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

Page 6 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
N

needspractice

Distinguished
Feb 6, 2013
133
0
18,580
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!
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
DSzymborski

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
Nov 19, 2010
20,858
5,100
106,640
needspractice said:
So Pepe can't code a ROM and give it to me to program?

What do I do from here? Is this recoverable if I send this off to a Professional Recovery Service?

What is the percentage chance of success?
Click to expand...

That's unknowable. Too many things have been done to this hard drive and, to be perfectly frank, you struggled to do a lot of the things that fzabkar was trying to walk you through (you should have a lot of gratitude towards him for all the effort he spent trying to do this).

You either bite the bullet and send it to a professional and cross your fingers or you live with the loss of data. There are no guarantees.

How does this help me right now?
Click to expand...

Lessons not learned can come back to haunt you. The silver lining of the worst-case scenario should at least ensure that you never are careless with your important data again.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
N

needspractice

Distinguished
Feb 6, 2013
133
0
18,580
Well, looks like this is where my journey ends. For everyone that has been thoughtful and kind. Thank you. Looks like with the unexpected crash of this hard drive and the mistakes that I have made, I will not be able to retrieve this data. I will hold onto this drive-in case technology changes in the future or if I become independently wealthy and can afford a “professional recovery service”.

To all the negative people out there. Humans are human. We make mistakes even when we know better. My father has been in computers for over 50+ years in the military. I know a lot about computers and backups. Life got in the way. I have a lot going on right now and the last thing I need is smart aleck comments about backing up data.

Anyhow, I hope everyone has a wonderful day and wish all of you the best of success in life.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
N

needspractice

Distinguished
Feb 6, 2013
133
0
18,580
fzabkar said:
They have big advertising budgets, but I don't believe they have the skills.
Click to expand...

Please check this out:

https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41227&start=100

...

Tomset wrote:
NeedsPractice,
What is the serial number of the disk, does it match this one?
SN....................... : Z84116C0
I looked at all your images, and this is the picture I get:
Segment: RAP
Parsing segment....... RAP
ВНИМАНИЕ! Контрольная сумма сегмента неверна!
ВНИМАНИЕ! Контрольная сумма сегмента по данным неверна!
End parsing segment... RAP
Segment: UDS_BFW
Parsing segment....... UDS_BFW
Segment: BOOTFLOADER
Parsing segment....... BOOTFLOADER
End parsing segment... BOOTFLOADER
Segment: CAP
Parsing segment....... CAP
ВНИМАНИЕ! Контрольная сумма сегмента неверна!
ВНИМАНИЕ! Контрольная сумма сегмента по данным неверна!
End parsing segment... CAP

But then they are still there:
CAP
###
<???>

RAP
###
Format revision.......... : 0x0104
Contents revision........ : 0x71060200
Number Sys Zones......... : 1
Number User Zones........ : 60
Heads count.............. : 12
FW Implementation Key.... : 0x1E

SAP
###
Addr 0................... : 0x0001C000
Addr 1................... : 0x80002400

Fam ID................... : 0x8B, (Lamarr)
Fam Member............... : 0x1
SN....................... : Z84116C0
Servo FW rev code........ : 0xD443
Max head................. : 11
Seek mode................ : A020
Flags.................... : 7A49
Head vendor.............. : default
RRO mode................. : 0005
Heads polarity........... : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Logical head map......... : 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B

If the serial number matches, you can try to build a working image.


Yes, that serial number matches my hard drive. What does this mean? Where do I put that data?

I would love to enter that data somewhere and get this drive online and clone this thing. That is what I have been wanting this whole time. The last recovery place told me that they could rip the data off this drive worst case scenario "RAW" and rebuild the file structure. Or best case scenario connect the drive and bypass something and read the drive "as is" with file structure intact and just copying everything to another hard drive.

I thought we might be able to do this together. I don't mind paying for this however, I would have to think about paying over a $1,000 bucks. I just need a minute; but sending my drive out is a whole different story.

