I was developing some software for my Pico W and while holding down the bootsel button to program the board the button popped off. The silver ring came off and it’s so small I can’t really see how to reattach it, or tell if the button housing itself is broken. Is there a trick to either getting this back together or booting the board into programming mode only using software?
The fix I would make would be replacing the physical button. However, this isn’t a simple fix unless you have a fair amount of SMT soldering/reflow/rework experience. You could hot air it off and reflow a replacement button (if you can source a 1-to-1 replacement). Otherwise you could reflow it off and “hot wire” a different kind of button with some of the same electrical specs.
In the product description, it also says this: “There are SMT pads underneath the USB connector and BOOTSEL button, which allow these signals to be accessed if used as a reflow-soldered SMT module.”
A third option would be placing the silicon pad and then the ring back into place. Then taking something hot and lightly melt the four corners of the plastic housing back “on to” the metal ring. This could ruin the switch further if not done correctly, so tread carefully.
Or you could just buy a new pico w. There are many options, best of luck.