0

first post, totally Raspberry newbie. I've just got the Official Starter Kit (3b) from Amazon. I put the Pi in the case, inserted the pre-setup SD, connected HDMI to the television, a keyboard and mouse to the USB, then finally the power and turned on.

Nothing. Nothing displaying on TV, no led lights visible on the Pi. Basically absolutely nothing to show that anything is happening. Just in case it was the power supply I tried one from my phone. Same result.

Am I missing something important, or do you think I've been sent a faulty board? In other words, am I being stupid, or do I need to return this to Amazon?

many thanks.

John
  • 1
  • 1
  • how is it being powered? by micro-usb from an AC powersource, another PC, etc? – stevieb Sep 15 '16 at 20:33
  • No lights at all isn't a good sign. Do what you can to sanity check everything - replace each part of the power supply path (wall socket, wall wart, cable), and ensure power supply off at least 2A (preferably 2.5A). If possible, test the voltage of the supply with a meter. Make sure the pi isn't sitting on a metal surface, and that nothing's shorting the pins under the board. Remove everything, including the SD card, and try powering the board. If you have a known good, stable 5V supply you can try powering it by connecting 5V and ground directly to the corresponding pins on the GPIO connector – goobering Sep 15 '16 at 20:39
  • @ott-- There should only be one micro USB socket on the Pi 3. – goobering Sep 15 '16 at 21:19
  • @goobering You're right, mixed that with the Pi Zero. – ott-- Sep 15 '16 at 21:24

3 Answers3

2

It's possible the case is hiding the LEDs, because they are located differently on the 3 but otherwise the form factor is the same as the + and 2 models, which is what most cases are actually made for. So you might try taking it out of the case, disconnecting it from all peripherals, and plugging it in with no SD card. There should unmistakably be a red LED on kitty-corner to the power jack. If not try another power supply. If that doesn't work the board is defective.

If that works, unplug, put in the SD card, plug it in and pay attention. If you never see a green LED flash, it's possible the card was not imaged properly; you could try doing it yourself, preferably with another card.

goldilocks
  • 58,849
  • 17
  • 112
  • 227
0

Thanks for the replies - I've returned the Pi to Amazon, but here's what I tried first.

I tried the power supply that came with the Pi Starter Kit with a couple of my phones - none of them showed any sign that they were getting any power at all.

So, dud power supply perhaps? But then I tried my (definitely working) phone's power supply on the Pi, and there was still no result - not even any leds. The case wasn't hiding them, because by this point I'd taken it out of the case.

I can't quite believe that I got both a dud power supply AND a dud Pi, so now I'm honestly wondering if there's anything I might have done to break something. If so, I can't think what - I'm a total electronics newbie, but I've built a couple of my own PCs, so I'm fairly well aware of guarding against static, etc.

I'd value comments, because I'd love to try again, but if it was ME who broke the Pi, I'd like to be certain that I don't do again!

I mean, unpack the Pi - insert in case - plug in micro SD - plug in keyboard, mouse, and HDMI. Attach HDMI to TV. Plug in Pi power and turn on. ANYTHING wrong or dangerous there?

John
  • 1
  • 1
0

Wallwarts that connect your Pi via the USB-mini power connector are sometimes woefully under 5V. Even if the wallwart is putting out 5V, the wires in a USB cable will have an I*R drop of around 250mV, so that the 5V is around 4.75V by the time the Pi sees it -- totally marginal.

I made my own battery-backed up power supply that regulates a 12V@5A input down to 5V for the pi. If anyone's interested, I even had PCBExpress make me four prototypes (around $170 for the Raw PCBs!). I corrected the protoype's artwork, so all the parts have no fitting problems. I can send anyone the schematics, and the *.pcb file to make your own supply (Note: a 9V transistor battery will not last very long, powering an RPi load, but it's better than having the RPi lose power if the 120ACV to your house should die!)

Stychokiller
  • 1