HDD GURU FORUMS

Would the 3.3V line worth taking into account? 10.6 W/3.3 V=3.12 A

So would I use a 3.5 A fuse?

You're kidding, right?

There's only a +5V and +12v available at the Hard Drive power connector. If I'm not mistaken, the blown 'fuse' is on the +5V line.

Like I said, better to pick too low a fuse, and replace it when it blows, than to put in too high a fuse, and see the board (And your year of work) go up in smoke.

Of course, if you did smoke the board, a good DR company could still recover the data, but it probably wouldn't be a DIY kind of thing anymore. Tell you what... Put a 20 Amp fuse in there instead, and I'll give you a special rate

haha thanks so much! your help has been great!!!

I will let you know what happens next.

...and nothing good happened next!

It blowed a 2, 3 and 4 amps fuses.

Do I have any other option yet... before using your service?

Thanks

Somewhere I read that it consumes 24W in the 12V line, and 3.7 in the 5V line. Maybe it helps

That's not sounding good... Sometimes an IC will be damaged, and draw a lot of current, yet it won't show up as a dead short. You may be looking at a board swap. There's a few things I'd try:

I'd remove the board from the drive, and see if it's still blowing fuses.

I'd check again the TVS device, and perhaps replace or remove it. Make sure you use the right one (Don't use a 12V device on the 5V line).

I'd try a variable power supply on the 5V line, slowly turning up the voltage until getting to 1-2 Amps, and then seeing what part gets hot.

I removed it and tested. It blowed 2 and 4A fuses.

For the other solutions, I will have a pro technician do that. I will inform you as soon as I get results.

I am using the fuses with the blown TVS still mounted. You are saying that the damaged TVS may be still drawing current?

Thanks

Hiya!
I think rchadwick just presumed you had removed the 'blown TVS'

It would be a good idea to do a simple check with any digital multimeter to see if it is shorted. You could use the diode check mode to confirm if there is a short. Do it without the drive being connect to the psu.

I

I think I have something:

Please correct me if I am wrong. The piece that follows next to the TVS is a diode.

The 12V line has one. The 5V line has another one. These two diodes are touching GND on one side and Voltage lines in the other. The 12V line is open (edit: with a number greater than 1 in the multimeter wich do not understand clearly) (1 is no conductivity, 0 is full shorted).

The 5V line is full shorted (edit: and reads 0 in the multimeter).

Maybe there is the short-circuit?

I have attached an image.

I must have misunderstood. I thought you said you checked for shorts. When the TVS fails, it often shorts, which is actually a good thing (Hopefully it protected everything else). With a shorted TVS, you will be blowing fuses. Replace or remove the TVS, then try starting up with a fuse.

Sorry, rchadwick, I do not have much expertise into this. I did check, but I somehow skipped that. That piece is marked "648 HE". Any word on that? I have googled it and it says it is a diode.

Just for being clear, ¿should I put the fuse where the jumper is, and replace the "648" diode with other one similar?

Thanks so much!!! I am starting to see a light!!!

You have to remove/replace damaged diode, then your HDD should start (hopefully). The diode shorts when voltage is increasing, PSU detects the short and switches off (good PSU should). The diode is permanently damaged right now and your PSU won't start. You can try to start the HDD without the diode (just unsolder it, don't replace if you don't have matching one), but then you don't have any protection (if the same problem with your PSU will occur again something more than a TVS will be burnt).

It happens often that not only TVS is damaged - PCB elements can be damaged even when TVS worked...

PS: TVS is that black thing with visible crack on it (labeled "SHORT"). You marked a fuse (or 0 ohm resistor) with TVS label - just to be sure you unsolder right element

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS UJUUUUUUU I am soooo happy.

I went downtown and found someone that had seen this issue lots of times before. He extracted a 000 jumper from somewhere and the diode from an Asus board near to a USB connector. Now it works!!! Perfectly.

I am going to give you further info on the diode as soon as I finish backing up my work!

Thank you so much. The knowledge I have from this forum is awesome and helped the technician do his work easily as I guided him into the troublesome spot inmediately. Also I had to correct him once because of the positioning of the diode.

I hope this forum helps others as well.

Yes, I definitely had a confusion with the jumper and the TVS. It is the device next to the jumper, wich was shorted and that caused the jumper to burn, so the fuses that I use would always toast.

The TVS was replaced with a PJ44 SK24 one, extracted from another board.

I hope this info serves others well, as the technician said that was a very common fault in SATA devices.

Thanks very much to all the members who helped me!

News:

The drive is dying now. Its making a repetitive clicking noise at startup. I dont see it that could be related anyhow to the blown TVS. One damage derives into another one...like a chain.

Important info:
I made it work by turning it upside down several times, I know I could be damaging the surface and the heads, but I took the risk and it worked! At least long enough to recover the few data that was not backed up before.

If you use this method, and it works for you, recover your data inmediately in the session without turning off the computer. It may be the last time it works!

I would like to know the relationship between the TVS and the physical damage...Any light?

It seems like you did everything in your power to destroy the drive.

I don't think you had "a year of work in risk", otherwise you would have taken it to a pro.

Er, I dont think so. in fact, fixing the issue was not that complicated due to helpful people here.

If anyone knows if the TVS replacement and the clicking noise have a relationship in between, that would be helpful, too.

Thanks.

"Er, I dont think so. in fact, fixing the issue was not that complicated due to helpful people here."

Hello barbaroja. I've been following your case for a couple of days since I share your bad experience with the exact same model of 500GB Sata hard disk, which I found to be inside my external hard disk drive made (or assembled) by LaCie. The casing of the external disk and its power supply messed up both components you specify on the JPEG file you attached previously.

My loss of information was considerable, almost 400GB of stuff I'd like to recover (and if possible the drive, too).

Is there any chance you or the rest of you guys can help me discover the specifications for both such components? I'm looking for someone at work who can help with the soldering but, obviously, I have to buy the replacement components.

I'll be forever grateful for your help.

hi guys
did u find the solution ? what exactly happened ? when u connect yr drive ur pc will not on ?
first check the diod just neerby yr 000 jumper ?do you find it is short than just pill off it from the one side {any side } .and than solder the 000 jumper u can use any 0 value register u can find it easily on any drive and also find it from motherboard.now power on yr hdd it will deffinatly works.it is most commnon problem with sata hdd .enjoy.