sudomod

my mintyPi will not power on. I think i have a bridged solder joint with ground and 5v. what is the best way to get those de-soldered?

Do you have a multimeter? You can tell for sure if you have a bridge with continuity mode.

As for desoldering. I would get some solder wick and wick up some excess solder. That may be enough to clean up the bridge.

I get continuity between vcc and gnd; I think the bridge is under the rasPi

Yeah thats too bad! Same suggestion though. Use solder wick, even if the bridge is between the pi/pcb the wick might be enough to soak it up.

If you've powered the build on with a short between power and ground it may be broken beyond repair. As Rodo said, you can use solder wick and try to wick up as much solder as possible. You should be able to wick up enough solder from the GPIO and the pad on the button PCB.

Just to confirm, you used clamps to clamp the pi down to the button PCB? It may seem like a silly step but if you leave a hairline gap between the 2 boards you're asking for solder to flow and create bridges.

Using plenty of liquid flux, you could also try using a needle tip solder end through the GPIO to try and draw some solder back and separate the bridge. Be careful not to overheat though. Until you break that bridge you wont know if the thing is dead.

If you do manage to remove the bridge, I recommend running wires from VCC and GND to test pads rather then re-attempting.

Good luck.

Cut the PiZero pcb around the GPIO pins. remove remaining piece of PCB. install new PiZero $10.