Can an M.2 drive get damaged if it's screwed to tight?

[Bumblebeez]

I had an M.2 drive in one of my PCs and it worked without any problems for about 2.5 months. The PC then randomly crashed one day and wouldn't boot to OS anymore and the BIOS didn't even detect the drive. I sent it back to the store where I bought it and they told me it had physical damage and sent the attached picture and told me that you can clearly see copper. Maybe I screwed it too tight (I don't remember doing that, though), but can that damage even cause the drive to fail? And how would it fail 2.5 months after I put it in the PC?

 

I appreciate any help I can get :)

[Radium_Angel]

2 minutes ago, Bumblebeez said:

Maybe I screwed it too tight

That wouldn't cause the issue, that's not a "live" connection (in other words, there are no electronic components that close to the screw area) 

Now, it might have failed for other reasons, but that little big of copper damage wouldn't be the root cause.

[minibois]

This is not damage I'd expect from tightening an M.2 too much. I don't believe the tiny screws could exert that much force on the back. Unless of course there was no standoff used,

Furthermore, I'd expect the material above (the gold color) and the copper plane below to be the ground plane, which means that shouldn't have caused it.

 

Setting that aside, a store or manufacturer can look at physical damage like this and decline a warranty request based on that, at least where I live.

This damage shouldn't impact the rest of the drive however.

[Bumblebeez]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

That wouldn't cause the issue, that's not a "live" connection (in other words, there are no electronic components that close to the screw area) 

Now, it might have failed for other reasons, but that little big of copper damage wouldn't be the root cause.

That's what I thought. Not sure how to handle this with the store since they seem to think that damage is what caused it to fail

[SupaKomputa]

No, that's not the reason why it doesn't work.

Yes, they are valid to refuse your RMA, a physical damage.

[SupaKomputa]

Just now, Bumblebeez said:

That's what I thought. Not sure how to handle this with the store since they seem to think that damage is what caused it to fail

Ask the brand for this. Maybe they have a different view about this.

[Bumblebeez]

5 minutes ago, minibois said:

This is not damage I'd expect from tightening an M.2 too much. I don't believe the tiny screws could exert that much force on the back. Unless of course there was no standoff used,

Furthermore, I'd expect the material above (the gold color) and the copper plane below to be the ground plane, which means that shouldn't have caused it.

 

Setting that aside, a store or manufacturer can look at physical damage like this and decline a warranty request based on that, at least where I live.

This damage shouldn't impact the rest of the drive however.

I had the standoff and I know that I didn't crank the screw down. I've built maybe 5 PCs and installed 6-7 M.2 drives before this one and have never seen that kind of damage before. Unfortunately I didn't take a good look at the drive before I sent it back but I doubt the damage was caused by anything I did.

4 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

No, that's not the reason why it doesn't work.

Yes, they are valid to refuse your RMA, a physical damage.

That's what I was afraid of.

1 minute ago, SupaKomputa said:

Ask the brand for this. Maybe they have a different view about this.

Yeah I might have to do that, thanks

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, Bumblebeez said:

That's what I was afraid of.

And unfortunately that's a scumbag reason from the store. It's about as relevant as scratching your case and voiding the warranty.

I'd go above them (if they are a chain) and talk to a high level of management and point out that's not legit damage. Note they used a macro lens to magnify the "damage"

Those super tiny little screws can only take so much pressure before they strip. The store is looking for an excuse not to honour their warranty.

 

[Bumblebeez]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

And unfortunately that's a scumbag reason from the store. It's about as relevant as scratching your case and voiding the warranty.

I'd go above them (if they are a chain) and talk to a high level of management and point out that's not legit damage. Note they used a macro lens to magnify the "damage"

Those super tiny little screws can only take so much pressure before they strip. The store is looking for an excuse not to honour their warranty.

 

I got an update from the store that they are going to send it to the manufacturer and let them decide if the warranty covers it. I guess I'll just have to wait and hope that the manufacturer is nicer