Recap:

1-I thought I could swap the bios chip; I failed
2-Sent over to recovery place, they failed
3-Thought we could create a bios that would work (don't mind paying, just need to think about it)
4-Not sure if I want to send my hard drive out
5-Thinking about Professional Recovery Places
6-Starting to get harassed on forums
7-Feel bad, don't want to waste peoples time or be inconsiderate

I really do appreciate everyone's time, but I just thought this looks hopeless and there is no way any of this is going to work. I just need to decide if I am comfortable mailing this drive out to a professional data recovery place, when I just did that with a PCB Board and it was a disaster and they ruined my bios. Imagine if they had my whole hard drive?

Please do not feel that I am not grateful. I am.

...

What does this mean? What software will allow me to set this up to where I could possibly clone this drive with the correct information on it? I do not mind paying for some consultation services. However, I do not appreciate getting harassed online. (not from you, but from others).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
N

needspractice

Distinguished
Feb 6, 2013
133
0
18,580
Update:

I have a designated socket reader, I am going to take the bios of the pcb board and hook it up directly to the reader and see if I can get a reading/dump. Maybe the soldering is in the way. I will be careful.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
N

needspractice

Distinguished
Feb 6, 2013
133
0
18,580
fzabkar said:
They have big advertising budgets, but I don't believe they have the skills.
Click to expand...

I think I am going to cry I might have the original bios information in its entirety. Check out these three dumps. I took the bios off the random pcb donor board and inserted directly into the socket reader. (we now have more data).

https://ufile.io/1iy3tz4k

https://ufile.io/jmcr7qql

https://ufile.io/99pry2ej

I flashed this rom to a random pcb board and the hard drive is still doing the same thing. However, this is good news right? I think you may have everything now! Does something need to be adjusted in the BIOS?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
F

fzabkar

Judicious
Sep 22, 2010
9,270
696
36,390
That's looking good.

The SAP, RAP and CAP modules are OK, so you don't need Pepe to rebuild the ROM. That said, F3ROMExplorer is complaining that the SAP is bad, even though its CRC is 0x0000, so I don't know if this a problem with F3ROMExplorer or with the ROM.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
N

needspractice

Distinguished
Feb 6, 2013
133
0
18,580
fzabkar said:
That's looking good.

The SAP, RAP and CAP modules are OK, so you don't need Pepe to rebuild the ROM. That said, F3ROMExplorer is complaining that the SAP is bad, even though its CRC is 0x0000, so I don't know if this a problem with F3ROMExplorer or with the ROM.
Click to expand...

wow. So is this the whole ROM in its entirety? What does all this mean? I'm sure the ROM is to blame. I took this exact rom, checked it several times, flashed it perfectly and its doing the same thing it did on the orignal pcb board except now its doing it on another board. I have several boards so I'll flash it to another board just in case and see what happens.

Where do we go from here?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
N

needspractice

Distinguished
Feb 6, 2013
133
0
18,580
fzabkar said:
That's looking good.

The SAP, RAP and CAP modules are OK, so you don't need Pepe to rebuild the ROM. That said, F3ROMExplorer is complaining that the SAP is bad, even though its CRC is 0x0000, so I don't know if this a problem with F3ROMExplorer or with the ROM.
Click to expand...

Lardman just posted this (i guess from my rom dump). What does this mean?

WARNING!
ROM image contains crytical damaged objects
[SAP]



