Prevent possible Seagate hard drive crashes!

[whitechalk]

I have an HP IQ816, and my hard drive failed recently, just as other posts have described, with a BIOS-HD2 error indicating the hard drive was not being detected.  I downloaded the HP26 "patch" file (sp40966.iso) for the Seagate 7200.11 model ST3750630AS, burned that one file to disk on another computer and then tried to reboot from that disk in the floppy drive of my dead IQ816.  I even tried altering the setup menu to make sure the boot priorities were reset to consult the floppy drive first.  NOTHING. 

It seems obvious that the ISO file (which is basically a patch as I understand it) cannot reboot the hard drive out of its BSY state.  Has anyone tried this and succeeded?  If so, can you give the details of how this worked for you?  If not, maybe this is not a good option for those whose Seagate crashes in the future under these same circumstances. 

Can anyone tell me from their experience. . . is my only recourse now to install a new hard drive and have the data read from this crashed drive? 

I do not have the ability or patience to follow the detailed instructions for reading the data from the BSY Seagate drive myself, and will have to pay someone to do this.  Has anyone found someone knowledgable at the MicroCenter in Rockville, MD (or anywhere) who can do this with a minimal amount of explanation?

Many thanks in advance!

[Twinsal]

 Once your HDD has crashed, HP26 "patch" file is useless. The only way is to unbrick your HDD by diy or by a specialized technician.The BIOS-HD2 basically means that your HDD is locked into a busy state. It is unaccessible by any classical means (like put the crashed HDD as a slave drive.

I don't know if your computer is still under warranty but be aware that HP will not pay any recovery data. 

[whitechalk]

Other posts in this thread (and in related threads) have suggested that this reboot procedure "could work" even if the hard drive was in its BSY state, so I'm trying to find someone who has been successful.  One possibility may be that the disk with the "patch file" has to be "bootable," which suggests to me that I need something on that disk in addition to the patch, or that I cannot expect to use "only" a CD-RW disk with that one file (sp40966.ISO) to try to reboot the BSY drive.  If there is any chance of "re-engaging" that BSY drive, I want to be sure that I have tried everything that has worked for someone else.  That's the purpose for my post. . . any success stories or suggestions out there?   

[mopat]

Once the drive is in the busy state, because of HP's faulty firmware, it can only be fooled out of that state with the paper card, cell phone cable, and terminal mode fix.  The new firmware will only be useful once out of the busy state.

[Twinsal]

I had the same hope as well. The firmware issue can affect the HDD in several ways. The BIOS-HD2 error is the gravest crash that your HDD can undergo. It is not the only error caused by a firmware issue. It is true that some persons apparently recovered their HDD by patching it with the updated firmware, but from my knownledge, nobody has recovered yet a HDD affected by a BIOS-HD2 error using this method.

[whitechalk]

Just an update on the Seagate drive crash for anyone else unfortunate enough to face this.  If your Seagate drive gives you the error BIOS-HD2, then neither Seagate nor HP will help you, at least not in the way you want to be helped.  Seagate will not provide any service if your drive is one that suffers from an OEM firmware issue, as mine was.  And HP will not help recover your data, even though they may send you a new drive.  The nearest MicroCenter quoted me $700 to read the data from my drive, and on top of that, I would have to buy and new drive and then pay them to transfer the content.  You can go through all of this yourself, as I did, or you can take one piece of advice from someone who now has a functioning hard drive with little hassle and little cost:  contact Wayman Ng at <text deleted for privacy>. . . he is set up to communicate with bricked Seagate drives, to "undo" the BSY state that the firmware error creates, and to update the firmware so that your drive works again.  With FedEx, my drive was gone and back in 3 business days and is now working fine again.  I have backed up everything just in case, but everything seems to be working without a problem now.  Wayman is prompt, understanding and professional.  Most importantly, his service works.  Take my advice:  forget Seagate, forget HP and contact Wayman, you will not regret it. 

Message Edited by WendyM on 10-11-2009 04:11 PM

[amit_ahuja]

Wayman fixed mine as well. He is a life saver. Whitechalk thanks for pointing me to him,

[TrashCompaqtor]

this should totally be in the software/drivers download section for computers such as mine that were made during that time period!

thanks for the update, I never would have knew it existed if I didn't bother to come to the forum AND click on this topic

[kredar]

Hi,


I have a HP m8425f desktop PC with 2 ST3500620AS in RAID0.

Recently my read/write speed has significantly dropped down. (read 3Mbps)

I have downloaded sp40966.exe firmware upgrade. Tried to upgrade and received error 9996.

So I manually created disk from ISO image in temp folder. Rebooted the PC, but upgrade tool saying that I have up to date firmware on my hard disk.


It's impossible to use PC with such read/write speeds.


What can I do?


Thanks

[Ayt]

I just bough a recertified e9107c from Newegg. I put Windows 7 on it, and when I run the file at the beginning of the thread I get a 9998 error stating "Your system does not meet the operating system requirements." Is there a way for me to check if I have a potentially bad drive (these drives were apparently fixed in the 7200.12 versions). Does anyone know a way I can run the file from the OP? Thanks.

Edit:  My firmware shows up as HP22 in Seatools.  I'm probably screwed if I can't update it.