Actually, I have seen and repaired several RioCar units where the stress from the overly short IDE cable *has* begun to tear the IDE header from the main PCB. So yes, it does happen, and not always just because of poor soldering at the factory.

The spacing between the header and first drive on the IDE cable is so taut that it does not allow for more than a millimetre or two of movement of the shock mount. Since the mount is regularly induced to move by vibration, and even by carrying the player by it's handle, what we are seeing is long-term consistent stress on the header solder joints. Eventually this just rips the copper traces right off the PCB -- the solder job stays intact, but the copper pads tear off!

Single drive players should have the drive plugged into the end connector on the IDE cable to prevent this stress -- the factory default was to use the middle connector for a single drive. Bad bad bad.

Dual-drive players really should have a new cable with longer spacing between the header and the first drive connector -- this will relieve stress on the header and thus extend the lifetime of the player by quite a bit.

Cheers