Prevent possible Seagate hard drive crashes! [ Edited ]

[tgomz]

I think it's a little to late for me now, here is the thread that i was checking out before i found this one.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?board.id=HardwareDPC&thread.id=4234&view=by_date_ascendi...

if i order a new hard drive from hp will it come loaded with the programs that were originally in there, (like vista and such) or i need to purchase a new op disc?

I bought the PC in bestbuy, i lost the receipt but they do have a register of my rewards points from it, does that count as receipt? 

Oh yeah and i have a HP Pavilon Elite m9400f  with a 750g seagate barracuda 7200.11

Message Edited by tgomz on 05-09-2009 04:48 PM

[M-14]

I have a a6750f and a ST375063AS hd. I tried to run firmware update but I get a 9996 error "Your system does not meet the minimum requirements for this update. Update has been cancelled."  Any ideas? I wrote to HP, they said I needed to install firmware updates, but its not working. Is there s difference in HP's  and Seagates firmware updates? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Kantucki]

See my posts and links on page 3 of this thread. As I said earlier I went directly to the Seagate website for more information. Just follow those instructions to find out if your harddrive needs a firmware update. Hope this helps.

[M-14]

Drives Detect does not show any drives. Seatools does not display the drive correctly and Seatools shuts down when I try to use it. The only thing that works is the model number check at Seagate. It says it needs to be updated. I can not find the serial number anywhere. devmgmt.msc just show generic drive. PassMark just shows a generic drive. Have not tried Sisoft yet. I guess i could physically look at the drive to get serial number. The only place I found model number is in cmos. I read this at Seagate, (below) that is why I am hesitant to use Seagates update. I am going to email or call HP again to see if they have anymore suggestions. 

1. Some drives that still bear the Seagate name on the label but are actually the property of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) (such as Dell or Hewlett-Packard [HP]) might have unique firmware on them.  OEMs purchase large amounts of bare drives from Seagate and put their own firmware on them, at which point the drive is sold as part of a larger piece of equipment, such as a server or a personal or notebook computer.  Often the OEMs load specialized firmware in order to be able to build in performance enhancements that are specific to their product.
   
   However, sometimes these servers or computers are disassembled and the hard drives end up being sold separately from a third-party technology reseller or even on eBay, and because these drives have "Seagate" on the label and sometimes even the same model number (the "ST" number) as standard drives sold in a retail store, it can be easy to confuse the two.  The specialized firmware on some of these drives sometimes works outside of their original equipment and sometimes does not.  In very many cases, performing a firmware update with "standard" firmware would violate Seagate's legal agreements with the OEM, thus voiding both the OEM and Seagate warranty, and carries a good possibility of ruining the OEM drive.
   

[Kantucki]

I got the serial number directly off of my harddrive. It matched up as being one that needed the firmware update.

[MrFixIt]

For what it's worth at this point in time here's my take on this issue .

1. If you purchased a system directly from HP and you need the update get it from HP.

How do you know? On my m9400t CTO that I ordered in early December 2008 under the Start panel there is a program named Hardware Diagnostic Tools. If you run this and select your storage devices it will tell you everything you need to know. IMHO the critical item is the firmware version. If it is HPxx and it isn't HP26 you more than likely need the update from HP. This is the point. HP get's the drives from Seagate as "raw" devices and then loads their own firmware, formats them and loads the OS for delivery to the "end user" that's US. So if you have HP firmware use the HP update from your system model support page under HP. In the case of the a6750f mentioned above use this link:

a6750f support page

2. If you have a third party drive i.e. one purchased directly from Seagate or thru one of their distributors go to the Seagate support page:

Seagate Support Page

Note the difference in the above. If your drive originally came from HP use the HP support section. If it was purchased direct from Seagate or thru one of their vendors go to the Seagate support page.

I'm not sure if this helps clear up the issue, but I hope it helps. After you have determined which update you need and it dosn't work or you have a problem with it please contact the appropriate support personnel.

Best of luck.

[RasterBlaster]

M-14,

Error 9996 simply means that the softpaq that you are trying to run cannot find what it needs to update. Based on what you have told us, that is either A) your drive firmware is already updated or B) the drive is totally dead and cannot be found. If your drive is working in Windows, then you probably do not need to worry about all this.

If you really feel that you must run the update, you can create the drive checker and update disc and use it (this is what the softpaq is meant to do - but safeguards people from wasting discs or needlessly wasting their time if the drive does not have the serial number AND the firmware qualifications):

If you want to create the boot disc, do this...

1) Download the file sp40966.

2) Double-click the download.

3) Click Next.

4) Accept the EULA and click Next.

