WDC SATA disc failed at new owner's site

[Riddicc]

Hi!

My 5yo WDC SATA disc failed at its new owner's site.
Then he sent it back and wants that we both pay half of the damage.
When I used it the last time, smartctl did an "extended offline" test, that "completed without error".
Then I put it in one of those silverish bags and stuck it in Amazon's plastic hard disc holders (one for each each end) and put it into a parcel.
After a week the buyer told me, that his first attempt to power it up resulted in an unresponsive computer. The hdd never spun up. Then he undertook several other attempts (including a SATA-USB thingy).

When it came back, I found that it smelled slightly fishy.
Then I loosened the screws of the PCB and found a burn mark on the rubber foam.
And below the foam were some more traces of a short circuit.
And the SMOOTH chip does not look smooth...
I attached some pictures of the part.

Can someone tell me, what caused that damage?

Thx.

Bye
Arne

Attachments

sticker on the part

exposed layer of the PCB

burn marks

[pcimage]

Possibly caused by a suspect PSU in the PC or to the USB adaptor/enclosure.

[Riddicc]

Possibly caused by a suspect PSU in the PC or to the USB adaptor/enclosure.

yup... but his other 2 discs survived the first attempt...
-arne

[pcimage]

So he says!

Or maybe he's trying to pull a fast one and palm you off with a burned PCB from a failed drive of his, so he can fix his?

Please excuse my cynicism but it comes from 30 years of dealing with lying customers!

Also, what do mean "half of the damage"? He wants half the money back and keep the drive? Or return it to you for a 50% refund?

[Riddicc]

So he says! Or maybe he's trying to pull a fast one and palm you off with a burned PCB from a failed drive of his, so he can fix his? Please excuse my cynicism but it comes from 30 years of dealing with lying customers!

I find it weird, too...
He just told me, that he mentioned nothing special coming from the disc, when he tried to spin it up the first time.
Is that possible? I mean: It needs electrical power to cause such burns (it even turned white).
And since I didn't hear anything when I turned it off the last time, then he (or his computer-repair-man, who was also present) should have heard or smelled something.

Also, what do mean "half of the damage"? He wants half the money back and keep the drive? Or return it to you for a 50% refund?

It already came back today. Now he wants half of his money back.

-arne

[data-medics]

This is why I sell through ebay and not amazon. At least on ebay there's buyer accountability because you, the seller, can leave negative reviews on them too.

Sometimes drives fail like this on their own, but it is often the result of a bad power supply. And, as pcimage mentioned, wouldn't surprise me at all if it's actually just some cheat trying to get a free replacement pcb and give back their already burned one. It's why many sellers now put a tamper evident sticker over one of the screws.

Do you have a picture of both sides of the original drive? To compare the sticker.

If not, perhaps someone with the proper equipment can still verify if the ROM code matches the drive. If not, you know he's a liar.

[fzabkar]

The damage is consistent with an overvoltage on the 5V supply. If TVS diode D3 is shorted, then this will prove that the user, or his equipment, was at fault.

Catastrophic failures in Western Digital PCBs:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php? ... 119&p=5033

See my FAQ for measurement/testing instructions:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/TVS_diode_FAQ.html

[Riddicc]

Do you have a picture of both sides of the original drive? To compare the sticker.

Nope... I thought it would be unnecessary, because legally i do not have to give any money back, because i am not a commercial vendor (i just sell parts, that i do not use anymore, so that i do not have to dispose parts, that still work...)...
But the buyer seems to think, that i could be responsible for the damage...
At the same time the buyer says, that the age of his computer (2008) might be the cause of the damage...

If not, perhaps someone with the proper equipment can still verify if the ROM code matches the drive. If not, you know he's a liar.

That would be cool...

The damage is consistent with an overvoltage on the 5V supply. If TVS diode D3 is shorted, then this will prove that the user, or his equipment, was at fault.

I attached a picture which shows the points that i tested...
Between A and B i found 0.1Ohms (polarity of the probes did not matter). And between A and C I found 15kR.

But why didn't that also fry the buyer's other discs and his mainboard?
On Wikipedia someone guessed, that it might have been a reversed PATA-to-SATA power plug, before they showed me this site...

Luckily there was no important data left on the device (I cleared every sector, that I could reach, in order to avoid password theft... and there were no reallocated sectors...), so that the damage is relatively low...

-Arne

Attachments

resistance measurement

[fzabkar]

The shorted 5V diode proves that the drive was killed by an external event, namely an overvoltage, or reversed polarity, on the 5V input. This can happen if the user replaces the PSU but retains the old PSU's modular cables. These cables do not have standardised pinouts, so it is quite common for 12V to appear on the 5V pins. This also explains why some devices are damaged while others are not.

The date of manufacture on the label is 18 Feb 2010. However the date of manufacture of the PCB is "4609" (near U2 and U5). This codes for week 46 of 2009. That's mid November, a difference of 3 months. I can't see the markings on the Etrontech SDRAM and Marvell MCU, but the SMOOTH chip appears to have been manufactured during week 6 of 2010 (006). That's mid February, so it is consistent with the label. If any of the chips were manufactured after 18 Feb 2010, then that would suggest that the PCB was not original.

[sha1]

i guess power connector attached when PSU was on ! or user attached it reverse Accidentally.Maybe when he attached with PSU on there was loose connector or no parrallel.

[jermy]

The date of manufacture on the label is 18 Feb 2010. However the date of manufacture of the PCB is "4609" (near U2 and U5). This codes for week 46 of 2009. That's mid November, a difference of 3 months. I can't see the markings on the Etrontech SDRAM and Marvell MCU, but the SMOOTH chip appears to have been manufactured during week 6 of 2010 (006). That's mid February, so it is consistent with the label. If any of the chips were manufactured after 18 Feb 2010, then that would suggest that the PCB was not original.

Still the best way will be as data-medics suggested by verifying the ROM

If not, perhaps someone with the proper equipment can still verify if the ROM code matches the drive. If not, you know he's a liar.

[Riddicc]

The buyer thinks he did connect the hdd correctly...
WDC strongly recommends not to loosen the screws and thinks, that a blackout could be the cause...
And Amazon thinks, that the hdd is not from WDC, although i bought it from Amazon...
-Arne

[fzabkar]

The buyer thinks he did connect the hdd correctly...
WDC strongly recommends not to loosen the screws and thinks, that a blackout could be the cause...
And Amazon thinks, that the hdd is not from WDC, although i bought it from Amazon... :D
-Arne

It's not your responsibility, assuming that you did indeed supply a working drive to the customer. That's all you need to know.

[Riddicc]

I zero-ed the disk, then i did that S.M.A.R.T test, then i created a single partition with a FAT fs...
then i powered it down and put it in the box...

powering down is a little bit like a blackout...
but i think that WDC meant something else (maybe a blackout caused by lightning)...
a hard disc should tolerate brownouts and blackouts...

-Arne

PS: i do an incremental backup every 5 minutes...