Sharkoon SilentStorm Gold SFX 500W with big problem (killed two HDD)

[ermissao]

Hello everyone, this is a long story.

I live in Brazil, I've bought this PSU some time ago, and have been using it on this specific system:

Pentium G3258 (With Corsair H60)
H81M-A/BR
2x4Gb DDR3 Hyper-X Savage (1866Mhz)
Sandisk SSD Plus 120Gb
Hitach 320Gb 2.5" HDD
MSI R9 270X Gaming 4Gb
Thermaltake Versa H15
And for last, Sharkoon SilentStorm SFX Gold 500W Full Modular.

Everything run just fine, 'til I've decided to put an extra 3.5" HDD (Seagate Barracuda 1Tb) that I took from another PC. I've added an extra cable on this PSU, and plug the big HDD on this second cable. For my surprise, the Barracuda stopped working. Unplugged it, cry for all the files that I lost, but there isn't much to do. First I've using one power cable, the one with two sata and one molex. The second has four sata and no molex.

Days later, decided to take off the HDD cage, and hide both the mechanical and SSD disks. Just plugged both with the second psu cable, and the system didn't boot. The leds just flashed and turned off. No response from power button after. Unplugged both disks and all started normally. Plugged both drivers on the first power cable (the one with the molex cable), my SSD survived, but the old 2.5" drive died. Lots of files lost again.

Then I decided to test the voltages with a multimeter. Look at this image:

The correct voltages after pin 1, are the following, for each 3 pins:
+3.3 / Ground / +5V / Ground / +12V
Tottaly correct on cable one. But on cable two are
Ground / +5V / Ground / +3.3V / +12V

This is a video showing all voltages on both sata cables.

https://youtu.be/RKwR5t1_6cM

I've lost two HDD because of a poor quallity control on a GOLD, I repeat: GOLD PSU! If I ran out of luck, probably that thing could set my system on fire, or my house!

I contacted the local seller, still waiting for response on how to solve this issue. And send this same story to global@sharkoon.com, to see if they care about the drives that I lost.


tl,dr: Sharkoon Gold PSU with shit quality control, killed two HD's because of the sata power cables, that came with swapped voltages.

 

[Sheep221]

Have you tried the drives in other computer? If what you measured is correct than the HDD didn't Post because it wasn't correctly connected, the power rails were connected to ground while the 12V was mixed with 3,3 resulting in lower overall voltage. But that doesn't mean they are dead, once connected in correct order they should start again.

 

[TemjinGold]

Gold is an indicator of efficiency, not quality. That a PSU is Gold rated say zilch about its quality.

 

[ermissao]

Have you tried the drives in other computer? If what you measured is correct than the HDD didn't Post because it wasn't correctly connected, the power rails were connected to ground while the 12V was mixed with 3,3 resulting in lower overall voltage. But that doesn't mean they are dead, once connected in correct order they should start again.

The 3.5" Barracuda is kinda working. Takes more time to show in windows, but I was able to save the most important data. The 2.5" is a paper weight. Doesn't even start spinning on another PSU, computer, external case or usb adapter.

Gold is an indicator of efficiency, not quality. That a PSU is Gold rated say zilch about its quality.

I agree with that statment, but it SHOULD be quality!

 

[MrTeal]

The SATA power cable is obviously standardized, but modular cable ends aren't. They're often 6-pin minifit jr, but which pin is which rail changes between different vendors. If you accidentally use the wrong modular cable on a PSU, you'll get what you see here, with the rails swapped around. I have a bunch of different brands of modular PSUs, so I always make sure to check just to avoid frying anything.

I'd double check that the new cable you added actually belongs to the Sharkoon PSU. If you're sure it came in the same box, check any other ones you have, and see if they're good. Definitely contact the manufacturer if you're sure that is the modular cable that came in the box, it would suck of that was the case and it killed your PSUs.

 

[ermissao]

The SATA power cable is obviously standardized, but modular cable ends aren't. They're often 6-pin minifit jr, but which pin is which rail changes between different vendors. If you accidentally use the wrong modular cable on a PSU, you'll get what you see here, with the rails swapped around. I have a bunch of different brands of modular PSUs, so I always make sure to check just to avoid frying anything.

I'd double check that the new cable you added actually belongs to the Sharkoon PSU. If you're sure it came in the same box, check any other ones you have, and see if they're good. Definitely contact the manufacturer if you're sure that is the modular cable that came in the box, it would suck of that was the case and it killed your PSUs.

I was checking the cables, and this Sharkoon doesn't have a four SATA cable. But it came new, plastic sealed.

I have a Corsair HX 750W and a OCZ 550W. Bough an EVGA 750W to replace the old Corsair. All of them are thick cables, totally different from the slim cables from Sharkoon.

This second cable doesn't belong to this PSU, but a remember perfectly when I opened the box: "- Why there only one molex on this Sharkoon PSU?" The only explanation is an error inside the factory, or like someone told-me:

" - Your PSU is a re-certified unit that someone returned with the wrong cable and the distributor or store put back into sale."

 

[Sheep221]

#1 rule for survival is, back up your data periodically, technical failure of any kind is preventable with backups. You can't go and ask for more damage that the initial purchase price of your drives, which is probably around 100 bucks. No one carries responsibility for your data.

 

[ermissao]

I aways use that way of thinking too, but it's easier said than done. But I'm don't really care about the data, drives or compensation (maybe a little). I'm just want to show what happened, and how local seller will handle it.