PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE

ACE Laboratory Samsung

01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101

SAMSUNG 011
11
1

ontents
1. Utility purpose ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
2. Structure of drive families ..................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1. HDD 1.1 appearance ........................................................................................................................................ 9
2.2. Explanation of 1.2 of model labels ................................................................................................................. 11
2.3. Detecting 1.3 the family of a drive ................................................................................................................. 12
2.4. Conventional subdivision of drives into groups of families ............................................................................. 12
3. Getting started ..................................................................................................................................................... 12
3.1. Connecting Samsung 2.5” mini PATA drives to terminal ................................................................................ 12
3.2. Connecting Samsung 2.5” SATA drives to terminal........................................................................................ 13
3.3. Connecting Samsung 1.8” and 2.5” drives to terminal..................................................................................... 13
3.4. Connecting Samsung 3.5” drives to terminal .................................................................................................. 14
3.5. Manual COM port configuration .................................................................................................................... 15
4. Launching the utility .......................................................................................................................................... 16
5. «Tests» menu ....................................................................................................................................................... 18
5.1. Utility status .................................................................................................................................................. 18
5.2. Work with terminal ........................................................................................................................................ 19
5.2.1. Set COM port data transfer rate.............................................................................................................. 19
5.3. Service information .................................................................................................................. 20
5.3.1. HDD resources backup .......................................................................................................................... 20
5.3.2. Work with ROM.................................................................................................................................... 20
5.3.2.1. Read ROM via terminal ................................................................................................................. 20
5.3.2.2. Write ROM ................................................................................................................................... 21
5.3.2.3. Get head map ................................................................................................................................ 22
5.3.2.4. View information about ROM dump .............................................................................................. 22
5.3.2.5. FIPS module reading and writing ................................................................................................... 22
5.3.3. Work with RAM.................................................................................................................................... 22
5.3.3.1. RAM head map editing.................................................................................................................. 22
5.3.4. Work with BURN .................................................................................................................................. 22
5.3.4.1. BURN test result report ................................................................................................................. 22
5.3.4.2. Write BURN resources to HDD ..................................................................................................... 23
5.3.4.3. Download file into HDD................................................................................................................ 25
5.3.4.4. Start Burn-In test ........................................................................................................................... 25
5.3.4.5. Resume Burn-In test ...................................................................................................................... 26
5.3.5. Work with service area .......................................................................................................................... 26
5.3.5.1. Heads test ...................................................................................................................................... 26
5.3.5.2. SA structure test ............................................................................................................................ 26
5.3.5.3. Read modules ................................................................................................................................ 27
5.3.5.4. Write modules ............................................................................................................................... 27
5.3.5.5. Reading service tracks ................................................................................................................... 28
5.3.5.6. Writing service tracks .................................................................................................................... 29
5.3.5.7. Erase service area .......................................................................................................................... 29
5.3.5.8. Zone translation table .................................................................................................................... 29
5.3.5.9. Edit S/N ........................................................................................................................................ 30
5.3.5.10. Edit HDD ID ............................................................................................................................... 31
5.3.6. Security subsystem ................................................................................................................................ 31

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
5.3.6.1. Password information .................................................................................................................... 31
11010101101101010100111110
5.3.6.2. Clearing passwords ....................................................................................................................... 31
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 5.3.7. Work with database ............................................................................................................................... 31
011 5.3.7.1. Export HDD resources ................................................................................................................. 32
11
1 5.3.7.2. Resource master copy creation in DB ............................................................................................ 32
5.4. Format........................................................................................................................................................... 32
5.5.Surface test ..................................................................................................................................................... 32
5.5.1. Logical scan .......................................................................................................................................... 32
5.5.2. Physical test .......................................................................................................................................... 33
5.5.3. Combined test ....................................................................................................................................... 34
5.6. Defect list ...................................................................................................................................................... 36
5.6.1. Defect lists report .................................................................................................................................. 36
5.6.2. Defects editing ...................................................................................................................................... 36
5.6.2.1. Defect list editing .......................................................................................................................... 36
5.6.3. A-LIST clearing .................................................................................................................................... 38
5.6.4. Trasfer A-LIST to S-LIST ..................................................................................................................... 38
5.6.5. Rebuild S-LIST ..................................................................................................................................... 38
5.6.6. Rebuild T-LIST ..................................................................................................................................... 38
5.7. Clear S.M.A.R.T............................................................................................................................................ 38
6. «Tools» «Utility extensions» menu ................................................................................................................. 39
6.1. Modules table ................................................................................................................................................ 39
6.1.1. Hex editor plag-ins ................................................................................................................................ 41
6.2. Viewing andediting HDD resources ............................................................................................................... 41
6.3. Burn Test monitoring..................................................................................................................................... 42
6.4. Terminal soft reset ([Ctrl]+[Alt]+[4]) ............................................................................................................. 43
6.5. Terminal hard reset ([Ctrl]+[Alt]+[5]) ............................................................................................................ 43
6.6. Unlocking at«LED 1Axx» error ([Ctrl]+[Alt]+[6]) ......................................................................................... 43
6.7. FIT editor ([Ctrl]+[Alt]+[7]) .......................................................................................................................... 43
6.7.1. Editing module locations in the FIT editor ............................................................................................. 44
7. Brief technical description of Samsung drives ................................................................................................... 45
7.1. Disk space structure ....................................................................................................................................... 45
7.2. Logical addressing of disk space .................................................................................................................... 47
7.3. Modules table ................................................................................................................................................ 48
7.4. Configuration modules .................................................................................................................................. 50
7.4.1. SET_MAX module ............................................................................................................................... 50
7.4.2. SECURITY module .............................................................................................................................. 50
7.4.3. SNTBL module ..................................................................................................................................... 50
7.4.4. DCO module ......................................................................................................................................... 51
7.4.5. PROFILE module.................................................................................................................................. 51
7.4.6. UNITABLE module .............................................................................................................................. 51
7.4.7. CONFIG module ................................................................................................................................... 51
7.5. Defect list modules ........................................................................................................................................ 51
7.5.1. SLIST and SLISTHDR modules ............................................................................................................ 51
7.5.2. TLIST and TLISTHDR modules............................................................................................................ 51
7.5.3. ALIST and ALISTHDR modules ........................................................................................................... 51
7.5.4. DLIST and DLISTHDR modules ........................................................................................................... 51
7.5.5. LIST and MLISTHDR modules ......................................................................................................... 52
7.5.6. VLIST VLISTHDR modules .............................................................................................................. 52
7.6. OVERLAY modules...................................................................................................................................... 52
7.6.1. OVERLAY module ............................................................................................................................... 52
7.6.2. OVLY001 module ............................................................................................................................. 52
7.6.3. OVLY009 module ............................................................................................................................. 52
7.6.4. BOVLY001 module .............................................................................................................................. 52
7.7. S.M.A.R.T. subsystem modules ..................................................................................................................... 52
7.7.1. TMPRTR module.................................................................................................................................. 52
7.7.2. SMART module .................................................................................................................................... 52
7.7.3. SMRT_LOG module ............................................................................................................................. 52
7.7.4. SMRT_TST module .............................................................................................................................. 52

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
7.7.5. SMRT_HLG module ............................................................................................................................. 52
11010101101101010100111110
7.7.6. DRM module......................................................................................................................................... 53
1101110110110011
0111011110
7.7.7. ALIST ALISTHDR modules .............................................................................................................. 53
111101
011
7.8. Translator modules ........................................................................................................................................ 53
11
7.8.1. SLIST and SLISTHDR modules ............................................................................................................ 53
1
7.8.2. TLIST and TLISTHDR modules ............................................................................................................ 53
7.8.3. ALIST and ALISTHDR modules ........................................................................................................... 53
7.8.4. UNITABLE module .............................................................................................................................. 53
7.8.5. CONFIG module ................................................................................................................................... 53
7.8.6. CONFIG2 module ................................................................................................................................. 53
7.8.7. PARAM_DM module............................................................................................................................ 53
7.8.8. GEOTBL module .................................................................................................................................. 53
8. Diagnostics of malfunctions ................................................................................................................................. 54
8.1. Diagnostics at power-up................................................................................................................................. 54
8.2. Electronics board malfunctions ...................................................................................................................... 56
8.2.1. Oxidization of contact pads .................................................................................................................... 56
8.2.2. Power circuit malfunction ...................................................................................................................... 56
8.2.3. Failure of the microchip controlling the spindle motor ........................................................................... 56
8.2.4. Failure of the ROM chip or corruption of its data ................................................................................... 57
8.2.5. PCB diagnostics .................................................................................................................................... 57
8.3. Spindle motor diagnostics .............................................................................................................................. 57
8.4. Analysis of terminal messages........................................................................................................................ 58
8.4.1. Firmware operation modes ..................................................................................................................... 58
8.4.2. Firmware start log.................................................................................................................................. 58
8.5. Error messages typical for both HDD architectures ......................................................................................... 59
8.5.1. No messages in terminal ........................................................................................................................ 59
8.5.2. Cyclic errors«1st Gray Err», «1st Sk Err», «1st Vel Err», «No Gray» ..................................................... 59
8.5.3. «B reak at 0xYYYYYYYY» 4.18.5 message or spontaneous switch to the DBG> mode during firmware
initialization .................................................................................................................................................... 60
8.5.4. Sudden interruption of the initialization log, firmware freeze .................................................................. 61
8.6. Error messages typical of classic drives .......................................................................................................... 61
8.6.1. Cyclic «LED 13» message ..................................................................................................................... 61
8.6.2. Cyclic «LED 16» message ..................................................................................................................... 62
8.6.3. Cyclic «LED 5B» message («LED B5») ................................................................................................ 62
8.6.4. «WriteSctLog -- buffer not valid» message ............................................................................................ 63
8.6.5. Cyclic «-Tout-Tout-Tout-» message....................................................................................................... 63
8.7. Error message typical of Trinity drives ........................................................................................................... 64
8.7.1. «DEBUG HALT @MDL_RSRC_BufferAlloc()» message ..................................................................... 64
8.7.2. Cyclic«LED 1102» message .................................................................................................................. 65
8.7.3. «SpinUp Fail» and cyclic «LED 1703» messages ................................................................................... 66
8.7.4. Cyclic «LED 1A04» («LED 1Axx») message ........................................................................................ 67
8.8. Malfunctions of the read/write heads .............................................................................................................. 68
8.8.1. Using the RAM head map editing feature ............................................................................................... 69
8.9. Corruption of the service area modules ........................................................................................................... 70
8.10. Gaining access to the service area: methods .................................................................................................. 72
8.10.1. Achieving readiness in terminal during the first stage of firmware initialization .................................... 72
8.10.2. Safe mode............................................................................................................................................ 73
8.10.3. Obtaining access using the H/T (FFlash, Burn) code ............................................................................. 74
8.10.4. Hot swap ............................................................................................................................................. 75
8.10.5. Head map editing in RAM ................................................................................................................... 76
8.11. Incorrect detection of drive parameters ......................................................................................................... 76
8.11.1. Incorrect detection of drive capacity..................................................................................................... 76
8.11.2. Incorrect detection of the number of heads in a drive ............................................................................ 77
8.11.3. Incorrect detection of drive model ........................................................................................................ 77
8.11.4. Garbled characters in identification data ............................................................................................... 77
8.12. ROM data integrity check ............................................................................................................................ 77

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
9. Repair of Samsung drives ................................................................................................................................... 79
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
9.1. About restoration of firmware modules .......................................................................................................... 79
0111011110
111101
011
9.2. Restoring the S.M.A.R.T. .............................................................................................................................. 79
11 9.3. Restoring the defect list modules.................................................................................................................... 79
1
9.3.1. Restoring SLIST and TLIST .................................................................................................................. 79
9.3.2. Restoring ALIST ................................................................................................................................... 80
9.3.3. Restoring MLIST .................................................................................................................................. 80
9.4. Restoring the overlay modules ....................................................................................................................... 80
9.5. Restoring the translator modules .................................................................................................................... 80
9.6. Restoring the configuration modules .............................................................................................................. 80
9.7. Hot Swap for restoration of access to data ...................................................................................................... 80
9.8. Configuring a drive to accept a donor board ................................................................................................... 82
9.9. Connecting USB drives via SATA ................................................................................................................. 83
9.10. Donor drive selection ................................................................................................................................... 85
9.11. Launch BURN-In tests................................................................................................................................. 86
9.11.1. Types of Burn resources ...................................................................................................................... 86
9.11.2. Celecting the necessary set of resource data ......................................................................................... 87
9.11.3. Test loading and performance procedure .............................................................................................. 88
9.11.4. Service area check using H/T (FFlash, Burn) code and heads map modification in ROM ...................... 91
10. Appendix 1. Photos of control boards Samsung HDD ..................................................................................... 92
11. Appendix 2. Error Codes table of the drives with classical firmware architecture ....................................... 106
12. Appendix 3. . Error Codes table of the drives with Trinity firmware architecture ....................................... 109

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
1. Utility purpose 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
Samsung utility is intended for repair of SpinPoint HDD manufactured by Samsung. In addition to large series of 11
3.5” drives, the utility also supports 2.5” and Serial ATA Samsung HDD. All models supported by the utility are listed 1

in Table 2.1
The utility offers the following features:
reading/writing of service data
passwords removal
S.M.A.R.T. initialization
loading of Burn-In test resources (supplied as individual files for import into your database)
heads map modification
analysis of Burn-In test results
monitoring of Burn-In test progress
reading of Flash ROM image via terminal
writing ROM image
work with defect lists
editing of zone translation table
logical scanning
physical scanning
heads testing
disconnection of faulty heads
low-level formatting.

Database resources for Burn-In tests are supplied on the installation CD of PC-3000 for Windows, they are also
available from personal customer folders on our technical support server.

2. Structure of drive families

Table 2.1.

Capacity,
Drive family Model Heads Max LBA
Gb
NEXUS HS041GA 40 1 78,242,976
NEON 1.8” HS081HA 80 2 156,301,488
N2 HS040HB 40 2 78,242,976
N2B 1.8:” HS060HB 60 2 117,304,992
HS080HB 80 3 156,301,488
HS120JB 120 4 234,441,648
M40, MN40, M40D MP0302H 30 2 58,711,968
MAGMA 2.5” MP0402H 40 2 78,242,976
MP0603H 60 3 117,304,992
MP0804H 80 4 156,368,016
M40S, M40SG, MN40S HM020GI 20 1 39,179,952
MAGMA 2.5” (SATA) HM20GIJ 20 1 39,179,952
HM040HI 40 2 78,242,976
HM060II 60 3 117,304,992
HM080JI 80 4 156,368,016

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
M60P, M60D, M60S,
11010101101101010100111110 HM040HC 40 2 78,242,976
1101110110110011
M60SD HM041HI 40 2 78,242,976
0111011110
111101 M60(S) 2.5” HM060HC 60 2 117,304,992
011
11 HM060HI 60 2 117,304,992
1 HM080IC 80 3 156,368,016
HM080II 80 3 156,368,016
HM100JC 100 4 195,371,568
HM100JI 100 4 195,371,568
HM120JC 120 4 234,441,648
HM120JI 120 4 234,441,648
M80P, M80S HM080HC 80 2 156,368,016
MAGNUM 2.5” HM080HI 80 2 156,368,016
HM120IC 120 3 234,441,648
HM120II 120 3 234,441,648
HM160JC 160 4 312,581,808
HM160JI 160 4 312,581,808
M5_P1 2.5” HM080GC 80 1 156,368,016
HM121HC 120 2 234,441,648
HM160HC 160 2 312,581,808
M5S1, M5S2 HM080GI 80 1 156,368,016
MANGO 2.5” HM160HI 160 2 312,581,808
HM250JI 250 4 488,397,168
MT1 2.5” HM400LI 400 6 781,422,768
HM500LI 500 6 976,771,055
M6S_2D 2.5” HM061GI 60 1 117,304,992
HM080GI 80 1 156,301,488
HM121HI 120 2 234,441,648
HM160HI 160 2 312,581,808
HM251JI 250 4 488,397,168
HM320JI 320 4 625,142,448
M7S2 2.5” HM120GI 120 1 234,441,648
HM250HI 250 2 488,397,168
HM320II 320 3 625,142,448
HM500JI 500 4 976,771,055
M7E 2.5” HM161GI 160 1 312,581,808
HM251HI 250 2 488,397,168
HM321HI 320 2 625,142,448
HM501II 500 3 976,771,055
HM641JI 640 4 1,250,263,728
M8E 2.5” HN-M160MBB 160 1 312,581,808
HN-M250MBB 250 1 488,397,168
HN-M320MBB 320 2 625,142,448
HN-M500MBB 500 2 976,771,055
HN-M640MBB 640 3 1,250,263,728
HN-M750MBB 750 3 1,465,149,168
HN-M101MBB 1000 4 1,953,525,168
V11P SV1021H 10.2 1 19,932,192
VOYAGER 11PLUS SV2042H 20.4 2 39,865,392
SV3063H 30.6 3
SV4084H 40.8 4
V40 SV2001H 20 1 39,179,952
VICTOR SV3012H 30 2 58,711,968
SV4002H 40 2 78,242,976
SV6003H 60 3 117,304,992
SV6014H 60 4 117,304,992
SV8004H 80 4 156,368,016

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
V40P SV2011H 20 1 39,179,952
11010101101101010100111110
VICTORPLUS SV4012H 40 2 78,242,976 1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
P40 SP2001H 20 1 39,179,952 011
PUMA SP20A1H 20 1 39,179,952 11
1
SP4002H 40 2 78,242,976
SP40A2H 40 2 78,242,976
SP6003H 60 3 117,304,992
SP60A3H 60 3 117,304,992
SP8004H 80 4 156,368,016
SP80A4H 80 4 156,368,016
VL40 SV0211H 20 1 39,179,952
VANGO SV0401H 40 1 78,242,976
VL40P SV0221N 20 1 39,179,952
VANGOPLUS SV0411N 40 1 78,242,976
V60 SV0301H 30 1 58,711,968
VERNA SV0602H 60 2 117,304,992
SV0813H 80 3 156,368,016
SV0823H 80 3 156,368,016
SV1204H 120 4 234,493,056
V60 SV0221H 20 1 39,179,952
VERNALITE SV0412H 40 2 117,304,992
PL40, PL40S SP0411N 40 1 78,242,976
PANGO SP0411C 40 1 78,242,976
P80H, P80VA SP0421N 40 1 78,242,976
RUBICON SP0622N 60 2 117,304,992
SP0822N 80 2 156,368,016
P80VEM SP0451N 40 1 78,242,976
CAESAR SP0842N 80 2 156,301,488
V80, V80P, V80PL, SV0301N 30 1 58,711,968
V80CE SV0602N 60 2 117,304,992
VELOCE SV0802N 80 2 156,368,016
SV0802E 80 2 156,368,016
SV0903N 90 3 175,869,792
SV1203N 120 3 234,493,056
SV1203E 120 3 234,493,056
SV1204N 120 4 234,493,056
SV1604N 160 4 312,581,808
SV1604E 160 4 312,581,808
P80, P80VE, P80VT, SP0311N 30 1 58,711,968
P80D, P80P, P80PL, SP0401N 40 1 78,242,976
P80S SP0401C 40 1 78,242,976
PALO SP0612N 60 2 117,304,992
SP0802N 80 2 156,368,016
SP0812N 80 2 156,368,016
SP0812C 80 2 156,368,016
SP1203N 120 3 234,493,056
SP1213N 120 3 234,493,056
SP1213C 120 3 234,493,056
SP1604N 160 4 312,581,808
SP1614N 160 4 312,581,808
SP1614C 160 4 312,581,808
P80A SP1223N 120 3 234,493,056
SP1624N 160 4 312,581,808
SP1634N 160 4 312,581,808
P80SD, P80SDT, HD040GJ 40 1 78,242,976
P80PLUS, HD080HJ 80 2 156,301,488

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
DELPHI
11010101101101010100111110 HD120IJ 120 3 234,441,648
1101110110110011 HD160JJ 160 4 312,581,808
0111011110
111101
011 P80M SP1243N 120 3 234,441,648
11
1
SP1253N 120 3 234,441,648
SP1644N 160 4 312,581,808
SP1654N 160 4 312,581,808
P120, P120S SP1613N 160 3 312,581,808
POSEIDON SP1603C 160 3 312,581,808
SP2014N 200 4 390,721,968
SP2004C 200 4 390,721,968
SP2514N 250 4 488,397,168
SP2504C 250 4 488,397,168
T133, T133S HD250KJ 250 5 488,397,168
TRIDENT HD300LD 300 6 586,072,368
HD300LJ 300 6 586,072,368
HD301LJ 300 6 586,072,368
HD320LD 320 6 625,142,448
HD400LD 400 6 781,422,768
HD400LJ 400 6 781,422,768
HD401LJ 400 6 781,422,768
P160S HD080GJ 80 1 156,301,488
PARAGON HD160HJ 160 2 312,581,808
T166, T166S, T166C HD160HJ 160 2 312,581,808
TRIDENT2 HD161HJ 160 2 312,581,808
HD251KJ 250 5 488,397,168
HD252KJ 250 5 488,397,168
HD320KJ 320 5 625,142,448
HA320KJ 320 5 625,142,448
HD321KJ 320 5 625,142,448
HD402LJ 400 6 781,422,768
HD403LJ 400 6 781,422,768
HD500LJ 500 6 976,771,055
HA500LJ 500 6 976,771,055
HD501LJ 500 6 976,771,055
S166 HD081GJ 80 1 156,301,488
STORM2 HD082GJ 80 1 156,301,488
(MARVELL CHIP) HD161HJ 160 2 312,581,808
S166 HD081GJ 80 1 156,301,488
STORM2_G HD082GJ 80 1 156,301,488
(GIGACUBE CHIP) HD161HJ 160 2 312,581,808

S250 HD162HJ 160 2 312,581,808

TRIDENT3 HD200HJ 200 2 390,721,968
HD250HJ 250 2 488,397,168
F1 DT HD161GJ 160 1 312,581,808
F1_3D HD162GJ 160 1 312,581,808
HD251HJ 250 2 488,397,168
HD252HJ 250 2 488,397,168
HD321HJ 320 2 625,142,448
HD322HJ 320 2 625,142,448
HD401IJ 400 3 781,422,768
HD402IJ 400 3 781,422,768
HD501IJ 500 3 976,771,055
HD502IJ 500 3 976,771,055
HD642JJ 640 4 1,250,263,728
HD752LJ 750 6 1,465,149,168

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
HD753LJ 750 6 1,465,149,168
11010101101101010100111110
HD102UJ 1000 6 1,953,525,168 1101110110110011
0111011110
HD103UJ 1000 6 1,953,525,168 111101
011
F1 ECOGREEN HD252HI 250 2 488,397,168 11
1
F1_3D HD322HI 320 2 625,142,448
HD502JI 500 4 976,771,055
HD642JI 640 4 1,250,263,728
HD753LI 750 6 1,465,149,168
HD103UI 1000 6 1,953,525,168
F2 ECOGREEN HD502HI 500 2 976,771,055
F2_EG HD103SI 1000 4 1,953,525,168
HD154UI 1500 6 2,930,277,168
F3_2D HD502HJ 500 2 976,771,055
F3 HD103SJ 1000 4 1,953,525,168
F3_4D HD153WI 1500 7 2,930,277,168
HD203WI 2000 8 3,907,029,168
F4 HD165GJ 160 1 312,581,808
HD166GJ 160 1 312,581,808
HD255GJ 250 1 488,397,168
HD256GJ 250 1 488,397,168
HD322GJ 320 1 625,142,448
F4_3D HD155UI 1500 6 2,930,277,168
HD204UI 2000 6 3,907,029,168

2.1. HDD 1.1 appearance

Fig.2.1. A PALO hard disk drive.

1 – manufacturer – Samsung; 2 – drive family – PALO; 3 – serial number;

4 – model – SP1213C; 5 – size in LBA and GB; 6 – Part Number (P/N);
7 – Material Mixing.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.2.2. A 80 hard disk drive.

1 – manufacturer – Samsung; 2 – drive family – M80; 3 – serial number;

4 – model – HM160JC; 5 – size in LBA and GB; 6 – Part Number (P/N).

Fig.2.3. A F1_3D hard disk drive.

1 – manufacturer – Samsung; 2 – drive family – F1_3D; 3 – serial number;

4 – model – HD103UI; 5 – size in LBA and GB; 6 – Part Number (P/N).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.2.4. A hard disk drive.

