Prevent possible Seagate hard drive crashes!

[FredWampler]

I guess I was lucky. I had allowed HP to interact with my new computer. About 2 weeks after I started using it, the software recommended the firmware update. Luckily, my computer had not crashed before that. The upgrade was automated and so far everything has been fine.

[3xstmx3]

I say pay the $280 to keep the hard drive. I know similar hard drives are way cheaper...but the cost to retrieve day is very expensive, especially if they can't simply connect and run software to retrieve the data outside the OS. Since these hard drives are stuck in a particular state, it requires more technical experience to "reprogram" the drive to a readable state. It would be tough to give my drive back knowing my data is on there AND it's retrievable. I'm going to spend some time this weekend trying to work through the problem. One suggestion - you might want to check with Micro Center in Fairfax (or Ballston) or Bethesda. They may have people who can fix it. At least they'll have the hardware you need.

Or, spend the $350 -- 12 years of data has got to be much more valuable than an $80 (or $280) hard drive - or even a $500 computer. I live in Gaithersburg and am facing the same dilemma. Called HP yesterday and they said they wouldn't extend my time (15 days) to return the old drive. So, not only will they offer anything to retrieve the data - they won't even give me the time to try and retrieve it myself!

[Guttman]

re: 15 days, demand to talk to a floor supervisor.  They are authorized to give you 30 days before they charge your credit card--yet another of those things that they know--and that they know would help reduce the impact of the firmware error--but that they incomprehensibly won't tell you. 

Good luck, I think I'm going to enlist a friend to try to make the fix (unless someone pops up on Craigslist or this forum).  Let us know how you do?

[lindae123]

dear M-14,

i have the same model hd as you. please note that the upgrade does not apply to our exact model...they are one number different.i have had no problems w my dard drive and saw that the firmware update did not apply to my drive.see the hp site.the devil is always in the fine print!

i re-emphasise that 'seagate' makes it clear that 'firmware' updates are not for the enduser...

again, i can not see why hp did not introduce a recall if this is such a big deal.

looking at the problems being caused now...it is a big deal!!

sometimes the adage 'if it ain't broke , don't try an' fix it' is worth remembering.

regards...

[lindae123]

UPDATE-

i now notice that the XXX063AS is included in the dodgy list....all i can say is that when 'she' failed to boot recently i just pulled the power cord out and in about 7 times and amazingly it kicked back in...that may have been luck. also i note that the motherboard update has seemed to settle things into normality..i remain very concerned about playing w the 'firmware' against seagates advice....

[DixieAmerican]

I have a Seagate hard drive, 320G, but the sp40966 download didn't work.  I put the S/N of my drive in the search window, and found out there was a different download for my S/N.  Downloaded it, and everything appears fine.  Check the serial numbers to make sure you get the proper download.

[mopat]

ST3500620AS faulty firmware caused the drive to lock up and fail to be detected by BIOS.

Burnt SP40966.iso to a CD on another computer but it does not boot failed HP A6707c

Seagate site says "No download available for this serial number", S/N= 9QMBCJ2J

Any other ideas?

[FloridaHG]

Pretty ticked at HP that they could not have emailed purchases of their systems about this.

My Seagate gave up the ghost this morning, and now I find out that it was a problem that they KNEW about but did not inform me about.  Sure, they can send me a new hard drive, but in the meantime, I lose the use of my main computer, as well as all the hassles in trying to recover the data.

Sorry, but this is horrible customer service, and they just lost me as a future customer ever again.  Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

[FredWampler]

HP's own system inspection software (don't remember their name for it) found my outdatted drive firmware, downloaded a fix and installed it (with my permission). I guess I was lucky it found the problem before the drive failed. My machine was about a month old.

[mopat]

If you have suffered from HP's 

Faulty firmware (HP24) which caused the drive to lock up and fails to be detected by BIOS.

User data is still on the drive once the drive firmware is corrected. Drive is hung in a failsafe mode.

Isn't it against the law to sell these computers with a known defect ?

Wouldn't this be a very appropriate class action suit?

Why wouldn't HP fix this problem?

We are not talking about data recovery here, just getting the harddrive out of the busy state and installing the proper firmware (HP26), which was available before these computers were sold.

Why doesn't HP do this under warranty?