Parsing container segment....... Flash ROM image
WARNING! Segment header check sum is invalid!
Segment: GLOB_FLASH_DIR
Parsing segment....... GLOB_FLASH_DIR
End parsing segment... GLOB_FLASH_DIR
Segment: BOOTFW_CONT_0
Parsing container segment....... BOOTFW_CONT_0
Segment: BOOTFW_DIR
Parsing segment....... BOOTFW_DIR
End parsing segment... BOOTFW_DIR
Segment: GENERAL_DATA
Parsing segment....... GENERAL_DATA
End parsing segment... GENERAL_DATA
Segment: PROG_INQ_DATA
Parsing segment....... PROG_INQ_DATA
End parsing segment... PROG_INQ_DATA
Segment: BOOTFW
Parsing segment....... BOOTFW
End parsing segment... BOOTFW
Segment: IAP
Parsing segment....... IAP
End parsing segment... IAP
End parsing container segment... BOOTFW_CONT_0
Segment: SAP
Parsing segment....... SAP
WARNING! Segment whole space check sum is invalid!
WARNING! Segment used space check sum is invalid!
End parsing segment... SAP
Segment: SFW
Parsing segment....... SFW
End parsing segment... SFW
Segment: FLASH_PAD
Parsing segment....... FLASH_PAD
Segment: GLOB_FLASH_DIR
Parsing segment....... GLOB_FLASH_DIR
End parsing segment... GLOB_FLASH_DIR
Segment: BOOTFW_CONT_1
Parsing container segment....... BOOTFW_CONT_1
Segment: BOOTFW_DIR
Parsing segment....... BOOTFW_DIR
End parsing segment... BOOTFW_DIR
Segment: GENERAL_DATA
Parsing segment....... GENERAL_DATA
End parsing segment... GENERAL_DATA
Segment: PROG_INQ_DATA
Parsing segment....... PROG_INQ_DATA
End parsing segment... PROG_INQ_DATA
Segment: BOOTFW
Parsing segment....... BOOTFW
End parsing segment... BOOTFW
Segment: IAP
Parsing segment....... IAP
End parsing segment... IAP
End parsing container segment... BOOTFW_CONT_1
Segment: RAP
Parsing segment....... RAP
End parsing segment... RAP
Segment: UDS_BFW
Parsing segment....... UDS_BFW
Segment: BOOTFLOADER
Parsing segment....... BOOTFLOADER
End parsing segment... BOOTFLOADER
Segment: CAP
Parsing segment....... CAP
End parsing segment... CAP
Segment: SHELL
Parsing segment....... SHELL
End parsing segment... SHELL
End parsing container segment... Flash ROM image

Multipart flash image found. Reparsing...

Parsing multipart flash image....... Flash ROM image

Part 1...

Parsing container segment....... Flash ROM part 1
WARNING! Segment header check sum is invalid!
Segment: GLOB_FLASH_DIR
Parsing segment....... GLOB_FLASH_DIR
End parsing segment... GLOB_FLASH_DIR
Segment: BOOTFW_CONT_0
Parsing container segment....... BOOTFW_CONT_0
Segment: BOOTFW_DIR
Parsing segment....... BOOTFW_DIR
End parsing segment... BOOTFW_DIR
Segment: GENERAL_DATA
Parsing segment....... GENERAL_DATA
End parsing segment... GENERAL_DATA
Segment: PROG_INQ_DATA
Parsing segment....... PROG_INQ_DATA
End parsing segment... PROG_INQ_DATA
Segment: BOOTFW
Parsing segment....... BOOTFW
End parsing segment... BOOTFW
Segment: IAP
Parsing segment....... IAP
End parsing segment... IAP
End parsing container segment... BOOTFW_CONT_0
Segment: SAP
Parsing segment....... SAP
WARNING! Segment whole space check sum is invalid!
WARNING! Segment used space check sum is invalid!
End parsing segment... SAP
Segment: SFW
Parsing segment....... SFW
End parsing segment... SFW
Segment: FLASH_PAD
Parsing segment....... FLASH_PAD
Segment: GLOB_FLASH_DIR
Parsing segment....... GLOB_FLASH_DIR
End parsing segment... GLOB_FLASH_DIR
Segment: BOOTFW_CONT_1
Parsing container segment....... BOOTFW_CONT_1
Segment: BOOTFW_DIR
Parsing segment....... BOOTFW_DIR
End parsing segment... BOOTFW_DIR
Segment: GENERAL_DATA
Parsing segment....... GENERAL_DATA
End parsing segment... GENERAL_DATA
Segment: PROG_INQ_DATA
Parsing segment....... PROG_INQ_DATA
End parsing segment... PROG_INQ_DATA
Segment: BOOTFW
Parsing segment....... BOOTFW
End parsing segment... BOOTFW
Segment: IAP
Parsing segment....... IAP
End parsing segment... IAP
End parsing container segment... BOOTFW_CONT_1
Segment: RAP
Parsing segment....... RAP
End parsing segment... RAP
Segment: UDS_BFW
Parsing segment....... UDS_BFW
Segment: BOOTFLOADER
Parsing segment....... BOOTFLOADER
End parsing segment... BOOTFLOADER
Segment: CAP
Parsing segment....... CAP
End parsing segment... CAP
Segment: SHELL
Parsing segment....... SHELL
End parsing segment... SHELL
End parsing container segment... Flash ROM part 1

