READ THIS | If your model 7200.11 Seagate Barracuda drive ST3500620AS has stopped working.

[doon]

HP has finally released a firmware update for the 7200.11 Seagate Barracuda drive (affected model ST3500620AS).

If your computer has been freezing, or if your hard drive has all of a sudden stopped showing up in BIOS (BIOSHD-2 error), this firmware update might unbrick your drive and give you access to your data again.

Find it here: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=US&swItem=vc-681...

I am going to try it on my bricked drive tonight and will let you know how it goes.

[Mister_Do]

Thanks for posting this, doon!

[JimT]

good stuff doon! will definitely be looking close at this for my drive...

[kwiebe]

My hard drive bricked. How do I install the update if the computer won't boot?

[kwiebe]

never mind, I read the instructions

[doon · Accepted solution]

So, after much heartache, many trials and moments of desperation I have succeeded in doing what every HP support person told me was impossible:

I have unbricked my drive AND have recovered ALL of my data!!!

How did I do it, you might ask? First let me tell you what happened before my joyous moment:

I have been researching the Seagate firmware issue since Decemeber and read a lot about the issues people were having and the causes for these problems. Seems like what this firmware bug does is cause one of two problems: either the drive shows up in BIOS but shows 0 capacity, or it doesn't show up in BIOS at all. It seems that the OEM drives we all have in our TouchSmarts were affeced by the latter issue (hard drive no longer showing up).  This is due to the drive getting stuck in a mode (google BSY error and you'll find the issue) which does not allow it to respond back; it is, in effect, eternally busy.

As a result of this BSY error, I could not run the newly posted HP firmware update for our Seagate drives. This is when the heartache began. After countless hours of research and digging, I came across the following forum which became my El Dorado.

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807

If the link above gets scrubbed, simply search for the title of the posting: "The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs"

This fine gentleman from Chile, South America worked it all out. I bought the parts he suggested, read the post to see if any modifications were made and decided to try what he suggested in a last ditch effort to save my data. The revised post is here:

Read this one for the step by step solution: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128807&st=100

Basically, the tutorial walks you through the steps needed to "hack" into your hard drive's board and "talk to it directly" via Hyper Terminal (I ended up using a USB data cable for my old Siemens mobile phone, though). It took me two goes at it and a lot of patience and careful reading, but my drive came back to life! 

So again, here are my details and issues for you in summary:

Hardware: 

- HP TouchSmart IQ506

- Seagate Barracuda drive: 500GB, ST3500620AS, model series 7200.11, HP firmware version HP24 

Problem Description: 

- The drive just stopped working

- Booted my PC and the drive was no longer showing up in BIOS

- Hard drive light was continuously lit

- Hard drive made no funny clicking noises

- The drive was not responsive to the new firmware fix (HP13 Rev. A from 6 Feb 2009)

I hope this helps someone out there. If you need any help, please contact me and I will try my best to help!

Best Regards,

Doon

EDIT: Of course, after I had access to the drive, I ran the new firmware update. You can get that here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=pv-68339-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&...

Message Edited by doon on 02-16-2009 01:14 AM

[JimT]

thanks once again doon, i think your've clearly convinced me to now apply the fix asap before the BSY error occurs - its bound to one day that the event log counter is at 320 during power up (maybe sooner or maybe later)...  Obviously I purchased my PC before 12 Jan 2009 and will definitely apply the fix issued now by HP (HP13)...

---

All drives with a date of manufacture January 12, 2009 and later are not affected by this issue as they have been through the corrected test process.

---

BTW: when you view your drive properties what HP firmware do you see now? Is it HP24 or HP13 or HP26?

Message Edited by JimT on 02-17-2009 12:00 AM

[doon]

Well, when I came across the firmware fix, I found it in the Business support section (for business devices). At the time, the consumer side had not yet released their version of the firmware. I flashed the HP13 version before even seeing that the consumer version had been released.

Luckily, the firmware was compatible and I had no issues (drive was working fine). However, after I saw the HP26 version (13x2 ?? maybe how HP differentiates between biz and consumer products), I decided to flash my drive after recovering all of my data. Maybe it's just a cosmetic difference...

So, in any case, all is well. My drive is back (albeit showing BIOSHD-8 immenent crash errors) and I have my data. After this, I am going to RMA the drive for a replacement.

[RasterBlaster]

HP has posted the Seagate Update for TouchSmarts and other PCs.

You must have a Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.

You must have one of the following Seagate hard disk drive models:
ST3320813AS, ST3500620AS, ST3750630AS, or ST31000340AS.

Updates ST3500620AS, ST3750630AS, and ST31000340AS hard disk drives to firmware version HP26.

Updates ST3320813AS hard disk drive to firmware version HP2A.

Here it is: Seagate SATA Hard Disk Drive Firmware Update

[Pegasus]

Another solution to unbrick drive, with zero loss of data.

History:

- Drive stopped working after normally reboot and not recognized  by BIOS anymore

- Drive not physically damaged

- Drive worked normally about 3 months before bricking

Hardware:

- HP Compaq DC7900CMT ( P/N FU040ET#UUW )

- HardDisk Seagate Barracuda ST3500620AS 7200.11 with HP Branded Firmware HP12

• P/N 9BX144-021
• Date Code 09092
• Site Code TK ( Thailand ) 

Solution requirements:
- Identical nonbricked HardDisk eg. I managed to get same type of harddisk to my hands ( I don't think, that firmware version is mandatory )

• Seagate Barracuda ST3500620AS 7200.11 with HP Branded Firmware HP12
• P/N 9BX144021
• Date Code 09297
• Site Code TK ( Thailand )

- Bootable media for firmware update

- Updated firmware ( I used HP13a )

Solution:

1. I changed electronic board from bricked drive to nonbricked drive
2. Boot PC with nonbricked drive

• Attention !
  • nonbricked drive with changed electronic board, keeps knocking sound and might get damaged in boot
  • nonbricked drive with changed electronic board is identified as 0.0 Gb by BIOS

1.  Rebooted PC with bootable media and updated Firmware ( HP13a ) to nonbricked drive with changed electronic board
2. I changed electronic board back to affected drive after firmware update and stopped greasing the rope for myself, because drive was identified as 500Gb by bios and booted normally without any data loss.

I haven't done any surface tests to nonbricked drive yet, so I'm not sure is it damaged during boot, but at the moment I don't really care, because I get all my data back.

This is description how I managed to get problem solved, but everyone is doing this at own risk.

Regarding HP Support ALL WARRANTY IS GONE from HDD's , when you open first screw from electronic board !!!

Hope this help's someone.