Broken M.2 slot. Safe to boot?

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Ebbe

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Hi! I bought a CPU and got a motherboard with a broken M.2 slot as a bonus. The last thing the previous owner did was to rip out his M.2 drive, which damaged the M.2 slot in process.

I want to use the motherboard, but don't mind not using the M.2-slot.

Question 1: Is it safe to try to use the motherboard in the current state? My intuition says otherwise. The pins are heavily bent (see pictures) and I assume it might short something and cause an electrical spark or something.

Question 2: Is it possible to bend the pins back into a position where they don't touch each other anymore, and use the motherboard?
 

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Ebbe said:
Hi! I bought a CPU and got a motherboard with a broken M.2 slot as a bonus. The last thing the previous owner did was to rip out his M.2 drive, which damaged the M.2 slot in process.

I want to use the motherboard, but don't mind not using the M.2-slot.

Question 1: Is it safe to try to use the motherboard in the current state? My intuition says otherwise. The pins are heavily bent (see pictures) and I assume it might short something and cause an electrical spark or something.

Question 2: Is it possible to bend the pins back into a position where they don't touch each other anymore, and use the motherboard?
Click to expand...
Got a whole lot of circuits shorting each other there, I would not put power to that board. Theoretically, if you made sure none off those wires are touching each other, it should be OK.
 
I would not risk putting power to this board either, unless of course you like taking a chance on having a major fireworks display in your computer room....

Yea, IF you have time, patience, AND correct tools, you might be able to make it safe, but since it was a gimme, why bother with all that work, just toss it & get another one.....

Also, if possible, go biotch slap that dickheaded dipshit who "ripped his m.2" out of the slot.... IMO, people who are that stupid should never, ever be allowed to use or own any computers, geesh what a friggin waste..:D
 
Well, that does it I guess. Not taking any risks if the outcome is fire. Motherboard is going into the trash. Thanks for the replies!
 
would it be possible for you to test it with an old PSU and nothing plugged in first ?

Maybe the simplest way would be to complicatedly remove the connector clean.
 
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pendragon1 said:
you could always unsolder the m2 socket...
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Darunion said:
Myself i would desolder the connector and clean the area up, then you would have a good idea of what condition the board is in.

edit: i was too late lol
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This would be exactly my approach if I was going to try to salvage the board. Heck, it is not hard with the right tools.
 
Nebulous said:
Dayum! How the hell did he pull out the M.2 drive? With pliers? :eek:
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The [H]ard way, obviously.

The cleanest way to deal with this would be to desolder the connector. It'd be pretty easy to do with a hot air station, but you could probably use a regular soldering iron and coax it off of there. Once you hand the mangled connector off, for bonus points, you could solder a fresh one on there.

I'd test that CPU in a different board, though. If the last owner thinks this is an acceptable way to remove an M.2 drive, who knows what he'd do to a CPU.
 
Do you value your data? There’s no way I’d consider using that slot.

I’d Get a pci-e to m.2 nvme adapter, and try to separate those pins from touching
 
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FrgMstr said:
Got a whole lot of circuits shorting each other there, I would not put power to that board. Theoretically, if you made sure none off those wires are touching each other, it should be OK.
Click to expand...

This... Snip the pins in the middle and make sure they are not touching and then disable that m.2 slot in the bios.
 
Furious_Styles said:
I just can't fathom sometimes. Like these drives are literally about as easy as it comes, you just slot it in there, and to take it out is very simple. It's not like a GPU slot where I see lots of idiots just RIP it out because they can't seem to operate a simple latch.
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Might have been hard for him to get it back out after tightening it down with the impact.
 
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to me, it looks like he fish-hooked it out of the socket for some reason. but since no real details were provided....
 
I mean, it's possible he got the screw off, pulled up on the card, "CRACK", "oops, guess I lifted it too far," full-send.
 
So apparently the skrew holding down the M.2-drive was stuck, so he had to «break off the plastic» (his words) of the M.2 connector.
 