1 – manufacturer – Samsung; 2 – drive family – M8E; 3 – serial number;

4 – model – HN-M500MBB; 5 – size in LBA and GB; 6 – Part Number (P/N).

2.2. Explanation of 1.2 of model labels

HDD label explanation for an early Samsung model using SP1213C drive as an example (Fig. 2.1):

S - Drive class (S – desktop 3.5”, M – mobile 2.5”,).

P - SpinPoint line
12 - Drive capacity (expressed as tens of GB).
1 - The generation principle for this value is not determined completely. The value characterizes the cache size
and also distinguishes models of the same capacity and class belonging to different drive families.
3 - The value defines the number of drive heads. Please note that the manufacturer may specify in the model name
(mostly for marketing-related reasons) a higher or lower number of heads than the drive actually has. These
peculiarities should be kept in mind while selecting a donor drive for head replacement (see section 5.10).
C - Drive interface (H – PATA (UDMA 100), N – PATA (UDMA 133), C – SATA I).

HDD label explanation for a newer Samsung model using HD103UI drive as an example (Fig. 2.3):

H- HDD (hard disk)

D- Drive class (D – desktop 3.5”, E – enterprise 3.5” (RAID – ), M – mobile 2.5”, S – slim 1.8”).
10 - Drive capacity expressed as tens (or hundreds) of GB.
3- The generation principle for this value is not determined completely. The value characterizes the cache size
and also distinguishes models of the same capacity and class belonging to different drive families.
U - The number of heads (G – 1, H – 2, I – 3, J and S – 4, K – 5, L and U – 6, W – 8). Similarly to the labels of
earlier drive families, the information about the number of heads sometimes may be inaccurate. Precise
information can only be found in the HDD ID of a specific drive after reading it in the utility.
I - Interface (D – PATA, C – mini PATA, J – SATA II (7200 rpm), I – SATA II (5400 rpm), A – ZIF, B – CE
ATA, X and Y – USB).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
2.3. Detecting 1.3 the family of a drive
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 To identify the family of a Samsung drive, you can check its firmware version or the marks on the drive (label,
marks on the HDA or the PCB). The first method is only applicable when a HDD reaches readiness and returns its HDD
011
11
1 ID. The utility uses it for automatic detection of the drive family.
The second method has to be used when automatic family detection is impossible for some reason. E.g., it can be
helpful when a drive fails to reach the ready state or when you need to select a donor drive while there is no available
PC-3000 suite. First, find the marks on the drive (see chapter 2), then compare them against the list of drive families
(see Table 2.1) to determine the family they belong to. Please keep in mind that marks on the label, PCB and HDA may
differ. This is caused by the fact that some drive families share common components (for example, RUBICON drives
bear the PALO print on their HDA label and RUBICON on their PCB; M80 drives bear the M60 print on PCB and M80
on the label). Thus, if a drive family cannot be identified unambiguously, you have to check the list of models in the
potential drive families and select the family containing this particular model. There are also drive families with
identical model names and HDA marks (for example, STORM2 and STORM2_G, they can be distinguished by the
manufacturer of the controller: Marvell in the first family, Samsung in the second).

2.4. Conventional subdivision of drives into groups of families

Some specific peculiarities demand introduction of a conventional subdivision of Samsung drives in two large
groups: drives using classic architecture and drives using Trinity architecture.
The first group includes (Table 2.1) NEON 1.8”; 2.5” drives beginning with the MAGMA family through
M6S_2D, and 3.5” drives beginning with V11P through TRIDENT3.
The second group includes all remaining drive families, (Table 2.1): N2B 1.8”; 2.5” drives beginning with M7S2,
and 3.5” drives beginning with F1_3D.
Classic drives use just one system head and double-digit error codes (see chapter 11). Trinity drives use three
system heads (being thus more reliable than classic drives), and four-digit error codes, which are more convenient for
recognition and classification (see chapter 12).

3. Getting started
1) Plug the UDMA cable from ATA0 or ATA1 port of the -3000 UDMA tester board in the IDE connector of
the HDD. To connect a Serial ATA drive, use the PC PATA-SATA adapter. To connect a 2.5” PATA drive,
use the PC-2” adapter (adapters for 1.8” drives are not included in the product package, they are purchased
separately). USB drives are connected using the standard USB ports of the host computer.
2) Connect power supply to the drive (PC-2”, PC PATA-SATA adapter) from the corresponding channel of the
PC-3K PWR2 power control adapter.
3) Switch on the HDD power supply using the power toggle (toolbar) icon.
The drive can be connected to a COM port using the PC-KALOK adapter or the PC USB TERMINAL adapter.
Please find below the schemes for drive connection to terminal.

3.1. Connecting Samsung 2.5” mini PATA drives to terminal

To connect 2.5” Samsung mini PATA drives to terminal, use the PC-2” adapter. Jumpers of the adapter should be
set as shown in the Fig 3.1

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.3.1. PC-2” jumper settings.

3.2. Connecting Samsung 2.5” SATA drives to terminal

Samsung 2.5” SATA drives should be connected to terminal using the PC SAMSUNG adapter (Fig. 3.2).

3.3. Connecting Samsung 1.8” and 2.5” drives to terminal

There are two methods that can be used to connect Samsung 1.8” and 2.5” USB drives to terminal. The first
method implies terminal connection to contact pads, the second – to the factory openings corresponding to these pads
(Fig. 3.3, Fig. 3.4). The size and pinout of contacts on a pad are always the same (Fig. 3.3, Fig. 3.4), while the location
and sizes of openings may differ depending on the drive model. The correspondence between the openings and the Rx
and Tx signals should be identified by the direction of the copper tracks to the contact pads.

Fig. 3.2. PC-SAMSUNG adapter connection to a 2.5” SATA drive.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig. 3.3. Terminal contacts on a MT1 PCB

Fig. 3.4. Terminal contacts on a M7S2 PCB.

3.4. Connecting Samsung 3.5” drives to terminal

To connect Samsung 3.5” PATA or SATA HDD to terminal, use the PC USB TERMINAL and the PC-SEAGATE
adapters. PC-SEAGATE adapter must be connected to the drive so that the Master jumper remains in place. Thus the
ATA interface of PC-3000 will remain accessible. The scheme for adapter connection to the drive is shown in the
Fig. 3.5. Master jumper does not affect the terminal operation.
With 3.5” Serial ATA drives the PC-SEAGATE adapter should be used in the same manner, no jumper is set over
the free couple of contact pins (Fig. 3.6).
Trinity drives have just two pairs of contacts. To connect the terminal to various drives, you can also use the PC-
SEAGATE adapter; the last pair of adapter contacts on the rights side remains free then (Fig. 3.7).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.3.5. Connection of the PC-SEAGATE adapter to a 3.5” PATA drive

Fig.3.6. Connection of the PC-SEAGATE adapter to a 3.5” SATA drive.

Fig.3.7. Connection of the PC-SEAGATE adapter to F1_3D, F2_EG, and F3 drives.

3.5. Manual COM port configuration

After successful utility start all necessary COM port settings are applied automatically. If the universal utility is
used, or the initialization of the Samsung utility gets interrupted, the COM port settings have to be defined manually. To
do that, open the utility settings ([Alt] + [T]) and specify in the «Uses port» field the COM port that the drive is
connected to. In the main menu, select: «Tools» «COM port settings», enter the COM port data exchange rate in the
«Rate» field (38400 for V11P and VICTOR models, 57600 – for other models supported by the utility).
Open the terminal window («Tools» «Terminal»), move focus to terminal window by clicking on it, and press
[Enter]. After that you should be able to monitor the information output by the drive. In normal status the drive must be
in the «ENG>(Engine)» mode. If you press [Esc], firmware operation will be interrupted and the drive will switch to
«DBG>(Debug)» mode. You can obtain a list of commands supported by the current drive by entering the «HE» or
«HE1» command.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
If after power-up a firmware initialization error occurs, then the terminal will display the code of that error, for
11010101101101010100111110
example: LED 13 000. Error code values can be found in chapter 11,12.
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011 Sometimes a HDD in error state just stops sending data to terminal. In such cases you can identify an error using
11the LED signals (please see Fig. 9.9 for the connection scheme). Long signals denote the first digit of the code, short
1
signals represent the second digit, i.e. code 13 will be output as one long and three short signals.
The «CR=LF» terminal button in the PC-Samsung utility must be depressed as it controls wrapping of the lines
output by a HDD to terminal.

4. Launching the utility

After utility launch, it displays a «Utility start» window, which serves for selection of the operation mode. If the
utility succeeds in reading HDD ID at the start, it will select the family corresponding to HDD firmware in the «HDD
family» panel. Otherwise, the drive family selector will not be set and the «Utility start» button will remain inactive.

Fig.4.1.

Attention! Use the «HDD interface» panel to select SATA, if the drive uses that interface and has been connected
to the tester complex via a PATA–SATA adapter. The step is important, because Serial ATA drives use a different
format of read/write commands compared to commands in drives belonging to the same family but using the PATA
interface.
There are four methods, which you can use to launch the Samsung utility:
1) Normal – the utility will start and read all necessary modules.
2) Safe mode – the utility will start but it will not try to access the modules in service area. Instead, it will load the
default modules table and make just an attempt to read the technological drive ID (no access to SA surface occurs),
which sometimes may be the default ID for VERNA and older drive families. The mode may be necessary in case
of a knocking HDD, when a drive after a soft reset fails to reach readiness and so you have to set appropriate
jumpers for work in Safe mode (please see section 8.10.2).
3) Only terminal – in that mode the utility has access to the drive exclusively by the terminal (not every drive family
supported)
4) Burn test monitor – in that mode the utility only allows monitoring of a running Burn test; all technological tests
are disabled. The utility reads nothing from the connected drive when it starts in that mode. You have to specify
the running Burn test in a corresponding dialog before the utility displays its monitoring window; the step is
necessary to load the respective Burn script into the monitoring window. If you click Cancel in the selection

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
dialog, the opened window will be empty and it will contain no test script. Please refer to section 6.3 for details on
11010101101101010100111110
the monitoring mode. 1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
In Normal start mode, after precise drive family selection the utility will read the HDD ID, modules table and other 011
additional information from service area, results of that procedure will appear in log. 11
1

Samsung drives frequently remain «busy» if their pre-start internal diagnostics reveals damaged service data
preventing a drive from work with user data area, e.g., corrupted translation modules (see section 7.8.). Such damage
does not interfere with operations over the service area; therefore, a soft reset command sent individually to a drive
makes it enter the «ready» state. Before pressing the «Utility start» button in the corresponding window, wait until the
drive reaches readiness, and if it cannot do so, send a soft reset to make the drive initialize its parameters properly if the
command succeeds. If a drive does not report ready after the command, it may mean errors in ROM or modules
affecting the system start.
The utility uses technological ID to obtain the zone allocation table, service area SPT, Flash ROM version and the
number of heads in a drive. You can modify some of those parameters in the «Utility status» dialog (see section 5.1). If
the technological ID has not been read, the utility will use default SA SPT and the number of heads.
The utility reads the modules table from FIT module. If the reading procedure encounters an error or module
structure parsing reveals internal corruption, then the utility will load to the table some values stored in it as constants.
FIT module is found in some (not all) of Samsung drive families, and so the utility always uses the default modules
table with them. You can switch between the employed tables of modules selecting the «Use the default modules table»
or «Load modules table from HDD» options in the «Utility status» dialog (see section 5.1). Please refer to section for a
more detailed description of the modules table.
After utility launch, its «Tests» menu provides access to the following features:
1) Utility status
2) Service information:
HDD resources backup
Work with ROM
Read ROM via terminal
Write ROM
View information about ROM dump
Module FIPS reading
Module FIPS writing
FIPS module clearing
Work with RAM
HDD initialization with head map changing in RAM
RAM head map editing
Work with BURN
BURN test result report
Write BURN resources to HDD
Download file into HDD
Start Burn-In test
Resume Burn-In test
Work with service area
Heads test
SA structure test
Read modules
Write modules
Reading service tracks
Writing service tracks
Table of zone translation
Erase service area

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Edit S/N
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
HDD ID editor
111101
011 Security subsystem
11
1 Password information
Clearing passwords
Work with database
Export HDD resources
Resource master copy creation in DB
Import HDD resources
3) Format
4) Surface test:
Logical test
Physical test: reading
Physical test: writing
Combined test
5) Defect list:
Defect lists report
-Combined test
Defects editing
Rebuild S-List
Rebuild T-List
A-LIST clearing
Transfer A-LIST to S-LIST
6) Clear S.M.A.R.T.

5. «Tests» menu
Specific utility features can be invoked from the «Tests» and «Tools Utility extensions» menus. The «Tests»
menu includes single pass actions while the «Utility extensions» menu offers interactive functions of the utility. The
remaining features are inherited from the kernel of the PC-3000 suite; they are described in the corresponding part of
user documentation.

5.1. Utility status

Selection of that menu item displays the parameters of the currently connected HDD and allows the operator to
modify them, if necessary. If the utility fails to identify the drive during start, it will assume default values for some of
the parameters. For models using more than 1 head, the number of heads will be assumed to be equal to 4. Service area
SPT value is constant within a drive family, so the default value should also be correct. However, in PALO P80VE
drive family SA SPT is different, it is equal to 832.
The «Utility status» dialog looks as follows:

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.5.1.

If the utility used a default modules table during HDD initialization, in the «Utility status» window you can reload
the modules table from service area on disk. You may also act to the contrary if the loaded modules table is invalid.
The option that allows you to enable or disable ECC is used during logical drive scanning (see section 5.5.1). ECC
disabling turns off the error correction system; the number of revealed defects of magnetic surfaces can increase.
Select the option «Read only selected head» avoids reading utility service information on defective heads. Option
is required in the case of reading service modules used to build head map in the «Data Extractor», as if trying to read
data from a damaged drive head may hang.

5.2. Work with terminal

5.2.1. Set COM port data transfer rate
This submenu contains the set of commands used to control the terminal connection with a drive.

Fig.5.2.

The command to «Detect HDD transfer rate» allows you to identify the current data exchange rate of the drive
terminal automatically, and configures the current COM port rate as appropriate.
The functionality for switching of the COM port baud rate allows changing the data exchange rate of drive
interaction with the terminal.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
5.3. Service information
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
5.3.1. HDD resources backup
011
11
1

Fig.5.3.

The command displays a dialog window, which you can use to read service data resources (modules, tracks, RAM)
from a HDD to its profile folder: <HDD Profile>\Data\SABackup. The method differs from «Resource master copy
creation in DB» (see section 5.3.7.2) because it does not check the structure of service data being intended mostly for
quick saving of service information from a drive before its testing.
«HDD resources backup» window contains two frames where you can select the tracks and heads to be used for
reading of the selected tracks. The opportunity to select the tracks, which should be backed up, is arranged to allow
skipping of unformatted tracks. Individual tracks cannot be skipped during the backup procedure. Please see section
5.3.5.5 for details regarding tracks reading.
If the backup sequence includes ROM contents, you will have to connect the selected drive to a COM port (see
chapter 3)

5.3.2. Work with ROM

5.3.2.1. Read ROM via terminal
The command reads ROM image via COM port of a drive. The code thus read will be identical to an image copied
in a programmer device.

Fig.5.4.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
In order to perform the procedure, you should connect your HDD to terminal (see section 3). ROM contents will be 11010101101101010100111110
read using the DF command with two options: the first one specifies the initial address, the second stands for data 1101110110110011
0111011110
length in words. As soon as the command is issued, the drive returns a ROM dump. The utility will convert the received 111101
data and verify its checksum. 011
11
1
ROM reading dialog offers to store ROM contents in a respective profile folder: <HDD Profile>\Data\ROM or to
database. When reading to a profile folder, you can enable the option, which makes the utility ignore checksum errors –
it means that despite checksum errors the resulting file will be created in the specified folder anyway.
ROM reading takes up to 2 minutes.
The utility displays progress in its information panel.
Attention! You can considerably speed up ROM reading via terminal by increasing the COM port exchange rate (see
section 5.2.1).

5.3.2.2. Write ROM

Fig.5.5.

ROM recording in Samsung drives is performed using the standard «92h» command or the terminal «DN»
command. The procedure of ROM recording in a drive is managed by a special program (loader) containing microcode,
which the utility automatically appends to the dump to be written before the drive boots up. Loaders for various drive
families may differ; they may also vary within a family depending on the PCB type or revision. Please keep that in
mind selecting the drive family, P/N or Platform Id before ROM recording because incorrect selection may result in
corruption of the data stored in ROM chip.
When ROM is recorded via , you can monitor the progress of the procedure in terminal. First, «E» will be
output indicating the beginning of ROM erase process, then «P» will indicate the start of recording (programming),
finally «V» will appear as the recorded data are verified. After successful completion «OK will be output to the terminal
and the drive will switch to the «BOOT>» mode. In case of recording failure the error code will be output to terminal
and registers.
To pass control to the loaded firmware, the drive power must be switched off and then on again. Please see below a
sample terminal log of a PALO HDD after successful ROM recording.

…
EPVOK
BOOT>

ROM loading options:

1) Via terminal ROM dump will be recorded through terminal using the DN command.
2) Disable checking HDD Platform Id the option is available for Trinity drives only. It disables the hardware
check of firmware version (Platform Id). The option allows you to avoid the «Invalid Platform Id» error while
writing a ROM to a board with incompatible firmware. Please keep in mind that recording of incompatible
firmware may result in breakdown of the control board.
Attention! While writing to ROM you have to ensure that the versions of ROM and overlays in service area match.
Otherwise the drive will be unable to reach readiness after ROM recording with subsequent power switch off and on.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
5.3.2.3. Get head map
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 This menu item is available for classic drives only, for Trinity drives the utility offers its extended version. It
allows the operator to view the map of drive heads from a HDD or ROM file. To check the map of HDD heads, the
011
11
1 drive must be connected to terminal. The utility uses terminal commands to read the necessary portion of drive ROM
and display the heads map.
The heads map is necessary during donor selection for replacement of a heads stack (see section 9.10) in situations
when a malfunctioning drive cannot reach readiness and does not allow reading the heads map from its service area but
still enters the DBG> mode in terminal.
Attention! To make a HDD enter the DBG> mode, press the Esc key during its initialization (while the terminal
window is open).

5.3.2.4. View information about ROM dump

This menu item is available for Trinity drives only, it serves as an extended version of the «Get head map» (section
5.3.2.3) option. It allows you to identify the firmware type (Main Code, HTBI Code), its original name, Platform Id
(firmware identifier that determines its compatibility with the hardware of the drive) and the heads map.

5.3.2.5. FIPS module reading and writing

Reading and writing of the FIPS module are supported for Trinity drives only. These procedures are used to read
from ROM the FIPS module containing all kinds of information about the results of the last burn test – and record it
back. The module can be accessed via both ATA and terminal.

5.3.3. Work with RAM

5.3.3.1. RAM head map editing

Fig.5.6.

The option to «Disable record in service area» blocks all writing operations in the SA. It may be helpful if the
writing head is malfunctioning and a corrupting record in the service area may destroy the modules essential for drive
operation.

5.3.4. Work with BURN

The menu contains options intended for preparation and launch of BURN-In tests of Samsung hard disk drives.

5.3.4.1. BURN test result report

This command generates a report on the results of a Burn test based on the following modules: BRSLT, BTIME,
ELOG. The report will contain:
1) General information – data of the BRSLT module pertaining to Burn test completion status. The information
contains the result code (test stop) and the number of successful test steps as well as the total number of errors
that occurred while running the test and other additional records. In case of Burn test completion error you can
use the content of that module for an approximate estimate of causes behind test stop.
2) Burn test duration – data of the BTIME module about the duration of every test step.
3) TOTAL NUMBER OF BURN TEST ERRORS – the number of errors, which occurred while the Burn test
was running summarized for every zone and every head from the ELOG module.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
4) Total number of burn test errors, stepwise – summed-up number of Burn test performance errors per every 11010101101101010100111110
step of the test taken from the ELOG module. 1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
5) Burn test error log – ELOG module data containing a list of all (but for 0x7F) errors revealed while a Burn 011
11
test was running. 1

While parsing the ELOG module, the utility does not take into account records of RCC (0x7F) errors. Supposedly,
these are recoverable errors, i.e. errors after which a drive can recover using its standard internal means (ECC
algorithm). The number of such errors frequently surpasses the number of all the other ones many times. When a drive
generates its defect lists, it also takes into account all types of errors except for 0x7F.

5.3.4.2. Write BURN resources to HDD

Fig.5.7.

The mode is designed to search for – and load into drive the codes for BURN-In test (Burn Code, HTBI Code, H/T
Code, FFlash), or code for the normal operation mode (Main Code). Please see section 9.11.2 for cases, when one of
those codes has to be used.
Use the «Search…» button to find the necessary folder. Depending on the drive family, you will see an offer to
enter the model or four initial figures of Part number (see the number on top of HDA case). The values can already be
entered if they have been specified in the utility, then you will just have to reconfirm them. Select the search method
and press «Ok».
The search results will appear in the «Folders found» dropdown menu with the contents of each folder displayed in
the «Contains modules» field. Each folder on the lowest level contains just one set of resource files. For drives
belonging to V11P, VICTOR, PUMA, VICTORPLUS, VERNA, VERNALITE, and VANGO families you will have to
select the folder according to the label on drive’s back end (see Fig 9.7). For newer drive families the folder name may
indicate the corresponding firmware version for selection of the resources.
Attention! Available startup options may vary depending on the selected drive family.

Write Burn-In Script, Write Overlay, Write Geometry Script, Write Downsize Geometry Script
The option is available when a Burn-In Script (Overlay, Geometry Script, Downsize Geometry Script) is present in
the list of the selected resource. Burn-In Script (Overlay, Geometry Script, Downsize Geometry Script) will be loaded
to drive before or after (in F1_3D and earlier families) the resource selected in the list is loaded.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Erase service area
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
The option is available while writing HT, FFlash or Burn-In Code (depending on the drive family). The utility will
0111011110
111101
write the resource selected in the list and then erase the service area. Clearing the service area is recommended before
011
11you start the Burn-In test in order to prevent the remaining service area modules from influencing the test results.
1

Clear S.M.A.R.T.
The option is available while loading Main Code. The command initializes S.M.A.R.T. parameters. After its
execution and drive initialization following it, S.M.A.R.T. parameters will be returned to their original values.
Set Downsize Flag
The option is available for Samsung drive families that support creation of Downsized models by setting the
Downsize flag before test start instead of a special Burn-In test (Downsize Burn-In). The command to set the Downsize
flag is sent via the terminal.
Send command to run Burn-In test
The option is available for drive families, where the Burn-In test is invoked by sending a start command. The
command to start Burn-In is sent via the terminal after all selected resources are loaded. Burn-In test starts immediately
in that case.

Options for work with the heads map (heads map editing is only available with simultaneous loading
of H/T or FFlash code):

Leave unchanged
The option tells the utility to make no operations with the heads map.
Specify enabled heads
The option tells the utility to leave in heads map just the numbers of selected physical heads. Thus, if a drive has
heads «0» and «1», and head «1» only is specified, then head «0» will be disabled using software method (see section
9.1.3). Heads map editing is available both via ATA and terminal (though it is only supported for some drive families).
Attention! Disabling all drive heads at the same time is strongly discouraged because enabling them again is not
always possible.

Options for BISPT module correction in the service area:

Change header to BURN
When enabled, the option forces modification of the Burn script module header from any value to BURN. The
header tells the drive to start the test.

Change timeout before test

The option changes the default time (5 minutes) to a smaller value: 10 seconds or 1 minute.

Two additional options:

Download via terminal
When this option is enabled, recording of resources and transfer of commands will be performed through the
terminal only. Some other settings may become inactive, when this option is selected.
Attention! Some resources (Burn-In Script, Geometry Script for Trinity drives) will be written via terminal
irrespectively of the setting selected for this option. This approach is determined by the fact that some commands for
loading of resources have no counterparts.

