My 850 Pro SSD just caught fire!

[Novice John]

Hi Everyone,

                     Just returned to my poor old PC after extinguishing a fire in the power connection to my 850 Pro 256gb.

Yep, smoke and the smell alerted me to the fact that the connector and the SSD were on fire.  I immediately switched off at the mains, opened the computer, took out the SSD, cleaned the molten plastic from the connection on the SSD, replaced the power cable with that from the DVD player.

Since then, I've run Samsung Magician Performance Test, with the following results :-

Health state     :-    Good

Seq read    276 Mb/s          Seq  write       206  Mb/s

Ran  read     31121  IOPS      Ran    write       31044     Total bytes written       6.33   TB

Have run the computer (Quad core Athalon,  8gb RAM , HD6570 graphics card , Foxconn A88 GMX motherboard and Windows 7 64 bit) for over two hours now.  No smoke and no smell. 

Should I

a) call the fire brigade

b) try to get Samsung to replace the burnt SSD.  (It's only 3 years old and they may be interested in this incident)

c) continue to use the computer as before, keeping a fire extinguisher nearby.

d)   follow any constructive suggestions from more knowledgeable members lounging around. 

Cheers,

             Novice John

[AsadM]

Hi @Novice John, I'm sorry to hear about your SSD. As we take these matter very seriously, I'd like to arrange a callback for you to discuss this. To do this, can you please send me a PM to get this arranged for you? 

[antikythera]

a) no, please don't waste their time when they could be saving someone who really needs them unless your house is actually on fire
b) + c) by all means follow AsadM's instructions but also invest in a multimeter and check your computer's power supply as that is the most likely culprit rather than the SSD. An SSD shouldn't be able to catch fire from the normal regulated voltage they would draw from the Power Supply. Therefore your PSU may have been operating way outside normal safe parameters on the power rail that supplies that SSD power cable.

Only use an extinguisher suitable for an electrical fire if you really need to and it is safe to do so. It is actually quicker to pull the cables and get the machine out the nearest door/window in the event of them catching alight internally

[Novice John]

Many thanks AntiKythera, for taking the time to help me.

Apologies for my tongue-in-cheek comment on the fire brigade. As an OAP, I was frightened at first to see smoke coming from my computer, but experience told me to immediately cut off the power. However financial constraints and no more smoke, prevented me from immediately giving my PC a flying lesson from a first floor window

Your excellent suggestion of checking the PSU was thought provoking. Not being an expert with a multimeter, I have to rely on my experience and am wondering why nothing else, powered by the PSU  in my PC, has ever burst into flames, or got as hot as my SSD was, when I first opened the PC after the fire.

Thank you for your sensible comment about using a suitable fire extinguisher for electrical fires. I have seriously noted it, as I hope all members will do. A reminder that fire is a good servant, BUT a merciless master.

It is so comforting for novice members like me, to know that there are knowledgeable and caring members like you, who are prepared to spend their time to give us sensible and valuable advice.

Many thanks again, your advice is much appreciated.

John

[Novice John]

Dear AsadM,

Many thanks for replying so rapidly. Unfortunately, as an OAP, I do not know what "PM" stands for. I replied to your email, but this morning noted that yours was a "no reply" email. I do not wish to put my phone no. on an open forum, so where do we go from here?

John

[antikythera]

no problem but you do need to get the PSU checked out by a local repair shop if you aren't comfortable to do this yourself (there are guides on YouTube concerning the safe way to check a PSU with a multimeter) to make doubly sure it is not going to damage any further components. An SSD usually gets to around 40 celsius only, even when under load and that is applicable to SSD with no direct airflow to them as well. The fact it got hot enough to melt the power connection is concerning from an electrical sense which is why the PSU needs inspection. I certainly wouldn't feel confident using the machine until it is checked over properly.

[Novice John]

Dear Antikythera,

                            Again, many thanks.

I believe that a new PSU is called for here, with a higher wattage rating. 

John

[DannyT]

Hey, @Novice John. I'll jump in here. A PM is a private message, which you can access by clicking your avatar picture at the top of the page, then clicking messages. 

However, if you'd prefer to talk on the phone and not send these details over the internet. Then we'd advise you to contact our colleagues on 0333 000 0333. They'll be able to pass this on to our Product Liaison Team directly. 

[Sm1tt]

So today I was sat on my computer browsing the internet as I do everyday when o get home from work when all of a sudden smoke and burning start emanating from my PC!!

after panicking and killing power and disconnecting the offending cables I’m extremely surprised to see my ‘Samsung SSD 850 pro 256GB’ smoking at the power connector 🤔. After having tested my PSU and having the supply bridges from a  standard hard drive (which is since still operation) it seems the only logical conclusion is that the SSD has failed. Coincidence 🧐 seems not! 

I am not impressed by this failure at all and would like to open up an investigation into the failure of this device 🤬

[Sam_UK]

Hi @Sm1tt ,

If you're based in the UK/Ireland, are you able to send us a Private Message with more details to our Sam_UK account? (I've used it to post in this thread.) We can pick it up from there for you then.

Otherwise, it's best to get in touch with your local Samsung Support ASAP.

DannyT's advice above on how to get in direct contact for the UK/Ireland teams is still good, but we've also got a guide on how to send PM's on here if you need it: https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/samsung-lounge/how-to-send-a-private-message-on-the-samsung-comm... 

Cheers,

Ant