Hello, I'm a total newbie to the Arduino/microprocessor world. Recently, I got a modified version (think so at least) of the Arduino uno. I made a few projects, was working fine. Until recently this happened.
I was thinking of giving it an alternative power supply than just the usb one. The idiot in me decided it would be a good idea to connect it to my pc charger.. It was working fine, the led was on (resistor connected, i don't really see a reason for me to put up a schematic) but then the Arduino started smoking, I didn't really know what happened until I did some debugging
Debugging
After spending way too much time on forums, I did a few tests. Well, I really couldn't, the Arduino wasn't being recognized by my laptop. But the green power led was turning on just fine. When i connected the 5v to reset, the power led got dimmer and when i pressed the reset button it turned off, at that point windows recognized it and gave me the 'your device my malfunctioning error' i still couldn't upload sketches. Then the voltage regulator got a bit hot when i did that
hardware
The 5v and ground pins still work, i can power led's with them. And the voltage regulator and the 500mA fuse seem fine, no bulges, and they aren't weak or anything. but something definitely got smoked, it wasn't in any other pictures of the Arduino uno, and it was completely burnt, I realized then I had been using a modified version of the Arduino. Check the picture.
I am totally fine with buying a new Arduino, but I'd preferer knowing what went wrong, and if theres any point in trying to reuse/fix it.
In the future, please take the time to pick the forum category that best suits the subject of your question. There is an "About the _____ category" topic at the top of each category that explains its purpose.
It's not worth trying to replace it. It'll be easier and cheaper to get a new board.
Prevent the problem from happening again by not exceeding the maximum ratings of the board. If you're unsure whether something may damage your device, ask on this forum before trying it.
Update:
Realised nothing was heating up and it was me being an idiot. 5v still supplies power and all ground pins work fine, I'm just having issues reading it on my laptop and uploading sketches. built in led turns on when i supply power. But the main chip heats up, i know I'm not supposed to do that - it was for the sake of testing. Please tell me if there's any way i can reuse it, or workarounds, I'm currently using it to supply power
Sounds like Schrödingers stove. Poor guy never managed to work out whether his feet were hot or cold.
If you managed to only fry the ATMrga328P chip, you can remove it and insert a new one. You may find that a replacement chip costs about the same as a complete board (clone at least). You may also find that with a new chip, it still doesn't work because something else was destroyed and you've not found it out yet.
That's not good practice in principle. It's a controller board, not a power supply.
