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New Raspberry-Pi 3, Green-LED keeps blinking.

raife

I just received a Raspberry-Pi -3-B. The kit from "LoveRPI" (apparently, via Amazon.com) contained a Pi from "Element-14" and a no-name power-supply. I installed the latest "Raspian w/ Jessi" on a "SanDisk MicroSDHC UHS-I Class-10 16GB card", and discovered that the included power-supply was DOA (looked online, others have complained, a lot, about these Power-supplies). However, I have several other Pi models and switched to another 2.5A Micro-USB power-supply that I have. The Pi boots and everything seems to work, fine (blazingly-fast), networking, software, etc... However, when the Pi is doing nothing (with no software actively running, zero CPU-usage) the SD-Card-access-light (green LED) blinks continuously (about once a second). The Red-LED is steady. I have not noticed this on my other Raspberry-Pi's. Is this normal? Is this caused by my SD-Card? Is my Pi damaged (possibly by the original power-supply)?

 

Also... a silly question... my "Element14 Raspberry-Pi" (inside the "element14" box) came in a paper/cardboard envelope, instead of a regular anti-static bag. The envelope does have the "Element14" logo, so is this all OK? I'm a little nervous after the power-supply problem. Thanks.

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  • 0

    Here is the latest. I discovered that the power-supply is actually a 2.0A (I have used it for some time on a Raspberry-Pi 2), and I have also tried another, new, 2.0A micro-usb power-supply, that I have. I have run the Raspberry-Pi-3 for several hours without any apparent issues. The only symptom (an, approximately, 1/3-second flash of the ACT-LED, about every second) continues whenever I am not actively interacting with the Pi. Otherwise, I would not even suspect anything was wrong at all. Does anyone know how to determine whether the flashing LED indicates actual SD-card access (OS logging, or some other internal OS operations, maybe?), or whether it is some kind of error-condition?

     

    As I stated earlier, this is a brand-new Raspberry-Pi 3B (my first Pi-3), with a fresh install of pure (not "noobs") "Raspbian-Jessie PIXEL". And, none of my other Pi's exhibit this type of continual LED/SD-card access-flashing (including my other "Raspbian-Jessie PIXEL" installations, on my Pi-2). So, is this just normal SD-card access, or is this unusual? How can I monitor actual SD-card RWs? I am suspecting, based upon the otherwise seemingly normal operation, that there is some actual storage-device operation going-on in the background. Can I (and should I) disable this repetitive storage device access? As I said, it just doesn't seem right that a Raspberry-Pi LED should continually be flashing (unlike the other Raspbian installations that I have). Perhaps, I should re-format the SD-card, and re-install "Raspbian-Jessie".

  • 0 in reply to raife

    Hi there Raife! Glad you figured out the PSU issue (did you get a replacement?). A 2.5A power supply is recommended for the Pi3, although it should still run (maybe without any power-hungry USB peripherals attached) on your 2A PSU. You might just see the lightning symbol pop up from time to time, to let you know it's a bit power starved.

     

    To my knowledge, you're right about the ACT LED. It's flashing to let you know the Pi is accessing its OS. I doubt it's a problem though -- it's probably just performing a regular function, like checking the Wi-Fi or similar.

     

    Just in case, I'll move this conversation over to our Raspberry Pi section so someone who knows a little more than me might be able to offer some advice.

     

    Any plans on what you're going to do with your new Pi?

  • 0 in reply to spannerspencer

    Thanks for all the help. This is so cool.

     

    Here is the latest, latest...

     

    I went ahead and re-formatted the SD-Card (SD-FORMATTER under Windows). And, re-installed the Raspbian-Jessie-PIXEL ".IMG". As I said, after determining that the original power-supply that came with the Raspberry-pi, was non-functional... dead... dead... dead... I switched to other (actually 2.0A) power supplies, and everything has run without problems. The Pi boots normally, the OS runs normally, I have complete wireless-networking, and I have added new software and files (Updates, VLC, Arduino-programming, wall-papers, music, Etc.), and I have SSH'ed into the device from my Android-tablet and controlled the Pi remotely (which I still find to be totally cool... despite years of computers, Windows, Linux, networking, and electronics... Yes, I am a really nerdy).

     

    Further, my Raspberry Pi's (Zero's, One, Two, and now, Three) all use the same keyboard, mouse, and wireless adapter, via a powered-USB hub (I plug the hub into the Pi which I am using at the time. This also means I actually have two wireless-LAN-adapters, and the wired-adapter, available when I am using my Pi-3).

     

    The only thing that has confused me, was the fact that, despite operating normally, the "ACT" LED just kept blinking continuously (about once a second) whenever The Pi was (presumably) sitting idle. I turned-off Bluetooth (no devices for the Pi... yet), but while powered-up, the "ACT" LED just kept blinking... non-stop. However, after a few days of playing with my Pi-3, the "ACT" LED seems to have finally settled down, and only blinks occasionally (as I thought it should), or when I am actively using the OS. It was just a mystery, and my inner geek worries about anything, technological, that I can't properly explain. So, I am still poking into this.

     

    Thanks again for the help.

Reply
  • 0 in reply to spannerspencer

    Thanks for all the help. This is so cool.

     

    Here is the latest, latest...

     

    I went ahead and re-formatted the SD-Card (SD-FORMATTER under Windows). And, re-installed the Raspbian-Jessie-PIXEL ".IMG". As I said, after determining that the original power-supply that came with the Raspberry-pi, was non-functional... dead... dead... dead... I switched to other (actually 2.0A) power supplies, and everything has run without problems. The Pi boots normally, the OS runs normally, I have complete wireless-networking, and I have added new software and files (Updates, VLC, Arduino-programming, wall-papers, music, Etc.), and I have SSH'ed into the device from my Android-tablet and controlled the Pi remotely (which I still find to be totally cool... despite years of computers, Windows, Linux, networking, and electronics... Yes, I am a really nerdy).

     

    Further, my Raspberry Pi's (Zero's, One, Two, and now, Three) all use the same keyboard, mouse, and wireless adapter, via a powered-USB hub (I plug the hub into the Pi which I am using at the time. This also means I actually have two wireless-LAN-adapters, and the wired-adapter, available when I am using my Pi-3).

     

    The only thing that has confused me, was the fact that, despite operating normally, the "ACT" LED just kept blinking continuously (about once a second) whenever The Pi was (presumably) sitting idle. I turned-off Bluetooth (no devices for the Pi... yet), but while powered-up, the "ACT" LED just kept blinking... non-stop. However, after a few days of playing with my Pi-3, the "ACT" LED seems to have finally settled down, and only blinks occasionally (as I thought it should), or when I am actively using the OS. It was just a mystery, and my inner geek worries about anything, technological, that I can't properly explain. So, I am still poking into this.

     

    Thanks again for the help.

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