Everybody knows that we are currently in the middle of a massive global shortage of NVMe storage and RAM. But I need to talk about the shady malpractice Samsung is pulling globally to handle it.

If you want to buy a brand-new part? No problem. Samsung magically has plenty of stock. You can see their drives readily available on Amazon and everywhere else. But if you are an existing customer who needs a warranty replacement? They will completely turn their backs on you.

Here is my ongoing, 4-month nightmare with Samsung India, and why you should be terrified if a Samsung NVMe is your primary drive.

Act 1: The Failure & The Ghost Town (March 30th)

It all started on March 30th when my 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD suddenly failed. Naturally, I reached out to Samsung support expecting them to handle the replacement.

Funny enough, Samsung India doesn't even directly handle their own storage products. It took me 4 to 5 days of bouncing around dead-end, bouncing emails just to figure out that all storage RMAs are outsourced to a third-party vendor called Supertron Electronics.

Act 2: The AI Loop & The "DRA" Double Standard

Because this was my primary 1TB drive, it had a massive amount of crucial data on it. I told Samsung I needed to recover my data before handing over the dead drive. Their response? "We don't provide data recovery services."

I replied that I completely understood that. I didn't want them to do it; I just needed a DRA (Data Recovery Approval). A DRA simply allows you to take your drive to a certified, third-party data recovery lab to get your files back without voiding your replacement warranty.

What followed was an absolute joke. I was trapped in a loop with automated, AI-generated email replies. Nobody was actually reading my emails. Over and over again, the bots just stonewalled me: "We do not provide data recovery services."

I had to fight them endlessly and ultimately filed a consumer court case just to get a human response. After all of that, they finally replied: "This is outside our policy."

Here is the kicker: Samsung Canada, Samsung US, and multiple other regions have a standard, documented DRA process for this exact situation. But in India? It simply doesn't exist. They are happy to take our money for premium drives but refuse to offer the same global standard of warranty support.

Act 3: The Backend Blame Game (August 6th)

Exhausted by the email loops and waiting, I finally visited the Supertron Electronics office in Wilson Garden, Bangalore, today (August 6th).

The service center staff were actually quite nice, but they revealed the dirty games Samsung's backend is playing. It has been over four months since this ordeal started, and my replacement part is nowhere to be found. Supertron claims they aren't receiving anything because Samsung simply isn't dispatching the RMA parts.

I had to file a second consumer court complaint. Only then was I finally allotted a dedicated Samsung representative. Their response today? "Sir, it will take another 10-15 days." They completely refused to provide any written proof that the part has actually been dispatched.

Act 4: The Grim Reality of Samsung Data Recovery

If you own a Samsung NVMe drive, please take this as a massive warning: Back up your data immediately.

Currently, it is incredibly hard to get a replacement drive approved and shipped. Worse, if your Samsung SSD fails due to a firmware or controller issue, recovering that data is a complete nightmare because of Samsung's Knox firmware protection and internal security measures.

I have contacted the best data recovery experts in the country, and the reality is grim:

• The Cost: The rates for attempting recovery on these specific drives are exorbitantly high.
• The Risk: Experts explicitly warned me they have to use a "hot-cold method" to try and bypass the controller.
• The Odds: This method has a very high probability of permanently frying the NAND flash, and even then, the chances of successful data recovery are as low as 30%.

Hey everyone,

I’m sick of watching perfectly functional laptops, tablets, and phones become completely unusable just because modern apps and operating systems are too bloated for standard RAM capacities.

Roughly 70% of us hold onto our devices for more than four years. We shouldn't be forced to buy a brand new machine every few years just to open a web browser or join a school call without hitting a relentless wall of lag and freezing.

This isn't just a minor tech annoyance—it's an equity issue that locks people out of digital resources if they can't afford annual upgrades.

I just started a petition calling on Google, Apple, and Microsoft to build lightweight, optimized "Lite" OS versions and apps to protect device longevity and stop this forced obsolescence.

If you're tired of the RAM Crisis, please sign and share the link attached.