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Ebbe said:
So apparently the skrew holding down the M.2-drive was stuck, so he had to «break off the plastic» (his words) of the M.2 connector.
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*face rub...... I seen people mangle PC parts to get them to fit or remove them before......

Did he turn the screw the right way!? lol

Anyway, you can get a cheap reflow gun cheap and remove the connector easily if need be.
 
The Mad Atheist said:
*face rub...... I seen people mangle PC parts to get them to fit or remove them before......
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And those are the kind of "yea i can fix computers!" people that always seems to help out a family member before you even hear there is a problem that you now have to actually fix lol.
 
You: i am installing a nvme drive onto a m.2 slot on my motherboard. How many ugga duggas should i listen for on my impact wrench when tightening it down?


ChatGPT
Using an impact wrench to install an NVMe drive onto an M.2 slot on your motherboard is not recommended. Impact wrenches are typically used for heavier-duty applications like automotive work and can exert much higher torque than necessary for delicate electronic components like a motherboard or NVMe drive.
For installing an NVMe drive onto a motherboard, it's best to use a hand screwdriver or a specialized M.2 standoff tool, as mentioned earlier. You should tighten the screw until it is snug but not excessively tight, avoiding the use of power tools like impact wrenches to prevent damage to the motherboard or NVMe drive.
If you're unsure about how much force to apply, refer to the manufacturer's instructions for your motherboard and NVMe drive for specific guidance on installation. It's crucial to handle delicate electronic components with care to avoid damage.
 
Here’s some more context:

I have a pretty old system which I game on occasionally:

CPU: i5-4670k
RAM: 16gb DDR3 1333MT
MB: Asrock H87m Pro4
GPU: GTX 1660 Super

Games have become more difficult to run lately, with low fps. I did some analysis of the games I play using Intel PresentMon and saw that the GPU had pretty low GPUBUSY(gpu frametime if you will) but very high overall frametime. So the CPU is obviously the bottleneck here. I want to aquire a new system, but right now I dont have that much time left for gaming, and find it hard to justify the price of a brand new system, as of now.

The best CPU my MB can handle is a i7-4790k, and according to benchmarks online there could be a noticeable upgrade from my current CPU. But I didnt want to spent to much on such a old system, but one day this CPU and MB was listed very cheap due to the damaged M.2-slot. It even included 16gb of DDR3 2400MT. And the price was low, so it was worth the «risk». The motherboard is a Asus Maximus VII Hero (Intel Z97).

It would be nice if the M.2-slot was working, but still its only PCIE2.0 (I think) and spending money replacing the M.2-slot on such a old motherboard is not worth it in my opinion. Removing it though could be an option, because then I could use the Z97 motherboard to do OC on the CPU and further increasing performance of the system. I have some experience already with soldering, but limited experience in overclocking.

My hope is this might gain a year or two with this system before I eventually have to buy something newer. Best case, I learn something new and gain some more experience in soldering, OC’ing and benefits of CPU upgrades.

Any thoughts?
 
Yes that's possible but once it's removed and the solder pads are cleaned to prevent bridging circuits it's almost ready for socket replacement.
 
Hehe, you’re probably right. I could send the motherboard to you, but I live in Norway, so thats probably not the same country as you I guess:)
 
Nobu said:
I mean, it's possible he got the screw off, pulled up on the card, "CRACK", "oops, guess I lifted it too far," full-send.
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I would expect the SSD's PCB to break long before the socket snapped like that.
 
1_rick said:
I would expect the SSD's PCB to break long before the socket snapped like that.
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I wouldn't be so sure. The pcbs are thin, but fully inserted it would have a solid base and a sliding fulcrum, the only thing holding the connector together being the thin reinforcement on the edges. The back would be weakened by the embedded wires, which aren't at an angle to resist that force, and reduce the amount of structural plastic.

Anyway, only one way to find out. :D
 
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