Swapping HD Controller?

[csr]

I have a Western Digital 40gb hard drive (model WD400BB) with a bad controller board. It has a burned out chip -- actually saw it go up in smoke! I'm wondering if the board can be swapped out with another Western Digital drive? Does the replacement drive have to be of the came capacity? How can I check for firmware compatibility before really messing things up badly? Thanks for any help. Clint

[confus-ed]

Welcome Clint to wd forums.

Try a read of this thread where we went over the why's & wherefores for somebody else , which I think will help you.

Generally the answer would be to swap out the controller for the exact same model

[csr]

In reading the link above and doing a little bit of follow-up research, I've learned that a replacement drive controller may work if it was manufactured about the same time as the failed controller. If the failed drive was partitioned, would that have any bearing on the feasibility of doing a swap?

[joeace1]

Have you checked your cable that connects the drive to the motherboard?? Sometimes that error is caused when the cable is failing. If the drive has already failed then you would have to find the similar hard drive controller card that is in the drive. Its just a suggestion. Have you had any problems with the DVD or cdrom drive??

[confus-ed]

In reading the link above and doing a little bit of follow-up research, I've learned that a replacement drive controller may work if it was manufactured about the same time as the failed controller. If the failed drive was partitioned, would that have any bearing on the feasibility of doing a swap?

'manufactured about the same time as the controller' ? Mmmm .. if you mean it has to have the same firmware present on host & donor disk, then I agree, if you meant something else, I'm not sure I do ... (sure there are ways to 'cheat' this by doing some re-flashing, or using certain disk tools - but if you have to ask, then I doubt you are ready to try one ! )

'Partitions & whatnot' are part of your system data & stand as much chance of being sucessfully read as anything else 'data' on that disk.

[csr]

My assumption is that if I can find a replacement drive that was manufactured within a few months of my drive, then there is a better chance that the firmware will match up on the controller, thus enabling me to do a controller swap. I read that some other people have been able to do this.

I've read about flashing the firmware to make this work, but I don't have the software to do this and I'm not sure the exact procedures to follow. If anyone has any insight, I'd appreciate it very much. I'm not afraid to try as long as I have good directions.

[ironwill99]

My assumption is that if I can find a replacement drive that was manufactured within a few months of my drive, then there is a better chance that the firmware will match up on the controller, thus enabling me to do a controller swap. I read that some other people have been able to do this.

I've read about flashing the firmware to make this work, but I don't have the software to do this and I'm not sure the exact procedures to follow. If anyone has any insight, I'd appreciate it very much. I'm not afraid to try as long as I have good directions.

With a WD like that you need to find a drive with a simlar model number. They usually end with a A0 A2 or A4. You can use a board from the same revision of the drive. For example I have a WD 200 gig SATA drive. The model number is WD2000JD-00HBB0. If my board fried I would look for a WD SATA drive with a model number ending in HBB0.

[csr]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm on the search now for a replacement hard drive controller. My 40gb internal Western Digital EIDE hard drive info is as follows:

MDL: WD400BB - 00CLB0 (model number)
DATE: 09 AUG 2001 (date of manufacture)
DCM: RRBHET2AH (?)
Drive Parameters: LBA 78165360

Thanks for any help you can give. My email is: [email protected]

[ironwill99]

Sunstar micro or ebay is a good place to look. I usually go looking for parts at local "mom and pop" shops first though. The sales guys there look at me like I'm nuts because I want to look through all their drives to find a specific one. In this case you want to find a WD drive with a model number ending in CLB0. If you are going to look around at local shops be sure to write down the numbers you posted to refer to. Hope this helps.