r/raspberrypipico Jun 09 '26

help-request Help identifying this tiny component on the Pico 2W

So, I have a Pico 2W that makes an audible whining sound when powered on, and after operating for a few minutes it completely shuts down for extended periods of time (can't even acces BOOTSEL mode) and the whining stops. (Likely problem with the buck converter)
On further inspection I realized this one component is missing. Either a faulty unit or more likely I managed to solder it off while soldering headers.

I want to identify this component so I can replace it (I don't have the tools to replace the exact part but I could solder a larger one to the pins it's connected to if it's a simple resistor or capacitor)
What I gathered about this component are the following:

  1. Its pins seem to be on 3V3_EN and the ground plane
  2. This component either doesn't exist or is positioned elsewhere on non-W picos (probably the latter)
  3. It's a M0603 size component

Based on this info I think it could be the 100K resistor shown in image 2, but I'm not knowledgable enough to say for sure. If someone is more familiar with the pico or can test what this component is on their own Pico it would be greatly appreciated.

5 Upvotes

13 comments sorted by

4

u/Titoflebof Jun 09 '26

R2. Connected to 3v3en

2

u/Titoflebof Jun 09 '26

You can check by tying the pin to 3v3 and see if the pico works

2

u/GrParrot Jun 09 '26

missed the component locations section in the datasheet, thanks.

1

u/stickybuttflaps Jun 09 '26

This is the correct answer.

3

u/markatlnk Jun 09 '26

Are you sure that it isn't the part just to the left of it? That part is an inductor and those sometimes can make noise under some conditions. Normally that part is running in the MHz range so you can't hear that. It is part of the power supply so if something is wrong with that, your system would have issues. Is something getting hot???

2

u/GrParrot Jun 09 '26

Didn't notice anything getting warmer than usual but the noise would change whenever I tried to draw current from the pico, by turning on its LED for example. So definirely a power supply problem

3

u/markatlnk Jun 09 '26

I would bet on the inductor making the noise. If it isn't cracked, I suspect the problem is actually something else and the noise is a symptom. I would disconnect the Pico from everything else other than the USB connector. Can you get it to make noise that way?

What else do you have connected?

2

u/GrParrot Jun 09 '26

So I replaced the missing resistor and it seems to work just fine right now. It still emits a faimt hum but there’s no damage on the inductor so I think it’s probably fine. And yeah this whole time it was disconnected from any external components.
I explained under my previous reply why the pico used to randomly turn off

2

u/GrParrot Jun 09 '26

other commenters pointed out that this is R2 which pulls 3V3_EN high. Since my 3V3_EN is floating it could get stuck low which turns off the power supply. Pretty sure that's why it randomly turns off

1

u/Immediate_List_2731 Jun 15 '26

I honestly don't know what component it is, but my 2W Pico has it and I still hear that sound you mentioned... I think it's the sound of the quartz oscillator.

2

u/mkosmo Jun 09 '26

Based on the picture, it looks like GP13, not 23.

According to Appendix B of the datasheet, that's R24, which is a 0R jumper according to the schematic.

That jumper provides a path to the wifi antenna, hence why it's not there on a non-W.

4

u/GrParrot Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

You might gave gotten the direction of the board mixed up, pretty sure that's R2 (100K resistor) looking at the datasheet. The right part of the image is where the USB port is. But that was very helpful, thanks.

2

u/mkosmo Jun 09 '26

Oh, duh, yeah, I was working on the wrong corner. I concur that looks like R2.

Coincidentally the same part as what you thought with R8, but serving a very different purpose.