ST500LT012 Momentus Thin

[Sam]

Spins up, knocks twice, spins down, stays ready.

EDIT 9/22: Distinct "rattle" during the 2 knocks

Model and S/N detected properly, capacity is shown as 3.86GB (size of flash memory chip on PCB I assume), but firmware ver is shown as yyyyyyyy (with 2 dots over each y).
Heads are good (has donor heads in, patient heads are in donor and donor is fine).
No terminal output.
With only PCB attached to utility, same model, S/N, capacity, and yyyyyyyy firmware ver. With only PCB of identical model attached, same output as far as proper detection of model, S/N, 3.86GB capacity, but firmware ver is detected correctly.
The yyyyyyyy fw ver follows the ROM IC to any PCB I attach it to.
I've had a slew of these Momentus Thins come in the past few weeks and almost every one has been multiple bad sectors, stiction, or bad heads. I haven't seen this specific problem...ever. ...and haven't been able to find any info about it on the forums.
Using PC3k utility.
I'd appreciate any insight!

 

[lcoughey]

There are times when the SSD portion of the SSHD is the cause of the issue. I think ACE is still trying to come up with a solution. But, that may or may not be your root cause, but it is possible.

 

[Sam]

Thanks Luke. Is the SSD flash memory chip specific to the HD? Since the issue follows the ROM on a different PCB, wouldn't that eliminate the SSD memory chip as causing the problem?

Also, I was wrong when I said there was no terminal output. I just got the PC3k a week ago and apparently I haven't got the intricacies of the USB terminal connection sorted out yet. I may not have gotten a terminal output because I started a recovery on another port with the USB terminal and without exiting that recovery, switched the terminal connector to this recovery on the other port. I haven't figured it out yet but I'm not about to exit the first recovery because it's imaging on DE with a virtual translator and extremely unstable.
So I started the drive with my DFL utility and this is what I got in terminal:


Spin Up

SpinOK

(P) SATA Reset


?
Boot 0x40M
FAIL Servo Op=0100 Resp=0007
ResponseFrame 0EB1 53B9 FFFF 0000 0000 D9F2 0000 FF98 0000 0001 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 C177 840D 758F 32FF 43EA 051A DDE4 56C0 BD82 B74C 1184 B174 28C7 54FC 7DA6 661A 0000
FAIL Servo Op=0100 Resp=0007
ResponseFrame 0D91 53E2 0001 0000 0000 D9EE 0000 FF96 0000 0001 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 C177 840D 758F 32FF 43EA 051A DDE4 56C0

 

[Jared]

From the terminal output, I'd say it's pretty certain to be bad heads.

FAIL Servo Op= Can' read servo tracking on the platters.

 

[LarrySabo]

... or damaged media.

 

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Hi,
Most of the thin drives from seagate ,wdc and hitachi i have come across have one thing in common " one of the heads are bad " . You guys prob have more experience then me in dm series drives but i have a case of a st2000dm series drives the donor is same ditto even date code is same ,still does not work after a head change .Your terminal output says heads are not seeking servo they cannot read platter ,Try starting drive with these heads only about 10 times it might work ,Make sure the screw holding the nut is tight ,If it has two screws do not loosen the down head nut ever once drive is assembled just tightened it and tighten the top nut too,You also suggested you have patient heads working fine in donor right ,This implies you have some media damage to any of the main heads heads 0 or 1 .Try modding your rom to boot from alternative heads one at a time ,Using pc3k is not easy takes time to learn

 

[Sam]

Thanks for the responses guys!

I have changed head map to boot with only head 0 and only head 1 and no change in symptoms.

I failed to mention earlier that with ONLY PCB or with drive attached to PCB, terminal output is the same.
Terminal output is also the same with ONLY PCB of an identical drive.
The difference is that with only PCB of identical drive, when I ID the drive, I get correct f/w version of that drive. When I move patient ROM to any donor PCB and with ONLY PCB attached to utility, the yyyyyyyy f/w version follows the ROM.

SO, at this point I think either the issue is 1) related to something corrupt in ROM 2) media damage on H0 (H1 platter surface is pristine as are sliders), or 3) bad heads and donor heads or adaptives are incompatible (which seems strange since patient heads work on donor).

I suppose I can try importing adaptives which won't take long, I can try different donor heads, and I can inspect the other side of the platter. Before I do the last, I'll wait for a response from the ACE team to see if they can suggest anything about the f/w version being ID'd as yyyyyyyy.

Will post results of course.

 

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Thanks for the responses guys!

I have changed head map to boot with only head 0 and only head 1 and no change in symptoms.

I failed to mention earlier that with ONLY PCB or with drive attached to PCB, terminal output is the same.
Terminal output is also the same with ONLY PCB of an identical drive.
The difference is that with only PCB of identical drive, when I ID the drive, I get correct f/w version of that drive. When I move patient ROM to any donor PCB and with ONLY PCB attached to utility, the yyyyyyyy f/w version follows the ROM.

SO, at this point I think either the issue is 1) related to something corrupt in ROM 2) media damage on H0 (H1 platter surface is pristine as are sliders), or 3) bad heads and donor heads or adaptives are incompatible (which seems strange since patient heads work on donor).

I suppose I can try importing adaptives which won't take long, I can try different donor heads, and I can inspect the other side of the platter. Before I do the last, I'll wait for a response from the ACE team to see if they can suggest anything about the f/w version being ID'd as yyyyyyyy.

Will post results of course.

Samick ,
So You Purchased PC3K way to go sir .Any progress in this case

 

[Sam]

I had a run of cases from photographers who needed their photo shoots yesterday and just got back to this case today.

I swapped upper & lower magnets and it still knocked twice and stayed spinning (and ID'd with 3.86GB) but the distinct rattling noise I referenced in my first post was gone.

I noticed no platter wobble when spinning the platter, but it did have more "rock" than the donor. I found the best way to observe this was by watching the platter edge move between the ramp guides while rocking the platter laterally. The platter edge came very close to hitting the guides, much closer than the donor (that is to say, probably .5mm more travel in each direction... but observable nonetheless).
It was enough for me to justify a platter swap. After platter swap I checked the lateral travel between the ramp guides again and it was noticeably less.
What do you know--drive ID'd with full capacity. 200 sectors skipped on first pass, got them all on second pass.

 

[LarrySabo]

Wow, good work, Sam!