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Raspberry PI3 issue

e14 Contributor

Hi Team, I had bought a Raspberry Pi3 Kit from Elementz Engineers Guild Pvt Ltd some two months back which is not functioning properly. It freezes very frequently, even the basic things like email,youtube etc is not working properly on it. I want to return the product, May i know what is the procedure to file a return request? I have already tried contacting Elementz Engineers Guild, they are asking me to contact Element 14 team. Let me know if you require any other information.

 

I have attached the reply from Elementz Engineers Guild. Can anyone help?

Attachments:
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  • 0

    Hello Raghav,

     

    I think I anticipate the answer of someone more in-depth to the return for malfunction procedures saying you that you can't contact Element14 if you have bought the device from a different reseller.

     

    Instead, just as you already have your device with you, I suggest you detail better the symptoms. It is not rare that an apparently hardware related issue depends on other factors. Just some suggestions:

     

    • If you are using the SD Card, may depend on a defective or few performant micro sd.
    • If you are using a wired network take a look to the cable connection and try to see if another device (e.g. a laptop) connected with the same cable has similar issues.
    • If you are using the WiFi check the reliability of the wireless dongle.

     

    Anyway it is a good idea to post to us exactly the machine configuration you are using.

     

    Not less important is the power source: what kind of power you are using for your Raspberry? With a low power supply (under 2A for example) you can have issues that are random and unpredictable.

     

    What about the operating system you are using? Did you checked the free space on the system storage (I suppose the micro sd) ?

     

    Please give us more information to make first of all a deeper trouble shooting.

     

    Enric

  • 0

    It might be worth making sure you have the latest software running on your Pi. Try running the following commands from the terminal.

    sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-update
sudo rpi-update

  • 0

    This is not the "contact element14" that Elementz suggested. This is a forum hosted by element14.

     

    But... trying to help.... In my experience, rasberry pi computers are VERY stable. The main culprit in "unstable operation" is often "the power supply". Do you have a monitor connected? Does it show a rainbow-coloured square in the top rigth corner of the screen?

     

    But even without that square, your power supply could be "marginal", inducing short drops that cause the raspberry to crash.

  • 0 in reply to gadget.iom

    It might be worth making sure you have the latest software running on your Pi. Try running the following commands from the terminal.

     

     

    sudo apt-get update 

    sudo apt-get dist-update 

    sudo rpi-update

    Not recommended- even by the staff at pi foundation.

     

    rpi-update is usually unstable, and a dev version. The average user only needs the distribution version  (dist-upgrade), in any event that wont even get you the newest stuff (e.g., sd card backup/clone, and new Bluetooth UI), instead use this:

     

    sudo apt-get update

    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

    sudo apt-get install piclone geany usb-modeswitch pi-bluetooth

    sudo apt-get install python-pigpio python3-pigpio

  • 0 in reply to balearicdynamics

    Hi Enrico,

     

    Thank you for your reply.

     

    • If you are using the SD Card, may depend on a defective or few performant micro sd - I will check with other SD card as well.
    • If you are using the WiFi check the reliability of the wireless dongle - WiFi is working fine. I am using it on other devices.
    • what kind of power you are using for your Raspberry? - 5V 2A PSU
    • What about the operating system you are using? - I am using Raspbian.
    • Did you checked the free space on the system storage (I suppose the micro sd) ? - Free space is around 9GB

     

    Let me know if you require any other information.Thanks again.

  • 0 in reply to rew

    Hi Roger,

     

    Thanx for your response.

     

    Do you have a monitor connected? Does it show a rainbow-coloured square in the top rigth corner of the screen? - I do connect it to monitor but it works perfectly fine. It does not show any rainbow-colored dots.

    I am using 5V 2A PSU.

  • 0 in reply to rive

    Thanks Rive.

     

    I will use the mentioned commands and if it helps.

  • 0

    One possible cause is memory.  If you're running a number of programs, the RPi will "block" when it runs short of memory (i.e., freeze until memory becomes available).  One way to test this is to create a temporary swapfile.  Try the following:

     

      dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile1 bs=1024 count 524288

      mkswap /swapfile1

      swapon /swapfile1

     

    For additional troubleshooting, try running "top" at the command line to see which program is hogging memory and/or CPU cycles.

  • 0 in reply to e14 Contributor

    It freezes very frequently, even the basic things like email, youtube etc is not working properly on it...

    I do connect it to monitor but it works perfectly fine. It does not show any rainbow-colored dots.

    I am using 5V 2A PSU.

     

     

    For starters, If you are using the Epiphany browser (default pi3 browser) to watch youtube, it will be jerky and freeze. You cannot use the Epiphany browser for Youtube.

     

    Epiphany browser is buggy, and crash prone (also if you ever right click an image, and select 'open image', it opens two images instead of  one).

     

    If you want to watch youtube, or use a better, more stable browser, then you need to install Chrome Browser (Chromium).

     

     

    Secondly, your power supply is insufficient for the Pi3. you need 2.5 or 2.4 A. I use a 5.25V 2.4A power supply. Using a 5V 2A, you may notice the red light blinks or flashes, this will indicate inadequate voltage. A 5V supply will typically output to device around 4.8 or so volts depending on quality and length of cable. 2A in any event, is not enough for the Pi3 , especially if you have any devices connected to the USB ports.

     

    Thirdly, the Pi3 runs very hot, and even youtube will cause thermal overheating on Chromium browser (especially if you are in a case), once you hit 80C, the Pi3 will throttle, and it effectively become slower. At 85C, you drop down to 600 MHz for the Arm processor (it becomes very slow), etc.  get a proper power supply, and add a heatsink, and fan as needed. Simple tests will tell you if you need a heatsink/fan (see cheet sheet).

     

     

    A power supply or overheating issue will cause throttling, which will negatively impact performance.

     

     

    This cheatsheet file I created, has the info you need to update/upgrade your pi, install Chromium for youtube, etc. There is also a video I made illustrating the pi3 overheating on youtube:

     

    Good Luck.

     

     

    cheat sheet (how to):

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2X5T2P-KI8mZjVWZDk1NS1PbEk/view?usp=sharing

     

     

     

    Pi3 Youtube on Chromium browser:

     

    https://youtu.be/EvDg2yiyd1w

    This video is unavailable.

     

     

     

    video 1 (youtube with no cooling, overheat):

     

    https://youtu.be/CBLOIvGPJN0

     

     

     

    video 2 (ultimate guide pi3 performance and cooling):

     

    https://youtu.be/KuEZV0WsRLg