these without error, then the prognosis for a cheap data recovery is good.

Edit:

You may have chosen the wrong chip part number. Your dump is empty after offset 0x80000 (= 512KB). You can see this in a hex editor (HxD, freeware).

Alternatively, your repairer may have chosen the wrong chip and only copied the first 512KB.

Just the second one I posted. The first one I didn't read it right, the second one is much, much larger. I'll read dump more and post some more.
 

needspractice

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The ROM is bad. The serial number in the DL_SAPM firmware segment is Z84116C0. Does this match your drive?

F3RomExplorer is reporting that all 3 "adaptive" segments have bad CRCs. This is bad news.

I would try to read the ROM several times and compare the dumps. Maybe you will get one good read out of several attempts.

In F3RomExplorer the critical segments are DL_SAPM, DL_RAPM and DL_CAPM. If you can read these without error, then the prognosis for a cheap data recovery is good.

Edit:

You may have chosen the wrong chip part number. Your dump is empty after offset 0x80000 (= 512KB). You can see this in a hex editor (HxD, freeware).

Alternatively, your repairer may have chosen the wrong chip and only copied the first 512KB.

https://ufile.io/97dxkgne

Did you look at this one?
 

needspractice

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The ROM is bad. The serial number in the DL_SAPM firmware segment is Z84116C0. Does this match your drive?

F3RomExplorer is reporting that all 3 "adaptive" segments have bad CRCs. This is bad news.

I would try to read the ROM several times and compare the dumps. Maybe you will get one good read out of several attempts.

In F3RomExplorer the critical segments are DL_SAPM, DL_RAPM and DL_CAPM. If you can read these without error, then the prognosis for a cheap data recovery is good.

Edit:

You may have chosen the wrong chip part number. It should be W25Q16DW, if I understand correctly. That's a 2MByte chip. Your dump is empty after offset 0x80000 (= 512KB). You can see this in a hex editor (HxD, freeware).

Alternatively, your repairer may have chosen the wrong chip and only copied the first 512KB, in which case he's an idiot.

I dumped it (4) times:

https://ufile.io/smrzwk21

https://ufile.io/n84lwhrb

https://ufile.io/rg74a47s

https://ufile.io/4ucnlvro

Remember this is a dump from the new transfered rom. I just hope they got all of the original rom. I think they erased my original rom.
 

needspractice

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The ROM is bad. The serial number in the DL_SAPM firmware segment is Z84116C0. Does this match your drive?

F3RomExplorer is reporting that all 3 "adaptive" segments have bad CRCs. This is bad news.

I would try to read the ROM several times and compare the dumps. Maybe you will get one good read out of several attempts.

In F3RomExplorer the critical segments are DL_SAPM, DL_RAPM and DL_CAPM. If you can read these without error, then the prognosis for a cheap data recovery is good.

Edit:

You may have chosen the wrong chip part number. It should be W25Q16DW, if I understand correctly. That's a 2MByte chip. Your dump is empty after offset 0x80000 (= 512KB). You can see this in a hex editor (HxD, freeware).

Alternatively, your repairer may have chosen the wrong chip and only copied the first 512KB, in which case he's an idiot.

Yes, the serial number matches the hard drive. Is that good news? Maybe it is the original rom is some form of capacity.

Like I said before. When I dumped this rom on a new donor board. Nothing.

How does this happen? I mean wtf happened? All I did one day is plug in this external drive and all this happened.

What if this is some random rom information though? Who knows. What are the options thus far? Can that super ROM guy, fix this? I mean I think if this rom information gets repaired and I program a good pcb board correctly, this thing should fire up right?

What do you mean "cheap data recovery"? Simply bypass rom and ripe the data RAW or have someone rewrite the ROM and put it on a good donor board?
 

needspractice

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It looks like the ROM is original. However, your repairer only copied the first 512KB. The remaining 1.5MB is all 0xFF, meaning that he chose the wrong ROM type.

So does that mean its party over? Or should I take the Orignial Rom off this random board and try to get a better connection? I don't think it will work though, I think they erased it.