I have a Fujitsu MPG3409AT that isn't powering up. Is there anything I
can do besides take it to a professional data recovery center?

I've heard that replacing the circuit board can help. is that right?
which other drives use that circuit board that iti uses? how can i
identify that circuit board?

wrote:
I have a Fujitsu MPG3409AT that isn't powering up. Is there anything I
can do besides take it to a professional data recovery center?

I've heard that replacing the circuit board can help. is that right?
which other drives use that circuit board that iti uses? how can i
identify that circuit board?


you need to get an identical harddrive.
chances are it will not work...
but if you are careful...you won't hurt anything to try.
you can put the board back in the good drive
when you are done with your experiment

wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a Fujitsu MPG3409AT that isn't powering up. Is there anything I
can do besides take it to a professional data recovery center?

I've heard that replacing the circuit board can help. is that right?
which other drives use that circuit board that iti uses? how can i
identify that circuit board?


Do I need to ask? What the heck, I'll ask.
Have you confirmed the problem isn't in the wiring or connector to that
particular drive? That is, have you check for proper voltage with a meter
or plugged in a different drive on that connector? Also, if you've
disconnected and reconnected the drive a number of times, the solder joints
on the drive's power connector could need reworking. Check the obvious
stuff first before jumping into swapping boards.

Of course, if you've already done those checks, you'll have to either
troubleshoot the drive to the component level (and then find replacement
parts) or start swapping boards. One word of caution on this, though.
Don't assume that just any board from the same model drive will work.
Sometimes they do, but often the drive's firmware won't be an identical
match and the swapped board either won't work right or may even cause
damage. For example, here's someone selling boards for your drive; note
their warning:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PCB-boards-for-F...QQcmdZViewItem

Then again, the prob may not be the board. It could be other things, such
as a bad platter motor, though that's less likely.

"Ray L. Volts" wrote in message
news:l6%ff.12787$tT1.9994@trnddc01...

wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a Fujitsu MPG3409AT that isn't powering up. Is there anything I
can do besides take it to a professional data recovery center?

I've heard that replacing the circuit board can help. is that right?
which other drives use that circuit board that iti uses? how can i
identify that circuit board?


Do I need to ask? What the heck, I'll ask.
Have you confirmed the problem isn't in the wiring or connector to that
particular drive? That is, have you check for proper voltage with a meter
or plugged in a different drive on that connector? Also, if you've
disconnected and reconnected the drive a number of times, the solder
joints on the drive's power connector could need reworking. Check the
obvious stuff first before jumping into swapping boards.

Of course, if you've already done those checks, you'll have to either
troubleshoot the drive to the component level (and then find replacement
parts) or start swapping boards. One word of caution on this, though.
Don't assume that just any board from the same model drive will work.
Sometimes they do, but often the drive's firmware won't be an identical
match and the swapped board either won't work right or may even cause
damage. For example, here's someone selling boards for your drive; note
their warning:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PCB-boards-for-F...QQcmdZViewItem

Then again, the prob may not be the board. It could be other things, such
as a bad platter motor, though that's less likely.


Strike that. Part of the platter motor assembly is actually part of the
main board on IDE drives. This is what I get for reading newsgroups right
before I hit the hay. 8-/

"Ray L. Volts" wrote in message
news:4j%ff.12980$tT1.9018@trnddc01...

"Ray L. Volts" wrote in message
news:l6%ff.12787$tT1.9994@trnddc01...

wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a Fujitsu MPG3409AT that isn't powering up. Is there anything I
can do besides take it to a professional data recovery center?

I've heard that replacing the circuit board can help. is that right?
which other drives use that circuit board that iti uses? how can i
identify that circuit board?


Do I need to ask? What the heck, I'll ask.
Have you confirmed the problem isn't in the wiring or connector to that
particular drive? That is, have you check for proper voltage with a
meter or plugged in a different drive on that connector? Also, if you've
disconnected and reconnected the drive a number of times, the solder
joints on the drive's power connector could need reworking. Check the
obvious stuff first before jumping into swapping boards.

Of course, if you've already done those checks, you'll have to either
troubleshoot the drive to the component level (and then find replacement
parts) or start swapping boards. One word of caution on this, though.
Don't assume that just any board from the same model drive will work.
Sometimes they do, but often the drive's firmware won't be an identical
match and the swapped board either won't work right or may even cause
damage. For example, here's someone selling boards for your drive; note
their warning:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PCB-boards-for-F...QQcmdZViewItem

Then again, the prob may not be the board. It could be other things,
such as a bad platter motor, though that's less likely.


