/diy/ - Do It Yourself

this mpu6500 shows no signs of life, doesn't respond at all. I've used various libraries/example codes to communicate with it using an esp32 but no go
I checked the connections on the board using a multimeter, the i2c pins correspond to pins on the small IC there (actual MPU), the VCC pin goes to a voltage regulator, and the output pin of the regulator goes to one on the mpu chip
Thoughever, what puzzles me is that there seems to be nothing connected to the gnd output pin of the regulator, there is no ground pin on the mpu.
How do I further test it? The chip looks crooked. Can this be repaired or should I buy a new one?