Crucial MX500 2TB died suddenly

[Titanium_Carbide]

Hello TechPowerUp community,

My Crucial MX500 2.5" SSD is not recognized in bios, disk manager or even with a USB to SATA adapter.
I gently unmounted the disk and I noticed 2 discolored inductors:

Above a new one found on the internet, below my SSD, we can notice the 2 discolored inductors circled in red.

I also found this video on youtube where a technician works exactly on the same board revision (23-A1). He also has an inductors in bad shape but it seems that he needed to remove a faulty capacitors to make the disk recognized again.
I'm not as equipped as him but I have a multimeter. I used it in continuity mode to find shorted capacitors using ground from the sata 15 pin connector (4th pin from the left).
I found those circled in red:

The problem is these capacitors are really small and I'm not equipped to desolder and resolder them to check which one is responsible for the short. I just have a T12 KSGER iron soldering station.
Also I don't have a thermal camera nor a power supply to inject voltage on the board and find a heat spot as the technician did in the video. I tried to plug in to my USB adapter but I didn't feel any heat spot with my fingers.

Any ideas from your experiences would be very helpful.

 

[SPDIF]

That's a question for some electronics forum like EEVBLOG forums.

Repair section.

EEVblog Electronics Community Forum - Index

EEVblog Electronics Community Forum - Index

www.eevblog.com

Many of these youtubers also have a business where you can send your SSD for repair.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

@Shrek

Heres one for you to help out on.

 

[Shrek]

Risky stuff; I've replaced small capacitors before

• Securifi Almond 3 Repair (SMD capacitor) | Electronics Repair And Technology News (jestineyong.com)

but if there is important information on that drive, I'd send it to an expert.

I somehow doubt so many capacitors failed all at once.

 

[Titanium_Carbide]

Thank you for your answers. I 'll take a look at EEVBLOG forums.

 

[SPDIF]

That two inductors, if one of them has failed, they are a real pain in the *ss to get. Most of time you need a spare drive from the same brand to be able to repair it.
Also need the invest in some expensive stuff to repair it, and most of all; You need good skills and a lot of patience for something like this.

In those video's, it seems easy, but let me tell you it really is not.
You are most likely to fix it BROKEN, instead of fixing it if you don't have the necessary skills.

Not all that capacitor's are broken, that never happen, they are in parallel with one another, and then you falsely think they are all broken. You will need to de-solder one and then measure it again. If still shorted it's another one, until you find the one that's shorted.
You really need a thermal camera to quickly find the fault, if you use voltage injection method.

 

[Wirko]

You really need a thermal camera to quickly find the fault

Or one of several edible substances that melt around 40°C, shall I list some?

nor a power supply to inject voltage on the board

A 1.5V battery and a couple resistors.

@caroline! may have further good ghetto-style ideas.

 

[Titanium_Carbide]

@Wirko

Exactly, rosin flux will melt quicker on the heat spot or even 99% Isopropyl Alcohol will evaporate quicker.

Good idea to use a battery or even a charger to inject voltage. The range should be 1-2.5V with 2A max for this drive, right ?
I won't get any reading how much the board will draw but it could work to detect a heat spot.

 

[SPDIF]

You have now thermal camera available that you can connect to your phone, much easier to find the fault. You can connect a cheap DC to DC converter to an 12V car battery, and then you have an small power supply that shows current and voltage. You also can set the voltage an Current digital.

I use this for voltage injection, and it works top notch!

You can change the voltage from 0 to 38V Max, and the Current from 0 to 5A max.

 

[Wirko]

Exactly, rosin flux will melt quicker on the heat spot or even 99% Isopropyl Alcohol will evaporate quicker.

Both methods are usable but I meant milk chocolate or some animal or vegetable fat that's hard at room temperature. Crayons or candle paraffin too, or this, or this is you're a pro. You'll have to clean the PCB thoroughly after the fact anyway, so why not?

Good idea to use a battery or even a charger to inject voltage. The range should be 1-2.5V with 2A max for this drive, right ?
I won't get any reading how much the board will draw but it could work to detect a heat spot.

Where did you get those voltages? The SSD has 5V, 1.7A written on it and that is all the data that's available, useless anyway because the drive has a failure.

