Somehow I stopped receiving notifications about new posts.

I just bought a multimeter.

Meanwhile my support request to Intel has been forwarded to the technical team. I wonder what they'll say.

Unfortunately I think it takes much more than a multimeter... knowing how these ssd's are made. If you are lucky data is still recoverable. Maybe at Intel they will attempt to repair, but usually DR is excluded from warranty / service. I was interested for stats about the cause of failure, regarding repair or recovery of data I would have done something very different but having all it takes it is very different !

I can't understand what you mean. If you want you can pm me in Italian.




That's too bad. But actually the warranty information doesn't say nothing about opening the drive.

Did you read CAREFULLY the limited warranty ?


Further, this Limited Warranty does NOT cover:
• any costs associated with the repair or replacement of the Product including labor,
installation or other costs incurred by you, and in particular, any costs relating to the removal
or replacement of any Product that is soldered or otherwise permanently affi xed to any
printed circuit board; OR
• damage to the Product due to external causes, including accident, problems with electrical
power, abnormal electrical, mechanical or environmental conditions, usage not in accordance
with product instructions, misuse, neglect, alteration, repair, improper installation, or improper
testing; OR
• any Product which has been modified or operated outside of Intel’s publicly available
specifi cations or where the original identification markings (trademark or serial number) has
been removed, altered or obliterated from the Product.

To me opening the drive IS alteration

To me it is not.


To open a cover is something completely reversible and thus not an alteration. Furthermore, the four screws are to be removed in order to mount the drive in a low-profile (7 mm or so) SATA slot, because they are holding a plastic spacer (look for some picture of the X25-M to understand what I mean). I'm not aware of the existance of notebooks with such slots, though.

Anyway, there is no point in discussing with you about this, unless you work for Intel.
It's a pity I told them I opened the drive. I'm so dumb.

Intel think differently so do I.
Anyway I asked how the repair attempt ended : this week some ssd came for recovery... (happy ending here)

Let's see what your multimeter tells you. I'm betting that those two components will be the new TVS diodes of SSD data recovery. One is rated for 5.5V, the other for 6V. IME that's an unusually low input range for a switchmode DC-DC converter.

BTW, it's funny you should mention your notification problem. I'm having the same issue.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Believe me or not, I didn't understand what you meant here until now. I thought you asked some collegue of yours, now I realized you're asking me.

There was no repair attempt so far. I just stared for hours at the burned components with tears in my eyes, but nothing happened.
I guess you are a DR professional. Have you got some advice for me? It would be highly appreciated.

Nothing will happen with just "staring" at the drive.

Assuming you can get the parts (IF and ONLY IF the parts are correctly identified) , you find a supplier that sell you small qty. of them and you pay export taxes, delivery etc. , you have to replace them.
Must be Italy, but here as far as I know no one of the common mentioned suppliers sell to end users that don't have a VAT number, less than less chemicals or "professional use only" products - but this may not apply to you.
THEN, you still don't know if the cause was internal or external, and this is difficult without either a schematic or knowing how the SSD is made (*cough*).
YOUR last hope is the cause to be external and everything is limited at the section where you found the broken parts, but it is very difficult without instruments and know how that you don't seem to have.
Maybe you will be lucky with tinkering with it, maybe not and make eventually more damage, destroying data. I didn't measure anything neither I have used the right procedure that is necessary to test your SSD drive.
If the cause was INTERNAL, you have to surrender about doing DIY. Be prepared to face also a possible , limited or extended data loss if the damage involves also the memory chips.
Unluckily I don't have any "free advice" neither I am allowed to. What I said was to avoid you some frustration just in case you replace the parts and they fry again at power up.

P.S. with pictures only and not seeing the drive in "live mode", it's just clairvoyance and guessing.

Irony, never heard of it?

Anyway, what you are saying is correct and was already clear to me.

It was not irony. It meant that until you don't do anything wrong or just look, data is still safe and sound or in the state "as is". Problems start when things are made too simple.

For those of you who are worried, I'm not dead: I'm just very busy. The operations are temporarily suspended.

Busy ? We too I think. But our operations must continue

Don't forget to tell us if you managed to revive the SSD.

I haven't forgotten you, either. :-)

I'm still waiting for information. I'll let you know when I receive it, if I receive it.

In the meantime I've been looking at the design of the DC-DC converters. ISTM that Intel could have chosen a PWM IC with a much wider input tolerance. In fact I would think that it would be very easy to design an SSD that could tolerate a 12V, or even 19V, input. Similar ICs in TV sets have UVLO (undervoltage lockout) and OVLO (overvoltage lockout) features that prevent the PWM controller from oscillating until the AC supply is within an allowable range.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Problem:
1) controller may be gone
2) one or more of the memory chip may be gone or corrupted
In both case it is impossible for end user without tools (expensive) to get data out of the SSD so there is no warranty that repairing the damaged section (assuming it's possible and easy for the end user) will work.

It's confirmed. I have just received two hires scans of both sides of the PCB.

The part markings are ...

U14 / U15 = BYN
U28 = QKS

U28 is a MIC23150-SYMT 3.3V regulator.

U15 and U14 are both TPS62290 PWM DC-DC converters.

Both parts are cheap and available in single quantities. A repair shouldn't cost more than a few dollars.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Amazing, a year has already passed. Today I started the repair! I found a nice electronics lab at my school, from students for students. We soldered both parts but one needs some refinement. Monday should be all finished. I'm looking forward to seeing if the SSD will work.

I have the same problem. :-(

AIUI, there should be three ICs. One may not look physically damaged, but you should change it anyway.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Anytime you use an acronym like that, a Google server will have to deal with a request from me.
Anyway, I almost forgot. We'll take care of it Monday too.
I must admit that if the SSD won't work I'll be quite disappointed, although I'm psichologically preparing to it.

It doesn't work. The controller gets abnormally hot and nothing happens, the SSD is not seen by the computer. It's a shame Intel didn't install a voltage protection on such a device.