Replace controller

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike Easter
  • Start date Start date
M

Mike Easter

I have a 20G Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 5120 Ultra ATA 66 which I'm almost
sure has a dead controller. It spins and lights but isn't recognized by
my mobo's POST or Maxtor's PowerMax utility. It is also well out of
warranty, according to the plate and Maxtor's site.

I was struggling with troubleshooting and watched it progressively fail.
When it was intermittent, it would also 'take out' the slave CDROM on
the same cable; and it would recover for a brief time with powering
off, but not with a simple reset. Now that it is 'continuously' out and
invisible, so is any slave on its same cable.

I would like to find someone with a dead compatible with a good
controller, like from a head crash, so that I can swap the controller.
I wonder where to look online or otherwise. My city is San Diego.

Also, I've never done it, so I need a little guidance. I also don't
know what else is compatible.
 
Mike said:
I have a 20G Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 5120 Ultra ATA 66 which I'm almost
sure has a dead controller. It spins and lights but isn't recognized by
my mobo's POST or Maxtor's PowerMax utility. It is also well out of
warranty, according to the plate and Maxtor's site.

I was struggling with troubleshooting and watched it progressively fail.
When it was intermittent, it would also 'take out' the slave CDROM on
the same cable; and it would recover for a brief time with powering
off, but not with a simple reset. Now that it is 'continuously' out and
invisible, so is any slave on its same cable.

I would like to find someone with a dead compatible with a good
controller, like from a head crash, so that I can swap the controller.
I wonder where to look online or otherwise. My city is San Diego.

Also, I've never done it, so I need a little guidance. I also don't
know what else is compatible.
Click to expand...

Mike,

Swapping circuit boards on Maxtors does not work. (This is the case
with almost every type of drive, bar a couple of exceptions.)

Have a look at my website - although I am in the UK I do have USA and
European clients - and my prices are fair, to boot.

Odie
 
Mike Easter said:
I have a 20G Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 5120 Ultra ATA 66 which I'm almost
sure has a dead controller. It spins and lights but isn't recognized by
my mobo's POST or Maxtor's PowerMax utility.
Click to expand...

Does your drive return model name to any ATA identify program? Or
select autodetect in BIOS, it will show model. Is model name correct?
Most probably it is not a controller failure.

Leonid
 
Swapping circuit boards on Maxtors does not work. (This is the case
with almost every type of drive, bar a couple of exceptions.)
Oh.

Have a look at my website - although I am in the UK I do have USA and
European clients - and my prices are fair, to boot.
Click to expand...

Well, this isn't a data recovery problem, as the data isn't valuable. I
was simply hoping to 'fix' the drive and use it.
 
Mike Easter said:
Well, this isn't a data recovery problem, as the data isn't valuable. I
was simply hoping to 'fix' the drive and use it.
Click to expand...

What would you use the hdd for?.
It's already failed once!
Why not simply buy a new or used hdd?
 
Leo said:
"Mike Easter"

Does your drive return model name to any ATA identify program? Or
select autodetect in BIOS, it will show model. Is model name correct?
Most probably it is not a controller failure.
Click to expand...

Thanks for responding.

The drive is 'invisible' - ie the POST doesn't show it being there at
all. When it is master and there is a CDROM slave on the same cable,
they are both invisible, not seen. I've replaced the drive with another
and slaved the cdrom to that cable/hdd connector on the mobo and all is
well over there.

When I connect the bad drive to the other hdd connector, the 2nd IDE on
the mobo, the bad drive is still invisible, ie not seen. That is, it
does not autodetect in the BIOS - at all. Not a wrong model number,
nothing is there. That is with 3 different cables; the first was a
cable select 40 pin/wire with the devices jumpered as master & slave,
the 2nd was a 40 pin 80 wire, and the 3rd was a 40 pin/wire 'regular'
pin 28. Currently the good drives are on the 40/80 and I used the
regular 40 pin/wire for testing on the 2nd IDE connector.

The only kind of hdd diagnostic program I've used was the PowerMax, but
it fails the first test, so there's not much to go with there. I don't
know how any dos or other programs are going to have anything to work
with if the BIOS doesn't see the drive, but then I don't know much about
this kind of basics of hdd recognition beyond the BIOS ability to see
devices.

If there is something else I should be using diagnostically, I'll give
it a try.
 
someone said:
What would you use the hdd for?.
It's already failed once!
Why not simply buy a new or used hdd?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I admit that sounds kinda shaky, but I tho't it seemed kinda like
replacing a bad card on a mobo or such.

It seems that any hdd has pieces and parts that can fail; if there is a
replaceable 'section' that cures the failure then it is as good as
'used' - wouldn't it be?

Maybe the idea of repairing hdd/s is a bad idea -- separate from the
subject of the value in recovering data that has value.
 
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