Question Samsung 870 Evo SSD potentially fried ?

[Jimmernick]

I just connected this SSD into my pc, connected it to the psu using the wrong sata power cable (cable came with a different psu). Pc would turn on and fans would spin for half a second then they’d stop. Power button light would remain on. Power button didn’t let me turn this light off so I had to use the psu power switch. Did this several times (turned the pc on with the wrong sata power connector) when trying to figure out what was going on until I realized I was using the wrong cable.

Now the SSD it doesn’t seem to be recognized by this bios (with the correct cable). Will be testing sata to usb connectivity later on the day that the new cable is delivered.

Does the 870 Evo SSD or the HXi series HX1000 PSU have safety features in place that may have prevented damage to the SSD? If damage was done in this case, is data recovery/SSD repair a simple or cheap option for this specific drive?

 

[CountMike]

Just connected this ssd into my pc, connected it to the psu using the wrong sata power cable (cable came with a different psu). Pc would turn on and fans would spin for half a second then they’d stop. Power button light would remain on. Power button didn’t let me turn this light off so I had to use the psu power switch. Did this several times (turned the pc on with the wrong sata power connector) when trying to figure out what was going on until I realized I was using the wrong cable. Now it doesn’t seem to be recognized by this bios (with the correct cable). Will be testing sata to usb connectivity later in the day when the cable arrives through delivery. Does the 870 evo or hxi series hx1000, have safety features in place that may have prevented too bad of damage to the ssd? If damage was done in this case, is data recovery/ ssd repair a simple or cheap option for this specific drive?

Most probably burned. Data recovery possible if power side is fixed.

 

[Jimmernick]

Most probably burned. Data recovery possible if power side is fixed.

what do you mean by "power side".

 

[fzabkar]

There is an e-fuse (ES35) in the top right corner of the PCB:

https://www.thessdreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2U0A2801_DxO.jpg

TPS259535DSG, Texas Instruments, 2.7V - 18V, 4A, 34mOhm eFuse With Fast Overvoltage Protection, 5.7V clamp, Auto-retry, marking ES35, WSON-8:

https://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/tps2595

This IC can be bypassed, but we first need to measure the resistance between Ground and each of Vin and Vout. Do you have a multimeter?

You must first clear the root cause of your problem (PSU cabling) because you will be left without protection after you perform the bypass surgery.

 

[Jimmernick]

There is an e-fuse (ES35) in the top right corner of the PCB:

https://www.thessdreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2U0A2801_DxO.jpg

TPS259535DSG, Texas Instruments, 2.7V - 18V, 4A, 34mOhm eFuse With Fast Overvoltage Protection, 5.7V clamp, Auto-retry, marking ES35, WSON-8:

https://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/tps2595

This IC can be bypassed, but we first need to measure the resistance between Ground and each of Vin and Vout. Do you have a multimeter?

You must first clear the root cause of your problem (PSU cabling) because you will be left without protection after you perform the bypass surgery.

psu cable is solved i have the correct sata power cable now. what do you think the odds are the the e Fuse is the only thing that is broken, i saw another thread where someone had the same problem as me, where they connected the ssd to the psu using the wrong cable , and more then just the efuse got blown , meaning the bypass surgery wont be enough to save it. I only ask this because I want to know if this is really worth doing , as i will void my warranty once i open the ssd.

 

[USAFRet]

psu cable is solved i have the correct sata power cable now. what do you think the odds are the the e Fuse is the only thing that is broken, i saw another thread where someone had the same problem as me, where they connected the ssd to the psu using the wrong cable , and more then just the efuse got blown , meaning the bypass surgery wont be enough to save it. I only ask this because I want to know if this is really worth doing , as i will void my warranty once i open the ssd.

Warranty is already void, due to you using the wrong cable.

 

[Jimmernick]

Warranty is already void, due to you using the wrong cable.

well to be fair i dont have to tell them exactly what happened and why I was at fault. can't i just say it stopped working on me all the sudden. how can they really conclude that it happened as a result of my error. maybe theyd just figure a power outage or something blew the fuse. if they really looked that far into it that is

 

[USAFRet]

well to be fair i dont have to tell them exactly what happened and why I was at fault. can't i just say it stopped working on me all the sudden. how can they really conclude that it happened as a result of my error. maybe theyd just figure a power outage or something blew the fuse. if they really looked that far into it that is

They've seen hundreds of these. They know the product and fail modes better than you do.

 

[Jimmernick]

They've seen hundreds of these. They know the product and fail modes better than you do.

so your saying there would be no point of even sending it in for warranty, because you think they will most likely send it right back to me once they see the blown eFuse? im still not sure how they can really know if the damage happened because of user error, but ill take ur word for it

 

[USAFRet]

so your saying there would be no point of even sending it in for warranty, because you think they will most likely send it right back to me once they see the blown eFuse? im still not sure how they can really know if the damage happened because of user error, but ill take ur word for it

You can try.
But have no expectation of success.

Also, if this is with the expectation of getting that particular drive back, with its contents....not.
A warranty replacement will be a different, blank, drive.

 

[fzabkar]

psu cable is solved i have the correct sata power cable now. what do you think the odds are the the e Fuse is the only thing that is broken, i saw another thread where someone had the same problem as me, where they connected the ssd to the psu using the wrong cable , and more then just the efuse got blown , meaning the bypass surgery wont be enough to save it. I only ask this because I want to know if this is really worth doing , as i will void my warranty once i open the ssd.

if ur worried about ur warranty and u dont care about ur data then dont bother

 

[Jimmernick]

You can try.
But have no expectation of success.

