Plz help: No power in leftmost slot of six different ICY DOCK FatCage MB155SP-B drive cages

[bfeist]

Hi all,

I have just added 6, 5in3 MB155SP-B drive cages across two different mid tower cases. They are connected and powered, but the leftmost slot of each of them does not show a green LED and does not power up its drive. I tried swapping SATA data connectors with one of the working slots. I tried powering via a molex to sata convertor. I tried different combinations of drives and connectors. Always no LED, and no power to left drive.

 

I can't imagine that I managed to get 6 lemon drive cages. I must be missing something basic. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Thx.

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by bfeist

[ChatNoir]

Did you plug all power connections on the units ?

If so, you should contact Icydock support.

[bfeist]

4 minutes ago, ChatNoir said:

Did you plug all power connections on the units ?

 

Yes. There are 3 sata power connectors for each unit. They seem to be connected to each other in parallel. I tried powering each of the three connectors individually and a single connector powers the whole unit.

[magictoaster76]

Did you ever manage to fix this? I know it's an old thread but my new MB155SP-B does the exact same thing.

[bfeist]

Sadly, no. Interesting to hear that you have the same problem. Did you buy yours off Amazon? Maybe that seller is selling a whole pile of defective units.

[magictoaster76]

I did get it from an Amazon.ca third-party (but that particular seller is listed as an official reseller over at Icy Dock) and I have two more on the way. Maybe I’ll get lucky with the other units. At least I can send everything back to Amazon (since it was fulfilled by them) if not.

 

I’m tempted to disassemble the unit and check for PCB damage or cold solder joints around the connectors. Reflowing the solder would be an easy fix at least.

 

In the Rosewill RSV-L4500U they need to inserted upside down or it’s impossible to fit more than 2 (the last one is blocked by the power buttons/lights/usb ports section on the right). The slides can only be installed in one position on the dock, and the alignment on the case makes it impossible to use them in the usual orientation.

 

Thanks for your reply btw!

[bfeist]

Amazon.ca here as well. All 6 of mine have this problem but they are all in my server at this point, so there's no returning them. If you do manage to fix one, please let me know how you did it. I'll pull my server apart and will do the same.

This is a pretty crazy problem to be having consistently across many devices. When this first happened, I contacted Icy Dock and got a formulaic answer about sending the faulty items to them for inspection. Not interested in doing that.

[bfeist]

@magictoaster76Did your other cages have the same problem? I'd like to try to get to the bottom of this. I'm interested to hear any thought you might have.

[magictoaster76]

Sorry for the late reply!

I finally modified the Rosewill case to avoid installing the Icy Dock upside down and everything is working now. Some drive connectors were not properly aligned even with the tray fully closed so they were not getting power.

 

Icy Dock support said that the dock would work upside down but that I might have to fiddle to get the drive to properly align with the connectors on the backplane. Maybe you have a similar issue?

Edited May 19, 2022 by magictoaster76

[bfeist]

1 hour ago, magictoaster76 said:

Sorry for the late reply!

I finally modified the Rosewill case to avoid installing the Icy Dock upside down and everything is working now. Some drive connectors were not properly aligned even with the tray fully closed so they were not getting power.

 

Icy Dock support said that the dock would work upside down but that I might have to fiddle to get the drive to properly align with the connectors on the backplane. Maybe you have a similar issue?

Thanks very much! I’ll try flipping one the other way around. I actually don’t know which way is “up” anyway. It’s also useful to know that it might be a connection issue between the drive and the cage.

[ChatNoir]

5 hours ago, bfeist said:

I actually don’t know which way is “up” anyway.

Probably safe to consider that the pictures on Icy Dock website show the standard orientation.

[magictoaster76]

On 5/18/2022 at 10:04 PM, bfeist said:

Thanks very much! I’ll try flipping one the other way around. I actually don’t know which way is “up” anyway. It’s also useful to know that it might be a connection issue between the drive and the cage.

Let me know if this works for you!