I suggest using a low voltage of 1.5 V in series with a resistor (~5 Ω) and an ammeter (your multimeter). It should be relatively safe to apply this voltage, current (limited to 0.3 A) and power (limited to 0.11 W), at any polarity, to any large component in the voltage regulator section of the SSD. Maybe a capacitor will heat up enough for you to detect it. That's what I'd do but only after some despair, that is, if no hot component can be found when the SSD is connected to regular 5 V power.

 

[SPDIF]

In the pic you see an DC-DC Buck/Boost converter, it goes up or down with voltage with a simple battery from 12V.

You can set it easy to 2V/1A for example. And it's useful for many other things. You can set it even to 1.2V and 0.02A for an LED.
It will also show you the current if you connect it to anything.

I even sometimes use this instead of an Laptop Power supply! I set it to 19V/3A and my laptop works on an car battery from 12V with this little thing!!

 

[Wirko]

You can connect a cheap DC to DC converter to an 12V car battery, and then you have an small power supply that shows current and voltage. You also can set the voltage an Current digital.

I use this for voltage injection, and it works top notch!

I don't know this model, most of them can use a wide range of input voltages, such as a 19V notebook power brick, or almost any power brick (with sufficient power) that was left over when some electronic device died.

I read in some review that switching power converters sometimes have current limiters that act too slowly, and are able to kill low-current LEDs, for example. So I'd still recommend a series resistor when dealing with SSDs the (rough) way that we're discussing here.

 

[SPDIF]

This has a built in resistor but digital. If you set it at 1A then max 1A will flow when you short it. And it shows digital what current there is flowing.

It also has an build-in Constant-Current and an Constant Voltage mode, it even can charge a battery safely.
Why make it difficult if it can go easy for a small price? But anyway it is just an idea to help TS. This never did blow up anything, and it's fast. With a button you also can change the output to on or off state. While the output is off you can set voltage and current. It will remember your setting the next time you use it again.

It has an input voltage from min 10V to about 40V.

Remember this is just an idea... And a small thermal camera also exist you can connect to your mobile phone.

Yes a series resistor will also work, but you don't know what you are doing, as you can't see the current or voltage. Well it's up to the TS.

 

[Titanium_Carbide]

Where did you get those voltages? The SSD has 5V, 1.7A written on it and that is all the data that's available, useless anyway because the drive has a failure.

I meant the range for voltage/current injection. In this video, the technician injects 2.5V in that very same drive to find the heat spot and he gets an amp draw of 2.5.

I use this for voltage injection, and it works top notch!

Didn't know you could get DC to DC converter that cheap , looks like this one in your picture. It's funny because when you look for "injection voltage" power supply prices are totally not the same.

 

[SPDIF]

Yes, it is, the one they use is the same, although it comes in a nice housing with a built-in power adapter. And accompanying price tag.

The one he uses is also only made for that purpose, not suitable as an adjustable power supply. The principle is the same. But if you want a luxury model, then there is a corresponding price.

Yes, you sometimes need several amperes to see something get hot. That won't work with a few resistors, and they will burn out.
Just because the SSD consumes so much doesn't mean you shouldn't go above that, that's a separate matter. You simply need a lot of current to make something very hot.

If you use voltage injection, you should also look carefully at where the ground and plus are on the SSD. Because otherwise you run the risk of blowing up chips or electrolytic capacitors. So you have to respect the polarity as well. A SSD works most of time at 5V and 3.3V, so it's better to stay below 3.3V.
So you have to know damn well what you are doing and know Ohm's Law well.

 

[Titanium_Carbide]

@SPDIF
I used this schematic to find ground on power connector:

If I'm not mistaken, positive polarity always have to be on VCC Main ?
We can clearly see in the video that he uses an inductor pad to inject voltage.
Sadly I can't find any diagram for the MX500.

 

[SPDIF]

But inside the SSD you still have to respect polarity, and thus you have to follow traces. One fault polarity inside and Baammm! Electrolytic Capacitors can go up like a rocket.
Find a diagram? Haha, good luck with that, you will never find one of-course... If life was so easy... 12V lines are only used in HDD for the motor to spin up.

The people in those video's work on stuff like that every day, he is doing it with his eyes closed. But for an beginner, it's damn difficult.
That is also the reason he always is wearing safety glasses, a capacitor can shoot right in your eyes, if polarity is reversed.

