Hi so today I was using my arduino Uno R2 and I had it wired up to send 5v to a bread board. It was working fine all day then I bumped the bread board and the wires I used to ground and 5v volts came out and touched. My arduino stopped working after that. I know something is broken I just don't know wether it is the Atmega 328 or the arduino itself. When I plug the board into my computer the L led blinks the power light comes on but the Tx and Rx leds don't come on at all. The arduino software also does not read my board anymore. Every other function the board has like the 5v, reset, and 3v all work. Can anyone tell me what part is broken because I don't want to go out and buy a new board if it is just the Atmega 328 that went bad. Thanks.
I doubt it is the Atmega328 if the LED blinks when you turn it on.
Yeah I think it is the chip that converts the usb signal seeing as it is the Rx and Tx lights. Thans
That's not as easy to fix as it is a SMD device. However the board itself could still be used. You can program it through the 6-pin ISP header using something like the USBtinyISP device (around $20). Once you have one of those you can use it to program multiple devices so it is worth owning. Or if you have a second Arduino you can use Arduino as ISP to have it program the first one.