www.deadharddrive.com

atlcr · Officially active! Joined: 13 Jul 2011 Posts: 3

I'm trying to recover a drive from WD (1600BB) for a friend.

When I initially plugged it in, there was no spin up or sound of any kind. I finally found, on ebay, a replacement PCB to put on the bad drive. After doing so, I plugged it in and it powered up and I could hear the platters spinning, but it was not recognized by the system. Not a big surprise there as I was told by the seller that I need to swap out the U12 chip.

I do a lot of computer repair, but not much with the soldering iron. So, I was a little hesitant to try this, but I decided to anyway. I have a nice Weller soldering station so I might as well use it. Smile

Though it was difficult, I was finally able to remove both U12 chips, though they both still had solder globs on a few legs. I lined up the old chip on the new board as carefully as I could and then applied the soldering iron to each pin until the solder on the board melted and joined with the pins.

Now, when I plug it in, I get the same symptoms I got originally: no spin, no sound, etc.

So my question is: Does this mean that the U12 chip from the bad drive was bad?

I'm also wondering if I may have accidently brought the soldering iron too close to other components and caused damage to other PCB components.

Other possibilities might include bad solder joints or chip reversal. I checked the solder joints with a loupe and everything is making contact and the solder is shiny.

So, could putting the chip on backwards cause this problem? If so can I just take it off and attach it the other way to test? Is it possible to permanently damage the drive by doing this? Or if it is backwards now, did supplying it with power kill it?

Lots of questions I know, but I could really use some help with this as it is new territory for me and I need to tell my friend something one way or the other as I've had this drive for months now (took a long time to find a compatible PCB).

Thanks in Advance!
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Computer Repair Atlanta

harddrivespecialist · Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 3:30 pm Post subject:

Upload a picture of your PCB here, good quality please. I will take a look at it and will tell you if chip is soldered correctly.
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atlcr · Officially active! Joined: 13 Jul 2011 Posts: 3

Well, you'll get a kick out of this picture.

I took the PCB off to take the photos, and it was a disaster. Apparently, something went wrong, overheated, and then melted the foam backing onto the U12 chip. Not pretty.

I know the chip wasn't perfectly lined up, but it was making contact with all pins. I might have reversed the orientation though, placing the chip backwards. Could that have caused this?

A good learning experience I suppose...

<sigh>

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Computer Repair Atlanta

atlcr · Officially active! Joined: 13 Jul 2011 Posts: 3

Dangit...I just noticed that I didn't clean the solder off the tracers on the PCB well enough. I suppose that could definitely cause this problem.
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Computer Repair Atlanta

harddrivespecialist · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:38 pm Post subject:

You definitely need a new PCB and to rebuild/Match ROM info on that drive.
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Albert · Posted once Joined: 18 Jun 2012 Posts: 1

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hedgenursery · Active contributor Joined: 18 Jul 2012 Posts: 6

You need a new PCB and to rebuild/Match ROM details on that produce.
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Eric Lee · Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 1:32 pm Post subject:

Hi,

If you don't mind, Sorry that I have to say it is my first time to see such a terrible soldering chips. The chips is dead.

Thanks, Eric.
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corbingravely · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 8:41 am Post subject:

Even if you swap the chip it is not going to work according to my knowledge. Even if it works there is a great chance that every single data will be lost. So be careful before you do it.

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