nRF52832 module is outputting 0.59V. Is the module broken?

Question

I am bringing up a breakout board for an nRF52832 module (MDBT42Q) and can not get a response from the module. The breakout board has very little circuitry, mostly fanout of IO pins. It does have a 1.0uF capacitor on the DEC4 pin and I'm trying to communicate with a J-Link SWD interface, but get no response. When I measure the DEC4 pin, I see approximately 0.59V. Using a scope the pin appears to be ramping between 840mV and 500mV at about 147Hz. I do not have inductors between DCC & DEC4 pins installed on the board. 
 Is this module broken? I have the reset pin tied high and approximately 3.15V VDD. 
 Tom

tBStar · Accepted Answer

I've hand-soldered an MDBT42Q BLE module in the past, at least for me, it was nontrivial. I ended up solder join couple of non-essential pins but overall still workable with a 1.3ish V on DEC4. The only thing different I have is an LDO with 2 Caps since I am using Lipo battery. Other than, I have nothing else on the board. I was able to load Espruino on it with Segger J-Link without issues. 
 Try to power the module with a 3V coin cell without connecting anything to it and measure the DEC4 again. If you don't see 1.3V, that means 2 things: #1: you have joins that you missed or #2: the module is defective. 
 Good luck

nRF52832 module is outputting 0.59V. Is the module broken?

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