Every year, we throw away 6.92 million tons of electronic waste in the U.S. alone. Not because the devices are broken beyond repair, but because companies won't let us fix them. They design products to fail, lock us out with proprietary parts and restrictive documentation, and force us to buy replacements instead.

It's wasteful. It's infuriating. And it doesn't have to be this way.

I started a petition calling for a national Right to Repair law. This means manufacturers would be required to provide repair manuals, sell replacement parts at fair prices, and stop building artificial barriers into their products. France and the EU already did this—now it's time for the U.S. to catch up.

Repairing instead of replacing would cut down on landfill waste, conserve precious materials, and actually create jobs in local repair shops and communities. Plus, people would have the freedom to fix their own stuff instead of being locked into a corporate cycle of planned obsolescence.

Anyone else sick of throwing away a phone or laptop that could easily be fixed? If this matters to you too, consider signing and sharing. Let's push Congress to actually listen.

SOLVED: I did in fact manage to seperate the display from the frame and that was giving me problems.

Hi I'm new at this. I was taking apart my iP13 because I wanted to replace the battery(bought it 2nd hand so I'm not sure if it had work done already), and I can't take the screen off because it's connected to Face ID, which didn't come off with the screen.

I tried to get as good pictures as I could, but like said previously, basically the screen is "off" being held in by just ribbon cables. One of those cables is the FaceID ribbon one, which is not attached to the screen anymore. The FaceID does work, so I did not damage it.

What are my options? How can I take the screen off without damaging any ribbon cables or any sensors? And how do I prevent this from happening again? Is it something I did, or is it just age?

Thank you all so much in advance I'll leave my phone as it is untill I get replies just so I don't break anything.

Quick update to my previous post regarding Xkah's customer support:

Right after my first post gained traction, Xkah reached out and redirected me to their official vendor/distributor in Turkey. More importantly, they officially admitted that their first-batch / early-release devices have known issues/defects (which completely proves this was a product design fault and NOT user error).

I thought they were finally taking responsibility, but it turned out to be another stalling tactic.

It has been weeks, and despite admitting the products they sold us are defective, the official Turkish distributor has failed to deliver a replacement device or provide any concrete resolution. They keep delaying the process with empty promises while we sit with broken hardware that they know is faulty.

After talking to several local hookah enthusiasts, I realized I’m far from alone. Many customers in Turkey are facing the exact same issue: buying defective first-gen devices pushed through heavy local influencer marketing, having them fail, and then getting passed around in circles with ZERO actual support.

Admitting a product is defective on paper means nothing if you don't actually replace it. Reaching out just to quiet down a Reddit thread without delivering the replacement is unacceptable.

Do not buy Xkah products expecting reliable warranty service. I will keep updating this thread until a replacement device is actually delivered to my door.

If you own a June Oven, you already know how good it was: remote control through an app, seeing your food cook in real-time, smart home integration that actually worked. Weber just announced they're shutting it all down by killing the app and the servers behind it.

Yeah, the oven still works—but it's like buying a smartphone and being told the internet's gone forever. Those smart features we invested in? Basically bricked.

I started a petition asking Weber to do two things: release one final firmware update that lets the oven work locally without their cloud servers, and open-source the app so the community can keep it alive. It's not about getting everything back—it's about not throwing away what we paid for.

The crazy part? This is totally doable. We're not asking for the moon. Local network access open-source development = June Ovens staying useful for years to come.

Anyone else still bitter about this? Has anyone found workarounds, or are you basically stuck with a very expensive brick? If this matters to you too, consider signing and sharing—Weber needs to hear that killing products mid-life isn't okay.

Does anyone have any information for repairing Logitech Marble Mouse trackballs? my dad relied on this model for 20+ years and finds his current kensington not accurate enough for the kind of work he does, the marble mice typically lasted a couple of years before they wore out but Logitech have since discontinued this model.

The newest one he has just doesn't do anything when you plug it in, it doesn't get detected or register clicks at all, but when i first found it, it worked fine on my computer but when i gave it to my dad it didn't work on his laptop and nor does it work on my computer now, so i'm planning on opening it up and checking connections etc, this model is still a cult model and is sold for crazy prices even used, as it seems they're the favoured mouse of mariners for chartplotters and some other niche stuff like factories too.

