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CC2541: CC Debugger red light goes off as soon as I connect custom CC2541 Board, Board then gets very hot?

Part Number: CC2541

I have a custom cc2541 flex PCB (5 pieces) that I fabricated in one of the major fab houses.

As soon as I received them, I hooked one up to the CC Debugger and the red light went off, the board got hot, and I suspect I fried a bunch of components due to the nasty smell.

I had an Independent PCB designer look at the Gerbers to make sure it wasn't a problem from the fab house and he said everything looked okay.

He suggested I check for a short between the supply and ground.

This is the image of the board:

And the schematic:

I don't want to destroy any more boards so I would appreciate a step-by-step guide on which sections/components to test with a multimeter so I can figure out whether there is a short circuit.

Thanks!

  • Hi George,

    If you'd like to submit your design for review of the CC2541 portion of the design please submit via https://www.ti.com/tool/SIMPLELINK-2-4GHZ-DESIGN-REVIEWS

    Include the schematic and gerbers. We can review and highlight any issues we find.

    If the design is sound then there could be a manufacturing error (solder bridge somewhere or something like that). Barring that, then it's just debug practices. You noted that the PCB got quite hot. Noting which components got hot and that can help you narrow down the area where the suspected short might be. Look closely for damage to components as that can also help identify the areas where the short might be. Then it's the case of going through your design in the suspected area and checking pins and traces for shorts.

    It's also good to go through and double check the rotation of your components to make sure there were no assembly errors.

    Thanks,

    Jake