HDD Problem (RIP?)

R

Ratama123

Geek Trainee
First of all, let me explain with details:


motherboard: Gigabyte EP45-DS3L (irrelevant, I think)
PSU: Cooler Master Extreme Power 650W
HDD1 (system): Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB (the one with the problem)
HDD2: WD, 1TB. Can't remember the model. It's irrelevant because this one works, the other doesn't.
OS: Windows 7 Enterprise x64

All this info is just so you know.

Tonight the electricity was cut off. When it went back on, I turned on the computer and I got this message: DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

Just want to clarify that I've already tried following every procedure with no luck.

At first, the BIOS wouldn't recognize my 2 hard drives and wouldn't boot from the DVD, so I switched off and unplugged everything for a little while. After plugging back in, the BIOS read the HDD2 (WD), allowing me to boot from a DVD. But still no luck with the HDD1 (Seagate, OS in it).

I tried CMOS, swapped wires and ports on the motherboard, dancing around my house naked singing Sexy Bitch, nothing worked.

(AHCI disabled)

So the HDD started spinning, it wasn't completely dead. I put it on my brother's computer.

1) I replaced his HDD with my Seagate. The BIOS didn't recognize it, so I changed the port on the motherboard to make sure and nothing happened.
2) I connected both hard drives (mine and my brother's). Then, Windows would get stuck on the welcome screen, before showing the desk.

I've been told to leave it alone until tomorrow and try again, but meanwhile, I come here to look for more suggestions.

If there's anything else I can try to make it work again, excellent. If not, I'd like to know if there's any chance to recover the data in that HDD (more than 200GB in music, for example. All tagged including dates, front and back covers and even labels).

Thank you for reading.
 
well you pretty much answered your question.

"Tonight the electricity was cut off. When it went back on, I turned on the computer and I got this message: DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER."

apparently your drive got the shock/spike of its life.
you pretty much did all you could to verify especially trying out on another pc.
at this point i would just say hey go buy another drive or send it in for warranty if possible.
but then you said you have data that you wish to recover.
my guess is that the hdd controller card (little green board on bottom of hdd) is bad and the drive might still be good.
what you can do if your desperate for your data is to get the exact exact drive off ebay or somewhere and swap controller card.
i've been in a similar situation with someone elses pc and this worked out.
most cases people's hard drives are bad internally, but a few cases it can be the controller card.
the fact that your drive makes noise says your drive probably still works.
if you need assistance with this it would be best to take a picture of the label and reply here.
thats all the help i can offer.
 
So... there isn't another way? Only with the controller card?

Im from Argentina, and hard is really expensive here :P.
 
that is my guess that its something to do with your controller board.
check out this ebay auction. this guy actually can "unbrick" your controller card and reflash the firmware on specific model drives.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Seagate-7200-11...530?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0b033262
if you read the description, its exactly the symptoms your having.

there is a refurb one on ebay (not sure if its yours exactly) for $37 plus whatever shipping will be to you negotiated by the seller.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Seagate-Barracu...262?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b2a2ff0e

also there is a site that tells you how to "unbrick" it yourself.
http://ireckon.net/2009/05/unbricking-a-seagate-barracuda/
 
as i was saying it being the controller board what i don't know is..
if your controller board is bad all together or the firmware is corrupt and needs to be "unbricked" basically and updated to the newest firmware.
if you decide to try unbricking it yourself then you might be able to get it going again.
otherwise if you can't do this then last resort get another exact hard drive and replace the controller card.
let us know if you have any questions and how it goes.
 
Im following this.

I have one question...

Here is the RS232-to-TTL adapter with the power supply wires connected, as well as a couple of short wires soldered to the RX & TX contacts to act as a poor-man's "header".

Seagate%20Fix%20030.JPG
Click to expand...

as well as a couple of short wires soldered to the RX & TX
Click to expand...

Where can I find wires like these?
 
there's really nothing special about the wires.
the one in the picture is a solid copper wire.
and more commonly they have stranded wire.
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2053286
that has a pic that shows the difference.
i don't think it really matters which type you use as long as you have a solid connection to each end.
if you have an extra computer power supply you can take that apart and use wires in there.
power supplies typically contain stranded wires.
also you may be able to use the individual wires that are inside a cat5 cable.
if you tear apart the cat5 cable you will find i believe 8 different little wires.
each of those little wires are solid wires and are used similarly with rx/tx communications so this might work too.
otherwise you can go to an electronic store like radio shack if you have one over there.
hopefully you are good with solder iron.
make sure you have 25w or lower, some solder, flux, and a steady hand.
its really not too difficult but for a first timer it will be something different.
 
I have an old PSU, yep.

Thank you again, would you like to eat asado from Argentina? :P

Oh, and I appreciate your 25w advice.
 
Yes, this afternoon I will get:

- Torx T6 screwdriver
- Adapter
- Soldering iron

9:36 AM here in Argentina... google aaaall night long :P.

You can send me your MSN/Steam if you wish, so I keep you updated.
 
i wouldn't do the cell phone data cable method only cause it's not really covered in the how to.
you would need to determine which wires in the data cable are tx/rx and the rest so i would just go with either the serial or usb adapter.
do you have a serial port on your computer to use?
what did you buy so far?
 
tx and rx are reversed from the usb end to the hdd.
ground needs to be common with the same power supply that powers the hdd.
the power from usb is 5v so that fits the requirement of 3.3-5v.
it should work out just fine.
 
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