Strike that. Part of the platter motor assembly is actually part of the
main board on IDE drives. This is what I get for reading newsgroups right
before I hit the hay. 8-/


Strike that, too. omg, forget I ever mentioned platters. The rest is
on-target, though.

wrote:
Ray L. Volts wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a Fujitsu MPG3409AT that isn't powering up. Is there anything I
can do besides take it to a professional data recovery center?

I've heard that replacing the circuit board can help. is that right?
which other drives use that circuit board that iti uses? how can i
identify that circuit board?

Do I need to ask? What the heck, I'll ask.
Have you confirmed the problem isn't in the wiring or connector to that
particular drive? That is, have you check for proper voltage with a meter
or plugged in a different drive on that connector? Also, if you've
disconnected and reconnected the drive a number of times, the solder joints
on the drive's power connector could need reworking. Check the obvious
stuff first before jumping into swapping boards.

Of course, if you've already done those checks, you'll have to either
troubleshoot the drive to the component level (and then find replacement
parts) or start swapping boards. One word of caution on this, though.
Don't assume that just any board from the same model drive will work.
Sometimes they do, but often the drive's firmware won't be an identical
match and the swapped board either won't work right or may even cause
damage. For example, here's someone selling boards for your drive; note
their warning:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PCB-boards-for-F...QQcmdZViewItem


thanks! what were the chances of a board for that particulat model of
hard drive being on ebay!! .(though that Fujitsu MPG3* range is
notorious. )
PCB isn't cheap though. but i'm glad i know the option is there.
what would i do usually to find a PCB? just try to find the excact
model of HDD on sale? seems like pot luck.

yes, exact HDD model, exact PC-board, down to the same version nbr.
I had to do it once with a 20Mb drive. The board got wrecked with an
external interface to the PC. But get a 2nd HD to copy your data too.
rw

Strike that. Part of the platter motor assembly is actually part of the
main board on IDE drives. This is what I get for reading newsgroups right
before I hit the hay. 8-/





No it's not, I've successfully swapped a dead board on an IDE drive a
few times, though they were older drives. Give it a shot, it might work.

in article ,
at wrote on 11/20/05
10:29 AM:


Ray L. Volts wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a Fujitsu MPG3409AT that isn't powering up. Is there anything I
can do besides take it to a professional data recovery center?

I've heard that replacing the circuit board can help. is that right?
which other drives use that circuit board that iti uses? how can i
identify that circuit board?


Do I need to ask? What the heck, I'll ask.
Have you confirmed the problem isn't in the wiring or connector to that
particular drive? That is, have you check for proper voltage with a meter
or plugged in a different drive on that connector? Also, if you've
disconnected and reconnected the drive a number of times, the solder joints
on the drive's power connector could need reworking. Check the obvious
stuff first before jumping into swapping boards.

Of course, if you've already done those checks, you'll have to either
troubleshoot the drive to the component level (and then find replacement
parts) or start swapping boards. One word of caution on this, though.
Don't assume that just any board from the same model drive will work.
Sometimes they do, but often the drive's firmware won't be an identical
match and the swapped board either won't work right or may even cause
damage. For example, here's someone selling boards for your drive; note
their warning:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PCB-boards-for-F...any-F-W_W0QQit
emZ8724584206QQcategoryZ64460QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrd Z1QQcmdZViewItem


thanks! what were the chances of a board for that particulat model of
hard drive being on ebay!! .(though that Fujitsu MPG3* range is
notorious. )
PCB isn't cheap though. but i'm glad i know the option is there.
what would i do usually to find a PCB? just try to find the excact
model of HDD on sale? seems like pot luck.


Well, if you are going through the trouble of SMT component-level repair,
why not swap the EEPROM, too?

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 13:55:24 -0500, Jon Yaeger
wrote:


thanks! what were the chances of a board for that particulat model of
hard drive being on ebay!! .(though that Fujitsu MPG3* range is
notorious. )
PCB isn't cheap though. but i'm glad i know the option is there.
what would i do usually to find a PCB? just try to find the excact
model of HDD on sale? seems like pot luck.


Well, if you are going through the trouble of SMT component-level repair,
why not swap the EEPROM, too?


Because anyone with the right-sized screwdriver bit can swap
a drive circuit board, requires minimal tools, skill, or
risk. Swapping EEPROM is exactly the opposite.