If you never have done this before, it's best you experiment on a old computer board or something to learn by trial and error.

Also keep in mind you have to work considerably fast, because if you weld to long with a soldering iron or hot air station, you have a big risk of copper traces that come loose and break off.

 

[Wirko]

I meant the range for voltage/current injection. In this video, the technician injects 2.5V in that very same drive to find the heat spot and he gets an amp draw of 2.5.

2.5 V x 2.5 A = 6.25W concentrated in a very small spot, which is great if you can make a video like this one, monetise it somehow and buy a new SSD. Otherwise you start with lower voltages and lower current limits. (And did I mention grated chocolate from the freezer?)

Didn't know you could get DC to DC converter that cheap , looks like this one in your picture. It's funny because when you look for "injection voltage" power supply prices are totally not the same.

57 €? That's not expensive for an adjustable 15V/20A power supply with mains input. If it really is purpose-built for finding short circuits, it probably is poorly stabilised and filtered, therefore low quality.

Yes, you sometimes need several amperes to see something get hot. That won't work with a few resistors, and they will burn out.
Just because the SSD consumes so much doesn't mean you shouldn't go above that, that's a separate matter. You simply need a lot of current to make something very hot.

Sure, I'm talking about what can be done on the cheap. For those who don't have a range of power resistors at hand, 12V incandescent light bulbs may also be usable.

If you use voltage injection, you should also look carefully at where the ground and plus are on the SSD. Because otherwise you run the risk of blowing up chips or electrolytic capacitors. So you have to respect the polarity as well. A SSD works most of time at 5V and 3.3V, so it's better to stay below 3.3V.

Yes, I'd actually start at 1 V (or 1.5 V if batteries are all you have). Then increase the voltage and current limit gradually, trying to find a hot spot by touch or alcohol evaporation or any other method.

So you have to know damn well what you are doing and know Ohm's Law well.

Better power supplies also display output power, they save you from having to learn Ohm's Law. It's still recomended to burn up a couple small resistors to get a sense (and smell) of what those watts do in practice.

Regarding those thermal cameras ... I see a couple of them on Amazon going for about 200 €, like this one (80x60 resolution), do cheaper - but still usable - options exist too?

Sadly I can't find any diagram for the MX500

The best you can hope for is identifying those two power regulator ICs and finding manufacturer's info and reference circuits. What are the markings on them?

 

[SPDIF]

200 euros, that is a reasonable price, if you know that such a normal device easily costs 6 to 700 euros. I've seen cheaper ones, but then you have a screen the size of a postage stamp. You don't gain anything from that either.

 

[Shrek]

At that price just buy a new SSD

 

[SPDIF]

And if it have data you want back, then you can try it but don't expect it to be easy. DR costs 10 times more...
If you want the data back on it, then the best solution is to send to a youtuber that has a business.

You also can try it anyway to learn something from it.

 

[Pickles Von Brine]

And if it have data you want back, then you can try it but don't expect it to be easy. DR costs 10 times more...
If you want the data back on it, then the best solution is to send to a youtuber that has a business.

You also can try it anyway to learn something from it.

It also depends if there is any more damage past what already failed on the SSD. We see things time to time where controllers or even NAND are taken out when power stage fails. However, until you fix the PCB you have no idea. Nothing worse than doing extensive PCB work only to find an internal short the NAND. Either that or the sudden power failure causes firmware damage. Oh man, that can be a nightmare. I HATE recovering from SSDs half the time. Though good news is I rarely if ever see the MX series.

 

[Titanium_Carbide]

After a lot of reflexion I bought precision tweezers to manipulate those small SMDs.

I decided to desoldered , measured (multimeter in continuity mode) and resoldered each capacitors that were shorted to ground to find the guilty one.
I'm not equipped like a professional so I used 2 iron solder like a thermal tweezer to desolder the capacitors... It was easier to resoldering them than desoldering to be honest but it's not as good as factory (not aligned) as you can see.

I started with C21, C522, C517 and then after desoldering the 4th I finally found it ! C503 was continuous like a wire and all the others capacitors weren't shorted anymore !

My SSD is working again and I was able to retrieve all my data (more than 1TB) ! And of course I won't use this SSD in the future.

 

[Shrek]

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