www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hi all,
I need to move an eprom from one board to another. This card is actually the system card mounted on an hard disk.
Basically my old HD passed away, I bought a second hand off ebay with the idea to replace the system board only, however (my mistake) this came with the same board (good!) but different firmware version (bad!). Apparently there's no way to downgrade and the eprom hosting the firmware must be phisically moved from the old board into new one.

I don't want to even try this as I don't have the tools experience; but do you know anybody that can do it? I'm in the Leicester area but I guess I could also send the chips via royal mail if needed? I reckon it's a 10 min job if they have the right tools.

Any advise?

Appreciated!

Are the chip pins visible? Can you post a pic of the board/chip? Leaded surface mount devices aren't too difficult to replace but if the device is BGA or other 'hidden pin' device then the chances are slim - not many people own infra-red reflow ovens!

Have you tried using the board with the new firmware? The sectors/data on the disk itself (physical) rarely changes - only the way they are handled does.

Do you know why the disk failed, if its a mechanical failiure, it may not be worth it anyway.

In my experience 90% of the times it's an electronic problem, and I truly believe this is the case with this HD as there's no mechanical noise and changing board does have some effect. I bought a brother HD as mentioned with different firmware but I did try to replace the board any ways; it is seen by the system but the low level calibration is off target and is asking me to format which I don't want to do as I have some data my friend is desperate to recover. I already gave him a good lesson on backup but losing data is the best school to teach you the lesson isn't it ;-)

Any ways I contacted Samsung asking for the firmware as per failed device but I got a "no way" back (they sell recovery service themselves that's why) and you can only download the very new version which is neither broken (patient) HD or second hand (donor) HD I bought.

I suppose the best option would be for me to sell this second hand HD I bought (it works perfectly!) and buy the card off some professional services (they charge about 35/40GBP) including the firmware chip move between the so called "patient and donor" boards. They ask you to send the board via mail and you receive the working board after a week.

If not keep testing my luck on ebay second hand and ask the seller full details on chip/card revision/firmware and pay closer attention to the details this time.

BTW I asked the original question not even knowing exactly which one is the flash chip to be swapped, however I've looked this up in internet and its something with 8 pins
e.g. http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html
there's also a video on youtube of a chap doing in in literally 30 sec (with the right tool of course)

8-pins??? Sounds like it's the EEPROM that records the dud sectors (all disks have them). You can remove them quite easily yourself if you know how to use an ordinary soldering iron.

Speed is of the essence but....... apply a large blob of solder to cover all four pins on one side whilst at the same time levering the body of the chip up just enough for it to break the solder link between chip and board (the solder is molten at this stage so there should be little physical resistance - don't lever too far).

Repeat on the other four pins whilst lifting the chip clear of the board. Let chip cool then reheat and remove any surplus solder bridging the pins and use desoldering braid to clean up the tracks on the board. Do NOT overheat the board as any damage to the tracks will be difficult/impossible to repair.

To refit - place the chip on the board (observing correct orientation) and tack one corner lead to the board. You can probably do this with just a hot soldering iron tip as the solder residue remaining on chip/board will be enough to just hold the chip in place.

Run a bead of solder across all four pins - don't worry about the solder shorting them. When the solder has set, use some desoldering braid to suck up the surplus solder, carefully inspecting the finished joint for shorts (fix as required). Repeat for other side.

As said, speed is of the essence. The chips can withstand 350-400degC for up to 30 seconds but I'd be aiming to do each side in under 10, pausing to allow the area to cool if taking too long.

A soldering iron of 15-25W will do it, use a needle point tip and flux-cored 60/40 lead-based solder.