2025-11-25 11:52 AM
Hello,
I may have accidently either shorted or applied voltage to my UART TX and RX pins on my MCU which is on a custom PCB and now my PCB is pulling +60 mA of current under load. I am now experiencing difficulty programming the chip and I am getting errors such as "unable to recognize device" and "check power and cable". I wonder if exposing my UART pins to ground or power caused some sort of ESD or electrical damage inside the MCU and that combined with a longer power supply cable is causing a jump in current that makes it difficult to flash now?
Thank you.
2025-11-25 12:03 PM
Shorting GPIO pins to GND or VDD is not ESD damage and generally will not damage the chip.
> PCB is pulling +60 mA of current under load
So there likely is hardware damage. Could be that there are hardware issues that have caused damage cumulatively. Could be pins seeing overvoltage.
2025-11-25 12:08 PM
Dear @ym21 ,
Indeed it seems more like an EOS - Electrical Over Stress beyond the pins and product AMR - Absolute Maximum Rating . Can you keep your Reset/pin low and measure the current under reset and let us know ? If the current is excessive not few mA , the Device is damaged for sure .
Hope it helps you ,
STOne-32
2025-11-25 12:22 PM
When I pull NRST down to ground, the PCB is pulling elevated levels of current.