My Book Essential Connection issues, Please help!

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
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Hello, while I can imagine there have been hundreds of similar posts. I know because I’ve been reading them, I still wanted to create my own as it seems easier that way. As I want to share my exact issues which seem to vary. So I have a 1.5TB WD My Book Essential.  WDBACW0015HBK-00.

I mainly use this on the WDTV media player. One day it was simply not detected. So I unplugged it and hooked it up to my PC, and it’s detected when plugged in via USB,Windows XP asks for driver, even though it has already been setup. It does not show under explorer, but does show up under device manage as “WD MY BOOK1130 USB Device”. The drive sounds as though it spins up, the white led comes on but is solid. It does not blink as an activity LED would do, or did previously. So I then disconnected and hooked it up to my laptop, running Vista. Same exact results. I tried to run WD diagnostic software, but it does not find it either. I’ve already replaced the harddrive logicboard, same exact revision. Still no resolve. So my last resort and option would be the controller board. However, replacing both PCB’s will have been about the same as purchasing a new one. So before I do spring for the controller board, I just want to find out if this seems vaild. While it’s a costly process, it would be worth it to regain access to all the content on the drive as it’s a ton of home footage I have backed up and would truly hate to lose it.

I hope someone can help me, and if more info is needed, please let me know. Thanks!

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The model that you have has hardware encryption, so it might damage your data if you try another logicboard, you can try with a data recovery company if you need to recover your data.

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Thanks for the response. I’m aware of the data recovery option, but am not willing to spend that kind of money, not really that important. I would like to however salvage the drive, even if it means losing data. But I was under the impression the matching revisions will work. The logic board is matching all numbers and revisions to a T. And I can acquire a controller board that also matches to a T. So aside from data, please help me diagnose the issue, and if it sounds as if it is indeed a controller board issue? Is there away to test the PCB’s?

**edit** Also, just the results are the same regardless of which Logicboard is hooked up.

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The guru on hard drive PCB replacements is  fzabkar. Send him a PM and he might be able to give you some tips.

1 Like
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Awesome, thanks!! I’m hopeful he responds with some solid advice!

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I’m not a data recovery professional, but it sounds like the drive has an internal fault.

If the drive spins up, then usually the drive’s PCB is OK. (One notable exception to this rule is the Tornado family which sometimes suffers from “head mimic” faults due to a bad Marvell 88i6745-TFJ1 MCU.) Also, if the USB mass storage device appears in Device Manager, then the USB-SATA bridge board is usually OK.

You can use a utility such as Microsoft’s UVCView to interrogate the bridge board:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_IDs/UVCView.x86.exe

Either of the following utilities should be able to communicate with the HDD behind the bridge.

HD Sentinel (DOS / Windows / Linux):
http://www.hdsentinel.com/

HDDScan for Windows:
http://hddscan.com/

If you insist on replacing the PCBs, then be aware that the HDD PCB stores unique, drive specific “adaptive” information in a serial EEPROM chip. This chip, or its contents, needs to be transferred from patient to donor. In WD drives, this chip is usually located at U12.

The following PCB suppliers offer a firmware transfer service, either for free, or for US$10:

http://www.donordrives.com
http://www.onepcbsolution.com
http://www.hdd-parts.com

I would advise that you avoid those suppliers who don’t tell you that a board won’t work without modification. Often they will attempt to obscure the requirement for a firmware transfer by deceptively describing their products as being “for data recovery only”.

Alternatively, if you are not adept at soldering, your local TV/AV repair shop should be able to transfer the chip for you.

Some PCBs do not have a discrete serial flash memory chip. Instead they store the adaptive data inside the Marvell MCU (the largest chip). In this case you will need a “PCB adaptation” service.

The following PCB supplier includes such a service for free:
http://www.donordrives.com/services

When replacing the bridge board, you need to obtain a compatible PCB from an identical product of the same capacity. At least that’s what I’ve been told by those who should know. In the event that the replacement PCB is unable to decrypt your data, then you may need to transfer the patient’s firmware (an 8-pin serial flash memory) to the donor PCB.

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I can provide you the matching pcb, Contact me for more details.