Also, if this is with the expectation of getting that particular drive back, with its contents....not.
A warranty replacement will be a different, blank, drive.

you are right about that, i had an idea of taking it to a data recovery specialist

if ur worried about ur warranty and u dont care about ur data then dont bother

i def care about my data, but if more then just the eFuse is broken, the drive will be damn near unfixable from what ive seen. thats why i am trying to find out if its most likely that only the eFuse is blown and the rest of the drive is fine. in that case i would be happy to open it and operate on it for that one simple fix

 

[CountMike]

you are right about that, i had an idea of taking it to a data recovery specialist

i def care about my data, but if more then just the eFuse is broken, the drive will be damn near unfixable from what ive seen. thats why i am trying to find out if its most likely that only the eFuse is blown and the rest of the drive is fine. in that case i would be happy to open it and operate on it for that one simple fix

Fuses are there for overvolt or opposite polarity of 3.3 and 5v power input. If wrong cable sent power to pins which are not supposed to receive it, something else may burn out.

 

[fzabkar]

you are right about that, i had an idea of taking it to a data recovery specialist

i def care about my data, but if more then just the eFuse is broken, the drive will be damn near unfixable from what ive seen. thats why i am trying to find out if its most likely that only the eFuse is blown and the rest of the drive is fine. in that case i would be happy to open it and operate on it for that one simple fix

nobody can tell u whats wrong with it by waving their hands over it u need to look inside and measure stuff if u arent prepared to do that then by all means send ur ssd to a specialist but b prepared 2 b slaughtered

 

[salma0987]

what do you mean by "power side".

It probably the power of motherboard, just guess so

 

[CountMike]

It probably the power of motherboard, just guess so

No, there are 2 connectors, the larger one is for power (SATA from PSU) and other one for data from MB.

 

[Jimmernick]

nobody can tell u whats wrong with it by waving their hands over it u need to look inside and measure stuff if u arent prepared to do that then by all means send ur ssd to a specialist but b prepared 2 b slaughtered

Hey, so I took it into micro center last week and this is what the guy found when doing the diagnostic.

Here is what he said - "After taking some diagnostic readings I've found that none of the rails are shorted to ground. As there is short to ground, it would mean the fuses are okay. In this case, it is likely a high-resistance short (partial short), such as a IC or even one of the NAND chips itself causing the no-power state. In this case, as we do not perform repairs at that level, as well as their being a high-chance of a NAND issue (data loss), I do not feel it is worth damaging your warranty sticker. If I found a shorted rail, I would say it is something we can likely fix/workaround, but each rail is showing acceptable resistance and therefore it would not be worth opening."

i kind of understand what he's saying in that the efuse is "fine" and there must be something else wrong with the drive, but if you can further interpret it for me that would be appreciated. He didnt even open it though, so im wondering is his evaluation accurate? Or is there still a chance he is missing important information since he didnt open it. (perhaps to really know if the efuse was blown, we need to open it and measure the resistance between Ground and each of Vin and Vout like you recommended earlier)

Just to give a quick recap of where my head it at:

• if the efuse being blown is the only issue with the ssd, and nothing else is damaged, I would want to take the old one off, saughter a replacement one on (STEF4S) , and be good to go. (unlikely based on what microcenter employee told me). I know you recommend a bypass surgery which would suffice just for me to be able to recover that data real quick, but i cannot continue to use the drive normally like that can i? I need the STEF4S replacement if i want a permanent fix, right ?

• If the efuse is ok, but any any other components were damaged (controller etc.) that would likely be too complex of a fix for me, so I would want to try to boot the drive into safe mode (since it has power) , and use data recovery software ddrescue to recover the data. Then try to send the drive in for a warranty replacement.

 

[fzabkar]

After taking some diagnostic readings I've found that none of the rails are shorted to ground. As there is short to ground, it would mean the fuses are okay. In this case, it is likely a high-resistance short (partial short), such as a IC or even one of the NAND chips itself causing the no-power state.

This is ambiguous. At first he is saying that none of the rails (5V, 12V, 3.3V) is shorted to ground, but then he immediately says that there is a short to ground. I suspect he means that the SSD is drawing much more current than expected, and he believes that this is due to one or more damaged chips. I'm not sure that he was right to exclude the e-fuse as a possible culprit.

In short, the diagnosis is inconclusive, but that's probably because you weren't prepared to allow him to void your warranty and investigate it properly.

 

[Jimmernick]

This is ambiguous. At first he is saying that none of the rails (5V, 12V, 3.3V) is shorted to ground, but then he immediately says that there is a short to ground. I suspect he means that the SSD is drawing much more current than expected, and he believes that this is due to one or more damaged chips. I'm not sure that he was right to exclude the e-fuse as a possible culprit.

In short, the diagnosis is inconclusive, but that's probably because you weren't prepared to allow him to void your warranty and investigate it properly.

I did allow him to open it actually but he decided its wasn't worth him opening it. since im getting it opened for inspection by a "profession" i can show sony the receipt from microcenter and the warranty will stay in tact. I want tell him to open it , but what should i tell him to test for. he's just a inspection guy and doesn't actually do any repairs so I can't tell him to do much. Should I just ask if he can measure the resistance between Ground and each of Vin and Vout, like you suggested earlier. Would him doing that give us all we need to know if the efuse being blown is the culprit?

 

[fzabkar]

Should I just ask if he can measure the resistance between Ground and each of Vin and Vout, like you suggested earlier. Would him doing that give us all we need to know if the efuse being blown is the culprit?

That would be a start. If Vout is shorted to ground, then you would need to remove the e-fuse and retest for shorts. If the short then goes away, the e-fuse is the culprit. Otherwise we would need to look further.