Set max data transfer rate

When enabled, the option configures the utility to load resources via terminal at the highest data exchange rate
supported by the drive family. Code recording takes several seconds (usually < 30), as soon as the code loading
procedure completes and the drive reports on readiness, the utility displays a notification of successful recording. Some

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
HDD models may stop the spindle during the procedure. For procedure completion, you will have to switch the HDD 11010101101101010100111110
power supply off and on again. 1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
While disabling heads in 2.5” drives you may encounter a situation when a command to modify the heads map 011
makes a drive disable wrong heads, or a drive may leave them enabled altogether. This behavior is caused by an error in 11
1
the firmware of classic 2.5” drives: a drive defines its heads map correctly only when its ROM contains the default
heads map. To prevent such situations, you are advised to load HT or FFlash code having indicated all heads as enabled
before you proceed to disabling heads in 2.5” drives. Then the drive ROM will contain the default heads map. After that
you will have to repeat HT/FFlash code recording, this time with the necessary map for your purposes.
You can verify the current heads map using the command to «Display heads map» (see section 5.3.2.3).

5.3.4.3. Download file into HDD

Fig. 5.8.

The mode is designed to allow loading of an arbitrary file to a HDD. You should use it in cases, when you have
your own resources containing BURN-In tests that are not found in the database resources. In that case, you are advised
to use the manufacturer’s tables of Samsung HDD for selection of test codes necessary for a specific drive. Please note
that H/T or FFlash code has to be written to a HDD when heads map is modified. Form appearance may be various
depending on drive family.
Several resource types loading are supported:

Resource with loader – necessary to choose when Main Code, Burn Code, H/T Code, H/T Burn-In Code,
Fflash are loading;
Burn-In Script – necessary to choose when Burn-In test is loading in the drive;
Geometry Script – choose when Geometry Script is loading;
Overlay – must be chosen when firmware overlays are loading.
Attention! The menu item is not intended for loading of BURN-In script files and separate overlay files. Such files can
be written as individual modules. The utility will load successfully files containing loader code; otherwise the drive will
return an error.

5.3.4.4. Start Burn-In test

Run the command to start Burn-In test through terminal. The test should be used when, for whatever reasons, the
drive was loaded Burn resources, but testing did not start.
Attention! All the necessary resources for testing need to be loaded into the drive, otherwise it returns an error.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
5.3.4.5. Resume Burn-In test
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 Run the command to resume Burn-In test through terminal. This test is available when working with hard drives
architecture Trinity. The test can be used to manually start the Burn-In test when the drive is not automatically renewed
011
11
1 self-test.
Attention! All the necessary resources for testing need to be loaded into the drive, otherwise it returns an error.

5.3.5. Work with service area

5.3.5.1. Heads test
The test reads and writes (selectively) a single track in sector mode using the specified heads. The utility outputs
test results to log.
The test can be used to identify heavily damaged or completely malfunctioning heads. Successful test completion does
not mean that a head is fully functional. Physical scan test is recommended for more thorough testing of drive heads.

Fig. 5.9.

Cylinder to test – the field should be used to define the cylinder that the utility will read and write
(selectively). By default the field contains a cylinder within service area that contains no modules.
Heads to test – heads that will be used for testing.
Perform writing – when enabled, the option forces writing to the specified track before reading; read data
will be compared to the written information.

5.3.5.2. SA structure test

This test checks the integrity of service data modules and outputs a report on service information structure to the
«Reports» tab; the said report describes the zone allocation table, table of modules and results of their reading.
The majority of modules in Samsung HDD do not have checksums; therefore, error-free reading and module
header serve as a criterion of their integrity. The importance of a potential mismatch between a module header and the
standard header is defined by the importance of that very module. Certain modules can have no header at all or they
may be completely filled up with zeroes until the drive uses them for the first time.
Service data integrity check is performed using the zero head (usually a system one) of a drive. Other heads in a
HDD are used to store copies for most modules accessible via the system head. During operation a drive performs
recording using all its heads, that feature can be used for service data recovery, unless the integrity of those copies has
suffered. Errors in system information structure accessible via other heads do not affect drive’s operation. Single-head
HDD do not use copies of service data modules.
In the modules table, the Real Header field means the header read from a module while the Standard Hdr
demonstrates the standard header for such modules, the Read field informs about successful reading or errors.
CrLev identifies module importance, it is explained as follows:
A unique modules for the current HDD (cannot be borrowed from another drive)
B modules can be borrowed from a HDD having the same firmware version
C modules can be cleared from within the utility (can be recorded using a standard template)
D modules do not influence firmware start or data access
d modules influence data
s modules influence system start (adaptive data, etc.)
r modules employed for self-testing/ self-recovery routine (BURN).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
5.3.5.3. Read modules 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
This mode is intended for reading of HDD service files. The list of modules to be read is based on the modules 111101
table loaded during utility initialization (see section 4). Read information is stored upon operator’s choice to a profile 011
11
folder or a database folder. 1

When reading to a profile folder, you can enable the option to ignore reading errors. In that case the module
portion read with an error will be filled with code 0ADDEh (displayed as DE AD when viewed in Hex Editor), and the
file of that module will be preserved with the *.bad extension. The mode may be useful when you need to save service
modules from a malfunctioning drive but a part of some module fails to be read. Besides, the module part that a drive
fails to read may contain no information, e.g., last sectors of a SLIST module.
Composite module reading is supported; then in cases when errors occur while reading a module with the zero
head, the utility attempts reading using next heads until a sector is read.
Module name in profile folder is generated using one of two possible methods depending upon HDD family. If a
drive belongs to a family with a modules table stored in service area (see section 7.3.), then the file name will consist of
a hexadecimal identifier and module name delimited by space. If the family of the current HDD has no such table, then
the file name will consist of module name only. In both cases the resulting files will have the *.rpm extension.
In the database folder, module names are generated in a similar manner, though without any extensions.
If a drive has more than 1 reading/writing head, then the utility will generate a subfolder in the Modules folder
named according to the number of head used for reading of the modules stored inside it. If a drive has more than 1 head
but composite reading has been used, retrieved modules will also be saved in Modules root folder.
Attention! When the utility saves any resources to the database, it supplements the information that identifies a
resource within a model, with an additional description, which helps distinguish it from identical resources of other
drives. You should keep that in mind when editing the fields in the «Utility status» dialog (see section 5.1), to allow
future searching for those resources using the values of those fields.

5.3.5.4. Write modules

This mode is intended for recording of HDD service files – writing them from a profile folder or another specified
folder to the drive being tested. Recording is also possible from a database.
To allow module recording, its name must correspond to filename format for the selected drive family. If a module
has an identifier, the module name following it will be ignored. If a module has no identifier, then the utility will
identify it by its name.
Module recording will be performed using all selected heads.
During selection of the mode for recording from database, the utility displays the following form:

Fig. 5.10.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Purpose of the buttons:
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110 Browse… – select the database folder, which will be used while searching.
111101
011
11
Search… – displays a dialog with the settings of parameters and search method and then starts the search
1 procedure.
Add… – allows adding a folder to the «Folders found» list without a search procedure.
The «Folders found» dropdown list shows all folders containing modules defined by search parameters or added
without a search.

5.3.5.5. Reading service tracks

The command reads service information as individual tracks. The procedure may be useful when you suspect that a
drive contains information, which has not been included into the list of modules.
When the utility reads tracks, it creates a map of read sectors storing it in track profile within the database or as a
file named after the track with the *.map extension in the profile folder. Track file name is generated according to the
pattern: <track number>_ <head number>.

Fig. 5.11.

You can specify composed reading as the method to be used while copying tracks, then the head number section of
the track name will contain the «FF» characters. Such reading method creates a single resulting file from each track,
reading is performed using the zero head; whenever an error occurs, the utility tries to read the same sector using the
next head and proceeds in that manner until it reads the sector. Some modules of minor importance have no copies
recorded for other heads; therefore a track read using the composite method can differ from the track produced by the
system head.
Service area of Samsung HDD practically always contains unformatted tracks or track portions. The routine
reading the sectors of such tracks will return an AMN or UNC error. Besides, we have noticed that such errors decrease
the value of S.M.A.R.T. attribute 196 (reallocations count), which can be restored by resetting all S.M.A.R.T.
parameters. You are advised to click the «Skip ([Ctrl]+[B])» button on the main toolbar whenever such a track or track
area is encountered. The read track portion will be saved.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
5.3.5.6. Writing service tracks 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
«To selected heads» – in that mode the utility will write a track using the number from which it has been 111101
011
originally read; the operator has to specify the head number. 11
1
«Head used to read the track» – in that mode the utility writes a track in accordance with its number and
the head number specified in track name. If some of the selected tracks have been read using composite
access, the utility will display an additional dialog, where you can select the heads to use for recording of
such composed tracks.
The utility will write only those track sectors, which are marked as read in track map.
Enabled «Ignore write error» option allows recording of tracks without stops if write errors occur during the process.

5.3.5.7. Erase service area

Attention! The test has experimental purpose. Erasing the service area makes the user data area inaccessible and it can
render a drive inoperable!
You can erase the service area before launch of a Burn test if you have already recorded HT Code or FFlash to the
HDD. After erasing switch the drive power supply off and on. Once the microprogram in ROM fails to find the service
modules and script module, it will start checking the service area and generation of the main service modules. You can
observe completion of such test if you connect the drive to terminal. After the test be sure to check the header of the
BISPT script module and write Burn Code or HTBI Code.

Fig.5.12.

«Initial cylinder» / «Final cylinder» – the range of service area tracks that will be erased.
«By heads» – the field contains numbers of the heads that will be used to erase the specified tracks.
«Fill» – selection of the pattern for recording to surface.

5.3.5.8. Zone translation table

«Zone translation table» test is intended for modification of the order, in which zones are translated and for
«cutting off» the zones that should not be used by setting the maximum LBA value.
The feature is supported for the following drive families: PALO, RUBICON, P80A, POSEIDON, DELPHI,
CAESAR, P80M, TRIDENT, T166, STORM2, TRIDENT3, NEON, PARAGON, F1_3D, F2_EG, F3, F3_4D, F4,
F4_3D, M7S2, M7E, and M8E. These families contain an additional table used during operation for definition of the
order, in which zones are translated. Translation there can begin with any of the existing heads and continue using the
same head through several adjacent zones. That peculiarity is used in the utility to define the required translation order
and restrict the HDD volume excluding zones that contain a large number of defects. TRIDENT and T166(S) drive
families contain such table in the ‘06 CONFIG’ module, F1_3D, F2_EG, F3, F3_4D, F4, F4_3D, M7S2, M7E, M8E –
in the ‘9D PARAM_DM’ module, in other mentioned families the table is stored in a separate ‘5D CONFIG2’ module.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Dialog window of the test contains the translation table with an indication of the head and zone number. Zones are
11010101101101010100111110
arranged in the translation order from the top down. The utility displays the number of logical sectors used in a zone,
1101110110110011
0111011110
initial and final LBA of a zone. Arrow buttons can be used to move the highlighted area; the initial and final addresses
111101
011
of the selected zone will change at that.
11
1
After the defective zones are relocated to the table end, you should select the option to restrict drive volume and
specify the final LBA (by double-clicking the zone containing that LBA).

The option to restrict volume By MAX LBA command means generation of a standard ATA command.
Changes will appear in the SETMAX module.
The option By CONFIG module edit indicates that editing of the 06 CONFIG module is required. In that
case, the utility will modify the CONFIG module leaving the SETMAX module clean.
All changes will be saved after clicking the OK button. To apply the changes, the operator has to switch the drive’s
power supply off and on.

Fig.5.13.

5.3.5.9. Edit S/N

The command opens a dialog window for serial number entry. The dialog contains the value read from HDD ID
substituted by default. After input of a new serial number the utility writes it to the SNTBL module. To make the new
number appear in HDD ID, switch the drive power supply off/on and read the HDD ID again.

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ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
5.3.5.10. Edit HDD ID 1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
This feature is available for Trinity HDD only. The mode offers the following opportunities: 011
11
1

Fig. 5.14 Fig. 5.15

Editing of the model name by changing the HDD ID drive capacity in the 9D PARAM_DM module. The
Model list (Fig. 5.14) contains the manufacturer’s list of standard models. When a model is selected from
that list, the value in the Capacity field changes automatically. Editing of the Capacity field allows you to
create nonstandard models that do not exist in the manufacturer’s range of products.
Serial number modification by editing of the 07 SNTBL module.
Editing of the sector parameters displayed in the HDD ID (Fig. 5.15). The operation only makes sense in
HDD using Advanced format1. The option to «Show real sector size» allows you to enable in the HDD ID
indication of actual physical sector size for the drives which use hidden physical sector size (F4_3D, M8E).
If the «Logical sec equall phys» option is selected, the logical sector size will be set to 4 Kbytes, otherwise
it will be 512 bytes.
Enabling and disabling of internal Insitu testing quick self-test of the drive performed during start and
checking the quality of heads, surface condition and integrity of firmware modules. If the read/write heads
are malfunctioning, Insitu test may considerably slow down the drive start, cause corruption of firmware
modules and knocking sounds. Test results are stored in the 93 IN_SITU module.
Advanced Format is data storage format developed by IDEMA Long Data Sector Committee for HDD. It is
intended to minimize the formatting overhead by using sectors of 4Kbytes instead of traditional 512-byte sectors.

5.3.6. Security subsystem

Information about passwords in Samsung HDD is preserved in the SECURITY module. The utility manipulates
the module while working with that group of commands.

5.3.6.1. Password information

The command generates a report on set passwords in a HDD and its protection level.

5.3.6.2. Clearing passwords

The command fills with zeroes the user password, disables the flag indicating that a password is set, and records
the modified module using all drive heads.
Attention! You will have to switch the drive’s power off and on again to make the changes effective.

5.3.7. Work with database

The submenu contains additional features for work with the database.

1 – Advanced Format is data storage format developed by IDEMA Long Data Sector Committee for HDD. It is
intended to minimize the formatting overhead by using sectors of 4Kbytes instead of traditional 512-byte sectors.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
5.3.7.1. Export HDD resources
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.5.16.

The mode combines options available for export of resources and search for them in a DB. Pressing the
«Search…» button opens a form, where you should enter the search parameters. When you specify the criteria, the
utility will start looking for module folders matching those criteria. All folders will be added to the «Location» list
where you can export the necessary folders by checking the corresponding boxes.
The resources will be exported to PC-3000 resource files (*.pcr).

5.3.7.2. Resource master copy creation in DB

The mode is intended for storage of service information in database. The dialog window is identical to the window
used in the «HDD resources backup» mode (see section 5.3.1). The selected resources will be saved to Modules, ROM
and Tracks subdirectories of the specified database folder. Before the backup, the utility will check the service data
structure and create a report saved in an «info» file in the HDD’s folder.

5.4. Format
This command initiates low-level drive formatting. The utility will use the zone allocation table to send in
sequence track formatting command for all user area tracks. A HDD uses a random memory block to fill sectors with.
Formatting procedure is also applied to the reserved space tracks (see section 7.1). When formatting, a drive takes into
account its defect lists and skips defective areas. If an error occurs while writing to a certain track during format, the
damaged sector or track will remain in place; the drive will not reassign it.

5.5. Surface test

5.5.1. Logical scan
Logical scanning can be used in cases of minor damage to HDD surfaces, when the time necessary to find and hide
affected sectors is considerably less than Burn-In test duration and also when you have no data set necessary for a Burn
test.
This test employs the scanning routine of the universal utility. However, in the Samsung utility you can control the
drive's ECC mode during the scan process. In order to disable or enable data correction in a drive, open the «Utility
status» and use the «Logical scan» section to select the necessary option.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
If you disable ECC, sector reading errors will make the drive initiate retries itself, scanning speed will be 11010101101101010100111110
somewhat slower and the performance chart will demonstrate small gaps resulting from the delays caused by repeated 1101110110110011
0111011110
reading attempts. The number of hardware retries is limited, so the probability of error detection increases compared 111101
with normal operation mode. 011
11
1
If you need a more thorough surface check on a drive, you are advised to use recording as the first step during test
since automatic reassignment of defects works more efficiently in case of write errors.
After scanning completion the utility will display a dialog where you can select further actions over the revealed
defects. Two options are available:

«Convert to Physical CHS» – the utility will translate found defects into physical notation, create a list of
those defects and open it in defect list editor.
«Add into S-LIST» – the utility will translate found defects into physical notation, add them into the defect
list in S-LIST module and open it in defect list editor.
In both cases the defect list opened in the editor will be saved first to a 'Defects\slist.chs' file in the HDD profile
folder.
The utility converts defective sectors from logical notation using its internal algorithm; it reads the S-LIST module first
to that effect. The translation rate may differ with various drives; it also depends upon the number of defects in S-LIST.
Please refer to the Defect list section for additional information on work with defects.

5.5.2. Physical test

The test is designed for a surface check of user data area; it is based on reading and writing accomplished with
factory commands in accordance with physical drive parameters.

Fig.5.17.

«Initial cylinder», «Final cylinder» – range of the tracks to test.

«Write using heads» – list of the heads that will be used for testing.
«Write method» – pattern used for recording. Two options are supported: Fill – a word in hexadecimal
notation; 'Data combination with CHS value – the beginning of each sector will contain information about
the cylinder, head and the number of that sector.
«Save defects» – when the option is enabled and the output file is defined, the utility will list all the defects
revealed while scanning to the specified file.
If defects have been found, the utility displays after scanning completion the following dialog suggesting the
following actions over the revealed defective sectors:

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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.5.18.

«Open in defects editor» – the utility will open the list of defects in corresponding editor.
«Add defects to S-LIST» – found defects will be added to S-LIST module and opened in defects editor.

5.5.3. Combined test

This test offers an opportunity to test a drive using its physical parameters at the logical scan rate. The test works
with zones that can be selected by the corresponding head, LBA, cylinder, etc. The dialog displayed after test selection
contains two tabs: «General» (Fig. 5.19) and «Additionally» (Fig. 5.20). Let us examine the basic settings.

Fig.5.19. Basic settings

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
On the «General» tab you can use the «Tests» group to select the test, which the utility will run sequentially while 11010101101101010100111110
scanning the surface. The following set of tests is supported: 1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
Reading. 011
11
1
Writing. The data for writing should be selected in the «Parameters» menu. You can use filling with a
pattern or with a combination including the block number.
Verify.
Reading (tech).
Writing (tech). Similarly to logical writing, you can choose between various options for data recording.
Verify (tech).
Now please have a look at the «Additionally» tab. Users can configure the following scan settings:

Scan direction direction of testing from the beginning to the end (forward) or from the end to the
beginning (reverse).
HDD timeout when this time elapses, the feature expecting reading (writing, verification) of a block of
sectors will be interrupted and an error will be registered.
One LBA commands timeout when this time elapses, the feature expecting reading (writing, verification)
of a single sector will be interrupted and an error will be registered.
Skip if an error occurred – when this option is selected, the number in the sectors defined in the
corresponding field will be skipped on a read/write error.
Don’t search sector where error occurred – the utility will not seek sectors with errors.
The «Save defects» checkbox allows you to save the list of defects revealed while scanning to a file. File
path is specified in the field below.

Fig.5.20. Additional settings

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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Additional settings:
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
Data exchange mode – the option allows to select the data transfer mode for the interface from the list.
011
11 Show performance chart – if enabled, the checkbox configures the utility to display performance chart
1
during the test.
If scanning reveals defects, the utility will display a dialog suggesting possible further operations with them:
Open in defects editor the utility will open the list of defects in corresponding editor.
Add defects to S-LIST found defects will be added to S-LIST module and opened in defects editor.

Fig.5.21.

5.6. Defect list

5.6.1. Defect lists report
This test reads and parses the following defect list modules: ALIST, TLIST, SLISTHDR, SLIST, and DLIST. In
addition, the utility generates a table containing the total number of defects per every zone and each head for the SLIST
and DLIST modules. SLIST module contains records of defective tracks in addition to those of defective sectors.
Records of reassigned sectors in ALIST module have a "shifted" physical notation compared with the records
represented in SLIST. The offset depends upon the presence of defects from SLIST module within the same track, i.e. if
a record of a defective sector (e.g., C:24,H:0,S:1) exists at the same time in SLIST and ALIST tables, these records will
point to different sectors.

5.6.2. Defects editing

The mode is intended for work with the defects stored in the SLIST table since that module contains records of all
defective sectors and tracks in a HDD. The utility loads and opens the SLIST defects table into defect list editor.
Whenever you save the list, all defect records with respective modifications will be saved to the following modules:
SLISTHDR, SLIST, TLIST, ALIST, CONFIG and CONFIG2 (in drive families where that module exists). HDD use
those modules to build their dynamic translators reflecting the changes in the list of drive defects.
After saving of defects you are advised to perform low-level drive formatting to ensure its normal operation using
the «Tests» «Format» menu; the procedure is mandatory for some drive families.

5.6.2.1. Defect list editing

The utility can open defect editor either automatically (after selection of the «Defects editing» test) or from the
menu: «Tools» «Defect list edit» ([Ctrl]+[D]). In the first case the utility loads SLIST, displays a file saving dialog
and opens the corresponding table in CHS format. When you invoke the editor from the standard «Tools» menu the
table has to be created within the editor by pressing an appropriate button or [Ctrl]+[N] key combination. Then you will
be able to select the table type (LBA or CHS) and the editor will proceed to creating an empty list.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
While the defect list editor window is open, all its available features can be invoked from the context-sensitive 11010101101101010100111110
menu that opens after right-clicking the table. In addition to standard save, add, table and defect highlighting 1101110110110011
0111011110
commands, the editor includes features specialized for the PC-Samsung utility. 111101
011
11
The following features are available for a defect list in logical notation: 1

Convert to physical format Alt+1 – the utility will translate logical addresses of defects into physical CHS. The utility
performs the translation using its internal algorithm; it reads the S-LIST and CONFIG2 modules to do that. As a result,
the LBA table will be converted into PCHS.
Reassign defects Alt+2 – defective sectors will be reassigned to reserved HDD space. First, the utility converts logical
defects to physical notation (CHS) for the connected drive; it reads the S-LIST and CONFIG2 modules to do that.
That command can be used when you need to hide a small number of defective sectors without translator
modification and data corruption.

The following features are available for a defect list in Physical CHS (PCHS) notation:
Save defects into the HDD Alt+1 – the utility saves the defect list and respective modifications to the following
modules: SLISTHDR, SLIST, TLIST, ALIST, CONFIG, CONFIG2 (if present). The table of reassigned sectors in the
ALIST module will be cleared during the saving procedure since it contains relative values, which may become invalid
after entered modifications. In order to save reassigned sectors as defects, you will have to add them in defect list editor
([Alt]+[2]).
Add defects from A-LIST Alt+2 – the utility appends to defects table records about reassigned sectors from the ALIST
module. Shifted values of reassigned sectors will be converted by the utility automatically.
Add defects from D-LIST Alt+3' – the utility reads and parses the DLIST module adding all records of defective
sectors to the defect list editor table skipping duplicate records. This procedure and the next operation may be useful if
the SLIST and copies thereof for other heads are corrupted when you need to recover data from such drive. In that case
you will need to open the defect list editor ([Ctrl]+[D]), create a PCHS table and add to it defect records from the
DLIST and TLIST modules. (In case of data recovery formatting should be skipped).
Add defects from T-LIST Alt+4' – the utility reads and parses the TLIST module adding all records of defective tracks
to the defect list editor table skipping duplicate records.
Sort defects Alt+5 – the utility sorts the records of the table loaded into defect list editor in accordance with the logical
sector addressing order. You do not have to use the feature when saving the defect list, because the latter will be sorted
automatically in such cases.
Grouping to tracks Alt+6' – the feature allows you to convert several records of defective sectors within a single track
into a defective track record under the same number. The grouping threshold dialog must specify the threshold equal to
the number of defective sectors, which you wish to convert into a single defective track. The procedure will group all
records that satisfy the grouping condition. You are not advised to use the procedure unless it is really necessary since
the reserved space is limited and the maximum number of single-track defects is therefore limited, too.
Filling gaps [Alt]+[7].
The command fills the gaps between defective tracks and defective sectors in accordance with the criteria selected in
the dialog.
Remove defects for head [Alt]+[8].
The command deletes all defect records for the specified head. You will have to select the head for record removal in
the corresponding dialog.
Remove defects for zone [Alt]+[9].
The command deletes defect records for the specified zone. You will have to select the zone for record removal in the
corresponding dialog.
Statistics [Alt]+[A].
The command displays a window with a diagram reflecting the distribution of defects among the HDD zones and heads.

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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
5.6.3. A-LIST clearing
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 This command clears the table of reassigned sectors and corrects the reserved area table. It can be useful before a
011
11logical scan with subsequent relocation of defects.
1

Fig.5.221.

