roboRIO 2.0 no code / sd card corrupting randomly

[Patribots]

The last time our roboRIO worked without issue was our "finals" match 3, on October 15th, of Battle at The Border (https://youtu.be/Y0oPJTyiFeU), an offseason event for the FIRST Robotics Competition. Our team number is 4738, we are the green robot with a two-joint arm. During the match, there was nothing out of the ordinary, the robot had no errors and was not physically damaged by any other robots, but after that match had ended, there was an unusual error deploying new code to the robot. Upon further inspection of the robot, the RSL was not turning on even after the robot's power was cycled. A multimeter confirmed that there was no voltage on the RSL port. This made the robot unusable, as it would not accept new code and was erroring NO ROBOT CODE on our IDE. A temporary resolution to this issue was found by re-flashing the SD card with new firmware, which allowed code to be sent again. This also returned power to the RSL port and light. This process, though, took almost 10 minutes and nearly caused us to have no code before a match. Unfortunately, during the days following, there was a total of three times that the robot "lost code" and we had to re-flash the SD card due to what appeared to be random outages. The only telltale sign there was an issue was the RSL turning off, which would cause the roboRIO to lose code if rebooted. Nothing could predict when the RSL would go out. New SD cards were bought with the hope of fixing the error, as we thought the SD card was the issue. But the issue prevailed no matter which card was used. The SD cards stay in the slot securely and seem to have a good connection even when jostled and there is no visible damage to the device, including the SD card slot.  The robot is not seen going through rough play and the RIO 2.0 is secured to the robot. This issue was not present during the main season of the robot, where it had gone through three regionals (42 official matches, over 100 hours of activity on the robot) as well as a plane flight to Houston (and back) where it worked perfectly afterward. Since the first appearance of the problem, it now experienced outages even more often. The firmware that has been run on the device is FRC_roboRIO2_2023_v3.2.

[daguero]

Hi,
 
This is Diego from NI.
 
These are generally caused by metal shavings falling inside the case. Could you please remove the SD card and inspect the slot for any metal shards.

You can also try the following steps with the device open (removing the screws on the back and the two screws at the port, this will not void the warranty):
1. Turn the roboRIO upside down and shake it vigorously.
2. Vacuuming out the ports on the roboRIO.
3. Check with a flashlight for material making contact in the port pinouts.

[Patribots]

Hi Diego,

We opened up the Rio and saw no metal shavings on the board or in the ports, we also checked with a flashlight in the as card slot, usbs, and other pins. With the Rio open we also used compressed air to blow off anything that might be contacting the board. We put it back in the robot and tested again. It worked for about 20 mins but then the RSL turned off again and after trying to upload code again it continued to say no robot code.

[Patribots]

No rush but it’d be nice to know if we can get our Rio fixed or RMAed before the season starts.

[daguero]

Hi Patribots,

I'm sorry for the delay.

I've sent you a direct message to coordinate the repair