Hard drive click of death

[Scenic]

Re: Hard drive click of death

Look for a little 8 pin chip silkscreened "U12".
On really old drives it's a rather big (in comparison) TSOP style chip instead (M27C1024 is common)

[b700029]

Re: Hard drive click of death

Removing the lid on those WD drives instantly makes them unusable, as the arm with the heads on is mounted to the cover (the hole in the label).
Without the right torque on that screw, the drive won't read any data reliably or at all, even if everything else is working fine.

Congrats! You've ruined the drive even further.
Consider it FUBAR'd.

With a lot of patience you can get that working:

http://hddguru.com/articles/2006.02....stack-Q-and-A/

(scroll down to the very bottom.)

[Fud]

Re: Hard drive click of death

Could not find anything looking with those letters or numbers, the only thing with 8 pins or which seemed to be because on was under each one and the bottom of the board had 8 solder dots to it was this . Nothing that had U12 on it at all.

The middle outline was from another site mine is at the top, I see nothing else with 8 pins anywhere after looking over and over. and that part attaches to the motor on the spindle to power it, it seems.

As far as opening it and sticking a screwdriver in the arm the later article i dunno about that besides that guys hand looked not that clean either
Can someone that knows at least point out where the eeprom is please. If it's that tiny one underneath where the circle is with the arrow that has 8 pins but can't be read even with reading glasses and a magnifying glass even side lit. And suppose it was that there is no way I can desolder that and resolder in another unless it just pops out with a pin and put in another one.

Look for a little 8 pin chip silkscreened "U12".
On really old drives it's a rather big (in comparison) TSOP style chip instead (M27C1024 is common)

[Scenic]

Re: Hard drive click of death

If that's what your own PCB looks like, it's the "flying carpet" chip in the top left corner.
WD switched to much smaller 8pin serial flash EEPROMs later on (see attachment).

[Fud]

Re: Hard drive click of death

They look different than those two, I just took the actual pics. The one on the left is the new board that works on another drive that is the same but on my dead drive semi works with the clicking. The one one the right the old one is the one that doesn't make a peep at all when put in. The only differece I can see between them is the very top right the color of the chip but the rest looks exact. Sorry for the glare. So it must be that 8 pin one in the middle right?

If so can they be popped out or do they have to be desoldered. Or did i make the mistake that they aren't 100% identical when they both came from the exact same drive models.

[Fud]

Re: Hard drive click of death

I ran out of time to edit and highlight where i think the chip is. Is the eeprom the little on just above the biggest chip to the right a bit. And can it just be taken out without desoldering?

[momaka]

Re: Hard drive click of death

I ran out of time to edit and highlight where i think the chip is. Is the eeprom the little on just above the biggest chip to the right a bit.

I would guess either U1 (that multi-pin chip in the upper-right corner) or U13 (8-pin chip above the main controller, U5). Check what the numbers on top of them say and post them here or look for their data sheet on Google.

And can it just be taken out without desoldering?

Not without breaking them... so in short, no.

Have you tried putting back the original board on the original drive?

[Fud]

Re: Hard drive click of death

Ahah finally found the number, was trying to look on the chip but was impossible to see at all, but on the board next to it was U12 on both cept one has a divot in one corner the other does not, and no the old board does not work on the old drive, the new board sort of kind of works on the old drive just the clicking.

So this looks like a bitch to try and desolder something that small and replace it and solder the other in. Maybe i should look for another board for 15 bucks or something.

[mattbrad2]

Re: Hard drive click of death

So this looks like a bitch to try and desolder something that small and replace it and solder the other in. Maybe i should look for another board for 15 bucks or something.

There is special adaptive information stored on that U12 chip. Purchasing another board isn't going to work - you *have* to transfer the adaptive information to the new board. I haven't read this entire thread so I'm not sure how you matched up the replacement board to begin with. On Western Digital, you would have needed to match up the DCM number exactly - at the very least, the 5th and 6th numbers need to match. It's also better to closely match the date code and country of origin. All this being said, opening the drive has pretty much destroyed any chance of getting the drive to ready up again. As was mentioned before, these model WD's are aligned from the lid. It's not just the torque you have to get right, its the angle too. You would need something like the pic I attached to get it just right. I'm afraid this is a lost cause for a DiY project.

[kc8adu]

Re: Hard drive click of death

i have done headstack swaps in these and did it without fancy tools.
but the o.p made himself lots of unecesary work opening the drive.
he will have fun getting it to come ready that is for certain!
and we still dont know if the preamp/switch bought the farm from whatever killed the drive!

There is special adaptive information stored on that U12 chip. Purchasing another board isn't going to work - you *have* to transfer the adaptive information to the new board. I haven't read this entire thread so I'm not sure how you matched up the replacement board to begin with. On Western Digital, you would have needed to match up the DCM number exactly - at the very least, the 5th and 6th numbers need to match. It's also better to closely match the date code and country of origin. All this being said, opening the drive has pretty much destroyed any chance of getting the drive to ready up again. As was mentioned before, these model WD's are aligned from the lid. It's not just the torque you have to get right, its the angle too. You would need something like the pic I attached to get it just right. I'm afraid this is a lost cause for a DiY project.

[mattbrad2]

Re: Hard drive click of death

i have done headstack swaps in these and did it without fancy tools.
but the o.p made himself lots of unecesary work opening the drive.
he will have fun getting it to come ready that is for certain!
and we still dont know if the preamp/switch bought the farm from whatever killed the drive!

From the sounds of it (in his original description) I would guessed the board had a TVS diode problem but since it powers on another drive its more than likely a bad preamp.

[b700029]

Re: Hard drive click of death

i have done headstack swaps in these and did it without fancy tools.
but the o.p made himself lots of unecesary work opening the drive.
he will have fun getting it to come ready that is for certain!
and we still dont know if the preamp/switch bought the farm from whatever killed the drive!

Was that via the "slowly wiggle it around until it works" method?

[Fud]

Re: Hard drive click of death

Oh cool now i have to look for the preamp too lol. I'm thinking it might be easier finding an exact exact match from the serial numbers on the original board rather than using a board from the same doner drive which is the same cept one said taiwan and the other malaysia but with the exact same model num but look slightly different the boards.

Since the lid was only taken off for a min to a take a pic and not powered up worth it to find an exact match on the board?

[Fud]

Re: Hard drive click of death

Ok with the mistake of taking the cover off without being warned, I got it to click on once and spin up after playing with the tension on the screws by hand. I don't have a tourque screw driver. Now to replace the bios chip to see if it can be read it looks tricky and too small to do with a soldering pen. From what i saw you need a heat gun with a small blower to remove and replace.

Now if i can only find someone in this area that knows how to do that.

So all might not be lost.