Sometimes the table gets filled during data recovery process because of multiple errors. In that case you can also
clear A-LIST to return the data sectors to their original location. However, you should keep in mind that the sectors
reassigned before the recovery process could be occupied with user data which might become partially corrupted after
such clearing. A-LIST clearing does not affect the translator.

A-LIST clearing by ALIST initialization command. The procedure is performed by the drive itself after a
corresponding command, i.e. the drive resets A-LIST automatically and performs firmware initialization.
A-LIST clearing by utility method. The procedure is performed by the utility. In that case the utility reads
the A-LIST module, clears the defects it contains, modifies its auxiliary service data and writes the module
back to drive. After such clearing you have to switch the drive’s power supply off and on again to apply the
changes.

5.6.4. Trasfer A-LIST to S-LIST

The test moves records of defective sectors from the ALIST module to SLIST; the ALIST table of reassigned
records will be cleared after the records are added to SLIST.

5.6.5. Rebuild S-LIST

The procedure is intended for structural restoration of the S-LIST module in case of its corruption. During the
procedure the utility reads information about defects from the T- and D-LIST modules and validates it. If the check is
successful, information about defects is converted to necessary form and recorded to S-LIST. After procedure
completion, you will have to switch the drive power supply off and on again.

5.6.6. Rebuild T-LIST

During this procedure the utility reads information about defective tracks from the S-LIST module. Once the
validity check completes (successfully) the utility converts the data to necessary form and uses it to re-create T-LIST.
After procedure completion, you will have to switch the HDD power supply off and on again.

5.7. Clear S.M.A.R.T.

The command initializes S.M.A.R.T. parameters. After its execution and drive initialization following it, S.M.A.R.T.
parameters will be returned to their original values. One exception is attribute 5 (the number of reallocated sectors). The
parameter is calculated during drive start based on the ALIST module (Auto Reassign List), so if the module is filled above
the threshold specified for it then defects have to be transferred from ALIST to the SLIST module or the ALIST module
has to be cleared first to allow decreasing the said attribute value (please see section 5.6.3).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
6. «Tools» «Utility extensions» menu 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
6.1. Modules table 11
1

The «Modules table [Ctr]l+[Alt]+[1]» extended mode is intended for interactive work with service area modules
using its built-in hex editor. If you select that menu item, the utility opens an additional «Modules table» tab on the
same level with the «Log» tab.

Fig.6.1.

In that mode you can check modules, open them for reviewing, editing, and save modifications. After module
check-up the utility adds a colored square in the «Module» column before module identifier and name; the square
reflects check-up results: red – the module has not been read; yellow – error in module header (i.e. the header read from
the module does not match the header in module table); green – the check revealed no errors. The results of module
reading are displayed in the «Read» column, header check-up results appear in the «Header» column; the utility checks
module header only if the modules table contains a record stating that such check is necessary. Please see details on
modules checking in section 5.3.5.2; see section for details on modules table.
The following additional actions are possible:

View – opens a module for viewing and editing within the built-in hex editor (in the «View» tab). Please see
further the screen and a description of available features.
Select the head for reading – dropdown menu for selection of the head to be used while reading (checking)
modules. The utility resets check results when you select another head. The current head number is
displayed in the lower status panel.
Start SA structure test (F9) – displays a dialog window, where you can select the modules to be tested and
launch the SA test.
Terminate (Esc) – stops checking of service modules.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Report – creates a report in the additional «Reports» tab. You can save the report to a corresponding profile
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
folder or print it out.
111101
011 Rewrite module from DB – opens a window for search and recording of a selected module from the
11
1 database to the drive being tested.
Rewrite module from file – opens a dialog for overwriting a module on the HDD being tested with copies
from the profile folder.
Rewrite modules group from DB – opens a dialog for overwriting a group of modules on the HDD being
tested with copies from the DB (see section 5.3.5.4).
Rewrite modules group from files – opens a dialog for overwriting a group of modules on the HDD being
tested with copies from the profile folder (see section 5.3.5.4).
Show log – command for process monitoring, it opens an additional log window in the lower part of the
«Modules» tab.

Fig. 6.2.

The «View» tab provides access to the following features:

Data selection (Ctrl+Enter) – opens a dialog window, where you can select the module to view.
Select the head for writing – dropdown menu, where you can select the head that will be used to record the
modified module. «All heads» is the default value.
Save data to HDD – the command writes a modified module to the drive being tested. The utility performs
recording using the head specified in the «Select the head for writing» menu.
Cancel – reloads a module from drive to editor. The button is accessible if you have made changes to a
module, but have not recorded the module back to drive yet.
Save – saves a module loaded into editor to a binary file with the user-defined path.
Loading – loads into editor data from a user-defined file. If you save the data to the drive being tested, it
will replace the module downloaded from that drive (location is specified in the lower status bar).
Copy (Ctrl+C) – copies a selected fragment to clipboard, which you can use while editing a loaded module.
Paste (Ctrl+V) – inserts a copied fragment into the currently loaded module.
Find (Ctrl+F) – performs search for hexadecimal data in the currently loaded module.
Find next (Ctrl+L) – looks for the next instance of the sought data.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
6.1.1. Hex editor plag-ins 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
Internal Hex editor of the utility has a set of plug-ins. They are invoked from the editor toolbar (Fig. 6.2) or the 111101
011
context menu displayed after clicking the right button of the mouse. Available plug-ins: 11
1
Recalculate CS for the selected area (2 bytes) – the command recalculates the checksum for the area
highlighted in the editor. The checksum will be recorded in the last 2 bytes of the area.
Recalculate CS for the selected area (4 bytes) – the command recalculates the checksum for the area
highlighted in the editor. The checksum will be recorded in the last 4 bytes of the area.
Words sum (2 bytes) – the command sums up all 2-byte words in the area highlighted in the editor. The
result will be output in a modal dialog.
Double words sum (4 bytes) – the command sums up all 4-byte words in the area highlighted in the editor.
The result will be output in a modal dialog.
Parse FIT – the plug-in is available only when the 02 FIT module is open in the editor. The results of the
plug-in operations are displayed as a table of modules in the Reports tab.

6.2. Viewing andediting HDD resources

The mode is intended for viewing and editing the content of firmware modules, tracks and buffer RAM. Selection
of the item brings up a dialog where you can choose the object to view (Fig. 6.3).

Fig. 6.3.
The Module tab
The tab contains a list of modules in the service area of the connected HDD. When you select a module, the utility
reads it and opens it in hex editor. The editor can be used to modify the module and write it to HDD.
The Track tab
The tab contains the zone allocation table. Once a specific cylinder, head and track length is defined, the utility
reads the specified track and opens it in the hex editor. The «Cylinder» field can be used to specify any cylinder
number, including negative range.
The RAM range tab
The tab contains two fields for definition of the RAM range for reading. The «Address (sect)» field is used to
specify the number of the first data sector (512 bytes) in RAM; the «Size (sect)» field defines the size of memory block
to read (in sectors). After clicking OK, the utility reads drive RAM and opens the data in the hex editor.

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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
6.3. Burn Test monitoring
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
The «Burn test [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[2]» extended mode is intended for monitoring of HDD self-testing (Burn test). This
11monitoring approach can be used as an alternative to drive connection to terminal; it is also one of available utility start methods.
1
After selection of «Burn test» mode from the «Tools» «Utility extensions» menu the utility displays a dialog
where you should specify the source for Burn Script loading. The script has to be loaded for convenient process
monitoring; it also allows editing of individual test steps and their parameters (for most experienced engineers). There
are four available variants of script loading:

Read from HDD – the utility will read the BISPT module from the service area of the drive being tested. If
the drive is waiting for the test to begin (all registers are off), then you will have to send a soft reset using
the corresponding button in the dialog to read the module; then switch the HDD power supply again.
Load from database – the method allows script reading from Burn resources in your database.
Load from file – the method allows script reading from a specified file on disk.
Without BURN script loading – if you do not wish to check the Burn test contents, you can start monitoring
without a loaded script.
Click the «Launch monitoring» button to start Burn test status monitoring. If the drive has not been monitored
before, the utility will create a log record about the started Burn test that will be used for script loading when you start
the utility in the 'Burn Test' monitoring' mode.
Note: the utility cannot be closed while Burn test monitoring is in progress.
The monitoring window includes the following elements:

Fig.6.4.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Save to HDD – writes window content into the BISPT module of the HDD. 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
Reread – reads the BISPT module from drive refreshing window content. 0111011110
111101
011
Save to file – saves a Burn script from the monitoring window to a file on disk. 11
1
Load from file – loads a Burn script from file on disk into the Burn test monitoring window.
Load from database – loads a Burn script from Burn resources of your database into the monitoring window.
Move record up ([Ctrl]+[Up]) – shifts the specified script command one step up.
Move record down ([Ctrl]+[Down]) – shifts the specified script command one step down.
Editing([F2]) – edits a Burn script command and its parameters (in a dialog window).
Replace with NOP – substitutes the current command with command $0000.
Launch monitoring – initiates Burn test status monitoring.
Interrupt status monitoring ([Esc]) – terminates Burn test status monitoring.
Report ([Ctrl]+[P]) – creates a Burn script report for printing.
If the Burn script loaded into the monitoring window has been modified, then all changes will enter into
force after you select the Save to HDD procedure.
Fields of the current test status display the following values:

Step number – number of the command being executed, the test step number.
Command code – code of the command being executed, step command code.
Cyl – the main field value indicates the cylinder being tested; it may also display other values.
Head – the head being used for testing at the moment.
Stop condition – the completion code for the whole test and its description.

Right-clicking the information panel displays the context menu (Fig. 6.4) which you can use to modify the script
header and the timeout before test beginning after power switch. All the changes made by the editor to the Burn script
will be applied after you select the «Save to HDD» procedure.

6.4. Terminal soft reset ([Ctrl]+[Alt]+[4])

The mode is intended to send a soft reset signal via terminal.

6.5. Terminal hard reset ([Ctrl]+[Alt]+[5])

The mode is intended to send a hard reset signal via terminal.

6.6. Unlocking at«LED 1Axx» error ([Ctrl]+[Alt]+[6])

When errors occur while reading/writing the service area modules in Trinity drives, a HDD stops the spindle motor
and outputs to the terminal continuously the error code: LED 1A04 (or LED 1A03). ATA access to the drive is
impossible in such cases; soft- and hard reset signals do not remedy the situation. This mode allows automation of the
unlocking process and restoring access to the HDD via the ATA interface.

6.7. FIT editor ([Ctrl]+[Alt]+[7])

You may have to move a module or a group of modules to another SA cylinder because of defects that appear in
the service area. This mode can be used to edit the directory of drive modules. You can work with the 02 FIT module in
the service area or with the ROM image containing the modules table.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.6.5.

Let us examine the main components of the editor window (Fig. 6.5).

Write to service area saves the modified table to the 02 FIT module in the service area.

Read from service area reads the modules directory from the service area.

Upload loads the modules table from a file (*.rpm) or ROM image (*.bin).

Upload loads the modules table from a file (*.rpm) or ROM image (*.bin).

Report outputs the modules table being edited as a list to the Reports tab.

The «Module edit» window can be used to change the cylinder and sector where a module is located, its length and
attributes. You can modify three attributes:

tt (track type) – the flag means that the module is located on a cylinder beginning with sector 1 and
occupies the number of tracks specified in the length field;
hv (header verify) – the flag means that the correspondence of its header to the standard should be verified
during module check;
cs (checksum verify) – the flag determines checksum presence for a module.

6.7.1. Editing module locations in the FIT editor

While changing the module locations, please keep in mind that firmware of classic drives uses in its operation the
modules table from ROM, while module 02 FIT contains just its copy used in the utility. Trinity drives also preserve a
modules table in ROM, but the directory is only used during the first stage of firmware initialization, until the 02 FIT
module is loaded from the service area. Therefore, in classic drives the modules table has to be edited twice: first in
ROM, then in the service area. In Trinity drives just SA modification is sufficient.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
The procedure for changing the module location in classic drives is as follows: 1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
1) Rewrite the modules from file in accordance with the new coordinates. 0111011110
111101
011
2) Open the saved ROM image in editor. 11
1
3) Perform identical manipulations with the modules table.
4) Save the modified ROM image to file.
5) Write the modified ROM image from file to drive.

For Trinity drives the algorithm is somewhat simpler:

1) Save modules to file.
2) Open in the editor 02 FIT module of the drive and enter the necessary changes.
3) Save the modified table to the HDD.
4) Rewrite the modules from file in accordance with the new coordinates.
5) Toggle HDD power supply.

7. Brief technical description of Samsung drives

7.1. Disk space structure

Disk surface in Samsung drives is subdivided into zones. Depending on the family, a drive may have one service
area and 16, 24 or 48 user zones. The zero zone starts at the external disk edge and acts as the area allocated for service
data. User zones follow the service area, they are numbered from the edge to the center, beginning with 1.
Depending upon the drive’s family, the service area includes 8, 16, 24, 64, 128 or 256 tracks beginning with track
0. In V11P, VICTOR, PUMA, VICTORPLUS, VERNA, VERNALITE, and VANGO drive families the service area
also includes tracks with negative numbers. Those tracks may contain both modules used during drive operation and
copies of some essential modules. The service area may contain some unformatted tracks, for example, in the negative
part just a single track is typically used (-6 or -10). Every drive family has a constant service area SPT value.
User data area may be either constant for a specific drive family or adaptive (AZL – Adopted Zone Layout). In the
first case the zone allocation table contains fixed numbers of tracks for each zone, their number per zone and the
number of sectors per zone track (SPT). Those parameters are calculated once in the most optimal manner during drive
model design. There may be differences within a family, if various models use heads or disks from different
manufacturers. Firmware versions will also differ because the zone allocation table is stored in ROM.
Adaptive zone allocation tables are used in VANGOPLUS, PANGO, VELOCE, PALO, MAGMA, and newer
drives. These tables are designed individually for each drive during its factory test (see 9.11). The number of tracks in a
zone and zone SPT will be calculated during the test based on physical parameters of drive heads and the condition of
magnetic surfaces. The table below demonstrates a sample zone allocation table for PALO SP0802N.
Table 8.2.

#Z Head Initial cylinder Final cylinder SPT

1 0 24 2 927 1 067
1 1 24 3 166 1 160
2 0 2 928 6 937 1 056
2 1 3 167 7 505 1 160
3 0 6 938 11 102 1 044
3 1 7 506 12 008 1 134
4 0 11 103 16 170 1 027
4 1 12 009 17 485 1 121

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
110101011011010101001111105 0 16 171 19 079 1 015
1101110110110011
0111011110 5 1 17 486 20 634 1 108
111101
011
11
6 0 19 080 21 988 1 005
1
6 1 20 635 23 784 1 093
7 0 21 989 25 874 986
7 1 23 785 27 570 1 082
8 0 25 875 29 351 966
8 1 27 571 31 747 1 056
9 0 29 352 32 366 953
9 1 31 748 35 754 1 031
10 0 32 367 36 381 928
10 1 35 755 38 852 1 015
11 0 36 382 39 896 928
11 1 38 853 42 650 994
12 0 39 897 43 411 894
12 1 42 651 46 942 966
13 0 43 412 47 665 870
13 1 46 943 51 173 928
14 0 47 666 51 019 850
14 1 51 174 55 204 928
15 0 51 020 54 026 828
15 1 55 205 57 891 899
16 0 54 027 57 480 799
16 1 57 892 61 660 870
17 0 57 481 60 827 773
17 1 61 661 65 703 835
18 0 60 828 63 781 747
18 1 65 704 69 334 812
19 0 63 782 66 935 721
19 1 69 335 73 180 773
20 0 66 936 70 502 696
20 1 73 181 76 411 747
21 0 70 503 73 902 662
21 1 76 412 80 187 696
22 0 73 903 76 956 638
22 1 80 188 83 253 696
23 0 76 957 80 068 609
23 1 83 254 86 618 662
24 0 80 069 83 153 580
24 1 86 619 90 033 638

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
The user data zone contains a certain number of reserved tracks used to compensate the space occupied by defects 11010101101101010100111110
and as the area for reassigned sectors. 1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
Various models differ in terms of reserved area location and the method of its use. 011
11
In V11P and VICTOR drives the reserved area occupies the last eight tracks of every zone for every head. In 1

PUMA, VICTORPLUS, VERNA, VERNALITE, and VANGO drives the reserved space occupies the end of every
zone of the last head. The area size is equal to eight tracks multiplied by the number of heads.
In drives of the said models (from V11P, VICTOR to VERNALITE, VANGO) the size of the reserved space will
be less if the zone includes defective sectors or tracks duly registered in the SLIST module (see section 7.5.1); the space
will be smaller by the number of such defective sectors and tracks. The drive will use the remaining portion of that
reserved space for reassignment (relocation) of new defective sectors that appear during operation. When reserved
space of a certain zone is exceeded, sectors of that zone will not be reassigned to another zone.
In newer classic drives the reserved space is subdivided. They use two reserved tracks in the end of each zone for
each head as the source for reassignment of defective sectors; the size of that area is independent from the defects
within a zone. The remaining part of the reserved space is located in the last zone following the sector assigned the
highest LBA. The size of that area is equal to the total number of sectors available for logical addressing (i.e. valid non-
defective sectors excluding the reserved tracks and the service area) minus the number of logical sectors (max LBA+1).
This reserve is not used in drive operation, it becomes important only when you use defect list editor or run the Burn test.
Reserved space is subdivided in Trinity drives, too. Their difference from other families is that several sectors in
the end of each last cylinder in a zone for every head are used as the space for reassignment.

7.2. Logical addressing of disk space

In V11P and VICTOR drive families logical block addressing (LBA) is cylinder-based: first the sectors of the zero
cylinder are numbered for all heads, then the sectors of the first cylinder for all heads, and so on. In PUMA,
VICTORPLUS, VERNA, VERNALITE, VANGO, VELOCE, PALO, and MAGMA drive families the addressing is
zone-based. First all sectors of the first zone for the zero head are addressed, then all sectors of the first zone for the first
head and so on for all heads. Then addressing proceeds to all sectors of the second zone for the zero head, next - the
sectors of the second zone for the first head, etc. Alternatively, listing in order can be used:

Z:1,H:0 : LBA0 – LBA1:0;

Z:1,H:1 : LBA1:0 – LBA1:1;
Z:1,H:2 : LBA1:1 – LBA1:2;
Z:1,H:3 : LBA1:2 – LBA1:3;
Z:2,H:0 : LBA1:3 – LBA2:0;
Z:2,H:1 : LBA2:0 – LBA2:1;
Z:2,H:2 : LBA2:1 – LBA2:2;
Z:2,H:3 : LBA2:2 – LBA2:3;
…
Z:22,H:0 : LBA21:0 – LBA22:0;
Z:22,H:1 : LBA22:0 – LBA22:1;
Z:22,H:2 : LBA22:1 – LBA22:2;
Z:22,H:3 : LBA22:2 – LBA22:3;
Z:23,H:0 : LBA22:3 – LBA23:0;
Z:23,H:1 : LBA23:0 – LBA23:1;
Z:23,H:2 : LBA23:1 – LBA23:2;
Z:23,H:3 : LBA23:2 – LBA23:3 .

Please see section 7.1 for details on allocation of zones in HDD.

Newer drives may use a zone translation table that determines the sequence, in which the translator passes the
zones. Depending on the drive family, the table may be stored in the CONFIG, CONFIG2 or PARAM_DM modules.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
7.3. Modules table
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
Hard disk drives belonging to V11P, VICTOR, PUMA, VICTORPLUS, VERNA, VERNALITE, and VANGO
11families do not use a conventional modules table; their ROM codes contain offsets, which define the locations of
1
modules, but these are not linked to any names or identifiers. Therefore, the utility uses its internal modules table by
default whenever working with those HDD families.
Newer classic drives use a normal modules table stored in ROM. Tables of modules in those drives may differ as
regards the location and the number of modules depending upon firmware version. As a rule, when Main Code gets
loaded to memory, the drive's firmware writes to disk surface a FIT module containing the modules table identical to
the one in the code being loaded. A drive does not work with the module after that.
Trinity drives work with the modules table in the service area. During firmware initialization a drive reads the FIT
module and then works with its copy in RAM. ROM of these drives also contains a modules table used by default in
cases when the FIT table cannot be read for some reason.
The utility at launch loads the modules table from the FIT module or uses the default table if the module is missing
or corrupted.
Modules table contains for each module its name, cylinder of its location, sector, length, numeric identifier, flags
informing about module track and indicating whether a drive checks module header during work with it. Module header
is preserved in the utility and substituted to the table during initialization.

Table 8.3. Default modules table used in PALO drives

Cr. Verify
ID Name Description Cyl Sec Length Header
Lev flag
00 FSI System files record 0 1 1 FSI Verify
02 FIT The table of module locations. 0 2 4 D FIT Verify
04 MLIST SA defects list 0 6 1 As MLIST Verify
05 SRVTBL Servo Table 0 7 4 SV_TBL Verify
58 SEEKTIME 0 11 1 SEEKTIME Verify
5D CONFIG2 0 12 2 CONFIG2
06 CONFIG HDD configuration settings 1 1 2 As CONFIG Verify
07 SNTBL HDD serial number (or P/N & S/N) 1 3 2
08 BISPT Burn-In test script 1 5 4 Dr END
09 BRSLT Burn-In test results 1 10 1 Dr
0A CRITERIA Burn-In test results 1 11 1 CRITERIA Verify
0B FINALTST Final test 1 12 8
0C ARCOTBL Channel table 1 30 8 CHN_TBL Verify
0D GEO_TBL Table of geometric parameters 1 46 32
0E VLISTHDR VLIST header 1 78 1 As VLIST_H Verify
0F VLIST Table of defective servo fields 1 79 16 Ad
10 SLISTHDR SLIST header 1 111 1 As SLIST_H Verify
11 SLIST Table of sectors skipped by the translator 1 112 128 Ad
12 TLIST Table of excluded tracks. 1 368 4 Ad TLIST Verify
13 ALIST Table of reassigned sectors 1 372 8 Ad RLIST Verify
15 SETMAX Set max LBA 1 381 1 SETMAX Verify
Module containing security parameters
16 SECURITY 1 382 1 C SECURITY Verify
(passwords)
17 SRVTBL2 Servo Table backup 1 383 4 SV_TBL2 Verify
18 ARCOTBL2 Channel table backup 1 387 8 CHN_TB2 Verify

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
14 TMPRTR Current HDD temperature 1 395 2 TMPRTURE Verify
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
19 OVERLAY Firmware overlays (Burn or Main) 1 401 396 Bs OMLV0Y10 0111011110
111101
011
Burn-In resource for model downsizing to
56 P60CODE 2 1 768 Dr 11
P60 1

29 DLIST Defects list (Primary list) 3 1 650 Dd DLIST Verify

41 SPESB0 3 701 2 SPES
42 SPESB1 3 703 2 SPES
43 SPESB2 3 705 2 SPES
44 SPESB3 3 707 2 SPES
45 SPESB4 3 709 12 SPES
1A HDAF_RPT Functionality test report 4 1 1
1B HD_DLIST Functionality test DLIST 4 2 2
1C LATCHFRC Latch force data 4 4 1 LATCH_FC Verify
1D RCOSCRPT RCO test scripts 4 5 50
1F ERRTRK Bit error rate 4 56 1 BER Verify
20 ERRZN Bit error rate 1 4 57 1 BER1 Verify
21 ERRDRV Bit error rate 2 4 58 1 BER2 Verify
22 SRTDATA Number of errors during Burn-In test 4 59 1 ER_CNT Verify
Number of errors in the SA during Burn-In
23 SRTSRVO 4 60 1 SV_ERCNT Verify
test
24 SCN_GRAY Scan gray data 4 61 1
25 PARAM Burn-In channel parameter monitor 4 62 10
26 WKHEAD Weak head data 4 72 10 WK_HEAD Verify
27 TSTPI Measurement data for TPI during Burn-In test 4 82 4 TPI_WRW
28 MRTUNEMT Settings of MR heads 4 86 5 As MR_TUNE Verify
1E BTIME Burn-In test time 4 91 2 BI_TIME Verify
53 MRRTABLE 4 93 1 MRR_TBL Verify
54 NPV_RSLT 4 94 30 Verify
59 HDAF_SPT 4 141 4
5A HDAFTIME 4 145 2
5B BTIME2 4 151 2
2A GEO_00 4 347 84 EG_O00
2B TST_ZH Channels table for BPI test 4 431 64 NZDH0_
2C GEO_ZH BPI test results 4 495 16
47 CAPSEL 4 511 1 CAP_SEL Verify
48 CURBPI 4 512 1 CUR_BPI Verify
49 AZLCSM 4 513 1 AZL_CSM Verify
4A AZL_CSM0 4 514 1 AZL_CSM0 Verify
4B AZL_CSM1 4 515 1 AZL_CSM1 Verify
4C AZL_CSM2 4 516 1 AZL_CSM2 Verify
4D AZL_CSM3 4 517 1 AZL_CSM3 Verify
4E AZL_CSM4 4 518 1 AZL_CSM4 Verify
4F AZL_CSM5 4 519 1 AZL_CSM5 Verify

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
50 AZL_CSM6
11010101101101010100111110 4 520 1 AZL_CSM6 Verify
1101110110110011
2D AZLBPI
0111011110 4 521 1 AZL_BPI Verify
111101
011
11 2E AZL_BPI0 4 522 1 AZL_BPI0 Verify
1
2F AZL_BPI1 4 523 1 AZL_BPI1 Verify
30 AZL_BPI2 4 524 1 AZL_BPI2 Verify
31 AZL_BPI3 4 525 1 AZL_BPI3 Verify
32 AZL_BPI4 4 526 1 AZL_BPI4 Verify
33 AZL_BPI5 4 527 1 AZL_BPI5 Verify
34 AZL_BPI6 4 528 1 AZL_BPI6 Verify
35 SKTIME2 4 529 4 Verify
52 INSTABHD 4 533 4 INST
55 TPICSC 4 537 4
57 CAPSELDA 4 541 8 CUR_BPI
36 RCO_LOG RCO log 5 1 256 RCODATA
SMARTME
37 SMART S.M.A.R.T. module of the HDD 11 1 9
M
38 SMRT_LOG S.M.A.R.T. log 11 3 4
39 SMRT_TST S.M.A.R.T. write test 11 10 5
3A SMRT_HLG Main S.M.A.R.T. log 11 15 512
3B BIAS_SHK Bias shock data 11 527 370
3D ELOG Error log of Burn-In test 12 1 768 Dr
3C HD_ERLOG Error log of the functionality test 12 1 2
46 BIMODAL 15 1 1 HC_NBTL
3F SV_TRACE Servo trace 20 1 3 ST
40 PES_LOG Pes log 20 11 4 SPES
51 SPSTW Pes Burn-In log 20 301 1 SPSTW_DA Verify
3E IPC_DBG IPC debug 20 302 1
5C PMP 20 304 1

«Description» and «Cr.Lev» fields are left blank for some modules; their values will be added later, after necessary
research.

