What can be done about Asus continuing to seal their M.2 heatsink screws with Loctite red?

[StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws]

22 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Don't think there was any doubt of that considering his name is "StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws". It's like op created this account solely for this one thing. 

And why is trying to stop Loctite, especially the red version, being used on M.2 heatsink screws a bad thing? Why does it even need to be done in the first place?

[Kilrah]

Someone likely loaded the pot with the wrong one one day resulting in a bad batch, not more than that...

[StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws]

Just now, Kilrah said:

Someone likely loaded the pot with the wrong one one day resulting in a bad batch, not more than that...

Why has it been happening to people for over 5 years then?

 

why is loctite red even being used at all during motherboard assembly?

[Kilrah]

Well if it was systematic everyone would have the issue, and it's not the case...

[StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws]

5 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Well if it was systematic everyone would have the issue, and it's not the case...

Plenty of people are having the issue, why dont you bother actually reading about it?

 

https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=asus+m.2+screws+stuck&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

People have been having this problem since at least 2015, if not any earlier cases that I haven't yet seen.

 

Heres a case from this forum right here:

 

 

Here, I found another:

 

Both Asus boards as usual.

 

[Kilrah]

A couple of dozens of reports you can find over 5 years is "a few", not "plenty". It would have been known long ago if it was "plenty". 

LTT for example have unboxed hundreds of ASUS motherboards during that time, and it's obviously not happened to them.

[StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws]

8 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

A couple of dozens of reports you can find over 5 years is "a few", not "plenty". It would have been known long ago if it was "plenty". 

LTT for example have unboxed hundreds of ASUS motherboards during that time, and it's obviously not happened to them.

Of course not because those motherboards were sent to them by Asus, they were not store bought.

 

This also doesnt factor in people who had the problem, but were able to resolve it themselves with heavier duty tools before stripping the screws, so wouldn't have reported the issue.

 

The number of cases and duration over which they have been happening already discredit your opinion that this must only be a one off thing.

[Kilrah]

I never said it was a one-off, but it visibly affects only a tiny fraction of people. Even on the forum there will be people buying ASUS mobos every day, and the forum isn't flooded with issue reports.

[dizmo]

36 minutes ago, StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws said:

I've never heard of anyone that has had a PSU die so I suppose it never happens.

 

https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=asus+m.2+screws+stuck&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

Just because you are personally ignorant of something as such doesnt mean that it isnt happening. Moving onto something else doesnt stop the issue happening, and as I already said I tried it and other brands have worse problems than this.

Ok, so there's what...2 posts there? Maybe 10 people there? Over 5 years? That shows that it's far from a widespread problem.

How many ITX boards do you think Asus sells a year? 10? 20? No. Easily in the hundreds if not thousands.

 

[StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws]

11 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Ok, so there's what...2 posts there? Maybe 10 people there? Over 5 years? That shows that it's far from a widespread problem.

How many ITX boards do you think Asus sells a year? 10? 20? No. Easily in the hundreds if not thousands.

 

Most of them are on Asus ROG forums, and as already stated, people that are able to use stronger tools to remove the screws aren't going to report it are they?

 

Why does it matter how few or many cases there are?

 

Why does Loctite red need to be used on motherboard screws? What is it even doing being present at any stage during their manufacture?

 

Most importantly, why is there no resolution or support from asus for however many people have the issue? They wouldn't even simply send me a replacement heatsink without the screws attached.

 

Retailers try to claim that it is a user error and refuse RMAs 'because no one else has had this problem'.

[Blademaster91]

You shouldn't need any more than a normal tool to remove the screw, other manufacturers like Gigabyte and ASRock make high quality motherboards and I haven't heard of them using loctite to secure fasteners.

[StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws]

4 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

You shouldn't need any more than a normal tool to remove the screw, other manufacturers like Gigabyte and ASRock make high quality motherboards and I haven't heard of them using loctite to secure fasteners.

Exactly my point, all the screws on my previous Gigabyte / MSI / Asrock boards have come off with zero effort using a regular screwdriver, in fact the exact same one I try using on my Asus boards.

 

They point is that Asus ones do not, expecially the ones you need to remove to install M.2 drives.

 

How was I or anyone else prior to this happening supposed to know we have to use a soldering iron to melt the glue or get a drill or a wrench? Why should that even be necessary?

[StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws]

How is the yellow screwdriver here that works on every other PC component as well as all Asus boards prior to my Z390 and Z490 the wrong tool?

 

[Blademaster91]

5 hours ago, StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws said:

Exactly my point, all the screws on my previous Gigabyte / MSI / Asrock boards have come off with zero effort using a regular screwdriver, in fact the exact same one I try using on my Asus boards.

 

They point is that Asus ones do not, expecially the ones you need to remove to install M.2 drives.

 

How was I or anyone else prior to this happening supposed to know we have to use a soldering iron to melt the glue or get a drill or a wrench? Why should that even be necessary?

IMO having to use a drill or needing to heat up the screw is just unacceptable if its something intended to be taken off, the red loctite is for stuff like car parts to make sure the screw or bolt doesn't vibrate loose. The most I've seen use on graphics cards was loctite blue, just barely sticky enough to hold the screw in.

And I dunno people seem to have a bias for Asus, because Linus uses Asus.  I don't have any brand preference, but I've heard many complaints of awful customer service from Asus and their stuff is often more expensive the Gigabyte,MSI, ASRock because of the ROG gaming branding.

[WkdPaul]

* thread cleaned *

 

Did some of out old time members have forgotten the forum rules ?

 

Quote

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• "Don't be a dick" - Wil Wheaton.
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If you have nothing to contribute, DO NOT reply, should be simple really.

[StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws]

I just received a reply from Asus to asking for an escalation with the legal letter I had sent.

 

The person that replied said that from the photos I sent, I am both 'using the wrong screws', and 'It is unfortunate you threaded the screws yourself'.

 

The screws in question are the ones that were pre installed on the M.2 heatsink covers and the red loctite was already on them after I managed to get just the one off

 

So apparently Asus think they aren't putting loctite on their screws, and that it is the customers that are doing this themselves.

[FargoUT]

On 6/4/2020 at 2:31 AM, StopLoctiteOnM.2Screws said:

I just received a reply from Asus to asking for an escalation with the legal letter I had sent.

 

The person that replied said that from the photos I sent, I am both 'using the wrong screws', and 'It is unfortunate you threaded the screws yourself'.

 

The screws in question are the ones that were pre installed on the M.2 heatsink covers and the red loctite was already on them after I managed to get just the one off

 

So apparently Asus think they aren't putting loctite on their screws, and that it is the customers that are doing this themselves.

Wow, that's amazing!

 

I just got a ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming motherboard from ASUS via Amazon yesterday. I went to install it, and the exact same problem is affecting me. The heatsink screw stripped and now I'm trying to get a low wattage soldering iron to try and heat up the screw to loosen it up. Alternatively, I will resort to just using a left handed bit and try to remove it that way. I'd rather not, because I don't know what type of screw goes in to this. But I literally just opened it fresh out of the box yesterday. I haven't installed screws that weren't there to begin with.

 

To whomever said it was a rare thing, I highly doubt that. I think most people just don't complain about it, they either simply return it, or they don't use the M.2 slots and don't even know it's an issue yet.

 

[Robocock]

Just signed up to add on to this issue. I see people commenting on why isn't is such a widely known issue, well it's very simple actually. I myself only encountered it recently because I got a m.2 AND am interested enough to test if it's working properly (aka benchmark it).  

Firstly, isn't m.2 only now becoming more common? The predominant portion of the userbase uses SATA drives, they're just a more common and cheaper option and only a rare user cares about having more write speed than the default SDD gives.
Second, boards in question come with two m.2 slots, one that works full speed and one that works at half. The one not hidden by the heatsink works at half, most users that actually got a m.2. Again, not many really care that much about hard drive speeds, they won't know they're getting gimped because, honestly they won't be affected by it.  
Only users that want to use two m.2 and those that are really care about about getting full benefit out of their SSD.

The existance of this issue to begin with doesn't make sense. The screws on the heatsink are small and made of cheap soft metal that easily breaks. The screws use loctite, meaning the screws are a hassle to remove. This part is meant to be removable. Feels like the intention is to make users NOT use that m.2 slot, which would make sense if it had flaws or what not, but it doesn't. 

 

I myself gave up on trying to use the first slot, it was a frustrating experience that took out much more from me than the benfit is been worth, if I actually got to benefit that is.