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Question M.2 not appearing in BIOS after plugging in SATA fan.

Jul 27, 2024
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My Samsung 980 will not appear in bios (or windows install USB) as a drive after plugging in a SATA powered fan to the PSU.

The PSU would not power the fan from SATA power plug 1, and wouldn’t even turn on if something was connected to the SATA power plug. so I swapped it to SATA power plug 2, tried another SATA cable as well for good measure, and smelled something hot. I quickly pulled the plug to the PC.

After removing the SATA cable from the PSU, the PC booted fine. And everything was powered. No more hot smell. Figured something was wrong with the PSU and a short protection circuit burnt up or something.

Motherboard is a MSI B450 Bazooka MAX WiFi w/ a single m.2 slot.

PSU was a EVGA 500 Bronze
Now a 700w Thermaltake Smart*

Here’s what I’ve tried / done so far:
Removed & Dusted M.2 slot
Removed the SATA fan.
Tested the Samsung 980 m.2 in another machine (works)
Tested a different m.2 in the problem machine (doesn’t work!)
Tried all CSM/UEFI/AHCI/RAID combos
Reset CMOS
Updated BIOS to latest release
Replaced PSU

I really can’t think of anything else. The motherboard behaves quite normal with no problems visibly apparent. Checked all soldered components on the board to see if anything melted, popped, or burned. Nothing.

Willing to try anything as I have no PC right now!
 
Just an update, forgot I had a thermal camera.

This is in hotspot mode, the chip next to the M.2 slot which has lots of traces leading to the M.2 is hottest in the area at 48.1c ~ 2 min after sitting in BIOS.

Pictures attached, I’m assuming this is the power delivery chip? Maybe that’s what smelled burned…
Image 1:
https://ibb.co/qRfLH7k
Image 2:
https://ibb.co/FsNt1B9

stock mobo image with chip highlighted:
Image 3
first of the smart series 700w thermaltake is a fire hazard your old psu was probly better.

also are you using a adapter from the sata power plug

is the fan rated 12v

sata is 5v

most fans are rated 12v unless stated otherwise you can look at the actual sticker on the fan at the rear.

what you most likely smelt was the fan dieing or you have damaged the psu.
 
first of the smart series 700w thermaltake is a fire hazard your old psu was probly better.

also are you using a adapter from the sata power plug

is the fan rated 12v

sata is 5v

most fans are rated 12v unless stated otherwise you can look at the actual sticker on the fan at the rear.

what you most likely smelt was the fan dieing or you have damaged the psu.
My old PSU was on the “Actively Avoid” category in the PSU ranking chart, I figured I should move away from it as it had been running for a few years.

The fans are DeepCool FC120 (3x daisychain) which have a SATA power plug, a 4pin PWM connector, and a rbg motherboard plug. No adapter, just straight SATA power plug -> Fan’s power harness SATA.

The fans are plugged into the new PSU and work with bios PWM and sata plug
(I tried another SATA device (HDD) with the old PSU, and that was not receiving power either)