7.4. Configuration modules

7.4.1. SET_MAX module
The module is used in classic HDD as well as F1_3D and F2_EG Trinity drives. It contains the information about
max LBA settings. While uninitialized, the module is filled with zeroes.

7.4.2. SECURITY module

The module is used in classic HDD as well as F1_3D and F2_EG Trinity drives. It contains password information.
While uninitialized, the module is filled with zeroes.

7.4.3. SNTBL module

The module contains drive serial number and P/N.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
7.4.4. DCO module 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
The module is used in F1_3D and F2_EG drives. It contains the Device Configuration Overlay settings and is 111101
011
typically filled with zeroes. 11
1

7.4.5. PROFILE module

The module is used in all Trinity models except for F1_3D and F2_EG. It contains configuration data of all kinds:
max LBA settings, passwords, sector parameters, cache settings, etc.

7.4.6. UNITABLE module

The module is present in the common modules table of V11P, VICTOR, PUMA, VICTORPLUS, VERNA,
VERNALITE, and VANGO drive families; it contains HDD configuration data of all kinds and also the zone allocation
table of user sectors, i.e. the sectors accessible for logical addressing. The table indicates the number of such sectors in
each zone.

7.4.7. CONFIG module

The module is used in all classic drives starting with VANGOPLUS, and contains different configuration-related
information. The module is used to store the zone allocation table of user sectors. Depending on the drive family, it may
also contain the user password, master password, max LBA and other settings.

7.5. Defect list modules

7.5.1. SLIST and SLISTHDR modules
The SLIST module contains records of defective sectors and tracks, which will not be assigned logical addresses
(LBA). All defects in SLIST are sorted in the order, which the translator uses to assign logical addresses to sectors. In
some drives the module beginning may contain a record about the number of defects and a table similar to the one in the
SLISTHDR module.
The SLISTHDR module (if it exists and is in use) contains information about the number of defects in the SLIST
module, and a table of defects distribution among zones and heads.
Note: further references to the SLIST module will imply the SLIST and SLISTHDR modules together.

7.5.2. TLIST and TLISTHDR modules

The TLIST module contains information about the number of defective tracks as well as records of defective tracks
arranged by the track numbers. In some drives the module beginning may contain a record about the number of defects
and a table similar to the one in the TLISTHDR module.
The TLISTHDR module (if it exists and is in use) contains the table of track defects distribution among zones and heads.
Note: further references to the TLIST module will imply the TLIST and TLISTHDR modules together.

7.5.3. ALIST and ALISTHDR modules

The ALIST module contains the records of reassigned sectors and their number. In some drives the module
beginning may contain a record about the number of defects and a table similar to the one in the ALISTHDR module.
The ALISTHDR module (if it exists and is in use) contains the table describing the beginning of reserved space for each zone.
Note: further references to the ALIST module will imply the ALIST and ALISTHDR modules together.

7.5.4. DLIST and DLISTHDR modules

The DLIST module contains information about the defective sectors revealed during factory testing (see section
9.11). Its header may contain the number of found defects and a table of their distribution across zones. Sometimes the
header may exist as a separate DLISTHDR module.
Note: further references to the DLIST module will imply the DLIST and DLISTHDR modules together.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
7.5.5. LIST and MLISTHDR modules
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 The MLIST module and its MLISTHDR header module contain information about defective sectors in the service
011
11area. Samsung drives typically have no defects in the service area, so the modules are initially empty or contain just the
1 header.
Note: further references to the MLIST module will imply the MLIST and MLISTHDR modules together.

7.5.6. VLIST VLISTHDR modules

The VLIST module contains information about defective servo fields. Its header may contain the number of found
defects and a table of their distribution across zones. Sometimes the header may exist as a separate VLISTHDR module.
Note: further references to the VLIST module will imply the VLIST and VLISTHDR modules together.

7.6. OVERLAY modules

7.6.1. OVERLAY module
The module is used in classic drives and contains firmware portion that is loaded to RAM during its initialization.

7.6.2. OVLY001 module

The module is used in Trinity drives and contains the overlay portion of the Main Code.

7.6.3. OVLY009 module

The module is used in Trinity drives and contains additional portion of the Main Code overlay. It is typically filled
with zeroes.

7.6.4. BOVLY001 module

The module is used in Trinity drives and contains the overlay portion of the Burn Code. It is only used in the burn-
in process and does not affect normal drive operation.

7.7. S.M.A.R.T. subsystem modules

7.7.1. TMPRTR module

The module contains the values collected over a certain time interval from the HDD temperature sensor.

7.7.2. SMART module

The module contains current values of S.M.A.R.T. attributes for the drive.

7.7.3. SMRT_LOG module

S.M.A.R.T. log

7.7.4. SMRT_TST module

The module contains the S.M.A.R.T. write test results.

7.7.5. SMRT_HLG module

Main S.M.A.R.T. log.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
7.7.6. DRM module 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
The module contains the spindle motor operation logs: spin-up time, power-ons count, power-on hours count, etc. 111101
011
11
7.7.7. ALIST ALISTHDR modules 1

See details in section 7.5.3. The number of reassigned sectors from ALIST is reflected in the attribute 5, and the
number of pending sectors appears in the attribute 197 of S.M.A.R.T. information.

7.8. Translator modules

SpinPoint series of Samsung drives use a dynamic translator, i.e. the translator is built each time after firmware
start based on the modules containing defect lists. Please see below descriptions of the modules, which may pertain to
the translator depending on the drive family.

7.8.1. SLIST and SLISTHDR modules

Section 7.5.1.

7.8.2. TLIST and TLISTHDR modules

Section 7.5.2.

7.8.3. ALIST and ALISTHDR modules

Section 0.

7.8.4. UNITABLE module

Section 0.

7.8.5. CONFIG module

Section 0.

7.8.6. CONFIG2 module

The module is used in VELOCE, PALO, POSEIDON, DELPHI, CAESAR, P80M, TRIDENT, T166(S),
STORM2, STORM2_G, TRIDENT3, and PARAGON drives; it contains the zone allocation table for user sectors and
the zone addressing table as well as the order of their addressing.

7.8.7. PARAM_DM module

The module exists in Trinity drives only. It describes the sequence of zones translation for different heads.
Translation may start in the middle of the heads stack; there are also drives with approximately 20 mln. initial LBA
located in 5 first zones for a single head.

7.8.8. GEOTBL module

The module contains geometry settings of the zone table. It describes the zone table of a drive, cylinder ranges of
each zone, SPT, and other settings.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
8. Diagnostics of malfunctions
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
Diagnostics of malfunctioning Samsung HDD involves visual inspection, analysis of messages output by a drive to
1 terminal at power-on, and checks of service area modules. Before you connect a drive to the PC-3000 suite and power it
on, please make sure there is no external damage of the HDA, burnt or swollen components on the PCB. To avoid
accidental short circuit connection, probing the drive power lines is recommended before it is powered on.
If there is no external damage, connect the HDD to PC-3000 and switch on power supply to the HDD. Try to
determine by the audible sounds whether the spindle motor spins up and the HDD unparks its heads. Check if the
actuator produces knocking sounds hitting the limiting bar during the procedure. Drive start is considered normal when
a device reaches the ready state after spinning up the spindle and returns correct HDD ID. In that case you can proceed
to service area testing in the specialized utility (see section 5.3.5.2), and then to data recovery using Data Extractor.
Let us examine a few errors that can occur during the drive start consequently making the user data inaccessible.
Typical problems of Samsung drives:
electronics board (PCB) malfunctions;
firmware corruption in ROM;
spindle motor malfunctions;
malfunctions of the read/write heads or commutator;
corruption of service modules;
BAD sectors.

8.1. Diagnostics at power-up

Leaving a HDD powered on for extended time periods before the cause of its malfunction becomes clear is
strongly discouraged.
Utility start and initialization take quite a while; therefore we shall examine the procedure for starting the
specialized utility while the drive being tested is powered-off:

Plug-in the interface cables and connect the drive to terminal (see section 3).
Confirm the prompt suggesting to start the utility (Fig.8.1).
Select the family corresponding to your drive, the utility should be set to Safe mode (Fig. 8.2). For methods
of drive family identification please see section 2
Launch the utility.
Wait until the initialization completes or click Cancel to interrupt it (Fig. 8.3).
In the utility window, go to the Terminal tab and switch drive power on (Fig. 8.4).

Fig.8.1.

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ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig .8.2.

Fig.8.3.

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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.8.4.

The following situations are possible after the drive is powered:

1) The drive spins up the spindle, calibration sounds are audible, no terminal messages appear or the
messages are unreadable. Typically the situation is caused by incorrect selection of the drive family or wrong
COM port settings. In that case it is recommended to revise again the chapters 2 and 3. Situation 1 is less
frequent in case of PCB malfunctions (see 8.2).
2) The spindle motor does not spin up, no messages appear in terminal. The situation is caused by an
electronics board malfunction (see 8.2).
3) Firmware start log is output to the terminal when the drive is powered on. In that case you have to analyze
the output terminal log. As a rule, specific messages containing a LED error code allow to identify the
malfunction. Most frequent terminal messages are described in sections 8.5 and 8.6. The tables of terminal
error codes can be found in Appendices 2 and 3, section 11 and 12.

8.2. Electronics board malfunctions

8.2.1. Oxidization of contact pads
The problem of oxidized contacts in the MHA connector may manifest itself in various ways; therefore, in case of
suspected PCB problems be sure to examine and clean the contacts first of all. A common rubber piece can be used for
cleaning.

8.2.2. Power circuit malfunction

Power circuits in Samsung drives include components intended for PCB protection against damage resulting from
overvoltage. They may be found in both 5 V and 12 V supply lines. Their original marking is TRANSIL, Transient
Voltage Suppressors.
If one of the protective components burns out but the remaining circuit remains undamaged, sometimes it should
be enough to desolder the damaged component to restore drive operation. If its further use is planned, we recommend
replacing the component with an operational one to improve fail-safety of the drive in question. PCB photographs can
be found in the Appendix 1, section 10.

8.2.3. Failure of the microchip controlling the spindle motor

Fault of the chip controlling the spindle motor or its auxiliary circuitry is a frequent malfunction in Samsung
drives. It manifests itself in the inability to spin up the spindle or instability of its rotational speed. The drive may output
in terminal «LED 16» messages (classic drives), «LED 1703» and «SpinUp Error» (Trinity drives).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
8.2.4. Failure of the ROM chip or corruption of its data 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
Failure of the ROM chip or complete/partial corruption of its data is a quite frequent occasion in drives using an 111101
011
external ROM chip. It manifests itself as absence of data output to terminal or any activity of the drive when it is 11
powered on, firmware freeze during the first stage of its initialization and errors in its operation. Sometimes ROM 1

damage in classic drives may trigger output of the «LED 13» code.
When data corruption in ROM chip is suspected, you have to desolder the chip and read it in a programmer device.
Then you have to analyze the obtained ROM image, verify its checksum, compare it to an identical ROM image from a
functional drive. Quite often the firmware remains intact in ROM but additional data stored in it suffers (for example,
the FIPS module in 2.5” drives of the M7E and M8E families, see section 8.12), and restoring it makes the drive
completely functional.

8.2.5. PCB diagnostics

To detect a PCB malfunction, you can use a compatible board (see section 9.10 for details on selection of a
compatible board). Install a compatible board on the patient drive, then power it on and analyze the terminal log during
start. If the drive’s behavior in terminal changes, it reaches the ready state or, more likely, terminal messages are related
to errors while accessing the service area or mismatch of overlay and ROM versions, it means a PCB malfunction.
Please keep in mind that ROM firmware in Samsung drives may contain adaptive settings of the SA read/write
heads as well as the heads map. During initialization a drive also reads and loads overlay modules from the service area,
which may differ from the overlays of the donor drive. Therefore, the patient drive will most likely fail to reach
readiness with a donor board. For exact and final diagnostics, you will have to solder the ROM chip from the patient
drive to donor PCB (in case of drives using external ROM), or load to the donor board the ROM image from the patient
drive via terminal or in Safe mode via (see 5.3.2.2). If the ROM image is corrupted or the patient board is lost,
you can try to trick the patient drive into accepting the donor board as its own (see section 9.8).

8.3. Spindle motor diagnostics

If a drive with a normal PCB does not spin up the spindle or makes several attempts to spin up and stops (cannot
reach the sufficient number of revolutions), then the problem can be caused by broken winding or short-circuit in the
motor. The drive in such cases may output to the terminal the «LED 16» code (classic drives) or «LED 1703» (Trinity
drives).
To check motor winding, you need a multimeter. Remove the electronics board and check resistance of the
common point with three winding points (see Fig. 8.5.). It must be within the range from 1,5 Ohm to 3 Ohm (depending
upon specific motor type). Check also the resistance between winding coils, it must be approximately twice higher.
Precise resistance values can be identified using a normal HDD of the same family.

Winding points
Common points
Fig.8.5.

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Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
If measurement of the winding resistance in the spindle motor reveals no deviations, then other probable causes
11010101101101010100111110
preventing motor rotation while the PCB is normal include bearing seizure or stuck heads. The first case is more
1101110110110011
0111011110
frequent with 3.5” HDD , the second — in 2.5” HDD. The HDA has to be opened for visual inspection of the
111101
011
positioning system: the heads must be in the parking zone (at the disks clamp), and the disks must rotate freely.
11
1

8.4. Analysis of terminal messages

8.4.1. Firmware operation modes
Terminal response – is the string returned by a drive in the terminal window when the Enter key is pressed.
Terminal response can also be used to identify the current mode of drive firmware. The following operation modes of
classic drives are distinguished:

ENG> (Engine) – the standard firmware operation mode. It is the only mode in which a drive can accept
commands via the interface.
DBG> (Debug) – debugging mode, which can be activated by pressing the Esc key in the terminal window
or in emergency order when failures occur in the drive firmware operation. In that mode normal firmware
execution is interrupted and the drive switches to waiting for the user commands. Operation via is
prohibited in this mode. To return to the ENG> mode, send the «GO» command.
SRV> (Service) – debugging mode featuring the minimum set of terminal commands. interface is not
supported in this mode. To exit the mode, toggle the drive power supply off and on.
BOOT> – in this mode control is passed over to a loader program that works with the main firmware image.
The mode has no specific command sets. To exit the mode, toggle the drive power supply off and on.

Firmware of Trinity drives can function in the following modes:

ENG> (Engine) – the standard firmware operation mode. It is the only mode in which a drive can accept
commands via the interface.
eng> – in practical terms the mode is identical to ENG>, lower case letters indicate the set Busy flag in the
status register.
DBG> (Debug) – debugging mode, which can be activated by pressing the Esc key in the terminal window
or in emergency order when failures occur in the drive firmware operation. In that mode normal firmware
execution is interrupted and the drive switches to waiting for the user commands. Operation via is
prohibited in this mode. To return to the ENG> mode, send the «GO» command.
dbg> – in practical terms the mode is identical to DBG>, lower case letters indicate that the Busy flag was
set in the ATA status register before switching into this mode.
BOOT> – in this mode control is passed over to a loader program that works with the main firmware image.
The mode has no specific command sets. To exit the mode, toggle the drive power supply off and on.

8.4.2. Firmware start log

Firmware start log consists of the messages output to the terminal when the drive is powered on. Each output
message means a certain operation that firmware performs during initialization. Let us examine a sample start log of a
F1_3D drive

++ SU // spindle spin-up
MaxPhyHead = 0006 // detection of the maximum number of heads
RPM at Handoff: 01B4 // polling of the spindle rotation speed
UtSHOS - Released on 2009/03/25 20:17 by sm4721.lee // output of firmware-related information
DRAM=32MB SoC=26A3 // detection of the RAM chip parameters
SHOS-(1AAp3gyM.a38) // output of firmware version
L=00000000,00000000
<SpinOn_2>KeepSpinOn!

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
RV Circuit Enabled 1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
Temp : 25 degC // thermal sensor readout 0111011110
111101
SpinOk // necessary rotational speed is achieved 011
11
SK C:112362 H:0 // test positioning 1

ServoTable Loaded // test positioning

FdtTable Loaded // FdtTable is loaded
Hd: 0 Zn: 0 Avg.:- 185
Hd: 0 Zn: 1 Avg.: 63
PASS
| 21 | SET_MAX | 3 | 0 | 142 | B98B | // module reading errors of system heads
| 21 | SET_MAX | 3 | 1 | 142 | B98B | // B98B code means mismatch of headers
| 21 | SET_MAX | 3 | 2 | 142 | B98B | // n this case modules are not initialized
| 22 | SECURITY | 3 | 0 | 143 | B98B |
| 22 | SECURITY | 3 | 1 | 143 | B98B |
| 22 | SECURITY | 3 | 2 | 143 | B98B |
| 159 | DCO | 34 | 0 | 0 | B98B |
| 159 | DCO | 34 | 1 | 0 | B98B |
| 159 | DCO | 34 | 2 | 0 | B98B |
RecordValid : 00078021 // successful check of the defect lists structure
No DRM
1.5G Lp00,PwrOnDn
ENG> // standard operation mode is activated

Successful switching to ENG> mode indicates that drive firmware has initialized properly and encountered no
serious problems. Further we shall examine the firmware start logs and messages typical of specific failures.

8.5. Error messages typical for both HDD architectures

8.5.1. No messages in terminal
Absence of messages in terminal may be caused by the following reasons:

damaged electronic board;

malfunctioning or erased ROM chip;
incorrectly selected drive family or COM port settings.

Make sure that you have selected correctly the drive family (see section 2), COM port settings (see section 3) and
test the PCB (see section 8.2).

8.5.2. Cyclic errors«1st Gray Err», «1st Sk Err», «1st Vel Err», «No Gray»
These messages may be caused by one of the following reasons:
one or several malfunctioning heads;
malfunctioning commutator;
malfunctioning electronic board.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
E.g.:
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 SpnOk
011 DAC:+00020
11
1 H: +00000
UF: 1. 1st Gray err
H: +00001
SK C: 0000C6E3
ENG>SRV> AP_FSAM
C: 0000006C H: +00000
DAC:+00094
SR : +00000
UF: 1. 1st Gray err
H: +00001
SK C: 0000C66B
AP_FSAM
C: 0000006C H: +00000
DAC:+00094
SR : +00001
UF: 1. 1st Gray err
H: +00001
UF: 3. 1st Sk err
H: +00000
UF: 1. 1st Gray err
H: +00001
SK C: 0000C605
AP_FSAM
C: 0000006C H: +00000
DAC:+00094
SR : +00002
H: +00000
UF: 1. 1st Gray err
H: +00001
UF: 3. 1st Sk err
H: +00000
UF: 1. 1st Gray err
H: +00001
UF: 2. 1st Vel err
…

8.5.3. «B reak at 0xYYYYYYYY» 4.18.5 message or spontaneous switch to

the DBG> mode during firmware initialization
The message «Break at 0xYYYYYYYY», where stands for the YYYYYYYY breakpoint address appears in case
of manual or emergency interruption while executing the drive firmware. In case of emergency interruption a drive
switches to the DBG> (or SRV>) mode. A drive may switch to the test mode for one of the following reasons:

corrupted service area modules;

mismatch of the overlay and ROM versions;
corrupted ROM data.

First of all, it is recommended to try obtaining access to the service area using the code (see section 8.10.3);
then, if the attempt fails, use the hot swap procedure (see section 8.10.4).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
E.g. (T166S): 1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
SPW 1.5G LinkOk!5V: 04790 111101
SpnOk 011
11
spd: 0000 0000 0000 1
H: +00000
ADC: 0001
DAC: 9A90
SK C: 0001A41D
ENG>SRV>
SvoTbl Loaded
CL 0000 CM 0035 SL 006F SM FFAD
BD
FdtTbl Loaded

*** Break at 0x000C [from Trap]

000C: FFFF
DBG>DBG>

8.5.4. Sudden interruption of the initialization log, firmware freeze

A drive may freeze when its firmware fails to handle an encountered error correctly. Freezing may be accompanied
with absence of response to Enter keypresses, spontaneous switching to the DBG> mode or response only after manual
switching to the DBG> mode. Firmware failures may be caused by the following reasons:

corruption of the service area modules;

mismatch of the overlay and ROM versions;
corrupted ROM data;
one or several malfunctioning heads.
First of all, it is recommended to try obtaining access to the service area using the code (see section 8.10.3);
and if the attempt fails, to use the hot swap procedure (see section 8.10.4).
E.g.: (T166S):

SPW 1.5G LinkOk!5V: 04928

SpnOk
spd: 0000 0000 0000
H: +00000
ADC: 0005
DAC: A292
SK C: 0001AFF2
ENG>SRV>
SvoTbl Loaded
CL 0038 CM 000D SL 013F SM 0198
BD

FdtTbl Loaded

8.6. Error messages typical of classic drives

8.6.1. Cyclic «LED 13» message
The message may appear for one of the following reasons:
all heads are disabled in the drive ROM;
corrupted ROM data or malfunctioning chip;
ROM chip does not support the given commutator type;
malfunctioning commutator.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Typically, these messages indicate a commutator malfunction. To avoid problems related to damaged PCB, you
11010101101101010100111110
are advised to check the HDD operation with a known good donor board first.
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
E.g. (T166S):
011
11
1
SPW 0000 NoLk
ADC: 0000
SpnOk
spd: 0000 0000 0000
H: +00000
ADC: FFFF
DAC: 6B84
UF 3 1stGrayErr
H: +00001
UF 3 1stGrayErr
H: +00002
UF 3 1stGrayErr
H: +00003
UF 3 1stGrayErr
H: +00004
UF 3 1stGrayErr
H: +00005
WriteSctLog -- buffer not valid
LED 13 0000
LED 13 0000
…

8.6.2. Cyclic «LED 16» message

The message may appear for one of the following reasons:

malfunction of the electronic board (in particular, the spindle motor control chip);
stuck heads;
oxidization of the contacts between the controller board and the spindle motor contacts;
short-circuit fault in the motor coils;
spindle motor seizure.

