HELP! M. 2 Screw broke in standoff

[Jas99]

Soooo, while installing my second m. 2 ssd in my mobo the screw broke in the hole and the screw is stuck. 

I have no other available Ssd slots

See picture attached

Please help

Thanks! 

[peger]

You can try screw extractor.

[Jas99]

3 minutes ago, peger said:

You can try screw extractor.

Problem is the threads on the screw broke flush with the hole. At this point it's bare metal in the hole

[Windows7ge]

Well. Unless you have a drill tap & die kit for extracting very small screws about your only option is contact ASRock and ask them to ship you a new nut & screw. Even if you get the broken screw out you probably don't have a spare screw unless you steal it from another slot or motherboard.

 

They seem pretty standard though so you may be able to source them 3rd party as well.

 

Regardless of what you do you won't be installing that M.2 for a couple of weeks.

[glenalz81]

Depending how tight it actually is these may help. iFixit precision screw extractor. Other option is one of the shorter M.2s.

 

[Jas99]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

Well. Unless you have a drill tap & die kit for extracting very small screws about your only option is contact ASRock and ask them to ship you a new nut & screw. Even if you get the broken screw out you probably don't have a spare screw unless you steal it from another slot or motherboard.

 

They seem pretty standard though so you may be able to source them 3rd party as well.

 

Regardless of what you do you won't be installing that M.2 for a couple of weeks.

Thanks 

How dangerous is it to not screw in the m. 2?

[Windows7ge]

8 minutes ago, Jas99 said:

Problem is the threads on the screw broke flush with the hole. At this point it's bare metal in the hole

I'm going to guess the screw is either aluminum or zinc. Both are prone to snapping right off when the screws are tiny.

 

5 minutes ago, Jas99 said:

Thanks 

How dangerous is it to not screw in the m. 2?

Well it needs a little pressure pushing it towards the motherboard to make proper contact with the pins. It's on a little bit of a spring. If you have a steady enough object or mechanism to hold it down the threat isn't huge so long as you don't jostle the chassis.

 

Edit: If you started getting WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERRORS that'd be your indicator that it's not being held in place good enough.

[Jas99]

2 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

I'm going to guess the screw is either aluminum or zinc. Both are prone to snapping right off when the screws are tiny.

 

Well it needs a little pressure pushing it towards the motherboard to make proper contact with the pins. It's on a little bit of a spring. If you have a steady enough object or mechanism to hold it down the threat isn't huge so long as you don't jostle the chassis.

By "steady enough object" will duct tape do? 

[Guest]

I worked on a friend's NAS recently. It had no metal stand offs, it had this plastic thing that I just realized I can't describe very well.

If I come across it, I'll post it in here. That would work for you.

[Windows7ge]

1 minute ago, Jas99 said:

By "steady enough object" will duct tape do? 

If you can find a way to attach it without it potentially taking anything off the board when it comes time to remove it then yes. It'd get the job done.

 

2 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

it had this plastic thing that I just realized I can't describe very well.

I might know what you're talking about. Was it kind of T in shape and folded 180° with a pin on the end that snapped into place holding the SSD down?

[Jas99]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

If you can find a way to attach it without it potentially taking anything off the board when it comes time to remove it then yes. It'd get the job done.

 

I might know what you're talking about. Was it kind of T in shape and folded 180° with a pin on the end that snapped into place holding the SSD down?

Painters tape it is then! 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

 

 

I might know what you're talking about. Was it kind of T in shape and folded 180° with a pin on the end that snapped into place holding the SSD down?

Yes! It mounted underneath a mobo standoff via the plastic circle rather than having its own. 

[Windows7ge]

18 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

Yes! It mounted underneath a mobo standoff via the plastic circle rather than having its own. 

My motherboard has a M.2 slot that stands strait-up with a support bracket I screwed into the board. A very similar clip attaches the SSD to the support bracket.