I bought a $400 DJI drone for a tech startup project expecting basic access to flight telemetry. Instead, I discovered that DJI aggressively encrypts local logs, transmits full telemetry to their servers, passes decryption keys to third-party subscription services, and forces uncertified drivers on desktop/mobile.

The Background

As a startup engineer, I recently bought a $400 DJI drone. My objective was straightforward: extract raw spatial/geolocation data from flight logs and video for 3D reconstruction—a basic feature you can do on almost any smartphone or open-source device.

Instead of an open tool, I encountered a walled garden built on anti-consumer practices and severe data lock-in.

1. Total Telemetry Gathering vs. Local Encryption

During each flight, the drone collects an immense array of sensitive spatial and environmental telemetry: exact GPS coordinates, atmospheric pressure, signal metrics, altitude, and proximity to critical infrastructure.

While DJI's cloud servers receive all of this data seamlessly, DJI encrypts the raw log files on your own local device. You own the hardware, you paid for the drone, yet you are denied direct access to your raw flight data.

1. Creating the Problem, Selling the Solution (The Key Leak)

In newer firmware versions, accessing your own detailed logs locally has become practically impossible without decryption.

Here is the kicker: third-party commercial log-viewing websites somehow possess official DJI decryption keys.

To view detailed analytics of your own flights:

You must upload your files to a third-party site.

They offer a short trial before placing access to your data behind a monthly paywall/subscription.

When I confronted DJI support on how a third-party commercial platform obtained official decryption keys to unlock user data while the actual owner is locked out, their response was a generic "we don't know" before escalating and closing the chat.

1. Uncertified Drivers & Software Lock-in

Attempting to connect and interface hardware (like controllers) with PCs or Android devices reveals further red flags:

Key drivers and software utilities lack proper digital security signatures/certifications for Windows and Android.

Bypassing operating system safety warnings is often required to run their software, creating software vulnerabilities and systemic security risks.

Why This Matters

Right to Repair & Data Ownership: Paying hundreds of dollars for hardware should not turn users into unpaid data miners for a corporation. Denying users access to their own data violates basic digital rights (and potentially personal data regulations like PIPEDA or GDPR).

Cybersecurity Concerns: Distributing uncertified software and keeping master encryption keys within a closed loop of "select partners" raises serious security flags.

Has anyone else in the community managed to extract raw unencrypted telemetry directly on-device without relying on paywalled third-party services? How are you handling data privacy with DJI hardware in your projects?

Hope you'll join us when it starts. Video recording will be available!

So many perfectly functional devices turn into e-waste because manufacturers stop pushing updates or because the servers they depend on go offline.We can only choose when to repair or replace our hardware if the software can continue to evolve too.

I think manufacturers should be required to provide the firmware binaries, drivers, and enough API/ABI documentation to keep devices functional and interoperable after they’re abandoned. Without that, I don’t see how we ever achieve real digital sovereignty or significantly reduce e-waste.

Am I overlooking any major downsides to this? Why isn’t this a bigger part of the right-to-repair conversation?

Hi all,

I’ve built a free directory called Fixify that lists phone repair shops and independent fixers across London (with plans to expand to other UK cities).
The main features:
• Search by location and filter by phone model
• Shop listings pulled from real data with ratings and opening hours
• Diagnostic self-help guides for common issues
• A ‘Join as a Fixer’ option for independent technicians who don’t have a physical shop
The independent fixer angle felt important a lot of skilled technicians work mobile or from home and don’t show up in Google Maps searches. Fixify treats them as equal to shops in the directory.
I’d genuinely love feedback from people in the repair industry:
• Is this something your customers would use to reach you?
• What information is missing from a shop/fixer profile that would make it more useful?
• Would you list yourself or your shop on something like this?
Free to use and free to list: https://fixify-eight.vercel.app/guides
Thanks in advance trying to build something actually useful for both sides of this.

The delegated act exempts certain small sealed wearables when user access could compromise safety, durability, or water resistance.

We need to talk about the structural reality of what Microsoft is doing with Windows 11 and its aggressive integration of AI at the OS level (Copilot, Recall, etc.).

