Is my AtxRaspi recoverable?

Started by Downsider, September 01, 2023, 04:40:38 PM

Downsider

After going through the installation guides and testing out my AtxRaspi, I finally got it working, performing shutdown and reboot through both the momentary and soft buttons. This left me with one last task, soldering connecting wires from the board to the status LED in my button.

Unfortunately, through a mixture of bad soldering and clumsiness, I somehow managed to desolder one of the microelectronic components on the board itself. After the panic had settled and I could take stock of the situation, I figured that unless I could get the component resoldered then the board was dead (I didn't dare test it in case that damaged other components, or potentially my Pi). 45 minutes of fiddley maneuvering later, it looked like I had managed to get it fixed in place and seemingly reconnected to the board, albeit at a slightly askew angle. I ran a test and my Pi booted up successfully, much to my amazement. However, all attempts at graceful shutdown now fail; the any interaction with the button or soft button now trigger a restart rather than shutdown, no matter how long the button is held for.

The component I dislodged is the one circled in blue in the attached image, labelled with "472". I'm guessing this is a resister and that it's either dead or not truely soldered back to the board. It is also possible that I have another short somewhere; my soldering of the status LED wires did not go well and although I think I have no solder bridges, it's not a certainty.

It's not the end of the world for me to have to buy another board, however it would be a hassle. From the symptoms I have described, does anyone have an idea where the problem might lie and if it might be fixable?

Felix

Hard to tell from the photo. But. That 4.7k resistor may no longer have a good terminal.
In which case it needs to be replaced. And the rest of the joints cleaned up and resoldered.
A cold solder joint may also be the cause of a non or partially working board.
I would offer to repair it for you, if you're willing to send it back and cover shipping. Not sure with today's inflated postage prices that is really more worth than buying a $17 brand new board, IMO.

PS. Soldering is an easy skill to pick up after some practice and there's tons of resources on YT with great tips and advice. A good soldering job is required on these and any electronic boards with headers/connectors. Otherwise things can not work at all or they may appear to work then stop working later.