E.g. (MANGO):

1.5G Limited SPW No Link

IS=+00004
…
IS=+00004
S E:0001
Unload 0000
Sb
LED 16
LED 16
…

8.6.3. Cyclic «LED 5B» message («LED B5»)

The message may appear for one of the following reasons:
corrupted service area modules;
mismatch of the overlay and ROM versions.

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ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
As a rule, in case of this error a drive may reach the ready state if you send to it a soft reset command via ATA. If11010101101101010100111110
sending a soft reset does not remedy the situation, you have to use the hot swap procedure (see section 8.10.4) or obtain 1101110110110011
0111011110
access to the service area using the code (see section 8.10.3). 111101
011
E.g. (MT1): 11
1

SPW 1.5G Link Ok!

IS=+00000
SO
H: +00000
Ld
SK C: 0000AF49
ENG>SRV>
SvoTbl Loaded
BD
Sb
LED 5B
LED 5B
…

8.6.4. «W riteSctLog -- buffer not valid» message

The message may appear for one of the following reasons:

corrupted service area modules;

mismatch of the overlay and ROM versions.
As a rule, in case of this error a drive may reach the ready state if you send to it a soft reset command via
ATA. If sending a soft reset does not remedy the situation, you have to use the hot swap procedure (see
section 8.10.4) or obtain access to the service area using the code (see section 8.10.3).
E.g.:

SPW 1.5G LinkOk!SpnOk

spd: 0000 0000 0000
ADC: FFFD
DAC: 7B89
H: +00000
SK C: 00010154
ENG>SRV>
SvoTbl Loaded
BD

FdtTbl Loaded
Sb
WriteSctLog -- buffer not valid

8.6.5. Cyclic «-Tout-Tout-Tout-» message

The message accompanied with the knocking sounds of the actuator hitting the limiting stop, may appear for one
of the following reasons:
one or several malfunctioning heads;
malfunctioning commutator;
malfunctioning electronic board;
corrupted service area modules.
If this message appears, it is recommended to install a known good PCB onto the drive. If the commutator is
malfunctioning, the drive start log will not change.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
E.g.:
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 SPW 1.5G LinkOk! ADC: 0003
011 SpnOk
11
1 spd: 0000 0000 0000
H: +00000
ADC: 0003
DAC: 7887
Unlatch Tk: 00016BB3

Unlatch Done
ENG>SRV>
SvoTbl Loaded
BD
-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout
-Tout-Tout-Tout-Tout

8.7. Error message typical of Trinity drives

8.7.1. «DEBUG HALT @MDL_RSRC_BufferAlloc()» message
The message may appear for one of the following reasons:

corrupted service area modules;

mismatch of the overlay and ROM versions.
To address the problem, use one of the methods available for restoring access to the service area (see section 8.10).
E.g. (F3):

:*PA VID=0000 PN=0004 Rev=0001- 785x Found

*PA VID=0000 PN=0004 Rev=0001- 785x Found
ChipRev = 63B0
U
S_0
RV En Sensor Circuit
En Shock Sensor Circuit
SO_1
SpinStartUp: mcSpinRPM = 0
RPM at Handoff: 613
Temp : 26 degC
SpinOk
mS1 00000003
SK C:140817 H:0
Loaded FIT ( 0: 0: 1)
CalibTable Loaded. Rev:0x14
Selective MARC NX Loaded
ResoTable Loaded. Rev:0x01
Ovly loaded to 0x0001CD00
Ovly loaded to 0x1005B800
FdtTable Loaded. Rev:0x02
| 19 | RLIST | 2 | 0 | 256 | 1140 |
Reading Serial Num Pass
Up MC
TgtCyl: 2032
Hd: 0 Zn: 0 Avg.:- 241
TgtCyl: 264349
Hd: 0 Zn: 1 Avg.: 100

SVCAL(0080,0000)-->PASS

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
| 147 | IN_SITU | 20 | 0 | 836 | 1140 | 1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
>>InsituStart: t=1367, c=26 1101110110110011
0111011110
| 147 | IN_SITU | 20 | 0 | 836 | 1140 | 111101
| 249 | NINSITUL | 45 | 0 | 2 | 1140 | 011
11
GeoId = 49, Idx=49 1
fodstep: 00000064 dgain: 00000041
GeoId = 49, Idx=49
fodstep: 0000006B dgain: 0000004B
GeoId = 49, Idx=49
fodstep: 0000006E dgain: 0000004D
GeoId = 49, Idx=49
fodstep: 00000058 dgain: 00000071
GeoId = 49, Idx=49
fodstep: 0000005A dgain: 0000007D
GeoId = 49, Idx=49
fodstep: 0000005B dgain: 0000007A
rb(e1140 20 0 836 13)
rb(e1140 20 0 836 13)
rb(e1140 20 0 836 13)
rb(e1140 45 0 2 126)
rb(e1140 45 0 2 126)
rb(e1140 45 0 2 126)
>>Flag=0000028B BadHd=0000 dFod=001F 0020 (t=2607 c=26)
[DEBUG HALT @MDL_RSRC_BufferAlloc():10034A2D L0 1005BDB3]
…
[DEBUG HALT @MDL_RSRC_BufferAlloc():10034A2D L0 0000EC17]
Cur_SP=04005D20
FIQ_SP=04005D20
IRQ_SP=04005D20
SVC_SP=04005D20

*** HALT ***

8.7.2. Cyclic«LED 1102» message

The message may appear for one of the following reasons:

failure of the ROM chip or corruption of its data;

malfunctioning electronic board;
drive firmware does not support the given commutator type;
malfunctioning commutator.
Typically, the message indicates a commutator malfunction. To avoid problems related to damaged PCB, you are
advised to check the HDD operation with a known good donor board first.
E.g.: (F1_3D):

tPSL++ SU
MaxPhyHead = 0006
RPM at Handoff: 01F7
UtSHOS - Released on 2008/03/12 21:21 by jonathan.park
DRAM=32MB SoC=26A3
SHOS-(1AA10b2M.a38)
L=00000000,00000000
<SpinOn_2>KeepSpinOn!
RV Circuit Enabled
Temp : -16 degC
SpinOk
mServoStatus1 00000003
Unlatch Accel TO

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
Vel Parking!
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
PK_3 C: 0 H:0
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 Unlatch Accel TO
011 Vel Parking!
11
1 PK_3 C: 0 H:1
Unlatch Accel TO
Vel Parking!
PK_3 C: 0 H:2
Unlatch Accel TO
Vel Parking!
PK_3 C: 0 H:3
Unlatch Accel TO
Vel Parking!
PK_3 C: 0 H:4
Unlatch Accel TO
Vel Parking!
PK_3 C: 0 H:5
Unlatch Accel TO
Vel Parking!
PK_3 C: 0 H:0
Unlatch Accel TO
Vel Parking!
PK_3 C: 0 H:1
Unlatch Fail
Vol Parking!
PK_4 C: 0 H:1
LED 1102
…

8.7.3. «SpinUp Fail» and cyclic «LED 1703» messages

These messages may appear for one of the following reasons:

malfunction of the electronic board (in particular, the spindle motor control chip);
stuck heads;
oxidization of the contacts between the controller board and the spindle motor contacts;
short-circuit fault in the motor coils;
spindle motor seizure.
E.g. (F1_3D):

++ SU
MaxPhyHead = 0006
MaxPhyHead = 0006
MaxPhyHead = 0006
MaxPhyHead = 0006
FUtSHOS - Released on 2008/08/12 17:08 by kw208.oh
DRAM=32MB SoC=26A3
SHOS-(1AA13g8M.a38)
L=00000000,00000000
<SpinOn_2>KeepSpinOn!
RV Circuit Enabled
Temp : 25 degC
Vel Parking!
Vol Parking!
Vol Parking!
Vol Parking!
Spin ISR Off at accel1

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
<SpinAccel 1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
++ SU 1101110110110011
0111011110
MaxPhyHead = 0006 111101
1 RPM = 79 011
11
MaxPhyHead = 0006 1
MaxPhyHead = 0006
MaxPhyHead = 0006
<SpinOnRetry> mCOMSENSRty = 4, mAccelRty = 0, mSpinO
++ SU
MaxPhyHead = 0006
Dac = 102
MaxPhyHead = 0006
MaxPhyHead = 0006
MaxPhyHead = 0006
<SpinOn_4>Report Spin Error!
SpinUp Fail
Vol Parking!
LED 1703
LED 1703
…

8.7.4. Cyclic «LED 1A04» («LED 1Axx») message

The message appears when one or several modules in the service area are corrupted. To make the drive enter the
ready state via , you have to use the «Unlocking at «LED 1Axx» error» command (see section 6.6). Further checks
should be performed using the SA structure test (see section 5.3.5.2).
E.g. (F3):

*PA VID=0000 PN=0004 Rev=0001- 785x Found

*PA VID=0000 PN=0004 Rev=0001- 785x Found
ChipRev = 63B0
U
S_0
RV En Sensor Circuit
En Shock Sensor Circuit
SO_1
SpinStartUp: mcSpinRPM = 0
RPM at Handoff: 605
Temp : 25 degC
SpinOk
mS1 00000003
SK C:121495 H:0
POK
POK
Boot Sector Error! Take a default.
Loaded FIT ( 0: 0: 1)
CalibTable Loaded. Rev:0x14
Selective MARC NX Loaded
ResoTable Loaded. Rev:0x01
Ovly loaded to 0x0001CD00
Ovly loaded to 0x1005B800
FdtTable Loaded. Rev:0x02
| 19 | RLIST | 2 | 0 | 256 | 1140 |
Reading Serial Num Pass
Up MC
TgtCyl: 2032
Hd: 0 Zn: 0 Avg.:- 257
TgtCyl: 264349
Hd: 0 Zn: 1 Avg.: 86

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
SVCAL(0080,0000)-->PASS
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
>>InsituStart: t=779, c=26
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 GeoId = 49, Idx=49
011 fodstep: 00000067 dgain: 0000004D
11
1 GeoId = 49, Idx=49
fodstep: 0000006C dgain: 00000058
GeoId = 49, Idx=49
fodstep: 00000071 dgain: 0000005E
>>Flag=0000028B BadHd=0000 dFod=000D (t=807 c=26)
RecordValid Fail : 0007643D 0007E41D
VOP!
PK_4 C:238004 H:0
VOP!
PK_4 C:238004 H:0
LED 1A04
LED 1A04
…

8.8. Malfunctions of the read/write heads

Malfunctions of drive heads or commutator are often accompanied with knocking sounds inside the HDA and
specific messages in terminal (see sections 8.5.2, 8.6.1, and 8.7.2). If the reading component of a head or its
corresponding channel of the preamplifier fails, the stream of servo data gets interrupted when this head is selected,
then the stabilizing and positioning system can no longer hold the head over the track, the entire magnetic heads stack
shifts towards the limiting stop and hits against it. It bounces, moves again and hits the stop again. The process can take
quite a while.
If head knocking appears during diagnostics, the drive should be powered off immediately because the heads and
surfaces get damaged at every hit.
Malfunctions of the magnetic heads stack in Samsung drives can be subdivided into the following types:

commutator malfunction;
zero head malfunction1;
malfunctions of the non-zero heads;
logical heads shift.
In cases of commutator malfunction the terminal exhibits continuous attempts to access the heads one by one
accompanied with knocking sounds. In such situations access to the service area and data can be restored after MHA
replacement only.
E.g.:

SpnOk
DAC:-00033
H: +00000 // current head is set to 0
UF: 1. 1st Gray err // error accessing the surface
H: +00001 // current head is set to1
UF: 1. 1st Gray err // error accessing the surface
H: +00000
UF: 1. 1st Gray err
H: +00001
UF: 1. 1st Gray err
...
ENG>SRV>

1 – Zero head is always a system head. In classic HDD it is the only system head, in Trinity HDD first 3 heads are
the system ones, but the zero heads is always accessed first.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
When a malfunction of the zero head occurs in classic HDD or Trinity drives with a shift of logical heads (see 11010101101101010100111110
further), its signs are identical to the commutator malfunction. Therefore, when a commutator or zero head malfunction is 1101110110110011
0111011110
suspected, it is recommended to try obtaining access to the service area using one of the methods described in section 8.10. 111101
011
Malfunctions of non-zero heads or the zero head in Trinity drives have typically less severe consequences 11
1
provided there is no shift of logical heads. A drive may reach readiness with slight knocking or output the «LED 5B»
error code (in case of logical heads shift in classic drives), or its firmware may freeze during initialization (see section
8.5.4). In such situations it is recommended to recover first the data from functional heads using Data Extractor, then
replace the magnetic heads stack, if necessary.
Logical heads shift is a situation occurring with some firmware versions. Essentially it means that during
initialization firmware performs additional testing of the heads included in the bit map. If the firmware finds a head
included in the bit map faulty, it excludes such head from the map. Thus, a shift of logical heads occurs. As a result the
drive uses with physical heads above the malfunctioning one wrong adaptive settings becoming unable to receive data
from these heads even if they are functional. A shift may cause a drive to change its model to a smaller one and
decrease the number of heads in the HDD ID (see section 8.11). To retrieve data from the heads above the
malfunctioning one, you have to use the hot swap procedure (see section 9.7). In Trinity drives you may use editing of
the heads map in RAM as a counterpart of the hot swap method (see section 8.8.1).

8.8.1. Using the RAM head map editing feature

The «RAM head map editing» feature (see section 5.3.3.1) is available for Trinity drives. You can use it for
diagnostics or access to the service and user data areas if drive heads are malfunctioning. The method is based on
«tricking» the drive initialization procedure by substituting a functional head instead of the malfunctioning one. Of
course, the method only works with drives equipped with two or more heads.

Switch off power supply of the drive and start the Samsung utility (see section 8.1).
Select the «RAM head map editing» command (Fig. 8.6).

Fig.8.6.

The exact physical head preventing the drive from starting is unknown in advance, so try replacing all heads
with the zero one (Fig. 8.7).

Fig.8.7.

After you click the confirmation button the utility will display a dialog with an offer to read the ROM image
from the drive or load it from a file (Fig. 8.8). For convenience, it is recommended to read ROM from the
drive beforehand. Then the utility will automatically power on the drive and try to perform initialization. If
the drive enters the ready state and returns its HDD ID, the head is functional. Otherwise, take a note
marking it as malfunctioning.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.8.8.
Repeat the procedure for the system heads 1 and 2 (if any).
As soon as you find out, which system heads are malfunctioning, you can correct the heads map as
necessary. For example, if the zero head is malfunctioning, you can start the drive with the map shown in
the Fig. 8.9.

Fig.8.9.

Start the utility in Normal mode and check the remaining non-system heads (if any) using the heads test (see
section 5.3.5.1). Correct the heads map in RAM, if necessary. Perform data recovery in Data Extractor
based on the heads map excluding the substituted ones. If necessary, replace the MHA and read the
remaining data from previously malfunctioning heads.

8.9. Corruption of the service area modules

Drive behavior during start may differ depending upon specific damaged modules. As a rule, corrupted modules in
classic HDD cause the «LED 5B» («LED B5») code output to terminal (see section 8.6.3). In such cases it is sufficient
to send a soft reset signal to make the drive reach readiness. Trinity drives output a different error code – «LED 1A04»
(see section 8.7.4). A drive may output messages about module reading errors together with the error code (Fig. 8.10).
To make a drive enter the ready state in such cases, you have to send to the terminal the «LE» command or use the
«Unlocking at «LED 1Axx» error» command (see section 6.6). Less often the firmware may just freeze or switch to the
debug mode (see sections 8.5.3 and 8.5.4). In these cases you have to use one of the methods available for restoring
access to the service area (see section 8.10).

*PA VID=0007 PN=0000 Rev=0004

*PA VID=0007 PN=0000 Rev=0 04
nChipRev = 5340U
S_0Shock Sensor Circuit Enabled
SO_1
Init RPM=0
IS=6
CLA #36/61
Handoff RPM=624
SPOK
mS1 00000003
A1O=7 A1G=460
O=510 S=3
SK C: 4614 H:0
Loaded FIT ( 0: 0: 1) // FIT table is loaded (cylinder 0, head 0, sector 1)
ServoTable Loaded. Rev: 0x17 // SRVTBL module is loaded
Reso Table Loaded, Rev:0x00000001 // RESO_TBL module is loaded

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
RROTable Loaded // RRO_TBL module is loaded 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
| 13 | GEO_TBL | 0 | 0 | 115 | 1140 | // error loading the GEO_TBL module (cylinder 0, head 0, sector 115), 0111011110
111101
error code 1140 (UNC) 011
11
| 13 | GEO_TBL | 0 | 1 | 115 | 1140 | 1
| 13 | GEO_TBL | 31 | 0 | 115 | 1140 |
| 13 | GEO_TBL | 31 | 1 | 115 | 1140 |
| 115 | MOVLY001 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1140 | // error loading module MOVLY001 (cylinder 1, head 0, sector10) ,
error code1140 (UNC)
| 115 | MOVLY001 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1140 |
Overlay file read bad

Fig.8.10. Corruption of GEO_TBL and OVERLAY modules in Trinity drives.

To check the modules, use the SA structure test (see section 5.3.5.2).
Please keep in mind that most service area modules in Samsung drives have no checksum; therefore integrity is
identified by successful module reading and match of its header to the standard one. The importance of header
mismatch at that is determined by the module importance. The following types of module corruption may be
distinguished:
corrupting record;
complete module erasure or corruption of its header;
partial erasure of the module body.

A power failure or HDD firmware failure may cause the settings of the write heads to change while recording a
module so that the drive will be unable to read the data during the next start, and a so-called «soft bad» appears in the
module location. Generally such problems are typical of modules, which are frequently overwritten, such as S.M.A.R.T.
modules and ALIST or its header.

Complete module erasure or corruption of its header occurs when a failure in firmware operation causes
corruption of the buffer content to be written or an arbitrary data block gets accidentally recorded to the service area.
S.M.A.R.T. modules, translator, defect lists are the objects that typically suffer from these situations.

Partial erasure of module body is caused by the same reason as complete erasure. However, unlike two previous
corruption types, it cannot be revealed by a check of the service data structure and therefore represents the most
complicated case for diagnostics. To identify this problem, you need to know the module structure. Objects that suffer
from such corruption include translator modules in classic drives (zone translation table in the CONFIG module). You
can reveal corruption of the translator and defect list modules indirectly by using the tests «Table of zone translation»
and «Defect list report». In the first case you have to pay attention to the structure of the translation table (Fig. 8.11).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.8.11.

Heads and zones should interchange. There cannot be two different records containing the same head and zone. A
few zones following in succession may share the same head, but within reasonable bounds (not the entire side). Each
zone must contain several million LBA, which should follow successively from the first record to the last. In the second
case you have to note the results of automatic list checks output to the report log. Corruption is indicated by records of
non-existent heads and mismatching number of records in the actual table and its header.
The restoration methods for some modules are described in Chapter 9. Running the burn-in test is also a way to
restore the drive in case of its repair (see section 9.11).

8.10. Gaining access to the service area: methods

HDD firmware may freeze during initialization or the ATA interface may be blocked in cases when firmware
modules or data in ROM are corrupted, or the read/write heads are damaged. Let us examine the methods that can be
used to make the HDD reach readiness and obtain access to the service area.

8.10.1. Achieving readiness in terminal during the first stage of firmware

initialization
If drive firmware freezes or the drive after a certain initialization stage keeps outputting to the terminal messages
that block access or cause errors in data transfer via terminal, you can try to make the drive reach readiness in terminal
by following the procedure below.

Turn off drive’s power.

In the Samsung utility, go to the Terminal tab.
Press and hold down the Esc key.
Power up the drive. The drive will return a few strings to the terminal and switch to the DBG> mode (Fig. 8.12.).
Once the «DBG>» line appears, you can release the Esc key.
If «DBG>» has not appeared, if the drive froze or started knocking, repeat the procedure again.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.8.12.

Attention! During this initialization stage you can only work with the PCB: read/write ROM, and also load burn
resources containing no overlays (see section 9.11.1).

8.10.2. Safe mode

Safe mode – is a mode of drive operation via without its initialization with the data from the service area.
Attention! Safe mode is only supported in classic drives; it can be used as an alternative to access through the
terminal. In this mode you can record the ROM and Burn resources containing no overlays. Terminal is blocked in safe
mode.

To start a Samsung 3.5” in that mode, you have to set three jumpers: Master(MS), Slave(SL), Cable select(CS),
Fig. 8.13.

Fig. 8.13. Jumper settings on the drive.

STORM2, STORM2_G, T166, TRIDENT3, and PARAGON drives use a different configuration of the jumpers.
To start these drives in Safe mode, the jumpers have to be set as shown in Fig. 8.14. In some cases it is sufficient to set
a jumper over the leftmost pair of pins (terminal contacts) to start a drive in Safe mode.

Fig.8.14. Jumper settings on the drive.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
To start 2.5” PATA drives in Safe mode, you have to use the PC-2” adapter. Adapter jumpers should be configured
11010101101101010100111110
as shown in Fig. 8.15.
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011 2.5” SATA drives can be started in Safe mode by setting two jumpers over the COM port of the drive (Fig. 8.16).
11
1

Fig. 8.15. PC-2” jumper settings.

Fig. 8.16. Jumper settings for 2.5” SATA drives.

After power-up, the drive will report on readiness but it will not spin up the spindle motor.
Attention! In order to work with a Samsung HDD functioning in Safe mode, you should set the Cable Select jumper in
the following menu: Tools Cable Select management /specify the HDD port/.

8.10.3. Obtaining access using the H/T (FFlash, Burn) code

Burn resources (see section 9) are intended for drive testing and creation of the system area «from scratch»;
therefore, they are more tolerant to various errors while reading/writing the service modules and accessing the heads.
You can successfully use them to obtain access to the service area (and sometimes even user data area) in situations,
when the Main Code does not allow that.
Be sure to select for recording one of the following resources containing no overlays:

Code – for VANGO, VANGOPLUS, PANGO, VELOCE, PALO, RUBICON, P80A, MAGMA,
M40S, M60(S), M80(S), MANGO, M5_P1, M6S_2D, and MT1 drives.
FFlash Code – for POSEIDON, DELPHI, CAESAR, P80M, TRIDENT, T166(S), STORM2, STORM2_G,
TRIDENT3, and PARAGON.

Burn Code – for V11P, VICTOR, PUMA, VICTORPLUS, VERNA, VERNALITE and all Trinity drives.

The procedure of Burn resource loading for testing is as follows:

Make the drive report readiness via or the terminal (see sections 8.10.1, 8.10.2).
Read and save the dump of drive ROM.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Select the «Write BURN resources to HDD» command (see section 5.3.4.2) and specify the burn resource 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
compatible with the drive model (Fig. 8.17). 0111011110
111101
Deselect all additional loading options, leave the heads map unchanged. If you are recording the resource 011
11
through terminal , enable the option to «Download via terminal» (Fig. 8.17). 1

Write the selected resource to the drive.

Turn off drive’s power.
Remove configuration jumpers (if recording is performed in Safe mode).
Power up the drive.
Some classic drives may set the busy flag, then turn off the registers in a few seconds. It means that in
a couple of minutes the drive is going to start Hardware test, which will begin building the service area. Do
not allow the Hardware test to start because it will make access to user data impossible; therefore, when the
registers go off, immediately send the soft reset signal to interrupt the procedure. If a drive does not reach
readiness for a long while after it is powered and does not turn off the registers, you can try sending the soft
reset signal to it, too.

Fig.8.17.

If a drive has reported readiness via , you can proceed to the diagnostics of malfunctions; otherwise
you need to analyze the drive behavior and terminal log. If attempts to access the heads result in drive
knocking or switching to the busy state, it may indicate MHA malfunctions. If the drive outputs the «LED
13» code, check if a proper burn resource is selected and test the PCB.

8.10.4. Hot swap

Hot swap for accessing the service area is a simplified version of the general hot swap procedure (see section 9.7)
The procedure requires a drive of the same family using the same heads map, compatible controller board and
firmware. Most PCBs and firmware versions of classic drives are compatible within their respective drive families.
Compatibility of electronic printed circuit boards and firmware in Trinity drives can be identified using Platform Id (see
section 5.3.2.4), which should be identical in compatible drives.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Hot swap procedure:
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110 Connect the donor drive to the suite.
111101
011 Turn the power on and start the Samsung utility.
11
1
Send the sleep command.
Carefully remove the PCB and install it onto the patient drive.
Perform test reading of modules from the «Modules table» using different heads (see section 6.1),
monitoring the drive behavior in terminal.
If the modules have been read successfully, restart the utility and proceed to the drive diagnostics. In case of
failure, try to analyze the terminal log and identify the cause of such behavior.

