New RPi seems not to work

There are some suggestions at the RasPi Troubleshooting Wiki: http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting#Power_.2F_Start-up.  Are you getting any flickering of the green OK LED?  That would suggest that the BCM2835 is reading the SD card and trying to boot.

I've heard of people having trouble with Win32DiskImager.  Search for "Win32DiskImager" in the above search box and at the raspberrypi.org front page search box.

Is it possible to use "dd" to write the SD card image on Ubuntu VM?  This way you avoid any issues with Win32DiskImager.

You might also try a different SD card -- I think the OSes are doing better with SD card compatibility, but there may still be some RasPi doesn't like.  There's a list of known good and known bad SD cards at: http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals#SD_cards.

Thank you for these suggestions.

I went through the list in the troubleshooting guide, and wrote to the card using dd rather than WinImager. But, was not able to get anything out of the RPi.

I did try a different card ( all were 4GB), but whether either of them was on the list, I am not sure.

I found it a little difficult to get sufficient ID to be sure. Certainly the file structure seems to be OK, and all the files mentioned in the discussions seem present. Oh and I also tried archlinux.

John

I have the same problem

My Raspberry Has the pwr light on. The ok light has the faintest green light ever(pin dot size)

and i get no display. I have tried Multiple power adaptors.

I recieved Mine yesterday.

One of my Friend has this problem too.

David Sullivan wrote:

 

I have the same problem

My Raspberry Has the pwr light on. The ok light has the faintest green light ever(pin dot size)

and i get no display. I have tried Multiple power adaptors.

 

I recieved Mine yesterday.

Is this a problem with a certain batch?  I am going to test my friend's RPi to see he has a bad RPi.

Fergus Byrne wrote:

 

One of my Friend has this problem too.

David Sullivan wrote:

 

I have the same problem

My Raspberry Has the pwr light on. The ok light has the faintest green light ever(pin dot size)

and i get no display. I have tried Multiple power adaptors.

 

I recieved Mine yesterday.

Is this a problem with a certain batch?  I am going to test my friend's RPi to see he has a bad RPi.

I'm starting to wonder if there's a bad batch.  It could also be that there are a few random bad boards, and the vast majority work fine so we don't see queries.  That doesn't help if you're the one with a bad board.

My general advice is to start with the RasPi Troubleshooting page (http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting), which now covers the most common user-fixable problems.  If that doesn't make your RasPi perky and you know someone who has a RasPi, try swapping SD cards.  Not knowing if you have a working SD card with a working image is a real pain, and I like Morgaine's suggestion that all RasPis ship with a working OS -- any working OS -- to avoid this pain.

If all the user-fixable culprits have been ruled out, it's probably a failed solder joint and it's RMA time.  I detest BGAs because they're inherently unreliable, especially when subjected to thermal cycling.  BGA solder balls don't flex when heated -- they crack.  And that SoC has lots of tiny balls, both on the top and on the bottom.  It only takes one DRAM address or data line to cause the green OK LED to behave like a dim bulb.  SoC tries to read from SD card (LED on) and then immediately crashes (LED off), and the process repeats with a low duty cycle.  Just my hypothesis, YMMV.

I don't know if RasPi gets any "burn in" testing at the factory.  At this price point, probably not in which case end users are providing that service.

At some point, maybe someone will put power-on diagnostics into the boot image and run them out [of] cache.  The diags could test DRAM connectivity and functionality and flash out an "SOS" in Morse code over the OK LED in case of failure.

EDIT:  The good news is that RasPis are a lot more plentiful nowadays so an RMA should be PDQ.

i'll let you know the results of my Friend's RPi testing with my power adapter and my SD card. 

I will get back to you with these results (working or not working ).

I have now had some time to look at this.

I was able to locate a power supply with a current indicator. This made it clear that the board was not functioning.

On the board, the red power light was on, all other lights off.

The measured values were as follows -

Voltage@TP1( +5V) = 4.92V; ( implies that the fuse is not damaged)

Voltage( +2.5V @C15) = 2.48V;

Voltage( +1.8V@C9) = 1.8V;

Current( total in ) = 0.17A. ( This should be at least 0.7A from what I can gather from the discussions.)

( Component designators from the schematic, 17Apr2012)

Clearly, this is most likely the current for the peripheral circuit, and the CPU is not drawing current. No amount of fiddling with the rest is going to help.

I think this is unambiguous evidence for a faulty board.

Thank you to everyone who offered help.

This begs the Question....Is there other faulty boards out there?

What batch number are you?

All good.

It was his SD Card (verbatim 4gb sdhc class 4 - sd k04g - 1009ww5282b).  Can someone please add this to the problem list on the wiki.

Fergus