5) After extracting error 9996 pops up. Leave the error open. Don't click close.

6) Open your temp folder: click Start, Run, and enter %temp%

7) Look for a pft folder containing the sp40966.iso.

8) Burn the ISO using your disc burning software. There are rtf instructions for Roxio and Sonic apps in this folder if you need help.

9) Once you create the disc you can use the disc and it will probably tell you that your drive does not need to be updated. If not, it will automatically perform the update. If it can't find the drive, that is another problem.

The Seagate tool may have told you it needed updating as it might be solely based on the serail number. The key for the BIOS revision number is HP-24 or HP-26. If you have HP-24 then it needs updating... the CD you create should do the trick if so.

Message Edited by RasterBlaster on 05-29-2009 08:01 AM

[M-14]

Alrighty, thanks to all for their support. I used the iso image way to update from HP24 to HP26. This way worked with no problems. My HD is now updated. Thanks again!!!!!

[3xstmx3]

I found out about this problem too late. HP Tech support was great but the hard drive was dead. Diagnostics run from BIOS gave a BIOHD-2 error, which essentially meant there was no communication with the drive. I had a SEAGATE 7200 Barracuda, 500 GB and all indications point to the firmware problem noted earlier in this thread. HP sent a replacement drive (this time, Western Digitial) as well as recovery disks and I received everything within 2 days of calling tech support.

Of course, more valuable than the hard drive is the data stored on it. Once I got the new drive up and running, I tried to gain access to the failed drive by plugging it into the 2nd SATA channel (normally used by CD/DVD). This just caused everything to freeze. My next attempt will be to try and gain access via USB, meaning I've got to get a hard drive enclosure or SATA/USB converter cable.

Oh yeah, HP wants the old drive back and they won't do data recovery. If you happened to buy the SEAGATE drive separately, then SEAGATE will replace the disk AND provide free data recovery services.

One thing is puzzling, though. My current drive is connected to a SATA channel, yet the drive windows automatically chose is a WDC WD50 SCSI driver. Wonder why it thinks this is SCSI?

[Guttman]

Add another to the list--I bought my Touchsmart 506 in mid-february, it locked up on May 17 with 12 years' worth of photos, email, and documents that I'd consolidated for sorting and backup. 

My special hell has been in dealing with HP customer support; the website doesn't have any traditional customer relations contact info, and the tech support folks won't give out any telephone numbers or email addresses for folks who are authorized to help.  I've finally called the corporate headquarters and jammed my way through, but I'm still getting the "we replaced the drive, we don't do data, send us that malfunctioning drive back or pay $280--that's our policy."

I truly can't believe that HP is sticking it so hard to its customers on this issue; I have purchased 5 (five) HP machines since January, and I'm seriously inclined to send them all back--if the company won't make this one right, how the heck can I knowingly take on the risk that I'd need them to stand behind a product in the future and they wouldn't be there (again)?

The big policy issue here is the following: HP knew about the firmware issue when I purchased my computer; it posted a firmware fix to the HP webpage, but didn't fix it in the machines it continued to sell, and didn't push it out in an update--should have been the very first one that the computer loads when the consumer starts the machine for the first time; and had HP fixed the firmware or pushed the fix out, these lock-ups would never have happened.  Presented with that event timeline, HP's policy choice is to deny any responsibility for the fallout of its inaction.  I find this completely incomprehensible.  Add to that the demand that we return an $80 drive (Seagate retail price) or pay $280 in "collateral penalty", and you have one really, really bad corporate policy.

Being a tech intermediate, I'm not capable of doing the fix that's been described on this board--and the only guy in the DC area that I've found who does this ("I've fixed dozens of Seagate drives with the BSY error--this is a big-selling drive.") charges $350.  If there's anyone out there who provides this service in Washington DC, please post to the board!

Sorry, one more little vent: it took me nearly three weeks to figure out what the true issue here was, and I've spent literaly days trying to recover data myself and trick-or-treating among 5 geek squad and staples tech desks.  I refuse to believe that the 3-4 tech support staff I spoke with at HP were not aware of the problem--heck, googling ST3500620AS brings it up, so certainly it has to be in their system--but for some reason, HP offers only that "the drive must have failed" rather than "this is a firmware issue, your data is likely still on the disc."  The cynic in me says this is becase the accurate statement would have been "this is a firmware issue that we knew about when you bought your computer, and we didn't do anything to tell you about it, which would have prevented the problem you now have (and avoided the $350 to recover your data).  Yes, Seagate and Dell are both recovering data gratis, but we have a policy against that."  Lord knows how many customers have been subject to this failure, and who have believed that it's just a normal problem with the gizmo in that black box.

Anyone having any better luck with HP?