8.10.5. Head map editing in RAM

The procedure of RAM head map editing is described in detail in section 8.8.1.

8.11. Incorrect detection of drive parameters

Incorrect detection of drive parameters will be further understood as the following situations:
Incorrect detection of drive capacity.
Incorrect detection of the number of heads in a drive.
Incorrect detection of drive model.
Garbled characters in identification data.
Let us examine each of the situations closely.

8.11.1. Incorrect detection of drive capacity

Detection of smaller than actual drive capacity
Possible malfunction causes:

A jumper restricting drive capacity is set (if DD capacity is detected as 32 Gb).

Connected terminal adapter bridged contacts and acted as a configuration jumper.
Drive capacity is restricted by the maximum LBA setting.
«Garbage» in configuration modules responsible for maximum LBA setting.
Try changing the max LBA settings using the «Tools» «HDD» «Set max LBA» command. In classic drives,
as well as F1_3D and F2_EG drives use filling the SET_MAX module with zeroes and recording it for all heads. In
F1_3D and F2_EG drives additionally check the content of the DCO module, which should be empty. Capacity of other
Trinity drives can be changed in the HDD ID editor (see section 5.3.5.10).
Detection of larger than actual drive capacity
Possible malfunction causes:
Burn- (FFlash-, H/T-) Code is written to the drive.
«Garbage» in configuration modules responsible for maximum LBA setting.
As a rule, when burn code is written to a drive, such device recognizes itself as the senior model in its family or
detects maximum capacity in the family. Access to the user data area in a drive with written burn code is often also
impossible. To restore access, you have to pick and write to the drive a suitable Main Code (see section 9.11.2 for
details on selection of burn resources).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
8.11.2. Incorrect detection of the number of heads in a drive 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
Larger number of heads may be detected in a drive when senior models are configured and labeled as junior models 111101
011
for marketing purposes with restriction of their capacity. During repair of such drive or selection of a donor drive for 11
head replacement, please keep in mind that in fact you are working with a senior model. 1

Smaller number of heads may be detected in a drive, when one or more heads are malfunctioning. Logical heads shift
is possible in such cases (see section 8.8).

8.11.3. Incorrect detection of drive model

This may be caused by the following reasons:
One or several malfunctioning heads.
Burn- (FFlash-, H/T-) Code is written to the drive.
«Garbage» in configuration modules responsible for maximum LBA setting.
The latter is typical exclusively of Trinity drives. Model change may be caused in these drive families by
corruption of the 9D PARAM_DM or 09 BRSLT modules.
Malfunctioning heads may cause a drive to recognize itself as a junior model (see section 8.8).

8.11.4. Garbled characters in identification data

The problem can be caused by the following reasons:

Damaged interface connector on the drive’s PCB.

Damaged adapter used to connect the drive to PC-3000 (PC-3000 PATA-SATA, PC 2’’).
Damaged interface cable (PATA, SATA).
The adapter and cable have to be checked using a known good HDD. If the on-board interface part is
malfunctioning, you have to identify the damaged line. To do that, you can use the special «Bus test» and the «Sector
buffer test» in the universal utility. The first test checks the D0-D7 bus, the second – D8-D15. Collected data will
provide sufficient information to detect the damaged Dx line.

8.12. ROM data integrity check

Absence of drive response when it is powered and firmware freeze during early stage of its initialization may
indicate corruption of the data in ROM chip.
First of all, you have to make the ROM dump. To do that, desolder the ROM and read it in a programmer device
(in drives using an external ROM chip). If the drive firmware freezes, you can try making the drive reach readiness via
terminal (see section 8.10.1) and read ROM using the Samsung utility.
Integrity of ROM data is determined by the checksum match and intact condition of the FIPS module (in Trinity
drives only). ROM checksum in classic drives is calculated as the sum of all double-byte words. When ROM reading is
performed via terminal, its checksum is verified automatically. To verify the dump checksum manually, you have to use
the binary editor (installed as a part of the PC-3000 suite), having enabled the Samsung utility plug-ins in its settings
(Fig. 8.18).
Then you have to select the dump data in the Hex editor ([Ctrl]+[A]) and use the «Words sum (2 byte)» plug-in
(Fig. 8.19). Checksum of an intact dump must be 0.
ROM dump calculation for Trinity drives is more complex. Similarly to classic drives, the ROM dump checksum
is verified automatically, when read via the terminal equipment. To verify a dump manually, use the «View information
about ROM dump» feature (see section 5.3.2.4). A functional ROM must pass successfully both verification of the
firmware checksum and the FIPS module checksum (Fig. 8.20).
Trinity drives often suffer from corruption of the FIPS module checksum, not the entire firmware. This problem is
especially frequent in 2.5” M7E and M8E drives. To restore the drive functionality in that case, it will be sufficient to
replace in the read dump the module data with FIPS data from another drive belonging to the same family. Offset of the
FIPS module and its size can be identified using the results produced by the same «View information about ROM
dump» command (Fig. 8.20).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Firmware checksum corruption in classic Samsung drives or Trinity drives cannot be repaired. In that case you
11010101101101010100111110
have to replace the native firmware with a donor copy or a compatible firmware version from the list of burn resource.
1101110110110011
0111011110
To do that, first restore the PCB functionality, for example, by overwriting its ROM in a programmer device with a
111101
011
ROM copy from donor drive, then follow the procedure described in section 9.8 to make the drive use this board.
11
1

Fig.8.18.

Fig.8.19.

Fig. 8.20.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
9. Repair of Samsung drives 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
9.1. About restoration of firmware modules 1

Before you start the procedures for restoration of firmware modules, please note and keep in mind that Samsung
drives use several copies of the service area corresponding to different drive heads. Module copies may be intact, then it
will be sufficient to rewrite a module from its copy to the system head. Composite module reading can considerably
decrease the list of damaged modules (section 5.3.5.3). Burn test (see section 9.11) is another method available for
restoration of corrupted modules, but it is destructive for the data.
Let us examine the methods for restoration of some damaged modules, which pose no danger for the user data.
Before you begin, make sure that the drive heads are able to perform successful recording (see section 5.3.5.1), and that
there are no bad blocks other than soft bads in the locations of damaged modules (which overwriting cannot fix).

9.2. Restoring the S.M.A.R.T.

When modules of the S.M.A.R.T. subsystem get damaged (see section 7.7) its functionality can be restored using
the following methods:
«Clear S.M.A.R.T.» test (see section 5.7).
«A-LIST clearing» if the ALIST or ALISTHDR modules are corrupted (see section 5.6.3).
Overwriting of the modules with copies from another drive of the same family using an identical firmware
version.
In the latter case please note that ALIST or ALISTHDR may contain the table reflecting distribution of reassigned
sectors among zones. If the number of heads in the patient and donor drives is different, recording ALIST or its
ALISTHDR header module may cause errors in the firmware operation.

9.3. Restoring the defect list modules

Complete restoration of corrupted defect list modules is impossible, but there are certain techniques that allow restoring a
portion of damaged modules using the defect records from other defect lists. Let us examine some of these methods.

9.3.1. Restoring SLIST and TLIST

If the SLIST module gets corrupted, it can be restored completely using the information from the TLIST and DLIST
modules. To do that, use the «Rebuild S-LIST» command (see section 5.6.5).
If the TLIST module gets corrupted, it can be restored completely using the information from the SLIST module. To
do that, use the “Rebuild T-LIST” command (see section 5.6.6).
If more than one module gets corrupted, information of the defect lists cannot be fully restored, but you can access the
raw data by restoring the templates of the SLIST or TLIST modules. To do that, you have to use the defect list editor
(see section 5.6.2.1):

Open the defects editor («Tools» «Defect list editor»).

Select in the menu the command to «Create a new defect list» ([Ctrl]+[N])
In the table creation dialog, select «PCHS» as the defect list type.
If one/several modules of SLIST, TLIST, or DLIST are intact, you can add their defect records into the
created empty table using the corresponding context menu.
Select in the context menu the command to «Save defects into HDD».
Wait for the recording of defect lists to complete and switch the drive power supply off and on again.
During data recovery please keep in mind that when an incomplete set of defect lists is used, the data may get
shifted to lower LBA.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
9.3.2. Restoring ALIST
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
When the ALIST module or its ALISTHDR header gets corrupted, the information about reassigned sectors stored in
11it cannot be restored, but you can restore the module template using the «A-LIST clearing» command (see section 5.6.3).
1

9.3.3. Restoring MLIST

Information stored in the module cannot be recovered after its corruption but Samsung drives typically have no
defects in the service area and therefore MLIST and MLISTHDR can be copied from another drive belonging to the
same family.

9.4. Restoring the overlay modules

Overlay modules are restored by replacing the drive firmware. To do that, you have to write to the drive a
compatible Main Code (see section 9.11), or copy the «overlays module + ROM» combination from a drive with a
compatible firmware version. In the latter case you have to overwrite the overlays module first and then ROM contents.

9.5. Restoring the translator modules

Restoration of the SLIST, TLIST and ALIST modules is described in the «Restoring the defect list modules»
section (see section 9.3). UNITABLE, CONFIG, CONFIG2 and PARAM_DM modules can be restored partially only;
during the procedure loss of information about the order of zones translation and some drive configuration settings is
likely. To perform the restoration, you need a UNITABLE (CONFIG, CONFIG2, PARAM_DM) module from a drive
belonging to the same family and using the same number of logical heads and sector size. The latter requirement only
makes sense for Trinity drives, because their line of models includes drives using Advanced Format and traditional
format (M7E, M8E). The algorithm looks as follows:

Overwrite the original corrupted modules with the ones copied from the donor device.
Open the defects editor («Tools» «Defect list editor»).
Select in the menu the command to «Create a new defect list» ([Ctrl]+[N])
In the table creation dialog, select «PCHS» as the defect list type.
Use the context menu to add to the created empty table the defects from TLIST and DLIST.
Select in the context menu the command to «Save defects into HDD» and wait for the procedure to
complete.
Toggle HDD power supply and read the HDD ID.

9.6. Restoring the configuration modules

For the SET_MAX, SECURITY and DCO modules it is sufficient to overwrite the original modules with zeroes;
however, information about set passwords and max LBA may get lost in that case.
To restore SNTBL, the module has to be copied from a drive belonging to the same family, the procedure will
change its serial number and P/N to those of the donor drive. You can restore the original S/N using the «Edit S/N»
feature (see section 5.3.5.9), or in the HDD ID editor (see section 5.3.5.10), P/N can be restored in the hex editor, if
necessary.
The PROFILE module can be copied from a drive using the same or a similar firmware version, the procedure may
cause the loss of some configuration settings, which are not essential for the data.
Partial restoration of the CONFIG module is described in section 9.5.

9.7. Hot Swap for restoration of access to data

Data recovery tasks sometimes employ the Hot Swap technique. The procedure is necessary if a drive fails to
initialize and reach readiness when power supply is switched on while information in terminal does not indicate heads
malfunction, or when the electronic board is not functioning properly. In that case you can try the Hot Swap procedure
to restore access to the service information and user data.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Purpose of the procedure: to check the service information and try to restore it in case of errors in the service area;
11010101101101010100111110
to copy the required modules and repeat the Hot Swap procedure in case of a malfunctioning electronic board and the 1101110110110011
0111011110
need to access user data. You can also use Hot Swap if restoration of corrupted modules fails, but they are not required 111101
during Hot Swap (all modules involved in Hot Swap must contain no data corruptions). 011
11
1
It is necessary to use «native» modules for the drive in question because Samsung HDD use a dynamic translator
rebuilt from those modules every time a drive is powered on.

The procedure requires a drive of the same model with the same heads map!

Hot Swap procedure:

Switch on the power supply of the donor drive, start the utility and send the «Sleep» command after
initialization.
Carefully remove the electronics board from the donor drive and mount it on the HDA of the patient drive.
If this drive family uses its own modules table in the service area (02 FIT module), then the location, sizes
or the number of modules in the patient and donor drives are likely to differ. Therefore, you will have to
use the «Read modules» functionality and read the 02 FIT module from the drive. Then open the «Utility
status» menu and load the modules table from the read file.
Start the «Read modules» procedure and read from the drive all modules except for some large modules
containing logs.
Switch off the power supply and install the board back to the donor HDA.
Write to the donor all modules from the patient drive except for the OVERLAY module and the modules
containing various logs (ELOG, RCOLOG, DLIST, P60CODE, etc.). The log modules can be rewritten,
but they do not participate in drive functioning and thus they will not affect the data recovery procedure.
Modules should be written to the donor drive in accordance with the modules table of the patient (step 3).
Switch the power of the donor drive off and on again.
Send the «Sleep» command and again install the donor PCB onto the patient HDA.
Start data recovery from the patient drive. Power should not be toggled during the procedure and no
initialization commands should be sent.

, Hot Swap

Drive family Modules

V11P, VICTOR, PUMA "UNITABLE"

VICTORPLUS, VERNA "SLISTHDR" (except for V11P and VICTOR drive families)
VERNALITE "SLIST"
"TLIST"
"ALIST"
PALO,PANGO, VANGOPLUS, "06 CONFIG"
VELOCE, RUBICON, P80A, "0D GEO_TBL"
P80M, DELPHI, POSEIDON "10 SLISTHDR"
CAESAR "11 SLIST"
"12 TLIST"
"13 ALIST"
"5D CONFIG2" (if present in the modules directory)
"62 ALISTHDR" (except for the PANGO, VANGOPLUS,
VELOCE, RUBICON, P80A drive families)

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
TRIDENT
11010101101101010100111110 "05 SRVTBL" "A1 FOD_HSC"
1101110110110011
T166(S)
0111011110
"06 CONFIG" "A2 HSC_DT"
111101 STORM2(S166) "0C ARCOTBL" "A3 HSC_CYL"
011
11 TRIDENT3(S250) "0D GEO_TBL" "A4 IN_SITU"
1 "10 SLISTHDR" "A7 FOD_HRLR"
"11 SLIST" "B3 AVSCAN"
"12 TLIST" "9E HSC_DT"
"13 ALIST" "9F HSC_RST"
"17 SRVTBL2" "80 SCT_DATA"
"18 ARCOTBL2" "9B HSC_RST"
"5D CONFIG2" "9C FOD_NRRO"
"62 ALISTHDR" "9D FOD_HSC"
"6E 10SOFS"
"71 VFY_PATT"
"A0 FOD_NRRO"

In the last group a mismatch of module names, their identifiers and even optional presence of these modules are
possible. In that case you can try using just the modules with matching names or identifiers or use all modules except
for «19 OVERLAY», log modules and other modules related to the Burn test.
Attention! During Hot Swap the OVERLAY module must not be overwritten because it contains a part of firmware
code and must match the firmware in ROM at the time when power is switched on.

9.8. Configuring a drive to accept a donor board

Quite often a drive with a damaged PCB requires a donor board. The procedure of configuring a non-native board
for such purpose may also be useful during work with USB drives, when they need to be connected to the PC-3000
controller. You need a compatible electronic board for the procedure (see section 9.10 for details on selecting a donor
with a compatible board). Let us examine several potential cases.
A donor board and an intact image of native ROM from the patient drive are available:
Read the original ROM from the donor board in the terminal and save for recording it back later.
Solder the ROM chip of the patient drive (provided it has a functional external ROM) or copy the patient’s
ROM in terminal or Safe mode to the donor board.
Install the donor board onto the patient HDA.
Perform diagnostics of other possible malfunctions, if necessary (see section 8.10.3).

A donor board and a compatible set of burn-in resources is available:

Read the original ROM from the donor board in the terminal and save for recording it back later.
Install the donor board onto the patient drive and use the procedure for «Obtaining access using the H/T
(FFlash, Burn) code» (see section 5.3.5.1.).
Read and save the modules from the patient drive.
Make sure that the read/write heads are functional (see section 5.3.5.1), check the service data structure
(see section 5.3.5.2), make sure there are no corrupted modules, restore damaged modules, if any.
Write to the drive Main Code from the same set of resources.
Toggle HDD power supply.
Restart the Samsung utility.

A functional donor drive with a compatible PCB is available:

Use the donor drive to perform the Hot swap procedure to restore access to the service area (see section 8.10.4).
Read and save the modules from the patient drive.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Make sure that the read/write heads are functional (see section 5.3.5.1), check the service data structure (see
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
section 5.3.5.2), make sure there are no corrupted modules, restore damaged modules, if any. 0111011110
111101
Replace the OVERLAY module (in classic HDD) or the MOVLY001 module (in Trinity HDD) of the 011
11
patient drive with a corresponding module from the donor drive. 1

Toggle HDD power supply.

Restart the Samsung utility.

9.9. Connecting USB drives via SATA

Sometimes you may have to connect a USB drive to a PC-3000 controller in the absence of a compatible donor
board with the SATA interface support.
USB Samsung drives are subdivided into two types:
Drives with the USB-SATA bridge integrated in the system controller.
Drives with the USB-SATA on-board bridge installed as a separate chip.
HDD of the first type include most of 1.8” USB drives (Fig. 9.1), the second type includes all Samsung 2.5” USB
drives and some of 1.8” models (Fig. 9.2).

Fig.9.1. N2B 1.8” PCB. USB-SATA bridge integrated in the controller.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.9.2. 1 PCB. USB-SATA JMicron JM20329 bridge

with NV-RAM is installed on the external side of the PCB (to the left).

Pin Purpose
1 Ground
2 A+(Transmit)
3 A-(Transmit)
4 Ground
5 B-(Receive)
6 B+(Receive)
7 Ground
Fig.9.3. SATA connector pinout.
- L-key

SATA connector may be soldered for the second HDD type only. SATA connector (Fig. 9.3) must be soldered in
the location of 4 capacitors connecting the USB-SATA bridge with differential pairs from the controller. The capacitors
must be desoldered in advance. Below you can find the SATA pinouts for some boards, numbers indicate the
corresponding contacts of the SATA connector.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

6
5
3
2

Fig.9.4. SATA pinout scheme for the MT1 drive family.

6 5

3 2

Fig.9.5. SATA pinout scheme for the M7S2 drive family.

6 5

3 2

Fig. 9.6. SATA pinout scheme for the M7E drive family.

9.10. Donor drive selection

V40, P40, V40P, VL40, and V60 models of Samsung drives bear a side label with letter code (Fig. 9.7). The fourth
letter in the code means the manufacturer of heads used in a HDD: xxxRx – READ RITE; xxxSx – SAE; xxxAx -
ALPS. It is important during donor selection for replacement of the magnetic head assembly and firmware selection for
ROM. The third letter in the code means platter manufacturer: xxMxx – MCC; xxTxx – TRACE; xxSxx – SDK.

Fig.9.7. Letter code on side label.

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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
In the range starting with PANGO, PALO, MAGMA, P80M, DELPHI and other drive families (maximum size
11010101101101010100111110
160 GB, maximum number of heads: 4) to the POSEIDON drive family (maximum size 250 GB, maximum number of
1101110110110011
0111011110
heads: 4) the donor drive is identified by other letters on the HDA label following the P\V abbreviation (Fig. 9.8). Two
111101
011
variants are possible: P\V: xS, P\V: xA. The second letter must match. The P\V: xA variant has ceased to appear on
11
1 manufactured drives. In TRIDENT(T133(S)), T166(S), M60(S), M80(S), M5S, STORM2, TRIDENT3 and newer drive
families the heads code is not indicated on HDA labels.

Fig. 9.8. Letter code on HDA cover.

Since the manufacturer started using in older drive families S(SAE) heads only and considering the Samsung
resource tables (which earlier distinguished firmware versions depending upon head types), one can conclude that the
heads from just one vendor are used in the drives, and so any drive of the same family with the same heads (map) can
be used as a donor.
There are multiple cases of successful use of a magnetic heads assembly from another drive family with the same
density, for example: «patient» Palo (160GB/4 heads) drive and «donor» Delphi (160GB/4 heads) drive.
If there is no drive with a compatible heads map, you can use a MHA with a full set of heads – 4 or 6 (for T133,
T166). The drive will not use extra heads in such case.
In cases, when you are replacing the magnetic heads assembly (MHA) you should use the letter codes as a
guideline, i.e. the letters indicating the heads manufacturer must match.
When replacing the PCB on classic Samsung drives you are advised to use boards with the same version.
However, it is allowed to use other versions for all boards except MAGMA family. Successful board swap on Trinity
drives requires a match of «Platform Id» between the patient and donor devices. You can check the Platform Id using
the «View information about ROM dump» feature (see section 5.3.2.4).
PCB photographs can be found in the Appendix 1, chapter 10.

9.11. Launch BURN-In tests

9.11.1. Types of Burn resources
The set of test microprograms and modules necessary to pass the Burn test as well as the Main Code portion of a
drive’s firmware corresponding to that set will be further referred to as Burn resources. The Burn In test is intended to
build the service area, configure adaptive settings, scan the surface and reassign defects. Burn-In test is the factory
procedure specifically used for the greater part of drive fine-tuning and diagnostics. Let us examine the purpose of some
burn resources, which you may encounter in these sets:
Main Code – main portion of the drive firmware; the resource typically contains overlays.
H/T Code – auxiliary test microprogram used to disable heads, check drive components, perform approximate
configuration of adaptive settings and build the service area «from scratch». Resources of this type contain no overlays.
Burn Code – the main test microprogram used to test the drive components and generate translator modules, it may
contain overlays.
H/T Burn-In Code – the main test microprogram used to test the drive components and generate translator modules. Its
difference from Burn Code is in the fact that it combines the functions of H/T Code and Burn Code. H/T Burn-In Code
of classic drives always contains overlays, in Trinity drives the H/T Burn-In Code contains no overlays.
FFlash – is an auxiliary test microprogram, its difference from H/T Burn-In Code is in the absence of overlays. It is
used to disable drive heads, for partial building of the service area or obtaining access to the service area before the
Burn test begins.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Overlay (Burn overlay) – the code portion of the main test microprogram written to disk surface. Burn overlay of 11010101101101010100111110
classic drives is stored in the OVERLAY module, Trinity drives store it in the BOVLY001 module. Please note that 1101110110110011
0111011110
Overlay presence among resources indicates that the image of the main Burn Code or H/T Burn-In Code contains no 111101
overlays. 011
11
1
Burn-In Script – the module containing a script for the main test microprogram with the list of procedures performed
during the Burn-In test and their parameters. Burn-In Script in classic drives is stored in the BISPT modules, Trinity
drives store it in the BINEWSCR module.
Geometry Script – a set of geometry parameters used by the main test microprogram while generating the zone
allocation table. Classic drives have no such resources because their content is integrated in the main test microprogram.
The script is stored in the GEO_00 module.
Apart from the above resources, you may encounter resources with the «Downsize» prefix, for example, Downsize
Burn Code, Downsize Main Code, Downsize Geometry Script. Downsize code is intended for model downsizing1.
Technically the task is accomplished by decreasing SPT within a zone and elimination of tracks with the highest error
count. Some drives instead of special DS firmware feature an opportunity to set before the Burn-In test a special
«Downsize» flag, which will force creation of a DS model. Sometimes a DS model may be produced by a Burn-In test
automatically. That may happen when the test completes with a failure, then the drive restarts and passes the DS test
successfully.
The «5400 rpm» label of some resources intended for testing of Trinity drives indicates that testing a drive with
such resources will produce a model with lowered rotational speed of the spindle motor – 5400 rpm.

