is this hard drive failure?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ethan
  • Start date Start date
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Ethan

I have a 3.5 inch drive and a laptop drive that both exhibit the same
messed up behavior. At boot when the drive is first accessed, it
spins up.. pauses for a bit. apparently proceeds to stop... and
then tries to spin up again..

It goes through a lovely cycle of spin up.. stop.. spin up.. stop.
I haven't let it try for more than 10 repetitions. I figure more
would be futile. Is this the behavior of a hard drive that is 100%
dead? Hardware failure? I don't know how I would perform maintanance
on the drive, since it doesn't seem to want to spin up successfully,
but I wonder if using the manufacturer diskette and cleaning the MBR
or zeroing the drive, or a low level format would fix matters.

Another dead drive I have lying around is a 20GB maxtor. A friend had
borrowed it for some backup, and he left the exposed circuit bored
under side unprotected, and somehow he managed to contact the board
with something metal, and fried a chip. before I add this drive to my
e-waste recycling pile, I thought I'd check if anybody was skilled
enough to swap the logic board.. I know those boards are typically
modular, can be replace seperately from the rest of the drive. Maybe
somebody has a good logic board and a bad drive and would like to
combine the two to make one functional drive. It's 20GB = worth a
shot :-) Anybody have a board and want the drive? or want to send me
the board?
 
I have a 3.5 inch drive and a laptop drive that both exhibit
the same messed up behavior. At boot when the drive is
first accessed, it spins up.. pauses for a bit. apparently
proceeds to stop... and then tries to spin up again..
Click to expand...
It goes through a lovely cycle of spin up.. stop.. spin up.. stop.
I haven't let it try for more than 10 repetitions. I figure more would
be futile. Is this the behavior of a hard drive that is 100% dead?
Click to expand...

It can be, but it can also be caused by a bad power connection.
Hardware failure?
Click to expand...

Yes, there isnt any commonly seen software
problem that produces that result.
I don't know how I would perform maintanance on the drive,
since it doesn't seem to want to spin up successfully,
Click to expand...

Yeah, but if its just a bad power connection,
that can usually be rather easily fixed. The
metal tunnels the power pins go into can open
up over time and not make good contact. It
isnt hard to use a different power connector and
not much harder to squeeze the tunnels carefully.
but I wonder if using the manufacturer diskette and cleaning the
MBR or zeroing the drive, or a low level format would fix matters.
Nope.

Another dead drive I have lying around is a 20GB
maxtor. A friend had borrowed it for some backup,
and he left the exposed circuit bored under side
unprotected, and somehow he managed to contact
the board with something metal, and fried a chip.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it isnt hard to do if you dont know what you are doing.
before I add this drive to my e-waste recycling
pile, I thought I'd check if anybody was skilled
enough to swap the logic board..
Click to expand...

You should be able to do it yourself, its easier than it looks.
With most drives you just undo the screws that are visibly
holding the logic card to the drive metal shell and remove
it. There are usually a couple of connector under the logic
card for the connection to the rotation motor and the heads.
Just taking the logic card off unplugs those connections.

Some drives like the Quantums have a visible flexible
printed circuit connection to the heads. That actually
plugs into a connector, tho thats only obvious when
you know its a connector. Its got a couple of tiny
latches on either side of the flexible connection.
You release them with a fingernail.
I know those boards are typically modular, can
be replace seperately from the rest of the drive.
Click to expand...

Yes, but particularly with the latest drives, you cant
necessarily just swap the logic card between identical
copys of the same model and have the drive work.
Maybe somebody has a good logic board and a bad drive and
would like to combine the two to make one functional drive.
Click to expand...

Yep, quite a few do that with logic card failures.
It's 20GB = worth a shot :-) Anybody have a board
and want the drive? or want to send me the board?
Click to expand...

You need to specify the model much better
than you have. Its got to be an identical model.
 
I have a 3.5 inch drive and a laptop drive that both exhibit the same
messed up behavior. At boot when the drive is first accessed, it
spins up.. pauses for a bit. apparently proceeds to stop... and
then tries to spin up again..

It goes through a lovely cycle of spin up.. stop.. spin up.. stop.
I haven't let it try for more than 10 repetitions. I figure more
would be futile. Is this the behavior of a hard drive that is 100%
dead? Hardware failure? I don't know how I would perform maintanance
on the drive, since it doesn't seem to want to spin up successfully,
but I wonder if using the manufacturer diskette and cleaning the MBR
or zeroing the drive, or a low level format would fix matters.

Another dead drive I have lying around is a 20GB maxtor. A friend had
borrowed it for some backup, and he left the exposed circuit bored
under side unprotected, and somehow he managed to contact the board
with something metal, and fried a chip. before I add this drive to my
e-waste recycling pile, I thought I'd check if anybody was skilled
enough to swap the logic board.. I know those boards are typically
modular, can be replace seperately from the rest of the drive. Maybe
somebody has a good logic board and a bad drive and would like to
combine the two to make one functional drive. It's 20GB = worth a
shot :-) Anybody have a board and want the drive? or want to send me
the board?
Click to expand...

Maybe it's totally different, but i have SOYO D+ board and board itself
makes HDD to start just like you decribe(in fact, HDD stops for a moment
after every BEEP on the mobo). After tons of dead mails i finally got one
reply from SOYO support and a guy told me that at start board reset itself a
few times (after setting FSB from 100 to 133, after VGA detection etc.) and
that it's normal. Still it's very strange. But after close examination i
found out that reset pulse, send to HDD cause HDD to stop spinning. So, i
inserted small RC time constant in reset wire, so now it doesn't do that
anymore. The guy told it's nothing harmfull to HDD, but still i found it
unpleasant (at least feels not good), so i modified it a bit.
I even replaced entire board once (because of LAN failure) and second board
did same thing, so it's not an error, but design style (or should i say,
design flaw).
SO, if yours is doing thios from beginning, it can be same thing.
 
So now that I know that my dream of saving this drive with the busted logic
board is possible, here are the details.
It's a 13.6 GB Maxtor Model: 91369U3

The Logic Board is labeled as a
Maxtor
TNT V-P3 (that V is actually a V with horizontal lines on top and bottom.)
301262100

Perhaps I should start a new thread with the logic board request to get the
attention of the broader group. I'll return to the issue of the other HDs,
that are doing the start stop start stop dance, in a bit.

Thanks everybody,
-Ethan
 
turns out my 3.5 inch drive is actually doing about 14 loud clicks.. short
pause and then another set of loud clicks... Just an endless cycle..
That one dead?

the 2.5 inch drive definitely does the start stop start stop thing, but how
could it be a loose power connection since it's stopping and starting are so
regular. It doesn't stop and start randomly.. It's in a very precise start
stop start stop rhythm

-Ethan
 
turns out my 3.5 inch drive is actually doing about 14 loud
clicks.. short pause and then another set of loud clicks...
Just an endless cycle.. That one dead?
Click to expand...

Yes, very likely. Not necessarily irrepairably dead, but certainly
currently dead, particularly if you get that result on more than one
power supply with just the power cable connected to the drive.
the 2.5 inch drive definitely does the start stop start stop thing,
but how could it be a loose power connection since it's stopping
and starting are so regular. It doesn't stop and start randomly..
It's in a very precise start stop start stop rhythm
Click to expand...

Correct, that isnt seen with a bad power connection.
 
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