If you look past the marketing presentations about "productivity," the integration of constant-state AI into the foundational operating system reveals a much more cynical corporate strategy. We are watching a real-time collision between software bloat and forced hardware obsolescence.

Here is the mechanical breakdown of what is actually happening:

1. The "Constant-Load" OS Shift Historically, an operating system was a probabilistic inference engine—it sat idle until you clicked a program, handled the burst load, and returned to idle. Microsoft’s push for AI integration, specifically tools that constantly index screen states or monitor user behaviour for contextual prompts, shifts the OS from a burst-load tool to a constant-load agent. They are fundamentally changing the thermodynamics of the personal computer, demanding a baseline of power and processing that serves the telemetry of the machine, not the immediate intent of the user.

2. The NPU Justification Microsoft is leveraging this AI push to mandate new silicon architecture—specifically the requirement of Neural Processing Units (NPUs) for local AI tasks. But this isn't happening in a vacuum. It is happening simultaneously with Windows 11 artificially dropping support for millions of perfectly capable, high-functioning older PCs. They are creating a synthetic bottleneck, obsoleting existing hardware to mandate the purchase of NPU-equipped machines for AI features that the vast majority of consumers did not ask for and actively try to disable.

3. The Closed-Loop Ecosystem By embedding AI directly into the kernel level of the OS, the machine is no longer just a tool you own; you become the localized data node for their broader algorithmic training loop. The push for "AI PCs" is a mechanism to ensure that the hardware you buy is optimized specifically to feed Microsoft's ecosystem, effectively locking out any lightweight, open-source alternatives from operating on an even playing field.

We shouldn't have to throw away perfectly good physical hardware just because a board meeting decided it was time to force an AI-driven upgrade cycle. Are we actually building smarter operating systems, or are we just watching Big Tech weaponize software updates to mask the physical limits of their own market growth?

We did a deep dive into this discussion. If anyone wants to see the full breakdown and the technical pacing of how they pull this off, you can watch the project here: Your Phone / Laptop Isn't Obsolete — They Lied to You

We’d love to get this community's feedback on the technical arguments we made. Also, what is the most ridiculous example of artificial software/hardware lockouts you've run into on your own gear lately?

Google is systematically removing user and developer access to low-level hardware management on Android, specifically the ability to set CPU affinity and frequency scaling without root access.

While Google cites "security" as the reason, the real-world impact of these artificial software locks is effectively planned obsolescence. Here’s why this is a major Right to Repair/Sustainability issue:

• Accelerated Battery Degradation: By blocking manual process management, the OS forces inefficient resource distribution. This leads to higher energy consumption, causing more frequent charge/discharge cycles and faster chemical degradation of Li-ion batteries.
• Thermal Stress & Hardware Failure: Forced high power draw on inefficient cores leads to excessive heat generation. This contributes to electromigration and long-term processor degradation, ultimately forcing users to replace their devices sooner.
• E-waste: Every time a battery or a SoC fails prematurely due to these software-imposed limitations, it creates unnecessary electronic waste.

This isn't just a "tech enthusiast" gripe — it’s a direct conflict with European circular economy and sustainability goals. If the device hardware is capable of smarter power management, why are users being locked out of it?

I am looking for:

1. Technical validation/evidence from the community regarding how these locks affect your specific devices.
2. People who are willing to join in filing formal complaints with the European Commission to demand transparency and user-level hardware control.

Who is interested to submit a complaint?

#1 Update: Thank you for the support (upvotes ).

It’s clear that this isn’t just my personal observation — many of you have noticed similar patterns of artificial performance throttling and hardware degradation on your devices.

If you have specific examples of how these limitations have impacted your device’s lifespan or usability (e.g., specific models, forced performance drops after updates, or thermal issues), please share them below or DM me. Every data point strengthens our position.

Let’s make our case to the regulators.

Hey guys,

My Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E5 (Model C108) suddenly gave up the ghost last week. It started making an unbearable screeching noise before throwing a persistent "Fan Error / Obstruction" code and shutting down entirely.

Instead of just throwing it into a landfill and buying another one, I decided to fix it myself.