9.11.2. Celecting the necessary set of resource data

Resources of Burn tests for Samsung drives can be found on the CD supplied with the kit of PC-3000 or in updates
available through personal accounts at our technical support server (see the Resources\Samsung\Burns folder). In order
to use the resources, open the database window: «Tools» «Database» and import the required set of resources. If you
have resources created in earlier PC-3000 version (ver. 2.xx), you can use the PCDBMigration utility to convert them to
the new database format.
In order to launch testing, Burn Code has to be written to a HDD. After searching through the database (see section
5.3.4.2), you will have to determine which of the found files must be written to drive.
For V11P, VICTOR, PUMA, VICTORPLUS, and VERNA drives the utility may find several folders containing
resources. The name of the source folder containing Burn Code must correspond to the letter code on the drive’s side
label (see Fig. 9.7.). It means that if the utility has found folders «PUMA/Burn Resources
01.06.2005/SP4002H/XXXR» and «PUMA/Burn Resources 01.06.2005/SP4002H/XXXS» for a SP4002H drive with
QUMSC code on label, you should select the second one.
In newer drives the resources are distinguished by the four initial digits of drive P/N (Fig. 9.8, P/N code) and
additionally by the model, firmware version, manufacturer of the heads and platters (Fig. 9.8, P/V code). To select the
necessary resource, you have to search the database first by the P/N, and if the search returns nothing, by model (see
section 5.3.4.2). To select the most suitable resource from the obtained list, you have to use as guideline the firmware
version, which may be indicated in the name of the resource folder immediately after the model name (or P/N), and two
letters of the P/V code, which may follow in brackets). It is recommended to use resources with firmware version that is
not lower than the current HDD firmware version, and P/V code (if it is specified in the folder name) must match the
P/V code of the target drive.
Attention! You are advised to test Trinity drives with the resources recommended for drives with the given P/N only.
Using incompatible resources may cause breakdown of the magnetic heads stack.
Please also keep in mind during selection of resources if a model is downsized. When dealing with a DS model,
use the Downsize Burn Code as the main testing microprogram or enable the «Downsize» flag in the Burn launch
settings (see section 5.3.4.2). «Downsize Burn Code» must also be selected in case, if a drive has finished Burn test
before that with an error caused by overflow of defect lists. Then launch of «Downsize Burn Code» will «reduce» the
drive to a «Downsized» model.

1 – DS models are drives using recording density that is lower than the standard rating value declared for that drive
family by the manufacturer. For example, SP0612N (60 Gb, 2 heads) is a downsized model of SP0812N (80 Gb, 2
heads), SP0802N with three enabled heads is a DS model of SP1203N, HD753LJ (750 Gb, 6 heads) is a DS model of
HD103UJ (1000 Gb, 6 heads).

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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
VANGOPLUS drives are «Downsized» models of PANGO drives; therefore, only «Downsize» codes exist for the
11010101101101010100111110
former. If the utility fails to find a folder with resources for a drive belonging to that family, you may try looking for it
1101110110110011
0111011110
in the folder of PANGO drive family and use «Downsize» codes from it.
111101
011
11
1 9.11.3. Test loading and performance procedure
Warning! Launch of Burn-In test or H/T test will destroy user data!
Before you rewrite the resources and launch testing, you should back up the drive’s modules and ROM. You are
advised to prepare a separate power supply unit to power the drive during the test, because it may take from 6 hours to 2
days and more (depending upon the HDD condition).
If the set of resources for a HDD includes HT code, you are advised to perform additional testing and Burn-In test
configuration (see section 9.11.4).

For V11P, VICTOR, VICTORPLUS, VERNA, VERNALITE, VANGO, VANGOPLUS, PANGO, VELOCE, PALO,
MAGMA, M40S, RUBICON, and P80A drive families the following steps are required before test launch:
1) Write the following BURN resources to the drive (see section 5.3.4.2):
«BURN-IN Script» (if the script is not available in the database, you should edit manually the module
header changing it from END to BURN);
«Overlay» (necessary for VERNA, VERNALITE, and VANGO only);
«Burn Code» or «Downsize Burn Code».
2) Switch the drive power supply off and on again.
For POSEIDON, DELPHI, P80M, TRIDENT, PARAGON, T166(S), STORM2, STORM2_G, TRIDENT3 drive
families the following steps are required before test launch:
1) Write the «FFlash» firmware to HDD before testing.
2) Switch the drive power supply off and on again.
3) Edit the «BISPT» module header (Burn test script) changing it to BURN (instead of END, FAIL or CONT).
4) Write to HDD the «HTBI Code» firmware.
5) Switch the drive power supply off and on again.

To produce a full-sized 7200 rpm model of a Trinity HDD, the following steps are required:
1) Write «HTBI Code».
2) Switch the drive power supply off and on again.
3) Clear the service area.
4) Switch the drive power supply off and on again.
5) Write the «Burn-In Script».
6) Write the «Geometry Script».
7) Write the «Downsize Geometry Script» (optional).
8) Write the «1K Geometry Script» (optional).
9) Send the command to run Burn-In test.

Note 1: If drive testing reveals too many defects, and «Downsize Geometry Script» is loaded, it will be used
automatically to downsize the model.
Note 2: Some sets have the «Downsize Geometry Script» integrated into the «Geometry Script». If such sets are used,
the drive model may change after the test to a downsized model.

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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
To produce a downsized 7200 rpm model of a Trinity HDD, the following steps are required: 1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
1) Write «Downsize Burn Code». 0111011110
111101
011
2) Switch the drive power supply off and on again. 11
1
3) Clear the service area.
4) Switch the drive power supply off and on again.
5) Write the «Burn-In Script».
6) Write the «Downsize Geometry Script».
7) Write the «1K Geometry Script» (optional).
8) Send the command to run Burn-In test.

To produce a full-sized 5400 rpm model of a Trinity HDD, the following steps are required:
1) Write the «HTBI Code (5400 rpm)».
2) Switch the drive power supply off and on again.
3) Clear the service area.
4) Switch the drive power supply off and on again.
5) Write the «Burn-In Script (5400 rpm)».
6) Write the «Geometry Script (5400 rpm)».
7) Send the command to run Burn-In test.

Note: 5400 rpm drives have no downsized models.

Classic drives begin the test in 5 minutes after the power switch. During the wait interval and testing all status
registers are off. If you send a soft reset signal during that period, the drive will switch to «ready» status and will be
able to access its service area (switch power off and on again to restart the test). If a drive has immediately reached
readiness, then the BURN-IN Script is empty or its header is: «END» or «FAIL». An error during Burn Code recording
is also possible.
Trinity drives begin the Burn-In test immediately after the terminal command to start the test is sent. The command
can be sent manually («Tests» «Service information» «Work with BURN» «Run Burn-In test»), or
automatically while loading the resources from the database (see section 5.3.4.2). The drive does not turn off the
registers during test and remains in pseudo ready state. If the drive receives an arbitrary command during test,
Burn-In test will complete with the «LED 2308» error (Firmware Assert). Therefore you are advised to disconnect the
SATA cable prior to starting the test. To interrupt the test, you have to toggle the drive power supply and send the soft
reset signal. To continue Burn-In test, use the terminal to send the command to resume testing («Tests» «Service
information» «Work with BURN» «Resume Burn-In test»). You can also resume the Burn-In by switching the
drive power off and on again. After 5 minutes the drive will resume from the step where it has been interrupted.
Note 1: The SATA cable must be disconnected before starting the Burn test. Hot disconnection of the cable during the
test will be perceived by the drive as a soft reset signal. It will interrupt the Burn-In test then.
Note 2: If the Burn-In test of a Trinity drive gets interrupted before step 70 ( test), the entire testing procedure will
have to be restarted from the beginning. Since step 70 (Burn test start) the drive saves the results of performed tests in
the 9A BINEWSAV module, and after the power is switched off and on (or a command to resume test is received) the
testing procedure automatically continues from the step, where the test has been interrupted.
Note 3: If after the power supply switch the testing procedure does not resume for a long while, you have to send the
command to resume Burn-In test manually. To do that, first send via ATA ([F7]) or the terminal ([Ctrl]+[Alt]+[4]) the
«Soft reset» command, then — the command to resume testing.
If you connect a HDD to terminal during test, you can notice that the drive outputs a message when it launches
each test and performs certain operations. Some of the messages look like the following:

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
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01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
BStep 00003 (Cmd 0024) :
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
BStep 00004 (Cmd 0069) :
0111011110
111101 BStep 00005 (Cmd 0069) :
011
11 BStep 00006 (Cmd 0069) :
1 BStep 00007 (Cmd 0069) :
…
BStep 00025 (Cmd 001C) : Test head : 00Test zone : 07Agc : 0508Agc : 00A1Asc: FFF2Test head : 01Test zone : 07Agc :
0406Agc : 0080Asc: 0007
BStep 00026 (Cmd 0010) :
…

In case of PATA drives, you can monitor the test progress and completion using an auxiliary connected LED. The
LED must be connected to pin 39 of the IDE connector and +5V power line (see Fig. 9.9).

IDE Pin 39 390

+ 5V

Fig.9.9. Connecting an external LED to monitor HDD self-testing progress.

You can conveniently observe test progress if you launch the utility in «Burn Test monitoring» mode (see chapter
4) or open its window and start monitoring using the menu: «Tools» «Utility extensions» «Burn test
[Ctrl]+[Alt]+[2]» (see section 6.3). However, that mode does not reflect the test progress in SATA drives.
After test completion, the drive must stop the spindle and start continuous blinking with the LED. Test completion
can also be easily identified in terminal, where the drive constantly outputs «LED 00 0000» strings – «LED» means the
blinking mode, “00” – positive result code, other values mean an error. In monitoring mode the «Stop condition» field
will contain completion code and its description instead of «No Value» string.
If the drive does not stop the spindle and does not demonstrate any other signs of test completion for a very long
period (more than 48 hours), you can interrupt the test. To do that, you will have to switch HDD power supply off and
on again and send a soft reset signal to drive; then you can check test status using the BISPT module header. If the
header is CONT, the test must be resumed (power should be switched off and on again without a reset signal), if it is
END – test has been completed successfully, FAIL means that the test has been terminated because of errors.
After successful completion of the testing procedure you should switch off and on again HDD power supply, and
write to ROM «Main Code» or «Downsize Main Code» or «Main Code (5400 rpm)» depending upon the Burn Code
loaded before test, i.e. for «Downsized» models you should load «Downsize Main Code». After loading, switch the
drive’s power supply off and on again – now it is ready for work.
Note 1: Downsize Main Code for Trinity drives does not exist. After running the Downsize Burn Code, the Main Code
firmware must be written.
Note 2: After the BURN test completes on a drive belonging to the TRIDENT or earlier families, S.M.A.R.T.
initialization may fail to follow. In that case you will have to initialize S.M.A.R.T. manually using the command:
«Tests» «Reset S.M.A.R.T.».
Note 3: If the service area has been cleared before the test is started, the serial number of the drive will be lost. The
HDD will recognize itself by P/N instead. You can restore or alter the serial number using the «Edit S/N» feature or by
overwriting the 07 SNTBL module saved earlier. After serial number editing you have to switch the HDD power supply
off and on again and read the HDD ID.

If the test completes with an error, writing the «Main Code» is not allowed, because the drive may stop responding to
requests. Open the report on Burn test results (the «Tests» «Service information» «Work with BURN»
«BURN TEST RESULT REPORT» menu) and analyze probable causes of the failure. If the test has been launched
with a «Burn-In Script» file from a resource folder, you may try launching the test again with the original Burn-In
Script file of the drive saved before test start. To do so, write the BISPT module to HDD, load it for viewing in modules
table, modify its header changing it to BURN, switch drive’s power off and on again – the test will restart from the
beginning.
If the test has been launched with the original Burn-In Script file, try running the test with a «Burn-In Script» file
from the corresponding resource folder. If defect lists in a HDD are filled up, you may try running a «Downsize» test

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ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
(recording «Downsize Burn Code»). The original «Burn-In Script» file in a drive usually contains a function for switch 11010101101101010100111110
to a «Downsize» model, i.e. during test the drive may read «Downsize Burn Code» from the P60CODE module (for 1101110110110011
0111011110
PALO) or from module P40CODE (for PANGO), write it to ROM and continue testing. If the model name in ATA ID 111101
has changed after test completion to the name of a junior model, then you should write to it «Downsize Main Code» 011
11
instead of the «Main Code». 1

9.11.4. Service area check using H/T (FFlash, Burn) code and heads map
modification in ROM
VANGOPLUS, PANGO, VELOCE, PALO, MAGMA, RUBICON, and P80A drives contain H/T code, i.e. code
for launch of SA test and drive preparation for a Burn-In test. During this test a HDD verifies SA surface, clears all
results of earlier tests, resets the lists of defects in user data area, adaptive parameters of the user data area and edits
other modules. HT test has another valuable feature – it checks the validity of commands and their parameters in the
Burn test script module and adjusts the parameters of some commands for a specific drive. The BISPT module header
after that test can be changed to «BURN» (depending upon the HT Code content). During HT a drive also partially
checks the user data area and that step affects the result of test completion.
You can also use the microcode to gain access to the SA, when it is not allowed by the «Main Code» or «Burn
Code». To do so, you should make the drive report on readiness (see sections 8.10.1 and 8.10.2) and write «H/T Code»
to it (see section 8.10.3). After you switch the power off/on, send a soft reset to prevent the test from starting. A drive
with loaded HT code executes the commands reading/writing the SA surface in the mode, which allows HDD to ignore
a number of errors.
To launch a HT test, load the «H/T Code» to HDD (please see section 9.11.2 for details on resource selection),
switch the power supply off/on, and the test will start in five minutes. It will last 20-60 minutes. You can identify the
completion of that procedure by the blinking LED or by the LED NN XXXX code in terminal, where NN stands for test
completion code.
Warning! Testing is forbidden if you need to recover data from a HDD!
POSEIDON, DELPHI, P80M, and TRIDENT drives use FFlash instead of H/T code. If you record FFlash to a
drive, then test launch will require changing the script header to BURN or clearing the script module altogether. That
test is quite fast; it recreates system modules. After the test HTBI code should be written. FFlash and HT Code for
Trinity drives do not exist. To check the service data integrity in such cases you can use HT Burn In Code.

In order to modify the heads map (disable heads using software means), you should write to a drive H/T Code or
FFlash code having set the required heads map (see section 5.2.3.2), and launch the test. To do that, the following steps
are required:
1) Change the script header to BURN or clear the script module.
2) Write to the drive HT or FFlash code with the defined heads map.
3) Switch the drive power supply off and on again. Wait for test start and completion watching the terminal.
4) After test completion, switch the drive power supply off and on again, send a soft reset signal, write Burn Code
or HTBI Code and start the main self-test routine.
To modify the heads map in the ROM of Trinity drives, no additional testing is necessary. The heads map will be
changed to the required map while running the Burn-In test.

Warning! Some Burn resources feature the algorithm for detection and automatic disabling of heads having problems.
If drive testing reveals a large number of defects associated with one of the heads, that head can be disabled
automatically. Resources with an internal algorithm for detection of heads with problems are most frequent among
Trinity drives.

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
10. Appendix 1. Photos of control boards Samsung HDD
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.1. Control board in MAGMA (REV.03) drive family.

Fig.10.2. Control board in M60(S) and M80(S) drive family with PATA interface (REV.01).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.3. Control board in M60(S) and M80(S) drive family SATA interface (REV.02).

Fig. 10.4. Control board in M5_P1 drive family (REV.03)

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.5. Control board in MANGO and M6S_2D drive family (REV.03).

Fig.10.6. Control board in MT1 drive family (REV.03).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.6. Control board in M7S2 drive family (REV.04).

Fig.10.8 Control board in M7S2 drive family (REV.04).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.9. Control board in VICTOR drive family (REV.04).

Fig.10.10. Control board in PUMA drive family (REV.09).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

1- Control board in VANGOPLUS

Fig.10.11. 2- and PANGO drive family(REV.07)
3-

Fig.10.12. Control board in VERNA and VERNALITE drive family (REV.07).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.13. Control board in RUBICON drive family (REV.08).

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ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.14. Control board in CAESAR drive family (REV.01).

Fig.10.15. Control board in VELOCE and PALO drive family with PATA interface (REV.07).

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Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.16. Control board in PALO drive family with SATA interface (REV.12).

Fig.10.17. Control board in P80A drive family (REV.03).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.18. Control board in DELPHI drive family (REV.02).

Fig.10.19. Control board in P80M drive family (REV.01).

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Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.20. Control board in POSEIDON drive family with PATA interface (REV.10).

Fig.10.21. Control board in POSEIDON drive family with SATA interface (REV.06).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.22. Control board in PARAGON drive family (REV.06).

Fig.10.23. Control board in T166(S) drive family (REV.06).

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Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.24. Control board in STORM2 drive family (REV.01).

Fig.10.25. Control board in STORM2_G drive family (REV.06).

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.26. Control board in TRIDENT3 drive family (REV.07).

Fig. 1010.27. Control board in F1_3D and F2_EG drive family (REV.05).

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Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101
011
11
1

Fig.10.28. Control board in F3_4D drive family (REV.01D).

11. Appendix 2. Error Codes table of the drives with classical

firmware architecture

Stop condition Description

0x00 End of Program
0x02 Invalid Stop Condition
0x11 Bias force too high error
0x12 Seek error
0x13 Head Unlatch error
0x14 Bias calibration error
0x15 Spindle speed error
0x16 Spin-up error
0x17 Track zero not found error
0x18 NP-offset test result error
0x19 AB-slope test result error
0x1A Total gain calibration error
0x1B Loop gain calibration error
0x21 Head skew calibration result error
0x22 VCM bias force check result error

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
0x23 Seek time error 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
0x24 1 track seek time too long 111101
011
0x25 1/3 stroke seek time too long 11
1

0x26 Full stroke seek time too long

0x27 Head switching time too long
0x28 Spin up time error
0x29 Latch force too low
0x2A Too many pes error
0x2B STW fail
0x2C Servo defect in maintenance cyl
0x2D Excessive servo defect per zone
0x2E Excessive servo defect per drive
0x2F Too many gray error
0x31 Too many real servo dfct per drive
0x32 Error logging over flow
0x33 Excessive defect per drive limit
0x34 Excessive defect per zone
0x35 Excessive defect per head
0x36 Excessive defect per track
0x37 No defect map exist
0x38 Defect free format error
0x39 Servo defects too close
0x3A Too many scratch
0x3B Too many dlist in buffer
0x3C Too many ecc error
0x3D Too many write fault
0x41 Error rate too high
0x42 Too many error during Gap Filling
0x43 Head compensation cal test is bad
0x44 Excessive soft error
0x45 Format error
0x46 Burn-In script error
0x47 RCO timeout error
0x48 Final test error
0x49 Continuous test
0x51 PCB not ready error
0x52 Load system table fail
0x53 Maintenance write error

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
110101011011010101001111100x55 Burn-In code version downlevel
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 0x57 Power-on initialization error
011
11
1
0x59 Bad killing head information
0x5A IPC related error
0x5B Maintenance read error
0x5C Function test timeout error
0x61 CPU RAM error
0x62 Sequencer RAM error
0x63 Buffer Ram error
0x64 Flash rom error
0x65 Burn-in script error
0x66 Head unique test error
0x67 Serial number checksum error
0x68 Excessive TA error
0x69 Excessive seek error
0x6A Servo ram error
0x71 FSAM error
0x72 FGRAY error
0x73 PES error
0x74 Index error
0x75 Head Margin Test error
0x82 BLPL Test Fail
0x83 Head unique test error
0x85 Excessive TA error
0x86 Excessive write fault error
0x87 Calibration error
0x88 Latch force too hign
0x89 Latch force too hign
0x91 Rco criteria system write error
0x92 Rco criteria system read error
0x93 Rco criteria not found
0x94 Rco header system write error
0x95 Rco result system write error
0x96 TF_Rco result system write error
0x97 Write boost optimize fail
0x98 Weak head test fail
0x99 Find test track fail

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
12. Appendix 3. . Error Codes table of the drives with Trinity 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
firmware architecture 111101
011
11
1

0x0000 End of Program

LATCH or Ramp Errors
0x1102 All Head Fail
0x1107 Latch force too low
0x1108 Latch force too high

SPSTW (offline) Errors

0x1314 Difference of bias calibration value is big; HSA bearing Fail
0x1510 Bias Seek Fail (only Head 0)

Servo_Calibration Errors
0x1601 Bias calibration error
0x1602 Track zero not found error / Kt Fail (only Head 0 or 1)

0x1603 NP - offset test result was bad

0x1604 AB - slope test result was bad
0x1606 Loop calibration was bad
0x1607 Head skew calbration result was bad
0x1608 Head gap calibration is failed
0x1610 RRO 1x calib result was bad
0x1615 Difference of bias calibration value is big
0x1617 OD to ID Misalignment
0x1702 Seek error

0x1703 Spin up error

0x1704 Too many parking during process

0x1705 Spin up too long

Servo Defect Errors
0x1901 Drive per servo vitual defect over
0x1902 Drive per servo defect over
0x1903 Drive per servo real defect over
0x1904 Drive per track defect over
0x1905 Zone per track defect over
MC Access Errors
0x1A03 MC write error
0x1A04 MC read error

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
11010101101101010100111110 H/M Screen
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 0x1B01 Error rate too high
011
11
1 0x1C01 TPI test fail

0x1C02 MR tune to different from skew

0x1C03 Zonemap verification error (for downsize)
0x1C04 Force downsizing

0x1C05 Force downsizing

0x1C06 Only for inline downsizing
0x1F01 Head/Media interference fail
0x1F02 Interfere test fail
0x1F03 Failed Amplitude Spike Test
0x1F04 WII Test Fail
0x1F05 Thermal Decay
0x1F06 Head Degradation screen
0x1F07 BIG diff AGC between tracks
0x1F08 HDI problem
0x1F09 Bad CSM defects OD

0x1F0A Bad CSM

FOD Errors
0x2101 Write Error when HSC test

0x2102 Read Error when HSC test

0x2103 FOD resistance test before FOD touch down test

0x2104 FOD TD fail: channel table verify failure

0x2105 HSC FH Error when screen
0x2106 HSC TCC Error when screen
0x2107 WPTP Error
0x2108 FOD TD fail: too high fluxion
0x2109 Out of TD test range
0x210A FOD Resistance Bad
0x210B MC read error during FOD test
0x210C MC write error during FOD test
0x210D FH one step difference is too big
0x210E No good zone

0x210F FOD TCC make fail

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
ACE Laboratory Samsung
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
Timeout Errors 11010101101101010100111110
1101110110110011
0111011110
0x2201 SLOW Run Error 111101
011
11
0x2202 Cont Test 1

0x2203 Timeout Error

0x2204 Too many retry errors
0x2205 IPC related error

0x2206 Function test timeout error

Process Misc Errors
0x2301 Channel calibration fail
0x2303 O Pattern write fail after RCO
0x2304 Read Screen Error
0x2305 Failed compiling
0x2306 Unrecognized Opcode (opcode cmd function not available)
0x2307 Script Error
0x2308 Firmware Assert
0x2309 2nd Downsize Error
0x230A 5400 rpm DownSpeed Criteria: Zone Cutting Bug

0x2353 5400 rpm DownSpeed Criteria: Zone Cutting Bug

Version Mismatch
0x2501 Overlay version incorrect

0x2502 Wrong code download

0x2503 Serial Number checksum error

0x2504 Overlay Error

0x2505 New ID
0x2506 Overlay Checksum Error
0x2507 Can't find MRR look up table
Defect Overflow
0x2801 Error log in full
0x2807 Linear scratch
0x2809 Too many DLIST in buf
0x2810 Too many write errors
0x2811 Too many sequential track errors
0x2812 Too many bad tracks

0x2813 Defect in cylinder zero

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 PC-3000 EXPRESS / UDMA / PORTABLE
Samsung ACE Laboratory
01010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110
100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011001101010101100110101010110011010101011011010101011
10101010110011010101011011010101001101010100110101101101101010100101
1011010101100110011010101011010101111010111
0x2814
11010101101101010100111110 Capacity check error
1101110110110011
0111011110
111101 0x2815 VLIST SF overflow
011
11
1 0x2816 TNU per head overflow

0x2818 Login full MC

0x2819 Too many SLIST
IC(preamp, channel, engine, FFS)

0x2A01 Preamp is out of order

0x2A02 Preamp voltage regulator error
0x2A03 Chip rev error
0x2A04 NLS Register error
0x2A05 Linked List Register error
0x2A06 Free Fall Sensor is out of order
Ram/Buffer
0x2B01 CPU RAM error
0x2B02 SEQ RAM error
0x2B03 BUF RAM error
0x2B04 Flash error

0x2B06 Servo SPIRAM/YRAM/XRAM error

0x2B07 ECC RAM_ERR
0x2B08 Hybrid ONENAND flash error

0x2B09 BufferAlloc reuturned NULL

OEM screen

0x2C04 Drive per track defect over

0x2C05 Too many parking during process
0x2C07 TPI test fail
0x2C0C Screen moszt OD

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