Part 2...

Parsing container segment....... Flash ROM part 2
Access violation at address 069F92D8 in module 'PCSEAG~2.DLL'. Read of address 7FE55000

FLASH ROM Info
==============
Image size............... : 2097152

QNR Revisions:
Flash ROM image.......... : 1


CAP
###
Validation Key........... : 0x00000020
Fam ID................... : 0x8B (Lamarr)
Fam Member............... : 0x1
Head count............... : 12
Date..................... : 19 Apr 2017
SN....................... : Z84116C0
PCB SN................... : 0000C7374LYT
PCB PN................... : 100769666
WWN...................... : 5000C500A30EB2CD
MDL1..................... : ST8000AS0002-1NA17Z
MDL2..................... : ST8000AS0002
Capacity................. : 15628053168

RAP
###
Format revision.......... : 0x0104
Contents revision........ : 0x71060200
Number Sys Zones......... : 1
Number User Zones........ : 60
Heads count.............. : 12
FW Implementation Key.... : 0x1E

SAP
###
Addr 0................... : 0x0001C000
Addr 1................... : 0x80002400

Fam ID................... : 0x8B, (Lamarr)
Fam Member............... : 0x1
SN....................... : Z84116C0
Servo FW rev code........ : 0xD443
Max head................. : 11
Seek mode................ : A020
Flags.................... : 7A49
Head vendor.............. : default
RRO mode................. : 0005
Heads polarity........... : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Logical head map......... : 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B

IAP
###
ID, code................................ : 0xFFFF
PUIS.................................... : OFF
Active config........................... : FFFFFFFF
NAND ROM cache flag, Kahuna like........ : FFFFFFFF
NAND ROM cache flag, Rosewood like...... : FFFFFFFF

IAP 1
###
ID, code................................ : 0xFFFF
PUIS.................................... : OFF
Active config........................... : FFFF6F8C
NAND ROM cache flag, Kahuna like........ : FFFFFFFF
NAND ROM cache flag, Rosewood like...... : FFFFFFFF

CODE info
#########
Bank 0
ProdType................. : LAA10D0.ARD5
Controller FW Rev........ : 09221411
Customer Release......... : RT18
Changelist............... : 01105310
Build date / time........ : 22/09/2016 14:11:59
Package Global ID........ : 00391559
Package Builder ID....... :
Build Rev................ :
Package Rev.............. : AA5N00
Pkg P/N.................. : 100809590
Servo FW................. : D444 / ---- / ---- / ----
Package Version.......... : LAA10D0.ARD5.AA5N00.RT18
Pkg CFW Ver.............. : LAA10D0.ARD5.01105310.00391559

Bank 1
ProdType................. : LAA10D0.ARD5
Controller FW Rev........ : 09221411
Customer Release......... : RT18
Changelist............... : 01105310
Build date / time........ : 22/09/2016 14:11:59
Package Global ID........ : 00391559
Package Builder ID....... :
Build Rev................ :
Package Rev.............. : AA5N00
Pkg P/N.................. : 100809590
Servo FW................. : D444 / ---- / ---- / ----
Package Version.......... : LAA10D0.ARD5.AA5N00.RT18
Pkg CFW Ver.............. : LAA10D0.ARD5.01105310.00391559
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
F

fzabkar

Judicious
Sep 22, 2010
9,270
696
36,390
There does seem to be a problem with the SAP segment.

