I was working with my Raspberry Pi 5 that was plugged into a power outlet but turned off (the red light was on). It had heatsinks glued on, and since it was off, those parts were still warm. I started by peeling off the smaller heatsink, which was quite stubborn and required some force. Unexpectedly, the green LED on the Raspberry Pi lit up. Not thinking much of it, I removed the larger heatsink next. After both were off, the green light switched to red, and that's where things went wrong. Now, it doesn't power on even when I connect the charger or swap it for a different one. It stays unresponsive without the SD card, and both the CPU and I/O are cold when powered. I checked the serial port but got no response. I'm at a loss here. Any ideas on what I can do?
3 Answers
To be honest, it doesn’t sound good. If it’s not responding at all now, there might be internal damage. Are you sure nothing else was affected when you removed the heatsinks? Sometimes those parts can be delicate, especially if they were on tight.
Yikes! I think you might have broken it for good if you forced the heatsinks off and created a short. If the green light is gone and nothing else is working, it might be time to consider getting a new one or checking with a professional if you want to salvage it.
It sounds like you might have shorted something when you removed the heatsinks. If there were conductive materials touching the bare PCB while it was powered, that could have caused a problem. It's possible some components are damaged now, so you might need to replace it or check for visible damage.
I just removed the radiators carefully without damaging anything else that I could see. But I appreciate the input!