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11
1
PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Seagate
ACE Lab
F3 architecture
Technical support: [email protected]
Phone: +7 863 201 50 06
ts.acelaboratory.com
49
8.
U
nlocking HDD in case of LED: CC error
In cases when a HDD fails to reach readiness, it outputs to the terminal a cycling message like "LED: 000000CC" and
the drive cannot be switched to the terminal command mode, it is blocked both for ATA and for terminal commands.
This condition is typical of some firmware versions of Seagate F3 drives
. To solve the problem you need to achieve
just partial initialization of the drive (to avoid reaching the step when blocking occurs), diag overlay must be loaded
and the terminal command mode must be active. Initialization may be interrupted either by disconnecting the controller
board from HDA or by short connection of the read channel at a certain moment.
Disconnection of the controller board on-the-fly while the spindle is rotating is not allowed because it will result in
heads stuck in the user area and may damage the preamplifier chip (in the HDA) or the read channel chip (on the
controller board). Therefore, the only way is to disconnect the controller board in advance, before the device is
powered on
We know of three FW groups behaving differently during PCB initialization without a HDA:
♦
7200.11 for FW versions CD04 through CD15, SD1A, AD14, ES.2, FW SN01 through SN04 – when powered
on, the controller reaches readiness, terminal and factory mode commands are available.
♦
7200.11, newer FW versions and ES.2 beginning with version SN05 – during initialization with a disconnected
motor the controller reaches readiness but the terminal and factory mode commands remain unavailable.
♦
7200.12 and newer (some firmware versions) does not reach readiness, in terminal it outputs the message No
HOST Fis-ReadyStatusFlags
Thus, not all the drives allow obtaining access to the command mode after initialization with a controller board
disconnected from HDA. Therefore if PCB disconnection has not helped unlock the HDD, you should use the method
for short connection of the read channel. The method is somewhat more complicated because it imposes certain
restrictions on the tool used in the procedure
, but it works on all Seagate Arch F3 HDD
Attention!
The scheme for HDD unlocking implemented in our utility earlier, methods published in the Internet, and
the scheme implemented in the Salvation Data suite
do not include backup of service data and force translator
recalculation, which may result in incorrect translator generation!
The possibility results from the fact that widely
known command T>m0,6,2,,,,,22 and its alternative variations use just P-List for translator recalculation. However,
most drives in recent years pass the so-called post-processing before they leave the factory, i.e. an additional logical
scanning with relocation of defects using a shifting scheme. The information about defects then is added directly to the
translator (but not to P-List) and gets lost during its recalculation forced by the command above (process logs are also
typically erased as a part of the pre-sale preparation procedure). As a result, the drive surface becomes unreadable
beginning with an arbitrary LBA (the smallest LBA number relocated during post-processing) and the drive returns the
UNC error.
The unlocking algorithm implemented currently in the utility backs up the service information and restores the
translation module in its original state thus preventing the potentially unsafe translator recalculation operation.
Further we shall examine closely two methods available to make a HDD reach readiness and obtain access in terminal
command mode for standard unlocking. The first suggested method of spindle motor connector isolation is simpler, but
unfortunately possible in some cases only.
1
Classic and F3 Barracuda drives can be easily distinguished by the FW version appearance. While FW of classic
drives contains a dot (e.g.,
3.06
,
3.AAD
), FW version of F3 drives contains no dots (e.g.,
SD15
,
0002BSM1
).
2
LED: CC lock described in this section develops because of CE Log file overflow in a drive. However, the solution
method used in the utility can be employed to solve the problem of locked drives caused by other reasons as well.
3
It is possible to isolate just the spindle motor connector without removal of the entire controller board.
4
In this drive family LED: CC locking does not occur after SMART overflow; however, it is possible in case of
translation problems. The way to make the devices reach readiness is being researched.
5
The aspect will be discussed in detail in the corresponding section.
6
The possibilities of reaching readiness on 7200.12 drives using short connection of the read channel are being
investigated.
