Burnt hard drive controller (Western Digital WD5000KS-00MNB0)

Finally spent 9 bucks at amazon and got the wrench.  The melting part is obvious but hard to photograph.  I’ll try again if this isn’t enough.

Better photo -

Help please don’t forget me…

This is the best picture I got.  It is actually burnt.  Can i fix this and rescue my collection of music?

Stillonline, the first photos weren’t clear, so I had to wait for the follow-up. Be aware that, although you can see your own photos immediately, others must wait for them to be approved.

Anyway, your board is an earlier model that doesn’t appear to have protection diodes. In your case the motor controller chip (SMOOTH) is damaged. The most expedient solution is to purchase another board and transfer the 8-pin serial EEPROM chip at location U12 from patient to donor.

See this photo:
http://cdn1.ioffer.com/img/item/107/678/495/Q8Vbm1F1O1ukdfF.jpg

This vendor offers a PCB plus firmware transfer for US$70:
http://www.hdd-parts.com/firmware-transfer.html

Use the part number on the rear of the board to order a spare. I believe it may be 2060-701335. If so, then this could be your PCB:
http://www.hdd-parts.com/20091010.html

2061 701335 B00AT

Ok I’m looking - but I can not find a match for mine - it’s Western Digital Caviar *SE WD2500JS

2061 - 701335 B00AT

I’m assuming that you’re telling me that I can remove the U12 thinga ma giggy and …I’m just IN WAY over my head.  I think I’m way over the geek kids head too although they refuse to admit it. 

I believe that’s a match. The “2061” number is on a sticker and refers to the fully loaded PCB. The “2060” number would be printed on the PCB itself. It identifies the bare PCB.

You need to find someone with soldering skill to remove and replace the EEPROM chip. If you damage this chip, then the data recovery cost will be much greater.

Consider that if you purchase a working PCB, then you could always resell it on eBay after you have recovered your data.

Well if I knew anyone who was handy with any kind of tool - I’ve got a list.  I asked around.  My son has a friend who…and I have a friend from high school who…or -

anyway possibilities but not any time soon. 

My question is this:  Western Digital sent me a replacement.  If I don’t send back the damaged drive they will charge me 90 bucks for 250 gigs.  Steep.  I’d rather hang on to the old one in the hopes of someday recovering the music.

Sound reasonable. 

All I can say is that any price is more reasonable than professional data recovery. In any case, I would expect that your photos would be worth more to you than $90.

Priceless. 

Thank you for all your time and effort. and all the great information that even a semi-geek can understand (well maybe not the first time)

Thank you!

Hey fzabkar,

I finally managed to buy the PCB from ebay and have it shipped to India. Should I attempt swapping the PCBs or solder the firmware chip from the old PCB onto the new one and then try powering on the hard drive? Can anything go wrong if I just attempt to screw on the new PCB and start up the hard drive?

Looking forward to your reply.

It is OK to swap PCBs on WD and Seagate drives. If the “adaptive” data are not within tolerance, then the drive will click and won’t be detected. Don’t do this with Hitachi drives, though. The MCU can overwrite the EEPROM data, rendering both patient and donor inoperable.

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Great, so here’s my plan of action. I’ll attach the new PCB onto the drive and keep my fingers crossed. If it doesn’t appear to work, then I’ll proceed to swap the U12 firmware chip as well. Wish me luck man! And regardless of the turnout, thanks a dozen for your help :slight_smile:

Okay, so I tried with the new PCB, the hard drive spins up and gets detected, but it says SATA Port Device Error and shows up at 0GB with no name. Tell me this is a firmware issue that will get solved if I swap the U12 chip!

I believe your drive is powering up in safe mode. I don’t know enough to confirm that this is due to a U12 mismatch, but you won’t know unless you try it. Just be careful, as damaging the serial flash memory will escalate the cost of data recovery.

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Hmm. Yesterday when I attached the new PCB, like I said, it showed SATA Port Device Error in POST. I shut the PC down and removed the hard drive. You think I should boot into Windows just to see if the drive detects fine, or it won’t really make a difference?

If a drive reports 0 LBAs to the BIOS, then Windows won’t see it any differently.

Hey,

Replacing the U12 EEPROM chip on the new PCB with the one on the original PCB did the trick! My hard drive is back in action and I am currently backing up all my precious data as I write this. Thanks a tonne for the help Fzabkar :slight_smile:

Hey remember me?  Geekie Mama?  Well Christmas is finally over and I’m all set to send  my board off to  have a firmware transfer… However  I’m not fluent in either Geek or Canadian and when you mix the two - well -

On the form I send with the board  they ask for the DCM and MDL along with the serial number.   I think I know the serial number and is the MDL model number?  But what is a DCM?  Even Geek son didn’t know. 

DCM = Drive Configuration Matrix
MDL = Model number

Both numbers are on the label.