Seagate 300GB HDD fried. Need help on repair. pic inside

[Alex100]

Hello,

first time poster here and I'm not a HDD guru. It looks like this forum is crawling with HDD gurus so here I am

I found a similar problem in this thread http://forum.hddguru.com/help-with-two-seagate-hdd-t6664.html and I'm not sure if it's the same problem and solution.

The drive takes a 5v plug and I accidentally plugged in my laptop (12v) which obviously fried the board. Meh, that's what happens when the plugs look incredibly identical, I really should have put a label.
Anyway, the one piece that smoked is pointed out by the white arrow in the picture.

One picture shows the entire board (in case anyone needs to see more detail) while the other is a close-up of the burned piece.

Is this a case of being able to remove the burned piece and connect the two ends? What is that burned piece? I can barely read the letters which I think says something like "bux c631" but I'm not sure.

HDD is ST3300601 CBRK - Seagate 300GB
Drive Board says 100373051 - L - 371861GF

Any help is appreciated. Thank you all for your time and comments!

Attachments

Detail closeup

Entire board view

[rchadwick]

Just remove the piece. Don't put anything in it's place. That's the easiest thing to do. The safest thing is to replace it (Another drive is the easiest source).

Also, in case it occurred to you, don't reuse the external enclosure. There's likely more damage to that, and you don't want to risk a drive.

[pepe]

Hi,

are u sure the drive enclosure works with 5V alimentation?
I would think that it normally works from 12V, and the notebook works from ~18+ V
this is why the 12V TVS was killed IMHO.
BTW I agree with rchadwick.

pepe

[rchadwick]

I missed that Pepe. Usually they are 12V, then have a 5V regulator. Never heard of one with a 5V -> 12V inside. Most notebooks I've seen are in the 18V range, and that would make sense. Fingers crossed that's the only problem

[Alex100]

Yes, my apologies, it was late when I wrote the original post

5V is the conversion inside but it takes 12Vdc @ 3A and the laptop cord I accidentally plugged in it has an output of 19V @ 6.3A

I'll remove the burned piece and plug it in and see what happens.

By the way, can anyone tell me what that piece that burned off was? I'm not familiar with electronic components but I'd love to learn about them

Also, I'm so dumb with electronics, that I don't understand why removing the burned piece without connecting the two ends will solve the problem. Doesn't current have to go through it to get to the rest of the board?

Any help and answers to my questions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for your suggestions and your time!

Alex.

[pcimage]

It's a TVS.

Transient Voltage Suppressor.

Common, search for it here.

Sean

[mediaman]

it's a BIG burn and I wouldn't be surprised of some other damage was done on the way. Give us some feedback with your results.

[rchadwick]

The way the TVS works, current goes though it only when there is a transient (Voltage goes over 14V or so). It works by shorting the overvoltage, and in an extreme case (Like this) it burns up and shorts permanently. In normal operation, it doesn't actually do anything. Removing it removes the protection it provides.

[Alex100]

Well, I (shakily) went into the board and removed the TVS. I plugged it in and TA DA! it works!

I was very careful in removing the piece even though it was completely burned and pretty much it flaked off.

The drive spun up and I can see all my data completely. YAY! It's been more than a year since I burned it and I couldn't give up! I'm really happy I found this place

Thank you all for all your feedback and the detailed description of what the TVS is and does. I really love this forum and I'll definitely look here again for future repairs!

Thanks again!

Alex.

[pepe]

pepe