Coolermaster Silencio 550 X-Dock 3.5" SATA - WARNING!

[tfboy]

I built my new PC a couple of months ago, and decided to get a new case.
The 550 comes with an "X-Dock" docking station in one of the 5.25" slots which allows you to hot-plug in a hard drive
I had never used it till now.
But tonight, I had some content to copy across, so with the PC powered off, put the thing in, turn on the PC, it boots up, but no hard drive. Touching the HDD feels liks it's not spinning.
Power it all down, check the cables, power, etc, all OK.
As it was a friend's hard drive which I'd never used in my PC before (but know it's OK), I try an old hard drive of mine which is brand new (came with my HP microserver). Still nothing.

Then as I power down the PC again and take the other hard drive, there's a funny smell.

Have another sniff and I reckon it's toast - that tell-tale "burning electronics" smell

So I reckon that X-Dock has a fault somewhere in the power part of the SATA connector and as a result has fried two hard drives

I don't know what to do now. I'm fairly sure the data on the drives is fine, but it's the motor / driving circuits that have burnt out.

I'll go back to Novatech through who I bought the case, but I wonder what my chances are of getting them / Coolermaster to pay for new drives and ultimately recover the data from them

[8Bob8]

I built my new PC a couple of months ago, and decided to get a new case.
The 550 comes with an "X-Dock" docking station in one of the 5.25" slots which allows you to hot-plug in a hard drive
I had never used it till now.
But tonight, I had some content to copy across, so with the PC powered off, put the thing in, turn on the PC, it boots up, but no hard drive. Touching the HDD feels liks it's not spinning.
Power it all down, check the cables, power, etc, all OK.
As it was a friend's hard drive which I'd never used in my PC before (but know it's OK), I try an old hard drive of mine which is brand new (came with my HP microserver). Still nothing.

Then as I power down the PC again and take the other hard drive, there's a funny smell.

Have another sniff and I reckon it's toast - that tell-tale "burning electronics" smell

So I reckon that X-Dock has a fault somewhere in the power part of the SATA connector and as a result has fried two hard drives

I don't know what to do now. I'm fairly sure the data on the drives is fine, but it's the motor / driving circuits that have burnt out.

I'll go back to Novatech through who I bought the case, but I wonder what my chances are of getting them / Coolermaster to pay for new drives and ultimately recover the data from them

Hi!
I have the same issue. One WD hard disk burnt...
Do you resolve this problem?

[tfboy]

Hi 8Bob8.
Interesting (and sad at the same time) to hear you have a similar problem. Maybe they have a faulty batch?
The RMA is still ongoing with Novatech where I bought the case. But they're saying I have to take the dead hard drive issue up directly with Coolermaster as Novatech didn't supply them.
I've now logged a support ticket through CM's website. Will post back with their response. I'm not holding my breath, but at the same time, why should I just accept 3 (it's three, not two in the end!) dead hard drives caused by a fault.

Did you try to sort anything out with yours?

[JimmyBoy]

I have this case and have never used that dock (thankfully when I built my rig I forgot to connect the sata cable lol) but apon reading this I shall stay well clear!

Hope you get some response!

[tfboy]

It's not the sata cable to you need to worry about, it's the power one

[8Bob8]

Hi 8Bob8.
Interesting (and sad at the same time) to hear you have a similar problem. Maybe they have a faulty batch?
The RMA is still ongoing with Novatech where I bought the case. But they're saying I have to take the dead hard drive issue up directly with Coolermaster as Novatech didn't supply them.
I've now logged a support ticket through CM's website. Will post back with their response. I'm not holding my breath, but at the same time, why should I just accept 3 (it's three, not two in the end!) dead hard drives caused by a fault.

Did you try to sort anything out with yours?

Well, I tried an old 1TB western digital Caviar Green (with bad sectors, then useless) and it had the same problem: the Dock burned the same integrated circuit. In the same time I tried an old SATA1 Maxtor with my psu and with another one...it gave me no problem...
So I contact Cooler Master support and they send me a new one, luckily without any cost. But I not try any hard disk yet.

Both my burned hard disk was SATA2 western digital (re3 and caviar green).
Maybe WD HDDs require a particular voltage not supported by X-Dock?
Still confused..I hope you'll be luckier.

[tfboy]

Well, I tried an old 1TB western digital Caviar Green (with bad sectors, then useless) and it had the same problem: the Dock burned the same integrated circuit. In the same time I tried an old SATA1 Maxtor with my psu and with another one...it gave me no problem...
So I contact Cooler Master support and they send me a new one, luckily without any cost. But I not try any hard disk yet.

