USB and LAN ports not working

cheapest multimeters are probably from cpc (part of farnell group) but when you add P&P its probably cheaper, and a lot less frustrating, to get one from maplin or the like if you have one near you..... me, I;m lucky as cpc is my local store (preston, lancs)

as for cables.......... NEVER trust that they're ok (they usually are)... I always remember a delivery of 100 screened audio cables.. they buzzed like hell and turned out to be standard (unscreened) cables.

on complaining, they checked stock and found out they had several thousand like it...... its not common but it does happen.

I agree with the general comments.... check all voltages first.... the board is designed for learning about systems... you ought to be able to take multimeter readings.. BUT more importantly... It OUGHT to work FIRST time.

I really like coder27's suggestion that a  multimeter would make an interesting addition to an RPi bundle.  Or alternatively, if not bundled then a very cheap multimeter could at least be listed on the RPi accessories page.

This isn't really in answer to Mark's RPi not booting of course, since booting should be verified on every single unit at the factory and must be expected to work, along with most other testable functionality.  It's more to do with the fact that I consider a multimeter to be a highly valuable educational instrument, and given that the Pi is a bare board and not cased, to some extent every Pi purchaser is "messing with hardware".  Even if the only thing that they are doing is to plug in connectors, the Pi has exposed power and signal lines and there's no getting away from that.

I know that I'm soapboxing this subject a bit, but I really feel that anyone buying an uncased Pi should do themselves an educational favour and buy a multimeter too if they don't have one already.

Morgaine.

I really like coder27's suggestion that a  multimeter would make an interesting addition to an RPi bundle.  Or alternatively, if not bundled then a very cheap multimeter could at least be listed on the RPi accessories page.

This isn't really in answer to Mark's RPi not booting of course, since booting should be verified on every single unit at the factory and must be expected to work, along with most other testable functionality.  It's more to do with the fact that I consider a multimeter to be a highly valuable educational instrument, and given that the Pi is a bare board and not cased, to some extent every Pi purchaser is "messing with hardware".  Even if the only thing that they are doing is to plug in connectors, the Pi has exposed power and signal lines and there's no getting away from that.

I know that I'm soapboxing this subject a bit, but I really feel that anyone buying an uncased Pi should do themselves an educational favour and buy a multimeter too if they don't have one already.

Morgaine.