I just powered up my RPi for the FIRST time and the last... (I hope not). I bought a RPi a bit of time ago in anticipation for a coursera course on the RPi hoping to learn something new unfortunately the first time I went to use it things went sideways.
I plugged in everything first, a USB mouse and keyboard and the the HDMI screen (screen was VGA so I used an adapter), so far all good. Next I decided to uses a USB charger for power (5V 550mA) Pi boots but is constantly looping, I figure it must be a constant brown out. I have seen this before on both my hobby systems and what I work with at work. I decided to try a newer USB charger that should allow more current through (5V 1000mA). I was at this point I heard a pop, I quickly unplugged everything and surveyed the damage. No new smells from the Pi but he charger had let out the magic smoke... Opening that up the switcher and transformer where apparently gone.
The next step was to plug the screen, mouse and keyboard back in and then retest. I used the first power supply that gave me a constant reboot but no luck nothing happened. I then tried using a USB plug from another PC, in this case the ACT LET lights up briefly and then turns off, if the SD card is removed the ACT LED stays on until power is removed.
I have also tried reinstalling the NOOB software on the SD card and this too has produced no better results. If anyone has some information as to what may have happened or how I can get my Pi back up and running it would be very much appreciated. Also if there is some good information on how to power my Pi reliably I would love to hear that too.
Thankfully
Kas
