[NEED HELP] i want to diagnose a dead Samsung EVO 850 SSD

[HDDGEEK11]

Hello

one of my friends has Samsung EVO 850 SSD 120GB SSD and its dead somehow when its connected to the pc via sata port its not even detected :/
what can we do to diagnose this ssd to find which chip needs replacement in order to fix it?
Whats the common issues with this model?
What software and or hardware needed to diagnose and fix this?

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Thanks

[reef]

You need proper tools to recover this SSD, like pc3k ssd. you need to lead a fw loader and clone with DE

[HDDGEEK11]

must i get hardware in order to diagnose it?
is there a way to whats wrong before getting pc3k?

thanks

[reef]

you be better off sending it to a pro DR place, no a computer repair shop. Most DR labs will offer a free diagnostic

[fzabkar]

@HDDGEEK11, start by testing the e-fuse. Then check the onboard power supplies. You can do this with a $5 multimeter. I would mark the test points for you, but your photos are too poor. However, there are several threads in this forum that have photos and test points for similar PCBs.

[fzabkar]

Some links which may be helpful ...

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=31458
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=34306
http://www2.futureware.at/~philipp/ssd/TheMissingManual.pdf

[HDDGEEK11]

thanks for the help.
i didn't mention that i only have basic understanding of general computer stuff, sorry about that.(never used any tools before nor did i solder anything)
if you can point me to beginner guides for SSDs that i can read to understand more and to be able to fix it it would be great.

[fzabkar]

Here is an excellent primer.

NAND Flash Data Recovery Cookbook (by Igor Sestanj):
http://adreca.net/NAND-Flash-Data-Recovery-Cookbook.pdf

1. Introduction

• 1.1. Flash memory

1.1.1 NAND
1.1.2 NOR
1.1.3 Facts

• 1.2 Flash Data Recovery

2. Pre-Image Operations

• 2.1 Chip-Off or JTAG

2.1.1 Standard Packages
2.1.1.1 TSOP Signals
2.1.1.2 TLGA Signals
2.1.1.3 BGA Signals
2.1.2. Signal Tracing
2.1.2.1 The NAND Flash Interface
2.1.2.2 JTAG Signals
2.1.2.3 eMMC Signals
2.1.2 4 USB Signals
2.1.2.5 Monolith Signals
2.1.2.6 Solid-state drives Techno Signals
2.1.2.7 oneNAND Signals

• 2.2 Removing memory chips form the PCB (If needed)

2.2.1 Soldering operations
2.2.2 JTAG pads
2.2.3 TSOP
2.2.4 TLGA
2.2.5 BGA
2.2.6 Monolith
2.2.7 USB Flash
2.2.8 Memory Cards
2.2.9 Solid-state drives
2.2.10 EMMC
2.2.11 oneNAND

3. Physical Image Reading

• 3.1 DUMP creation via JTAG

• 3.2 DUMP creation using Chip-Off

3.2.1 Protocol parameters
3.2.2 Bit error analysis (NAND direct access mode) and power adjustment for bit
error minimization
3.2.3 Bad columns analysis and removal
3.2.4 ECC detection
3.2.5 Physical images extraction (dump reading)

4. Virtual image Creation

• 4.1 Physical image structure analysis and description

• 4.2 Data transformations: Inversion and Scrambling (XOR) analysis

4.2.1 Inversion
4.2.2 Scrambling
4.2.3 Byte combination
4.2.4 Memory Modem

• 4.3 Data Organizations in NAND memory

4.3.1 Crystal Geometry Parameters
4.3.1.1 Blocks
4.3.1.2 Pages
4.3.1.3 Data Area
4.3.1.4 Spare Area
4.3.1.5 Logical Block Number
4.3.1.6 Logical Page Number
4.3.1.7 Block Header
4.3.1.8 ECC
4.3.1.9 Block Write Counter

• 4.4 Virtual page and block allocation analysis

4.4.1 Virtual Block Allocation
4.4.1.1Sequential
4.4.1.2 Parallel
4.4.1.3 Combined
4.4.1.4 Spare area analysis

• 4.5 Flash Translation Layer

4.5.1 Block Mapping
4.5.2 Other Functions
4.5.3 Translation table analysis and creation
4.5.4 Block sorting and filtering.
4.5.5 Analysis of LBN sequence integrity

• 4.6 Summary

5. Assembling a Logical Image

• 5.1 Reconstructing used data file system

• 5.2 Data extraction and verification

6. Conclusion

7. Reference

[fzabkar]

Here are voltages from "sourcerer's" manual:

[DR-Kiev]

This MCU supported with proper tools. Just need download proper loader via terminal and read data in techno mode.
We are noticing FW corruption due of "bad blocks" unrecoverable errors in memory chips. Chances to fix based on fzabkar's instructions are very low.

[sourcerer]

The title of this post is wrong, I think, on your photos it looks like a EVO 840, not like a EVO 850 to me.
If you want to diagnose it, you can try to get a good JTAG adapter, and run my analysi software:
https://github.com/thesourcerer8/SSDdiag

If your friend wants his valuable data back from the SSD, I would suggest that you ask a professional data recovery company to fix it. If you do that, please ask them to make and give you a backup of the corrupted data structures.

One thing to keep in mind is that those SSDs are loosing their data over time. The suggestion I sometimes heard is that you should connect it to power the SSD once per week, but I am currently afraid that the damage the EVO840ies have prevents them from refreshing the flash, so my guess is that this procedure does not help, and you it will loose the data anyway.

@DR-Kiev: Are the proper tools able to fix corruption and get the SSD running again, or can they only recover the data?

[sourcerer]

And answering your question: I guess that replacing any chips on the SSD will not help you.
(But feel free to measure the voltages with a multimeter and verify them against the ones I made and fzabkar posted. If you find any big differences, let us know)

[fzabkar]

(But feel free to measure the voltages with a multimeter and verify them against the ones I made and fzabkar posted. If you find any big differences, let us know)

Such measurements could indirectly provide some insight into the condition of the controller.

The "AKE" chip appears to consist of 5 switchmode step-down regulators plus 1 boost regulator. I couldn't find an off-the-shelf part that matches its function or pinout, but, FWIW, the following Power Management IC (PMIC) might help to understand how these chips work.

LM10692/LM10692B, Texas Instruments, Power Management Unit for SandForce SF3700 SSD Controllers, 6 buck regulators, I2C:
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm10692.pdf

9.2.1 Design Requirements

The application needs to be able to operate with the default output voltages. Output voltages can be changed through I2C after start-up but the power-up levels will always be the default values.

ISTM that any significant difference between the OP's and sourcerer's voltage measurements might suggest that the controller and "AKE" chip were not communicating. Assuming any voltage difference was still within the operating range of the SSD, then the controller would be suspect.

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