![]() I imagine this pin shorts the controller which then stops applying voltage to the spindle motor. Now I was definitely sure that the chip mounted on the side of the head armature was directly responsible for dropping the voltage applied to the spindle motor. The new controller immediately cooked itself. I moved the new controller onto the old drive and powered it up.īIG MISTAKE. There was no way I could repair this – UNLESS… Hard Disk Repair Solution: Cannibalize parts from another hard drive to get the first one functional. After re-opening the drive, I traced the faulty pin to its destination, a small chip on the side of the armature carrying the head. It seemed this pin had some vital role in controlling the head movements. ![]() The drive would spin then slam the head side to side against the head stop inside the drive. Unfortunately, the drive would not be detected by the BIOS, nor did there appear to be any head control. After trying several pins, I managed to discover a pin which in fact, when covered (and the controller back on the board) allowed the drive to spin up properly. I removed the controller board from the drive and systematically masked off with masking tape the 20 pins or so between the controller and the internals of the hard drive. Then I closed the drive and began to troubleshoot an electrical problem. I briefly opened the drive just to ensure the spindle motor wasn’t jammed. Furthermore, if power was present on the spindle motor, and it jittered momentarily then stopped, then the motor was either stuck or perhaps the applied voltage had dropped. However, I did remember that the drive did jitter when power was first applied, so I knew there was power on the spindle motor, at least for part of a second. ![]() At this time, I was unable to see a problem. I began by inspecting the controller for obvious damage (i.e. I was definitely up to the challenge especially knowing there was nothing to lose. He had decided to forget about it unless a less expensive alternative could be found. The finances weren’t available to send the drive out to a data recovery center, their work often costs between $1500 to $5000 dollars USD. The data wasn’t critical and most of it just needed to be typed back in. It seemed that either the controller was damaged, or the spindle motor had possibly burned out. Under close observation, I noticed that the drive didn’t spin when powered up. ![]() Needless to say, the drive crashed without warning. Being only one year old, and part of his Dell computer, he never thought twice to back anything up. Problem Description:Ī friend of mine who runs a decent size manufacturing company had kept various pieces of data on this drive. Take notice of the position of the upper magnets before you unscrew them. If anyone has a Maxtor d540x-4k020h1 and is willing to sell it, please email me – Thank You.Ģ) Opening a hard disk and exposing it to the air may cause permanent damage to the data stored within.ģ) The alignment of the permanent magnets may pose an issue. ![]() However, if you read on, you may come to realize the feasibility of such a task. Opening the drive WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY! The likelihood of success is STILL UNKNOWN since I have yet to receive a new controller. Disclaimers/Caveats:ġ) I take absolutely no responsibility for any damage accrued to any piece of hardware while attempting this procedure. Demonstrating a method for hard disk repair by replacing the read/write head from a Maxtor d540x-4k020h1 (20gb 5400 rpm, single platter) hard disk. ![]()
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