Post
Topic
Board Hardware
Re: Hacking a BFL Jalapeno to 20GH and beyond....
by
MrTeal
on 02/01/2014, 17:05:41 UTC
Remove the chip again, and check the resistance on the 3.3V rail. If it's below about 10 ohms or so, something is shorted and that's what keeps blowing the ST1S10.

Shorts on a main power rail like that are a huge PITA to debug. Depending on what you have available, there's a couple ways to find out what the issue is. The easiest way I know is to hook a lab supply at 3.3V up to 3.3V rail and turn the current limiting down. Grab an IR camera, and turn up the current until you see a hot spot. You can do the same with an IR thermometer, but it's more time consuming. A finger work too, but you need get the problem a lot hotter that way, and if it's something that's a QFN or one of the ASICs you might never notice it get hotter.

Without a current limited lab supply, it becomes more of a crapshoot. It's probably not worth trying to debug yourself if that's the case.