Both my burned hard disk was SATA2 western digital (re3 and caviar green).
Maybe WD HDDs require a particular voltage not supported by X-Dock?
Still confused..I hope you'll be luckier.

I can't imagine it being a voltage: it's a standard 12V+5V regardless of SATA1, 2 or 3. It should work with any of them.

I'm in email communication with Coolermaster CS. I just hope we can sort it out as the original faulty unit has been returned to Novatech who have now issues me with a replacement which I'm reluctant to test (I don't have an endless supply of hard drives I can afford to break!).
I'll post an update when news arrives (whether good or bad).

[pjp81]

I've just had exactly the same problem with a Coolermaster Silencio 650 X-Dock and have fried 3 old disks. I believe that the problem is that the power connector was connected to the X-Dock backwards as it seems to connect either way round! The drive controller is also mounted upside down in the case so the connection is in the opposite direction to normal!

Update: I reversed the power connector and tried disk no 4 and it works fine; shame about the other 3 disks.

[JimmyBoy]

How did the other posters get on?

[tfboy]

I've just had exactly the same problem with a Coolermaster Silencio 650 X-Dock and have fried 3 old disks. I believe that the problem is that the power connector was connected to the X-Dock backwards as it seems to connect either way round! The drive controller is also mounted upside down in the case so the connection is in the opposite direction to normal!

Update: I reversed the power connector and tried disk no 4 and it works fine; shame about the other 3 disks.

Can you explain what you mean by "the opposite direction to normal" ? The SATA power connector can only go in one way so not sure what you mean.

How did the other posters get on?

Well CM have been forthcoming but they need to look at my faulty X-Dock connector which I have now returned to Novatech. So I need Novatech to get in touch with CM and sort it out. I don't have my hopes up, but will report back what the final verdict is.
Considering yet another poster has reported issues, I'm loathed to try the replacement X-Dock in case it's a design fault or problem with a batch of units. I don't have many more hard drives I can afford to fry just to test is out. I could buzz the connections through but don't have a male SATA connector. One to look out for...

[gijoe]

Hi,
Did you get a answer from CM? I bought the silencio 3 weeks ago and got 2 hard drives fried yesterday.

[Pob255]

I've just had exactly the same problem with a Coolermaster Silencio 650 X-Dock and have fried 3 old disks. I believe that the problem is that the power connector was connected to the X-Dock backwards as it seems to connect either way round! The drive controller is also mounted upside down in the case so the connection is in the opposite direction to normal!

Update: I reversed the power connector and tried disk no 4 and it works fine; shame about the other 3 disks.

I'm guessing he made an adaptor with crossed wires or swapped the pins over on a power connector.

It does sound like there might of been a faulty batch where the plastic socket got stuck on upside down, that's going to swap the 5v and 12v over, and that's going the fry a hard drive.

[icezar]

Hi everyone. I am planning to buy this case specifically for it's form factor but I am getting a little worried about the xdock thing. Now, what exactly needs to be done so the drive don't get fried? I see from the previous posts that some power connectors have swapped polarities. Can someone confirm this issue and maybe say in more details what was done to solve it?

Thanks a lot.

[gijoe]

You can buy the case, dont use the xdock (for the first) with a HDD with important data. I don't know how to solve the pb, but, i wrote to the CM customer service, and they send me a new x-dock. And the new one is still working properly.
Now im just trying to get my data back

[CM Bram]

Dear all who are having this problem.

We are not aware of any structural problems with the Xdock on the Silencio 550. But if you have problems with it you can always contact our support department for a replacement. The problem can also be due to the power supply but it is very difficult to say if it is a faulty xDock or something with the power from the PSU.

My suggestion is to return the HDD to the manufacturer and contact our support department for a new xDock.

[tealwood]

I know this is old but am searching for information on the x-dock in my new Cool Master HAF XM. Now, I'm worried about using it! Two questions:

1. How can you tell if the power connector is in the right way???
2. How do you connect the x-dock? Is it a 4-pin peripheral from the power supply and then a SATA cable to the motherboard? I couldn't find any instructions anywhere!

I've just had exactly the same problem with a Coolermaster Silencio 650 X-Dock and have fried 3 old disks. I believe that the problem is that the power connector was connected to the X-Dock backwards as it seems to connect either way round! The drive controller is also mounted upside down in the case so the connection is in the opposite direction to normal!

Update: I reversed the power connector and tried disk no 4 and it works fine; shame about the other 3 disks.