BPI-R4-NIC-BE14 looks dead

[szern]

I had been using BPI R4 with the BE14 WiFi card for a month with no issues. It’s been used for a very light load. I am on the most up to date stable OpenWRT (OpenWrt 25.12.5 r33051-f5dae5ece4).

Suddenly the router stopped working. I saw the WiFi network drop, and the board turned off completely.

When I try to turn on the R4 now with SW4 switch in the on position, the mPCIe 12V LED on the board is flashing. When I switch SW4 to off, the router boots up fine (without WiFi obviously).

The board also seems to have developed a bit of a coil whine too - not sure if this is significant.

I’ve been powering it via a ThinkPad 65W USB-C laptop charger and it worked fine so far. Alternative power supplies also produce the same outcome.

Does this mean there’s a problem with the board or just the WiFi card is gone? How would I go about troubleshooting this?

[hyf (hyf9929)]

@szern

When I try to turn on the R4 now with SW4 switch in the on position, the mPCIe 12V LED on the board is flashing. When I switch SW4 to off, the router boots up fine (without WiFi obviously).

It’s impossible to determine which one is faulty at this point.

Do you have any other mPCIe devices for comparison and verification? This would make it easier to diagnose. Also, remember to turn off the 12V switch when using it.

[szern]

@hyf

Also, remember to turn off the 12V switch when using it.

I assume that’s the SW4. Yeah, the board won’t turn on at all with it in the on position, so I’m keeping it in the off position.

@hyf

Do you have any other mPCIe devices for comparison and verification?

No, unfortunately not.

[hyf (hyf9929)]

This switch controls the DC12V supply to the two terminals of the MiniPCIe, so I guess that the device might be faulty, causing it to short-circuit?