this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2026
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Hardware

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(Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong community!)

A Raspberry Pi 5 I use (not the one in the photo) fell off the table, and the black square component pointed at by the arrow was straight knocked off the board. Yeah, if you needed a reason why you should always use a case, this is one, ooops lol...

It looks like it came off cleanly, leaving two square metal pads below. I still have the component, the small black box. This happened while the Raspberry Pi was running, and the power LED went from green to red in an instant. Afterward, booting was no longer possible. So, my questions:

  1. If this happened while it was running, is it likely that this fried something else and it's not worth getting fixed? Or is this likely fixable?

  2. If I want to get this fixed, how do you guys find a good local repair shop? I heard some apparently do sloppy soldering jobs, and given the RAM prices I would like not to have this Raspberry Pi unnecessarily damaged further if it's salvageable. I live in Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany, if anybody knows good local places.

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[–] WhiteRice@lemmy.ml 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A local cellphone repair shop should have the necessary micro soldering skills and equipment.

[–] ell1e@leminal.space 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Thanks! So do you have any suggestions on how to find a good one? Something like Google reviews, or what other approach do people use? I don't care for super cheapest.

I'm also now wondering if the component that fell off had a fixed orientation (since it would fit in two angles, if you rotate it 180 degrees horizontally it sits on top just the same) and whether the shop would need to know that.

[–] elmicha@feddit.org 2 points 6 days ago

Maybe a repair cafe can solder it, or recommend a shop.