Buffalo II module does not power up

[BrianDonegan]

Try powering it without the firmware chip

[kamaths]

Thanks for the reply. Is it the socketed chip on the right? I want to be sure before I do anything silly.

[avr300]

Yes it is. Labeled Atmel. Gently remove it, notice the orientation.

[tauro0221]

Hi,
Check the resistance at the Buffalo voltage input connector to see if you have a short in the board. Low resistance reading means you have a short some place in the Buffalo board.

[kamaths]

Resistance at the input connector with or without firmware chips 15kohms
Pulling the firmware chip out and reconnecting placid did not solve the problem

[tauro0221]

Hi,
Try connecting a 15K resistance to the power supply without connecting it to the Buffalo board. Check the output voltage from the power supply.

[ronpod]

kamaths,

Your earlier series of pics included an underside shot of the BII board (no longer included). On the lower set of the riser pins (to the elevated power supply) there appeared to be a little soldering swarf; does that clean off by simply pushing it off? All remnants of the soldering process should be cleaned off with alcohol and a cotton-tipped swab. If the solder sticks and does not budge then it may be an unintended soldering bridge that may be part of your problem. I came back to your thread and wished to take a better look at that area but that pic no longer displays on my browser.

Hope this is some help,
Ron.

[kamaths]

It appeared to some flux residue, I cleaned the board again especially around the pins with a cotton swab dipped in Flux Off. Unfortunately no luck.

[glt]

Tauro0221 has a good idea. You want to determine if the Placid is at fault.

Operating, the Placid should provide ~400 mA at 5.5V. This means (with the equation V=IR), that a resistor of ~13 ohm should simulate your current consumption. Get a bunch of resistors together and put them in parallel with (because it will get very hot) to obtain say 15 ohm. if you put 6 100 ohm resistors in parallel, you will get 100/6=16.6 ohm and 7 resistors will be 14.3 ohm. Then connect the resistors to the output of the Placid and see what happens. If the voltages of the Placid are maintained and the resistors get hot, Then the Placid is working correctly.

[Russ White]

measure the resistance across the caps around the voltage regulators on the Buf-II. If there is a short somewhere on the board (even after the caps) that test should show it.