SSD repair

[AkSo2504]

Hi,

I have a few broken ssds and opened one of the up, i see a cracked component on the PCB. But how do I know what exactly it is and where i get it from.

Some of you may know Tronics fix, he measures the whole nintendo switch mainboard and the knows which component is broken. How does he know that, is there some sort of circuit board layouts and plans somewhere for such stuff?

I know that its probably not worth it fixing ssds but I just like to fiddle around with stuff like this :). Hope you can help me.

[minibois]

3 minutes ago, AkSo2504 said:

Some of you may know Tronics fix, he measures the whole nintendo switch mainboard and the knows which component is broken. How does he know that, is there some sort of circuit board layouts and plans somewhere for such stuff?

He probably knows because:

a. common issues to fix

b. a schematic (layout of the board and its components).

3 minutes ago, AkSo2504 said:

I have a few broken ssds and opened one of the up, i see a cracked component on the PCB. But how do I know what exactly it is and where i get it from.

Check if you see any writing on the broken piece, that may give away what is is. Keep in mind certain chips and stuff on a board can't just be replaced, since they may have some coding on it too.

[AkSo2504]

Just now, minibois said:

He probably knows because:

a. common issues to fix

b. a schematic (layout of the board and its components).

Check if you see any writing on the broken piece, that may give away what is is. Keep in mind certain chips and stuff on a board can't just be replaced, since they may have some coding on it too.

Thank you for your fast answer. How is it with not seeing anything wrong? He just measures the resistors on the board and if he gets a connection to ground with both sides he knows which part is faulty. How does he know?

[Radium_Angel]

7 minutes ago, AkSo2504 said:

broken ssds

Given how cheap they are, not worth it for component-level repair.

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, AkSo2504 said:

How does he know?

Degree in EE perhaps?

[AkSo2504]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

Given how cheap they are, not worth it for component-level repair.

Yes i know but like i said i just like to try things out and fiddle around with this stuff, im just interested.

 

[minibois]

Just now, AkSo2504 said:

Thank you for your fast answer. How is it with not seeing anything wrong? He just measures the resistors on the board and if he gets a connection to ground with both sides he knows which part is faulty. How does he know?

In short, knowledge.

 

In long, if you measure a resistor and you checked the schematic, you know what value that resistor should have been. If it is not the correct value, there is probably something wrong in that resistor or in the circuitery leading to there.

If you have repaired a bunch of X or Y you will know common issues people face and how to fix them easily. 

 

An electrical piece of equipment can be seen as a large intricate flowchart. If you need A and B to work, so C can work, you can test C. If C works, A and B are good. If C is faulty, you know you have to check A and B too.

See it kind of like that, people like that YouTuber you mentioned must have a lot of experience with this sort of stuff, so they know what are high priority pieces of the electronic puzzle that go wrong more often. If you can check like 5 or 6 parts of a board and that way know what general areas need fixing, that speeds up the process.

Because he probably did the prior research in knowing what to test, to a viewer it seems like you just measured whatever, but in reality he probably has a really good well-laid out plan on what to test.

 

If you want to see a repairman in action, who checks things like a schematic and works kind of from a list, you can check out some of the repairs of Louis Rossmann. 

He mostly works with Apple laptops and how it works is that he describes the issue the Macbook is facing, describes what he thinks is wrong and then finds the issue and fixes it. That will show you a kind of hands-on approach to electronics repair.

 

In the same way you should try to familiarize yourself with the PCB you're working with and the components  on it. You can measure the obvious (like resistors typically have their rating written on them, fuses can be check, etc.), but usually it will come down to a board controller issue, which will be much harder to fix.

[AkSo2504]

1 minute ago, minibois said:

In short, knowledge.

 

In long, if you measure a resistor and you checked the schematic, you know what value that resistor should have been. If it is not the correct value, there is probably something wrong in that resistor or in the circuitery leading to there.

If you have repaired a bunch of X or Y you will know common issues people face and how to fix them easily. 

 

An electrical piece of equipment can be seen as a large intricate flowchart. If you need A and B to work, so C can work, you can test C. If C works, A and B are good. If C is faulty, you know you have to check A and B too.

See it kind of like that, people like that YouTuber you mentioned must have a lot of experience with this sort of stuff, so they know what are high priority pieces of the electronic puzzle that go wrong more often. If you can check like 5 or 6 parts of a board and that way know what general areas need fixing, that speeds up the process.

Because he probably did the prior research in knowing what to test, to a viewer it seems like you just measured whatever, but in reality he probably has a really good well-laid out plan on what to test.

 

If you want to see a repairman in action, who checks things like a schematic and works kind of from a list, you can check out some of the repairs of Louis Rossmann. 

He mostly works with Apple laptops and how it works is that he describes the issue the Macbook is facing, describes what he thinks is wrong and then finds the issue and fixes it. That will show you a kind of hands-on approach to electronics repair.

 

In the same way you should try to familiarize yourself with the PCB you're working with and the components  on it. You can measure the obvious (like resistors typically have their rating written on them, fuses can be check, etc.), but usually it will come down to a board controller issue, which will be much harder to fix.

Ok Thank your for your time, but where do you get schematics from?

[minibois]

Just now, AkSo2504 said:

Ok Thank your for your time, but where do you get schematics from?

That's....  Kind of the difficult part.

In short, you look for them online. With any luck, the manufacturer will have them online. But they likely won't.

 

There is no right to repair bill currently, which would force manufacturers to release schematics for anyone who wants to repair their own products. Currently certain companies have been known to sue people who publish their schematics, claiming copyright infringement.

Of course we all know they don't want schematics out there, because it allows people to repair their devices and also could allow some to copy the manufacturer's work.

 

So you can try to Google it, but won't often find results. So sometimes you have to find the schematics on foreign websites, or piece schematics from different components on the board together.. Etc. etc.

 

[AkSo2504]

1 minute ago, minibois said:

That's....  Kind of the difficult part.

In short, you look for them online. With any luck, the manufacturer will have them online. But they likely won't.

 

There is no right to repair bill currently, which would force manufacturers to release schematics for anyone who wants to repair their own products. Currently certain companies have been known to sue people who publish their schematics, claiming copyright infringement.

Of course we all know they don't want schematics out there, because it allows people to repair their devices and also could allow some to copy the manufacturer's work.

 

So you can try to Google it, but won't often find results. So sometimes you have to find the schematics on foreign websites, or piece schematics from different components on the board together.. Etc. etc.

 

Ok thank you very much, you have been very helpful.