Before I write anything else I need to emphasize that I can’t for sure know what happened during the period in which it updated or what’s at fault, I’m not directly blaming HA but it seems so weird and I wanted to report this just in case (sidenote - I literally had a HWA-2 in the mail while this happened and even if I could afford to replace this Pi I don’t know if I have the appetite to continue with HA now. I thought that this would be a better long-term option to something like a HomePod Mini and now I deeply regret going this route 
).
I had a HA setup going for about a week and (2026.4.0) and apart from beginner hurdles it worked well and I was relatively happy with it. The device itself is a Raspberry Pi 4B 2GB that was collecting dust, and it was powered using a UGREEN USB-C charger through a certified Lightning cable that ive used to charge other things (it is verified, not a fake cable). No problems.
A day or two ago I get the update for 2026.4.1 and so I update it, the app complains that a process is already running (something involving core itself which seems weird), so after trying and failing a few times I try to restart the device, and though it reports an error I don’t remember (I think it was once again complaining about a subroutine called core running), it appeared to restart after becoming unresponsive so I leave it to it’s business. I get back to it later in the day several hours later and I try to connect through the local website and app and nothing happens, but it’s late and I want to sleep so I decide to leave it.
I wake up later that morning and inspect the device when I have the time try to figure out what happened. The device seemed particularly hot compared to what I expected and I noticed the Ethernet port lights weren’t blinking on the router like they would, but I also remembered that Pi 4s had a reputation for being at least a little spicy so this heat didn’t strike me as unusual at the time. I unplugged it, tried re-plugging it in, then tried reinstalling HA OS on the SD card twice. Nothing. Other things I try at this point:
- Tried using different ethernet cables.
- Tried using different chargers (including the official Raspberry Pi 4 USB-C charger).
- Tried testing the router ethernet ports to make sure they still worked using other devices.
I leave it for another day as I don’t have the time for it.
I return to it this afternoon and on inspection find that the case has melted around the power connection and that the “Dialog” chip near the USB-C power connection appears blistered, I get the impression that the chip got fried at some point during this whole process. Pictures are included below:
(I’m a new user so I can’t post a second image of the melted plastic case, but it’s melted in the area around where the chip is, not where the USB-C power is)
For additional details:
- The charger was connected to a surge protector.
- The charging products aren’t knockoffs and haven’t damaged anything else I own in the years I’ve used them.
- No lightning-based weather, no apparent or reported power surges happened in the area.
- I used an official RPi 4b case and SD card.
- The weather in this area has remained cool the entire time.
- While it wasn’t put in a place with perfect ventilation, it wasn’t sandwiched between devices emitting lots of heat.
- Tried installing Raspberry Pi OS with pre-configured WiFi details, cannot SSH, never connects to my router.
I don’t have advanced soldering skills or a station so there’s no way I can fix this, I just need somewhere to report this as it’s been so disheartening and I need a sanity check on what happened here. Thanks in advance.
