Question Swapped PCB (and BIOS) on Hard Disk - Cannot initialize Drive

Hobogaragesale

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Jul 5, 2010
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Hello!

I was replacing the PSU in a build and assumed the SATA power connectors were interchangeable since it was the same brand PSU. Upon booting two of my (previously working) HDD were no longer recognized (could not see them in disk management etc.). Tried plugging them into another computer for testing, they do not spin or power up AT ALL. I purchased identical replacement PCBs, and had someone swap the old BIOS chips onto the new PCB boards. I installed the new PCB boards with the old BIOS chips and now the drives are recognized on disk management as well as AOMEI but I cannot initialize them. I have tried both MBR or GPT.

On AOMEI I get an immediate error saying "Failed to initialize this disk". On Disk Management it thinks for a while then tells me: "the semaphore timeout period has expired".

The drives in question are:
4TB WD40EZRX
1TB WD1003FZEX

In my first computer I tried connecting them both directly via SATA cable and neither drive was recognized in the Disk Management application. On my second computer I have the 4TB drive in a USB drive caddy for ease of access and it is recognized but fails to initialize.

I know the PCB/BIOS chip swap was not a guaranteed fix but I am wondering if anyone has any additional guidance or ideas here - nothing critical on the drives just ~5TB of media for my Plex server I'd rather not have to manually rebuild.

Thank you.
 

Hobogaragesale

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Jul 5, 2010
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Do both drives spin up and remain spinning after the ROM ("BIOS") swap?

Could we see a photo of the damaged PCBs?

Catastrophic failures in Western Digital PCBs:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=1119
Hey thank you for the response - honestly the PCBs look completely fine nothing like in the images. I just couldn't get them to do anything and had no other ideas so I decided to just try the PCB/BIOS chip swap since it was inexpensive/accessible.

I can still snap some pics in a little bit here if you think it would be relevant.

The 4TB I have in my drive caddy clicks and hums when plugged in but doesn't feel like it's spinning and chugging like the drive next to it.

I'll try again both drives direst SATA connection in a little bit here and report back.
 

Hobogaragesale

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Jul 5, 2010
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Measure the TVS diodes and zero-ohm resistors.

TVS Diode FAQ:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=86

If the 5V diode is shorted, and if its resistor is open, then there is a real possibility that the preamp on the headstack has been damaged. A photo of the PCB would help me to determine if your drive is vulnerable in this area. Older PCBs had bad "protection", whereas the newer ones are OK.
First picture is the 4TB the second is the 1TB (the old PCBS) - have to do a few chores around the house before I can play with the drives again. Let me know if you need better/other pictures.


As I sit here I've heard the "new device detected/plugged in" windows beep go off a few times. I think the drive is cycling on and off or something.

Thank you again for your help.