Board swap question

B

Billiam411

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 13, 2005
Messages
197
Hey, ive got a Western Digital Caviar SE 120gb IDE, model WD1200JB-00GVA0 hard drive and its controller board died on me a while ago. its got rather sensitive data on it that i would like recovered. i found a controller board on ebay, all the numbers match except the model number on the white sticker on the control board reads 2061-001265-200 AF, where the ebay model number is 2061-001265-200 AL. are these revision numbers? does it make a difference? The drive's model numbers are identical, this is the only difference that i notice.

Any other tips on performing this board swap would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
billiam
 
What is the drive doing that makes you think the controller board died? Does the drive not spin anymore or have a burned chip on the board? If its spinning and clicking then its not the board its likely damage to the platters, head, or amplifier rather than the board. I've done board swaps and recovery including headstack swaps on thousands of these drives so heres some quick and dirty advise on board swaps with those models.

You are looking to match the firmware revision on the board, not the size or part number on the board as those aren't specific on WDs. On that drive you are going to need a board with GV as the middle letters in the revision set. Matching the last two "A0" is is even better but generally no required in my lengthy experience. Keeping that in mind the board could come off any wd that has that matching code. You'd be looking at 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, and 160gb drives that would possibly have this board as WDs store their drive unique characteristics on the service track on the platter not on the board. That being said assuming it really is a bad board the success rate on WDs is on your side as they are don't require a perfect match and need the rom desoldered and moved from the old board.

WD1200JB-00GVA0
 
well, all visual/audible signs show that the drive functions properly (no clicking, sounds just like a 3 year old drive should), however it doesnt show up in the device manager or bios.

are you saying that the firmware revision on the board is not crucial to making the swap?
heres a picture of the number in question

the model on ebay has the same number except rather than AF at the end, its AL


edit:
is there anything out of the ordinary that i have to do when swapping these? anything more than unscrewing the screws and putting them back in?
are the screws T7? just clarifying because im gonna have to go out and buy them
 
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