Storage Solutions HELP! Burnt hard drive controller (Western Digital WD5000KS-00MNB0)

I'm really sorry for not being able to help you more even after seeing those pictures. There is a small flash on one of the drive connection points, and the actual smoke point on the chip is pretty near another connection point for what looks like the power connection to the rotor (B and C on J6).

I have a feeling that replacing the chip will get the controller to work again (seeing that there's no other apparent damage) however am not sure if the drive itself will work if there's a fault in the main rotor. I will defer to service personnel who can identify the actual fault conditions that show these symptoms.
 
Just thought I'd update this thread with my progress, not to mention good fortune.

So I ordered a new PCB from an identical drive from eBay.com for about 50 USD. It arrived several days ago, a few weeks after placing the order. I connected the new PCB to the drive and started the computer. The good news was that the WD5000KS spun up, I could feel the vibrations on the drive but I got a SATA Port Device Error during post. Thankfully I had read somewhere on the internet, most probably on the WD community forums (see my link here Burnt hard drive controller (Western Digital WD500... - Western Digital Community) that the EEPROM chip at U12 needed to be transferred as well for the hard drive to get correctly detected by the BIOS and to work.

So I went over to trusty old Gulbir at Prime ABGB and had the EEPROM chip transferred from the old PCB to the new one for 300 bucks. And voila, it worked! My hard drive is back in action after nearly two months of visiting the afterlife :)

All I can say is I'm so glad I managed to fix the hard drive myself without spending big bucks by sending it to recovery experts. Patience proved to be very important as well.
 
Glad to know the drive is safe now.

More importantly it is the data that matters! So for the nth time, keep multiple backups and spread the love by sharing it between friends! :D
 
Back
Top