Introduction: With the development of flexible HVDC technology, the fault diagnosis of MMC-HVDC becomes a new research direction. Based on the fault diagnosis theory, this paper proposes a robust fault diagnosis method to study the fault diagnosis problem of MMC-HVDC systems. Methods: By optimizing the gain matrix in the fault observer, fault detection with good sensitivity and robustness to disturbance is achieved. In the MMC-HVDC system, because of the inherently uncertain system and the presence of various random disturbances, the study of robust fault diagnosis method is particularly important. Results: Simulation studies during various AC faults have been carried out based on a 61-level MMC-HVDC mathematical model. The results validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed fault diagnosis method. Conclusions: So this fault diagnosis method can be further applied to the actual project, to quickly achieve system fault diagnosis and accurately complete fault identification.