Short circuited some pins on a stepstick, now Sanguinololu is broken (i think)

While settting the correct Vref for the driver current on my "Ice Blue Stepsticks" I accidentally short circuited two pins on the Stepstick:

• the GND pin on Y-axis stepper
• the VMOT pin on the Z axis stepper

(check screenshot & [www.think3dprint3d.com])

Now the Y-motor is shaking and ratteling and makes a lot of noise (no more fluent movement like before).

I tried to determine the cause by doing these steps:

• Y-motor on Y-stepstick = NOK (shaking & noise)
• Y-motor on X-stepstick = OK, y-motor runs smooth, makes me think the stepstick or the motor is broken
• then exchanged the X and Y stepsticks = Y stepstick driver is in X position on sanguinololu now
• Y-motor on X-stepstick = OK, y-motor runs smooth, makes me think there is no problem with the stepstick but the motor is fried
• Y-motor on Y-stepstick = NOK (shaking and noise), proves to me that motors & stepsticks are FINE!?
• X-motor on X-stepstick = OK
• X-motor on Y-stepstick = NOK

So this pinpoints that the problem are not the stepper motors NOR the stepper drivers?
Can I then conclude that my Sanguinololu 1.3a is fried somewhere? Can I test this in any way?

I can still connect to pronterface and send all commands and the printer reacts. Only for the Y-axis the motor starts ratteling (on all kinds of Vref voltages)

Shall I buy a new Sanguinololu or does anyone know where to find the bug here?

Ice Blue Stepsticks: [www.think3dprint3d.com]

Thanks in advance for your time and expertise!
--Kenny

Update: These is the connection I made (check attached Sanguinololu schematic)

Could this cause a power issue to the Y-axis only on the Sanguinololu board?

If you shorted only those pins, then the Stepstick shouldn't be affected since it was across the power and ground rails.

More than likely you overheated the ground contact on the Pololu connector. Remove the Y stepstick, examine the pins and socket for melting or other damage, and see if one of the working Stepsticks behaves the same way when used in the Y Pololu socket. At best, reseating the driver will fix it, or you may have to replace the socket.

Thank you Pokey! It was indeed a short circuit (some solder bridged 2 connections) on the backside of the PCB.

I already ordered new stepsticks and a Atmega but I can still cancel that.

Now all my axis work fine! That makes me very happy and will now discover the next steps in making my first reprap.

Cheers!