I've been ghosting this forum for a while and thought I'd ask a question I've been unable to find an answer to as of yet. Do any of the pins or connectors on the PCB (say 2060-771698) provide a serial console/terminal showing the goings-on in the drive? Is it possible to read/write the BIOS ROM through any of the eight pins next to the SATA connectors?
WD PCB serial interface.
- Thread starter rutxwjuh
- Start date
There is a TTL port there, and with the right equipment you can read/write the ROM through that port. However, it's not an open access port like Seagate has, and the commands are all proprietary. As far as I know only PC-3000 has the programming to work with this port and even then it's pretty limited (mainly just used for read/write the ROM).
jcarlosmor
New member
I was in hope also that WD drives would have some Seagate-like straight-forward interface for echoing into a serial console software (HyperTerminal, Windmill, TeraTer, etc.) the post progress of the drive when power up, but as Jared advicea, the commands are proprietary.
If you have experience and equipment to solder/desolder SMD devices, the most convenient procedure should be to desolder de 8-pin EEPROM, soldering it to an adapter PCB just for connecting to an EEPROM reader/programmer and read/modify/write the data. I do such procedure for having an entire backup file of the EEPROM chip. However, I do not recommend to connect some kind of "pod" or "attach" reader/programmer (the kind of ICSP, In-Circuit Serial Programmer) to read or write the contents of the EEPROM, since you will be intefering with the read/write access of the Marvell chip processor.
If you have experience and equipment to solder/desolder SMD devices, the most convenient procedure should be to desolder de 8-pin EEPROM, soldering it to an adapter PCB just for connecting to an EEPROM reader/programmer and read/modify/write the data. I do such procedure for having an entire backup file of the EEPROM chip. However, I do not recommend to connect some kind of "pod" or "attach" reader/programmer (the kind of ICSP, In-Circuit Serial Programmer) to read or write the contents of the EEPROM, since you will be intefering with the read/write access of the Marvell chip processor.
I do have an external programmer, yet i was hoping to avoid having to de-/resolder the IC. I take it that the "LDR"s frequently referenced on this forum are proprietary loaders for the maintenance interface?
I get that MRT and PC3K are the name of the game, are there any alternatives to "get started"? I would appreciate any hints, tips, feedback, etc.
I get that MRT and PC3K are the name of the game, are there any alternatives to "get started"? I would appreciate any hints, tips, feedback, etc.
You can see the connection points on this thread: wd-pcb-terminal-connections-t962.html
Just don't expect that you'll be able to do anything over just a HyperTerminal.
Just don't expect that you'll be able to do anything over just a HyperTerminal.
Yeah, these pics don't deal with 3.5" drives. I was thinking more like what is being referenced here:
wd-marvell-boot-rom-com-port-t40.html#p243
Unfortunately the attachment appears to have been corrupted.
wd-marvell-boot-rom-com-port-t40.html#p243
Unfortunately the attachment appears to have been corrupted.
There's a picture here on HDD Oracle's website: http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=217
But, like I said earlier, without a tool like PC-3000 it'll get you absolutely nowhere.
But, like I said earlier, without a tool like PC-3000 it'll get you absolutely nowhere.