Parsing segment....... SAP
WARNING! Segment whole space check sum is invalid!
WARNING! Segment used space check sum is invalid!
End parsing segment... SAP
Click to expand...

The drive is not configured to power up in standby, so we don't need to bother with that:

PUIS.................................... : OFF
Click to expand...

Let me see if I can find out what is wrong with the SAP. (I have written my own tool for this purpose)

BTW, did your "repairer" have PC3000? If so, then how did they come to the conclusion that the ROM was OK?

Edit:

The second half of your ROM looks like junk, but I could be mistaken. In any case PC3000 doesn't like it, either. Normally the second half would be a copy of the first half, with minor differences.

Parsing container segment....... Flash ROM part 2
Access violation at address 069F92D8 in module 'PCSEAG~2.DLL'. Read of address 7FE55000
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
N

needspractice

Distinguished
Feb 6, 2013
133
0
18,580
fzabkar said:
There does seem to be a problem with the SAP segment.



The drive is not configured to power up in standby, so we don't need to bother with that:



Let me see if I can find out what is wrong with the SAP. (I have written my own tool for this purpose)

BTW, did your "repairer" have PC3000? If so, then how did they come to the conclusion that the ROM was OK?
Click to expand...


That is awesome, I can't believe you written your own tool for that. I am very lucky to be talking to you. Thank you.

Repair Facility

1-said was to damaged to work on, needs hard drive
2-I did not want to give hard drive, asked if they could swap bios
3-they said yes
4-got partial bios back, but not original
5-asked for original
6-got original
7-asked about copy of original, thought original was gone
8-talked to them again, they said they couldn't read the ROM chip on the pcb board, they had to hook it up directly to a reader
9-that is what gave me the idea to take it off the pcb board with the rework station
10-took original rom off donor pcb board and hooked it up direclty to the reader at home
11-dumped original rom to computer
12-we are here now

Yes they had PC 3000, all they said was that they confirmed twice that the orignal rom information was a perfectly copied to the "repaired" pcb donor board with a new rom. They said when they transfered the original rom to another donor board that the board stayed dead. When they transferred the bios information to a new rom and new pcb donor board; the board showed active.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
F

fzabkar

Judicious
Sep 22, 2010
9,270
696
36,390
I just examined a 2MB Barracuda ROM. It appears to have "junk" in the second half, too. So maybe that is normal for this family.

Anyway, the SAP is definitely bad, so I'll work on that. Just give me some time, maybe tomorrow.

In the meantime, if you like some reading ...

Analysis of Seagate F3 ROM:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=2173

Edit:

If I can't find which bit(s) or bytes(s) have been flipped in the SAP, I'll just recalculate the CRCs so that the firmware will ignore the error and load the faulty SAP. Hopefully the corruption isn't significant enough to prevent access to your data, but that will be a risk you'll need to assess for yourself.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
N

needspractice

Distinguished
Feb 6, 2013
133
0
18,580
fzabkar said:
I just examined a 2MB Barracuda ROM. It appears to have "junk" in the second half, too. So maybe that is normal for this family.

Anyway, the SAP is definitely bad, so I'll work on that. Just give me some time, maybe tomorrow.

In the meantime, if you like some reading ...

Analysis of Seagate F3 ROM:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=2173

Edit:

If I can't find which bit(s) or bytes(s) have been flipped in the SAP, I'll just recalculate the CRCs so that the firmware will ignore the error and load the faulty SAP. Hopefully the corruption isn't significant enough to prevent access to your data, but that will be a risk you'll need to assess for yourself.
Click to expand...

What does that mean? If I load this ROM it could bust the drive?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
F

fzabkar

Judicious
Sep 22, 2010
9,270
696
36,390
I found the problem. There is a stuck bit at this location:

Code: 
Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00025C10  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00
                                              ^^

When I change the 8 to a 0, the CRC becomes 0x0000. :)

F3RomExplorer is happy with the edit. If you can reprogram your ROM after making the change, then hopefully you will recover your data.

I use HxD (freeware hex editor).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom