So a few months ago I was doing some hardware mods on my V1 (aluminum shell and one pice digitizer/screen) and since I had it open I wanted to clean up my Trinket M0 install (mostly because @randy_w ’s install is so clean and mine worked but looked like hot garbage!)
I wanted to reroute my wires to the back side for a better look. Long story short I got the Trinket tidied up, the one piece glass mounted and the aluminum shell on and…buzz kill. No power.
Two DUMB things I did could have caused it…
1) I wanted to notch a place on the PCB for the wires to run from front to back and when I did it I was filled with regret as I instantly remembered it was a multi layered board. I did my best to clean up my mess and tried to test to make sure there were no shorts between layers before Impowere up, but honestly…I could have missed something.
2) while soldering in one of the Trinket wires I didn’t realize my iron was resting on a BGA chip. It melted the top a little and was hot enough to move a nearby capacitor. Wanted to kick myself but what can you do but hope for the best.
Here’s where it goes from bad to worse…
I bought a non-working parts board from eBay for $50 and an expensive ESR meter from Amazon. I probably could have bought another working V1 on eBay for what I paid, but I was determined to swap out the pieces I jacked up and fix the damn thing myself.
The parts arrived and I finally got the courage and will power to dive deep this morning. Gathered all my stuff on the dining room table and started learning that testing these little tiny capacitors is damn tedious work. I recalled another thread with a video where somebody plugged in a battery to a Switch mobo outside the case (potentially listening for boot sounds?) Dunno, but I’m retarded and decided I’d take a break from insect husbandry and see if I could hear anything during a bare mobo boot. I plugged my battery in to my parts board and put my ear down close to it so I could hear the quietest gnat fart…and a strange smell wafts across my nostrils. What the hell? Did my (long luxurious Covid induced) hair catch on fire? No, it’s not organic, what is that? Nobody in the kitchen so it’s not toast. It’s a familiar acrid smell. DAMN IT! The board is smokin like Snoop Dogg at a Martha Stewart cookout! I pulled the battery and assess the damage. What the HELL?!?! Double check to be sure I’m not missing any digits. I open the patio door before the wife comes down and yells at me for starting fires on the kitchen table. I’m shaking but not stirred. I look around and do what any reasonable engineer would do in this situation and I plug the battery into my original board to see if it will boot. Same smoke but this time the shame and disbelief that I did it not once but twice is just soul crushing.
So this idiot is taking a break from electrical escapades for today to think about my life choices and to surf eBay to find another V1…
Bottom Line: don’t plug the battery into a isolated motherboard unless you want to let the smoke out.
e: found an unbanned V1 for $170. Will be here Wednesday.
I wanted to reroute my wires to the back side for a better look. Long story short I got the Trinket tidied up, the one piece glass mounted and the aluminum shell on and…buzz kill. No power.
Two DUMB things I did could have caused it…
1) I wanted to notch a place on the PCB for the wires to run from front to back and when I did it I was filled with regret as I instantly remembered it was a multi layered board. I did my best to clean up my mess and tried to test to make sure there were no shorts between layers before Impowere up, but honestly…I could have missed something.
2) while soldering in one of the Trinket wires I didn’t realize my iron was resting on a BGA chip. It melted the top a little and was hot enough to move a nearby capacitor. Wanted to kick myself but what can you do but hope for the best.
Here’s where it goes from bad to worse…
I bought a non-working parts board from eBay for $50 and an expensive ESR meter from Amazon. I probably could have bought another working V1 on eBay for what I paid, but I was determined to swap out the pieces I jacked up and fix the damn thing myself.
The parts arrived and I finally got the courage and will power to dive deep this morning. Gathered all my stuff on the dining room table and started learning that testing these little tiny capacitors is damn tedious work. I recalled another thread with a video where somebody plugged in a battery to a Switch mobo outside the case (potentially listening for boot sounds?) Dunno, but I’m retarded and decided I’d take a break from insect husbandry and see if I could hear anything during a bare mobo boot. I plugged my battery in to my parts board and put my ear down close to it so I could hear the quietest gnat fart…and a strange smell wafts across my nostrils. What the hell? Did my (long luxurious Covid induced) hair catch on fire? No, it’s not organic, what is that? Nobody in the kitchen so it’s not toast. It’s a familiar acrid smell. DAMN IT! The board is smokin like Snoop Dogg at a Martha Stewart cookout! I pulled the battery and assess the damage. What the HELL?!?! Double check to be sure I’m not missing any digits. I open the patio door before the wife comes down and yells at me for starting fires on the kitchen table. I’m shaking but not stirred. I look around and do what any reasonable engineer would do in this situation and I plug the battery into my original board to see if it will boot. Same smoke but this time the shame and disbelief that I did it not once but twice is just soul crushing.
So this idiot is taking a break from electrical escapades for today to think about my life choices and to surf eBay to find another V1…
Bottom Line: don’t plug the battery into a isolated motherboard unless you want to let the smoke out.
e: found an unbanned V1 for $170. Will be here Wednesday.
Last edited by binkinator,
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