Download the Tom's Hardware App from the App Store
The reference for current tech news
Yes No
Ads
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > Hard Drives > [Solved] Hard drive not detected in bios-disk spins and heads move

[Solved] Hard drive not detected in bios-disk spins and heads move

Forum Storage : Hard Drives [Solved] Hard drive not detected in bios-disk spins and heads move

Best answer from fzabkar.

Word :    Username :           
 

Hey guys,
I'm in a sticky situation. My parent's computer had a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 750 GB hard drive and an Intel DG35EC mobo. The Northbridge on the motherboard fried, and now the hard drive can't be detected in the BIOS on our other computer. I replaced the mobo and the drive, and got it working again for them, but I really need to get data off of the drive.

When I plug it into the other computer and into the new motherboard, the drive spins and the heads move at startup, but then nothing happens. While the BIOS detects the drives, it hangs on the port where the old hard drive is plugged in, and then finishes booting normally. It doesn't make any weird noises, sounds the same as the day it was installed.

I've seen other posts about replacing the PCB on the drive, but I'd rather not go to that length if it is not necessary. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You.

Reply to bigj231
Register or log in to remove.

Your drive may be a victim of the Seagate 7200.11 BSY bug. The bug affects Maxtors, too.

Here are repair procedures for Seagate 7200.11 drives:
http://sites.google.com/site/seagatefix/
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807

Tutorial with photos:
http://www.overclock.net/hard-driv [...] -pics.html

Pinout of Nokia CA-42 cable's Pop-port connector (use pins 6,7,8):
http://pinouts.ru/CellularPhones-N [...] nout.shtml

See the following technical bulletin:

Urgent Field Update. Topic: Drive Hang after Power Cycle:
http://www.expreview.com/img/topic [...] Update.pdf

Seagate were at one time offering free data recovery services to those customers whose drives were affected by the bug. This may still be the case.

After you have repaired your drive, you can apply the following firmware update.

Firmware Updates for Seagate Products [207931]:
http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/ [...] cId=207931

Reply to fzabkar

Thank you for your quick reply, but won't this erase the data? In one of the pictures in the Overclock.net guide it shows something about formatting user partitions. The data is really more important to me then keeping the drive itself.
Thanks,
Bigj231


Message edited by bigj231 on 03-16-2011 at 11:41:27 PM
Reply to bigj231

The procedure is data safe. The "partitions" referred to in the article are not in the user data area. They are part of the hidden System Area (SA) of the drive. The SA is where the firmware, bad-block list, SMART data, etc are stored.

Reply to fzabkar

Thanks, I will try that tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
Thank you,
Bigj231

Reply to bigj231

Well, it turns out that it's a thermal problem with the controller board. It works for about 30 seconds, and then you can fry an egg on the board. Any suggestions on where I could find a working board?

Reply to bigj231
Best answer

Try http://www.onepcbsolution.com.

You will need to transfer the "adaptive" data from your original board to your donor. The above supplier offers a "firmware transfer" service for US$10.

That said, it may be that your drive has internal faults, eg bad motor bearing. The motor controller IC will be the one that is closest to the motor connector.

Reply to fzabkar


Thank you, I will need to contact them. Just need to check if they can get a board for a 750 GB drive now.

Reply to bigj231
Register or log in to remove.
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > Hard Drives > [Solved] Hard drive not detected in bios-disk spins and heads move
Go to:

There are 2103 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Ads
Latest best answer
750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache vs. 640GB 5400RPM 8MB Cache
By Truckinupga, 8 hours ago:

Pay the extra 50 and get the 750GB, Not only for the extra space but the larger cache and...

Best offers
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them
Top experts