Zedboard doesn't boot - Blue light doesn't turn on

Question

I received a Zedboard Shipped from a friend for getting some hands-on experience, I tried booting from SD Card and QSPI Flash but cannot get the Blue LED to turn on or anything other than the Power LED to turn on in both the cases. My friend mentioned and sent me pictures where he had Linux booted on it from SD Card without any problems.

I've tried :

Reflashing the SD Card Image - Both Zedboard OOB and Analog Devices Image for Zedboard - it's a 32GB SDHC Sandisk card.
Triple checked the jumpers and configurations and all of them seem to match as per the documentation.
Tried with another SD Card and - Clean Formatted to FAT32.
I get ttyACM0 show up In my Terminal but no Data is sent or received through it when i tried connecting to it.
Visually checking it for any physical damage and to see if any part of it is heating up / shorted - None of them was hot and no burnt signs on the board were found.
I even tested the jumper pins assuming it could be that, but all of them were properly shorted according to the documentation when I tested it with a DMM.

Also, This is my first time with Zedboard, I've previously used Altera boards and those worked without any problem.

What should I do next?

drozwood90 · Accepted Answer

Hi there,

First, you might have better luck on the Digilent Forums. They actively support this.
Second, you might want to use the SDCARD your friend used or use the one that is included (there should be a Delkin card included in the kit). Xilinx parts can be very particular about which SDCARD they use and not all SanDisk cards will work. The included Delkin is a tested and known good card.
Seems you have checked everything I would have suggested - except, ESD. If you touched the board with a static charge, you might have damaged the board. There is a reason these bare boards are shipped in ESD bags! Always touch a known good grounding point, wear an ESD strap or similar (properly tested as good) before you touch the board
Lastly, if you set the board for QSPI boot, unless your friend changed something, you should be able to boot the factory image. If that does not boot, I am going to lean towards the board having been damaged through ESD.

--Dan

P.S. be really cautious using a DMM to test things on this board. There are a LOT of places this board is not rated for higher voltages (some as low as 1.2V). Depending on the age, quality, and mode of testing of/for your DMM it might be outputting a higher voltage when testing your circuit and depending on the exact path of current flow, you could be causing board damage.