Cannot get a Raspberry pi to boot

Still cannot get the Raspberry pi to work after several frustrating tries.

The memory card was bought from a pi specific source. Reloaded it twice. Specifically initialized the card.

NTSC Video monitor flashes a time or two. Shows Nikon camera video just fine.

Waiting a long time on boot makes no difference.

Memory card shows the full 1.8 gigs uncompressed size.

2 gig card does not have its class posted on label.

Windows 8 makes running the checksum check difficult.

Removing the wireless mouse and keyboard before boot makes no difference.

Power supply is for a Motorola cell phone micro USB and seems to look and behave reasonably. Actual current unknown. Red LED lights quite bright.

Next, the power voltage will be checked and an oscilloscope used to see what if anything is on the video output. And a class 10 full 4 gig card will be tried. Also the first few hundred K of the memory card will be separately read for reasonableness.

The pi itself came from Allied Radio new and is not particularly suspect.

Help!

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Many thanks, 

Don Lancaster                          voice phone: (928)428-4073 
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Reply to
Don Lancaster
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I believe you should be able to connect a 3.3V serialport, such as an FTDI to pins on one of the connectors and get a console in/out

-Lasse

Reply to
langwadt

Try installing a *proper* operating system on it; one of the Linux flavours developed for it, preferably!

Reply to
orion.osiris

developed for it, preferably!

I tried using their recommended "Wheezy" operating system. Straight from the downloads section of their website.

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Many thanks, 

Don Lancaster                          voice phone: (928)428-4073 
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Reply to
Don Lancaster

developed for it, preferably!

As cheap as they are... buy another unit, and then debug the first.

Reply to
SoothSayer

Un bel giorno Don Lancaster digitò:

When you power on the board, do you see some activity for 1-2 minutes on one of the LEDs (it should be the one for the SD? If not, I would try another SD and if it still doesn't work I'd RMA the board. If yes, try this:

1) Connect the ethernet port to a DHCP-enabled network and check if the address is assigned (you can use nmap or any another network scan utility) and the board pings correctly; 2) Try with the HDMI output. The analog output is crappy anyway.
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Reply to
dalai lamah

Only the power led lights continuously. The other led's remain dark.

--
Many thanks, 

Don Lancaster                          voice phone: (928)428-4073 
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Reply to
Don Lancaster

Voltage measures 5.01 on the output connector.

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Many thanks, 

Don Lancaster                          voice phone: (928)428-4073 
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Reply to
Don Lancaster

Don--

Check the voltage across tp1 and tp2 on the RPI board; it should be

5VDC steady. The number one problem with RPI systems seems to be power supplies that can't deliver. Particularly the early boards are prone to hang or spontaneously reboot as USB devices are connected or started up, pulling down the +5 rail.

Find a Class IV 2GB card and install Raspian from the Raspberry Pi website on it. I have a couple of Class 10 cards that refuse to boot on the RPI, but the Class IV cards work fine!

Try video from the HDMI output rather than the NTSC one, if possible. That should show you more about the startup sequence and what progress is being made.

If you don't have something HDMI (or a DVI device and a HDMI to DVI cable), look at the "config.txt" file on the boot volume.

You should see:

sdtv_mode = 0

which selects NTSC (as opposed to PAL), and then remove the # in front of the line so you have:

hdmi_safe = 1

which sets things for maximum HDMI compatibility.

This stuff and more is described at:

formatting link

I hope this helps -- and I hope there's another RPI user or three local to you who can bring a working setup by and help you through the throes of startup. It can be a pain.

And thanks for all your contributions over the years (decades!) -- you helped give me the bug, and helped me pass it on to my kids.

Reply to
artie

Voltage measures 5.01 at the expansion connector. Using a 2GB card from a pi source with Wheezy. No leds ever light except for red power.

--
Many thanks, 

Don Lancaster                          voice phone: (928)428-4073 
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Reply to
Don Lancaster

Voltage measures 5.01 at the expansion connector. Using a 2GB card from a pi source with Wheezy. No leds ever light except for red power.

--
Many thanks, 

Don Lancaster                          voice phone: (928)428-4073 
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Reply to
Don Lancaster

Is this an NTSC specific boot image? RPi comes from UK and (antique) TVs speak PAL there.

I have not tested the analogue video output on my RPi for all I know it it turned off until configured.

I'd suggest gettign a HDMI or HDMI to DVI cable and connecting it to a more modern display

After booting is the USB live? (eg: does numlock work)

AIUI booting it will change the contents of the card, The debian image changes drastically on first boot.

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Reply to
Jasen Betts

Oh - it's windows. Most of the dd based utilities for Windows suck ass in general.

I did find a little utility that did the trick though. It's calle Flashnul. Lets you wipe and then image the card without issues.

Try that!

Reply to
T

this is the famous author Don Lancaster? unreal ! cmos cookbook etc? I used your books till the bindings gave out.

here I was thinking about a raspberry pi myself but if you can't get it to boot, forget about it.

I'm a fan, Don.

Reply to
mkr5000

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