[joester]

That is a surface-mount ferrite bead, and it's quite solderable. There is no polarity. Use as little flux as possible, and remember the 3 second rule...
Solder one side, 3 seconds max with heat applied, wait 3 seconds, solder the second side, heat applied 3 seconds max.

Joe

[Moriendi]

Hi All.

I've got a kaput DS which is possibly fixable, but not sure. I know nothing about electronics apart from school level physics (and that was some time ago) - can use a soldering iron OK though!

It was dropped and can no longer switch on (as if power switch is broken).

I took it apart expecting to find a broken switch but instead a small component fell out - lucky I caught it because it's the size of a gnats fart.

It's this bit here...

http://www.n-mod.com/mods/DSL/layoutdsl/index.html

Look at the bottom picture (back of the mobo), go left of the white gunk, there's a component with "100" stamped on it, then another component, then the power switch with the black switch sticking out to the left.

See that component in the middle ? Black in the middle with 2 silver sides. It's that thing. What is it ? Is it a transistor ? The questions are - is it heat sensitive ? Can I solder it ? Is it polarity conscious ?

I can see clearly where it's come off the mobo, the legs are still on the mobo and there's enough to solder to.

Just wondering if it's fixable. Could buy a donor DS off Ebay but it would be good if I didn't have to.

Thanks all.

Moriendi.