Hello,
I'm fairly confident that I've permanently damaged either the ESP-32-S3 or the RA4M1 on my board and have been unsuccessful in fixing the problem, as my computer is unable to form/detect a serial connection on its COM ports with the board. This had led me to wonder if there is any way to use the onboard electronic components with an external MCU. I'd thought about connecting another Arduino to it, pin by pin. Is this possible or just a far-fetched dream?
You determined that your UNO R4 WiFi is damaged. How? Let me guess, you can't upload. That is because it is in DFU mode, just look at your list of USB devices and you will see an extra USB device.
I have looked. In device manager, both in the COM ports section and the three USB devices tabs. Its not detected. I've tried all the methods described in this thread, plus a few more.
That is an incredibly open ended question. The only possible answer is that it may or may not be possible, depending on exactly what you mean.
Since you've provided no details on what exactly you did to the board that led you to this conclusion, I suppose we'll just have to accept that at face value and wish you good luck in figuring it out.
Well, I brought it to class and a friend of mine knocked it off the table, then it stopped working. Also, to elaborate, I want to use the operational amplifier on the board (plus a few other components) and i wanted to know if its possible to interface the boards hardware (not MCU) with some other MCU to use what's on-board or if I'd have to de-solder some of the SMD components and mount them on another pcb.
Then your original hypothesis is quite likely incorrect. What has likely happened is that a solder joint on the board has cracked, or one (or more) component(s) has been knocked off.
As for using non processor components on the board without severing their connections to the (presumable to be non powered) processor(s), I would think that's unlikely to be a fruitful exercise.
However, if you have the skill to remove SMD components as you indicated, should not repair of the board should be within your capabilities?
A visual inspection against a complete board (of which there are numerous hi res pictures available on the web) should identify any missing components, and a hot air rework station should be sufficient to attach replacement parts - and the station might also be all you need to repair a cracked solder joint. However, the latter is speculation on my part and it would be good to hear from someone more proficient in surface mount repair work than myself.
I hadn't thought of that, I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the recommendations!
Where is this on the schematic then?
It's connected to pins A1-A3. I didn't check the schematics, but I found out it was there while checking for the solution to my problem here: https://docs.arduino.cc/tutorials/uno-r4-wifi/opamp/
So it looks like this is not a real component but a property of the board. Therefore it can not be dislodged and so you can't replace it.
The OPAmp is integrated in the Renesas MCU. It is not an external component on the board.