Hello everyone,

I have a Samsung HM100UI from an external portable drive that has stopped working all of a sudden, I have tested the enclosure that I am using it in with other 2.5" drives and it works fine. My guess is that there is a problem on the PCB of the drive. It won't make any noises at all, won't show up in Windows or BIOS, absolutely dead. I think I have identified a shorted capacitor that connects in-line to the 5V pin. There might also be two other caps that are shorted as well. Is it possible to replace these caps and get the drive working again? No components seem blown/fried/damaged, everything looks fine on the PCB.

Are you sure it's a capacitor that is shorted or a TVS diode ? If a tvs, not too hard to replace. Remove is enough to retrive datas, replace is needed for overvoltage security.

I don't think it is the diode, I've checked that with my multimeter and it is not shorted. The cap in-line with the 5V pin has a visible dimple in the centre, maybe a little discoloration as well, it's definitely shorted based on my multimeter. Are all black SMD components capacitors?

No!

To reduce further guessing about the components, please provide a close-up photo (preferably down-sampled so that it's not a multi-megabyte file - we don't need that level of resolution ) showing the area around the SATA connector and including the components which you guess are involved. Then hopefully (if it's not too blurry etc.) we can see what you are seeing...

(Note that any posts from new members like you, with images or links in them, seem to get checked by the moderators and hence there's a delay before they appear - so you may see a message telling you that, after you post the image. Don't worry, it'll appear here typically within a few hours.)

On this model, I think you should see 6 components neer power connector :
2 little brown capacitors
1 little black resistor 0Ohm, and another "microscopic"
2 "big" black TVS diodes.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I found this photo from another thread, what is the gray component on the top right of the ESMT IC? That's the one I have tested to be shorted.

http://www.google.fr/search?q=M13s64164a
it's RAM !

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Lemmy

@ici_lemmy:

You are describing the IC - but the OP is asking about the grey component near to that, not the RAM IC itself...!

@hmichakis:
Assuming that the photo you supplied is the same type of board as yours, and remembering that by supplying the photo of a different drive, we can't check for any other visible abnormalities...


(my emphasis above)
One big clue is that the component is grey (gray), not black as you were first asking...

I can't see all of the detail of the circuit in that area, but your mention of it being "in-line" with the +5V supply (I assume you mean that it is in series with that supply), and its colour, and its size, would all fit with it being an inductor and that should appear to be shorted, when its resistance is measured using a simple multimeter. With a more appropriate type of meter (e.g. an LCR meter), you would be able to confirm that it is an inductor and even measure its actual inductance value.

There are various different troubleshooting approaches you could take , but so far I suspect you have been wasting your time looking at something which is not actually a problem

(Edited to clarify my interpretation of the OP's comment about "in-line")

Oups --> stupid me, I read the post too fast !

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Lemmy

Thanks for the help Vulcan, in my own PCB that "gray" component is actually black and it appears as if there is a very slight dip, like it bulges in the middle inwards. It seems to be in-series as you say with the 5V supply pins. Is the small black component directly to the left a TVS diode?

So therefore IMHO it is not very helpful to supply a photo of a board, if you are saying that your actual board is different, and has some visible abnormalities which are not shown on the photo you supplied!


It is quite a small device to be a TVS - I don't have one of those drives myself to check, and the photo is not detailed enough in that area for me to see on that. What are the exact markings on the top of that component? I suspect it is a polarised capacitor, and probably not a TVS.

Instead of trying to find a TVS, as I said before there are several different troubleshooting approaches you could use, depending on skill, experience, equipment available, time etc. - not every PCB problem is because of a TVS.

However, I am losing interest in this thread. You have not supplied a photo of your actual board, and so all this discussion is just hypothesis, and we have already wasted time on something that was not a problem, because that is where you said there was a shorted capacitor. Other people may have a different view, and they may still want to help you, based on photos of a different drive. YMMV

If you want to continue DIY, you may find it more efficient to ask the DR folks here about how to try a replacement PCB on that model, if the data is not important on that drive (I believe it is not easy to swap, again depending on your skills including soldering, but I work in electronics and not DR). If the data is important, then perhaps you should consider using their services, instead of looking for a TVS...

Thanks again for the reply, I don't have a decent camera with a macro feature so most of the things I describe regarding possible abnormalities are barely captured with my phone's camera. I have checked every corner of the PCB with a magnifying glass and this is the only thing that has drawn my attention, everything else looks normal, I can't find any blown/fried/dislodged/discoloured components. The small component I was referring to has ZA on it and then a sideways N, there is also a dot and a line marking on the 5V side, the other side is connected to ground. Based on a SMD handbook I found online it could be a 0.4W zener diode 7.5V ±5%.

Sorry for my mystake. I looked for the wrong PCB model. Stop looking for 2 TVS there…

Thanks everyone for your replies, I've gotten in touch with a DR company, I've been quoted 150E for the replacement PCB and another 100E for the actual installation/firmware copy/etc. Is that reasonable? I can buy the same drive for nearly 90E so I'm a bit surprised the PCB alone costs 150E...

250 € for a data recovery is really not expensive !
If the data are important, you should go for it !

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Lemmy

Thanks for the reply, I will probably go for it, I don't seem to have another choice for now, can't figure out if it's simply one component that causes the fault.

I believe that the components above the SDRAM are, from right to left, an inductor, TVS diode, small capacitor, and larger capacitor.

If the diode and two capacitors measure 0 ohms, then the diode is probably shorted, in which case just remove it. However, be absolutely certain your power supply is OK.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.