Seagate Bricked Firmware Drive Fix (With Pics) - Overclock.net

my77stang · 02-07-09

Ok guys I did not come up with the original solution to this, but I did take the provided information and turn it into a "no brainer" tutorial with step-by-step clear instructions, pictures, and proper English since the original fix was posted by people who used English as a 2nd language and was somewhat confusing.

Quote:

Drive is Busy (a.k.a. BSY) error.

Drive tested with this solution was a ST3500320AS with firmware SD15 and worked perfectly using all of the steps provided below.

FIRST, PAY ATTENTION TO UPPER AND LOWER CASE WHEN TYPING THINGS INTO HYPERTERMINAL!!!!!!!!

Step 1: Remove the PCB (circuit board on the drive), take note of where the PCB makes contact with the actual hard drive. Leave the motor contacts connected, and put something like a business card or piece of thick paper between PCB and hard drive where the other connector is. Replace all the screws you can, and snug down at lease a couple of them furthest away from where the business card is stuffed in there.

Step 2: Connect the RX, TX, and GND wires from your custom fabricated cable to the drive. I used a CA-42 cell phone cable and it worked perfectly. (Note that the RX as listed on your cable goes to the TX on the Hard Drive, and the TX as listed on your cable goes to the RX on the Hard Drive).

I Purchased mine from eBay seller "edirect" for $5.35 and took 1 week to arrive. I recommend purchasing a cable you know works such as this one. The large plastic end comes off very easily and is clearly labeled on the circuit board which wire is which.

Here's the pin arrangement on the drive - remember to hook up the RX and TX "backwards" or you will not be able to talk to the drive.

Step 3: Plug the SATA power cable into the drive, and wait until drive motor stops.

Step 4: Open Hyperterminal, when prompted choose the COM port that your cable is using. If you are unsure of which COM port to use, check your device manager (look in the "ports" sub-section) to see which COM port your cable is using. Choose 38400, 8, None, 1, None in the COM properties box that should pop up. If you hit "OK" and you get no errors, you should be in.

Step 5: Type ctrl+z and you should see a prompt that says F3 T>

Step 6: Type /2 and press enter. It should say F3 2>

Step 7: Type Z and press enter. It should say "Spin Down Complete, Elapsed Time 0.146 msecs", the elapsed time may not be the same - that's OK.

Step 8: Remove business card and mount the PCB as normal, tighten up all the screws.

Step 9: Type U and press enter. It should say "Spin Up Complete, Elapsed Time 6.864 secs". Again, the elapsed time may not be the same and that's OK.

This next part is not necessary, it's just checking that everything is OK. Use this when the first try fails (command F712 works only on 500 GB 7200.11 drives with firmware SD15, if this isn't your Firmware version just skip this part.)

Type / and press enter. It should say F3 T>

Type F712 and press enter. It should say.....

Byte:0712: RealTimeUpdatedFlags = 00 00
Byte:0712: Bit:0, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX = 0
Byte:0712: Bit:1, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX_EXT = 0
Byte:0712: Bit:2, DCO_SET_ACTIVE = 0
Byte:0712: Bit:3, CONGEN_READ_FROM_MEDIA = 0 <- configuration not loaded from surface

Type F,,22 and press enter. It should say Drive Configuration restored to defaults.

Type F712 and press enter. It should say.....

Byte:0712: RealTimeUpdatedFlags = 08 00
Byte:0712: Bit:0, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX = 0
Byte:0712: Bit:1, HPA_SET_BY_SETMAX_EXT = 0
Byte:0712: Bit:2, DCO_SET_ACTIVE = 0
Byte:0712: Bit:3, CONGEN_READ_FROM_MEDIA = 1 <- done

(This is the end of the part that was not necessary unless the first try failed).

Step 10: You should see F3 T> at this point, type /1 and press enter. It should say F3 1>

Step 11: Type N1 and press enter. It should say F3 1>

Step 12: Type / and press enter. It should say F3 T>

***edit***
A fellow member with SD15 firmware sent me this message and I thought it should be added in case you guys are having problems. I didn't need to do the following step that is in italics but apparently some people have trouble unless they do this....
before you type the command m22,0,0,0,0,22 you need to disconnect power and reconnect.. wait about 10-20 seconds then enter that command or else it will not work.
***edit***

Step 13: Type m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 and press enter. (Note the "m" is lower case and the 0's are zeros). It should say.....

Max Wr Retries = 00, Max Rd Retries = 00, Max ECC T-Level = 00, Max Certify Rewrite Retries = 0000
User Partition Format 5% complete, Zone 00, Pass 00, LBA 00008DED, ErrCode 00000080, Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs
User Partition Format Successful - Elapsed Time 0 mins 05 secs

And should bring you back to the F3 T> Prompt.

Step 14: Unplug the SATA power cable from your drive, unhook the RX, TX, and GND wires. Turn off computer and re-install your drive. Everything *should* be working fine. Be sure to update your drive with the latest firmware as soon as possible.

xguntherc · 02-08-09

what the!

my77stang · 02-08-09

Btw, if anyone needs to do this I will let you use my cable/driver disk for free as long as you cover shipping both ways and promise to give it back when your done

automata · 02-25-09

hi my77stang. i have got the same issue ,as i have no comp port on asus p5q pro ,so would the nokia 7610 datacable which looks similar would work fine

twizted01 · 03-01-09

how do you connect the ca-42 cable to the hard drive? do you need to open up the cable or something?

my77stang · 04-05-09

yes, you chop the end of the cable off and then connect the wires to some small jumper wires that can be plugged into the pins on the drive. i used front panel wires from an old computer case.

{core2duo}werd · 04-15-09

has anyone done this? i'm trying it, but i'm having trouble figuring it out.

migflores · 06-19-09

Thanks you very much...!!!!!
Its work with a HDD MAXTOR DIAMONDMAX 22 500Gb, Firmware MX15
has been dead for 2 month!!! and now is alive... Thanks
i use the CA-42 cable. and GTKTerm in Ubuntu....

GodofGrunts · 06-19-09

Wow, a lot of first time posters. I hope they all gave you REP+

lepa71 · 10-19-09

Could you post pictures of the cable to know what wire is which?

Thanks

		Overclock.net - Overclocking.net > Components > Hard Drives & Storage
Seagate Bricked Firmware Drive Fix (With Pics)

02-25-09	#4 (permalink)
automata New to Overclock.net Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 1 Rep: 0 Unique Rep: 0 Trader Rating: 0	hi my77stang. i have got the same issue ,as i have no comp port on asus p5q pro ,so would the nokia 7610 datacable which looks similar would work fine

03-01-09	#5 (permalink)
twizted01 New to Overclock.net Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 1 Rep: 0 Unique Rep: 0 Trader Rating: 0	how do you connect the ca-42 cable to the hard drive? do you need to open up the cable or something?

06-19-09	#8 (permalink)
migflores New to Overclock.net Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1 Rep: 0 Unique Rep: 0 Trader Rating: 0	Thanks you very much...!!!!! Its work with a HDD MAXTOR DIAMONDMAX 22 500Gb, Firmware MX15 has been dead for 2 month!!! and now is alive... Thanks i use the CA-42 cable. and GTKTerm in Ubuntu....

10-19-09	#10 (permalink)
lepa71 New to Overclock.net Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 1 Rep: 0 Unique Rep: 0 Trader Rating: 0	Could you post pictures of the cable to know what wire is which? Thanks

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 3 (0 members and 3 guests)