Am I completely fucked or is this fixable?

I don't care what's it gonna take. I just want a connection. I guess I can connect the VCC to another voltage source, but I have the same thing happened to TX on another circuit board, although that one can "flip" (it is still attached marginally... at one end).

Board: T Deck Lilygo.

17 comments

Usually you can scrape off the solder mask to expose the copper layer, then use a bodge wire to connect the trace to the connector.
- This is mostly likely the best solution. There are land repair kits but it does take a lot of finesse to get those right.
  
  scraping off the solder mask and then soldering a wire to it also takes a lot of finesse. I have primitive equipment and and not that skilled. I probably end up butchering it. What about connecting bodge wires directly to the ESP? For the 3V as well as TX/RX (if they are broken too): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z16hluqgr6eca1w3kz3j3/TDeck-circuitboard.png?rlkey=lpdhqm5cq0crldp02jcz0agc6&dl=0
Find another good place this goes to and do a bodge wire.
I think (but you'd have to check) RX/TX connect directly to the ESP board, so that's an easy place to put in a bodge wire to.
VCC probably goes to the switch on the side? That would be easy to bodge to as well.
- so I looked up the schematic and I fitted my reasoning into this image:
  https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z16hluqgr6eca1w3kz3j3/TDeck-circuitboard.png?rlkey=lpdhqm5cq0crldp02jcz0agc6&dl=0
  So these connectors on the ESP are probably the correct ones?
  
  Yes it's as simple as that. I would recommend checking with a multimeter to be sure of the connections.
  Simply run a wire from the connector to the right pin on the ESP board. You can solder to the side to make it easier.
  One thing to look out for is sometimes schematics mention the ESP pin and sometimes they mention the ESP board pin, which is different. That's why it's a good idea to double check you have the right pin. You can check out the ESP datasheet to check which pins are TX and RX and use a multimeter to beep it all out. Once you know you've got it right, solder a little bodge wire and it's all fixed.
Should be easy. When you follow the lost pads' trace, it goes through a through-hole just above the RTX pad. Scratch it free, solder a small wire in there (verify that you've got contact!), then solder the connector onto the remaining pads and solder the wire to the VCC pin of the connector.
Pro tip: Don't yank on the cables!
- I yanked a connector that I wanted to remove. I don't have needle thin nippers/pincers, and when I held my iron against the pads nothing happened. Am I missing something?
  I guess a good set of nippers, but idk man...
I just fixed a similar problem while I was replacing an SMD cap. Same solution as the rest of the comments: Solder and a small wire. (It was just a larger decoupling cap anyways.)
Actually, I expanded on that in an extreme way with more solder and more wire to fix the joints on a barrel jack that was breaking off on the same board from above. My point is that brute force repairs are OK, even if it looks like shit. A simple repair can go a very long way, actually.

17 comments