This article is currently an experimental machine translation and may contain errors. If anything is unclear, please refer to the original Chinese version. I am continuously working to improve the translation.
One evening, right after I finished migrating the WordPress data out of my Orange Pi, the HDMI output suddenly stopped working, and the green power indicator light turned off.
At first, I thought it might be a software or system issue. I tried re-flashing the OS and swapping out the SD card, but still—nothing happened when powering it on.
This board was actually sent back to the factory for repairs just a few months ago, and the shipping alone was quite expensive. So this time, I decided to try fixing it myself.
0x00 Initial Troubleshooting
After plugging in the power, I noticed that U3, an AMS-1117 regulator, was getting extremely hot—way too hot to touch. That’s probably where the problem lies.
0x01 Investigating the Chip
Looking up the AMS-1117 datasheet, I confirmed the pinout for the SOT-223 package.
datasheet
Using a multimeter, I measured the resistance between Vout and GND on this chip, and found it unusually low—around 2 ohms.
This suggests either the chip has failed internally (shorted), or there’s a short circuit somewhere in the load connected to its output.
I even tried cleaning the board thoroughly with flux remover and isopropyl alcohol, but the short persisted.
0x02 Checking the Downstream Load
I pulled up the Power Tree diagram for the Orange Pi PC 2.
If the chip itself isn’t dead, then either VCC-IO or something on the VCC-IO rail might be shorted to ground.
datasheet
Further checking the datasheet, I saw that VCC-IO powers several different subsystems.
datasheet
datasheet
This likely means I’d need to isolate each section by carefully cutting traces or desoldering components to locate the faulty part. Once found, I might have to replace another chip.
0x03 Cricket sounds (aka: Gave up for now)
My soldering skills are just not up to par, and… well, I’m also kind of lazy. Maybe I’ll get back to this someday when I actually feel motivated.
This article is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
Author: lyc8503, Article link: https://blog.lyc8503.net/en/post/orange-pi-repair/
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