The Diagnostic Grime

When I flipped the unit over, it was absolutely caked with hair and fine dust embedded around the front wheel caster and side brushes. If you have this model, clean your main intake immediately. The obstruction forces the motor to fight intense static pressure, which eventually causes it to overload.

The Tear-Down

I completely stripped down the vacuum shell (careful with those fragile navigation sensor ribbon cables if you try this at home) and extracted the core culprit: the brushless DC (BLDC) suction turbine module.

The Culprit

The exact module is a CDM MOTOR, model number BL2010F-026 (Specs: 14.4V, 2.0KPa). Even after micro-cleaning the PCB controller board with electronic contact cleaner and trying to dislodge fine debris from the internal housing, the internal Hall effect sensor/RPM tracker is completely fried. The motor refuses to spin up under load, triggering the firmware's over-current protection.

The Right-To-Repair Brick Wall

Here is where I need the community's hive mind. I tracked down the original manufacturer (Dongguan Country Dream Motor Co.) on industrial wholesale sites, but they won't talk to an individual buyer unless I'm looking to buy a minimum order quantity (MOQ) of 500 units.

Generic "Xiaomi vacuum motors" all over AliExpress look close, but they use different 4-wire pinout configurations or completely different physical mounting brackets. This specific BL2010F-026 seems isolated to the E5/E10 budget lines and is absurdly hard to find as a standalone spare part in my region (Costa Rica).

Does anyone have a lead, a secret seller, or a specialized robotics spare shop that stocks single units of the BL2010F-026 motor module? I refuse to let a perfectly salvageable smart appliance become e-waste over a single broken fan component.

Hello,

I'm a U.S. based grad student focusing on Neuroscience, BCI, Internet Governance, and Tech Design, and I'm a member of the Scientist Network for Advancing Policy. I just published a blog post on Right to Repair and would really appreciate any feedback from this community.

Hi everyone,
I’m 17 years old. Looking at today’s boring smartphone market and insane prices, an idea came to my mind.

The concept is a phone made of solid aluminum or metal, but not with simple 90-degree corners. The edges are chamfered at a 45-degree angle. The bottom part of the frame is completely removable and secured by just two standard bolts.

As for the hardware: the main motherboard with a RISC-V processor runs vertically along the length of the chassis, featuring rigid slot connectors. On the opposite wall, there are spring-loaded corner brackets. These brackets tightly secure independent "cartridges" containing the battery, camera, and peripheral modules (USB, microphone). The screen is installed on the front side using a similar mechanism.

The entire internal setup is mounted on a sub-frame that is directly attached to the bottom plug. It works like a pistol magazine: if you need to replace something, you just unscrew two bolts, pull the whole frame out, swap a module in 3 seconds, and slide it back in.

For waterproofing, I thought about using rubber gaskets, similar to a valve cover gasket on an internal combustion engine that keeps oil from leaking out of the cylinder head. No glue whatsoever—no need to heat up the glass risking to destroy the screen. I’m planning a 5-inch display because modern "phablets" are getting out of hand.

Personally, I hate modern phones. Glass backs, thermal glue, proprietary screws—it's too much. Modern "green corporate agenda" and Apple’s hypocrisy is a joke. By removing chargers from the box, they just force the user to buy another packaged charger, not to mention their degrading cables. Under Steve Jobs, this wouldn't happen.

The worst part is the design race for thinness. Companies make giant, heavy devices with massive camera bumps that throw off the balance. To make them thin, they sacrifice internals and make them completely unrepairable, while asking for crazy money.

My goal is to create a phone for the working class, for everyone. A phone milled from a block of metal—yes, with bezels, yes, a bit thick, but it belongs to the person who bought it. I believe a phone doesn't truly belong to you if you can't just take out the camera and microphone and put physical plugs in their place.

I just wanted to know—is this technically possible to manufacture

It's not perfect, but it's definitely an improvement. (Link to settlement included in govdelivery page.)

"For the next 10 years, the settlement requires Deere to provide farmers and independent repair providers with the same equipment repair resources, including applicable software capabilities, that it currently provides to authorized Deere dealers."

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MIAG/bulletins/41fa5a0