HD crash - "Firmware Module Corrupted"

[JonW]

Have a dead Western Digital WD800. Spins up - no weird noises - but it isn't
recognized. Actually the bios as well as Windows device manager (installed as a
second drive) knows enough to tell me what kind of drive it is, but otherwise it
isn't recognized in explorer, disk manager, etc. Spinrite doesn't like it
either.

Anyway, although I have a backup of the most important stuff, there are some
miscellaneous files that fell through the backup cracks which I'd really like to
recover. Took it to Disk Doctors who looked at it and came back with a "Firmware
Module Corrupted" analysis. They also want $2000 to recover files (another firm
quoted me $1500 as an average.) Well, I don't want the stuff THAT badly!

Does anyone know what a "Firmware Module Corrupted" repair entails? Should I buy
another WD800 and swap the controller? Or does the drive have to be opened up in
which case I'm SOL?

Thanks for any clues...

jon

 

[Rod Speed]

Have a dead Western Digital WD800. Spins up - no weird noises
- but it isn't recognized. Actually the bios as well as Windows device
manager (installed as a second drive) knows enough to tell me what
kind of drive it is, but otherwise it isn't recognized in explorer,
disk manager, etc. Spinrite doesn't like it either.

Anyway, although I have a backup of the most important stuff, there
are some miscellaneous files that fell through the backup cracks
which I'd really like to recover. Took it to Disk Doctors who looked
at it and came back with a "Firmware Module Corrupted" analysis.
They also want $2000 to recover files (another firm quoted me
$1500 as an average.) Well, I don't want the stuff THAT badly!

Does anyone know what a "Firmware Module Corrupted" repair entails?

Swapping the logic card.

Should I buy another WD800 and swap the controller?

Unlikely to work.

Or does the drive have to be opened up
Nope.

in which case I'm SOL?

You are anyway.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Have a dead Western Digital WD800. Spins up - no weird noises - but it isn't
recognized. Actually the bios as well as Windows device manager (installed as a
second drive) knows enough to tell me what kind of drive it is, but otherwise it
isn't recognized in explorer, disk manager, etc. Spinrite doesn't like it either.

Anyway, although I have a backup of the most important stuff, there are some
miscellaneous files that fell through the backup cracks which I'd really like to
recover. Took it to Disk Doctors who looked at it and came back with a "Firmware
Module Corrupted" analysis. They also want $2000 to recover files (another firm
quoted me $1500 as an average.) Well, I don't want the stuff THAT badly!

Does anyone know what a "Firmware Module Corrupted" repair entails?

Could be that the firmware part on the platters is dead.
If that area is bad a FW flash may fail to get it back.

Then it needs a proprietry controller to access the disk.

 

[Andy Lee]

Anyway, although I have a backup of the most important stuff, there are some
miscellaneous files that fell through the backup cracks which I'd really like to
recover. Took it to Disk Doctors who looked at it and came back with a "Firmware
Module Corrupted" analysis. They also want $2000 to recover files (another firm
quoted me $1500 as an average.) Well, I don't want the stuff THAT badly!

I know it's of no use to you but a UK firm Data Clinic would fix that
type of problem for around $700. They have recently done 2 of these
for me maybe you need to shop around a bit.

Does anyone know what a "Firmware Module Corrupted" repair entails? Should I buy
another WD800 and swap the controller? Or does the drive have to be opened up in
which case I'm SOL?

Probably the best bet from what I can see just make sure its the same
firmware if possible.