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Worly

Hey there guys,

my Samsung's HD501LJ got burnt recently (you can see a little smokey blister on top of a chip).

I've got the same drive from ebay then, which had the same date. Then I tried a PCB swap without success. The drive spun up again, but wasn't recognized by the BIOS. I knew that would happen Sad

Now I've got a question. Since i'm not sure what firmware I got: Is there a way to get the firmware info? It's not written on the label. The other drive I've bought from Ebay got the info: It's CR100-13. My drive's date is 11.2007, i think it got an older firmware maybe CR100-10.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any information on how to swap the PCB on this model.

Thanks a bunch Smile

Daniel

harddrivespecialist · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 3:19 pm Post subject:

Most of new drives have unique ROM info stored on a board that has to match info inside a drive, in order for your drive to work.

There is also a possibility that you have SA corruption due to power surge.

If your drive does not click while it is pwered, it should be inexpensive fix.

Search for data recovery company that will able to help you with it.
Stay away from computer repair shops, because they usually cause more problems then help.

Check your PM.
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Worly · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 7:08 pm Post subject:

Hi there,

first of all, thanks a lot for the quick reply Smile

So, the ROM data is still there? Because, as i wrote before, you can see a damaged chip on the PCB. I think the board got touched by some cable or so, not properly fixed inside the case, so it got short cutted. Because the case was moved just some minutes before. And the system was powered at that time.

Isn't there a way to get just the PCB repaired?

I don't get any click sounds (that happened to a even newer 1TB drive before, but I've used the warranty option, as there were no important files on it). That's weird, 2 newer Samsung drives died in short time... I got several other Samsung drives working for years.

Also,I read in a different forum about someone who requested a PCB at the local samsung support for the HD501lj, and they sent 2 PCB's. He got the drive working again.

harddrivespecialist · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 7:41 pm Post subject:

Usually with power surge, controller chip is damaged.
If you have a processor chip damaged (chip with a big M on it), you might need to rebuild a ROM info.
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Worly · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 8:45 pm Post subject:

Ok, then it's not the one with the M at least Smile

I've uploaded an image of the board and marked the damaged chip. The damage itself is not visible on the picture though.

fzabkar · Deadharddrive regular +3 Joined: 02 Apr 2010 Posts: 210

[quote="Worly"] Ok, then it's not the one with the M at least :)

I've uploaded an image of the board and marked the damaged chip.

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/9199/dsc01324n.jpg [/quote]

That's the spindle motor and voice coil controller.

Sounds like a pro job, unless you are lucky with a replacement PCB. :-(

Worly · Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:54 am Post subject:

fzabkar · Deadharddrive regular +3 Joined: 02 Apr 2010 Posts: 210

I'm not a DR guy, but I believe that the Marvell MCU contains drive specific calibration data that may need to be transferred to the donor PCB.

sunnydreamspace · Deadharddrive regular +5 Joined: 04 Jan 2009 Posts: 540