how to find out what is fried on an duemilanove.

Using Arduino IDE 1.x
1

Several days ago I just finished writing a program for a robotic platform and went to test it. when I did, the platform jerked and the micro controller slid and the under side touched metal, and then it stopped working. when you plug it up to usb the power light comes on like it always does and 1-2 seconds later it fades off. It also feels like the automatic power selector chip gets hot. the one that is next to the usb connector. http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDuemilanove
if that was shorting out, could I still use the board if i removed it?

ArduinoDuemilanove.jpg

2

It also feels like the automatic power selector chip gets hot

This is also known as a transistor.

if that was shorting out, could I still use the board if i removed it?

There is one really good way to find out.

3

Some things to try..

Disconnect it from your robot platform and test your Arduino in isolation.

  • Test it with a simple Blink sketch.
  • Try it with USB power and external power, do both, one or none work
  • Write a sketch that turns all the pins on as outputs then off again once a second. Test them all with a multimeter / led and resistor
  • Plug in a replacement ATMeg328 - make sure its one with an Arduino bootloader pre-installed

Before you use it on the platform again, put three rows of unsulating tape to cover the bottom of the board.