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Pi Desktop very disappointing

masterplumber

I had high hopes for this but it doesn't appear to be very good.  The build quality seems fine and it looks good - just a shame it doesn't actually work.  Or doesn't actually work yet.

 

The instructions aren't up to much either.

 

I have a perfectly working Raspberry Pi 3 that boots up into Raspbian (latest version 2017-04-10).  I downloaded the image this morning and flashed it to a Class 10 16GB card using etcher.  Everything works fine.

 

I then built the desktop using the enclosed instructions and finally snapping the lid onto the case.  Pressed the button and I got a nice blue light - nothing else.

 

Had to disassemble the thing to see what the problem was.

 

Dismantled everything and booted up the Pi without the Pi Desktop Board.  All worked fine.  Switched off.  Attached the board (didn't put it in the case this time - lesson learned) along with the usual mouse, kb, monitor.  Pressed the button.  Blue light and nothing.   Noticed that the light on the Pi was solid red - no sign of the usual flickering green light on the Pi indicating activity.

 

Held in the button on the desktop board until the blue light went off (5 seconds).  Removed the power supply (it's the R Pi official one) and the SD card.  Reinserted the card.  Reinserted the power supply.  Pressed the button.  Voila.  Blue light AND booted into Pixel.  Pressed the button to power down.  Worked fine.  Pressed the button to power up.  Worked fine.  Rebooted into Pixel.

 

So switched everything off.  Dismantled everything (I bet you know where this is going...) and started from scratch.  Fitted everything into the case but didn't fit the lid on.  Pressed the button.  Blue light came on.  Nada.  Back with the solid red light.

 

Took everything apart again to check and exactly the same thing happened.  Tried again with a fresh install of Raspbian on a different SD card - exactly the same problem.  

 

Completely unusable in its current state.  The thing will work sometimes without the case but it requires a power down and the SD card to be reinserted.  Won't work in the case and there's no way to get the card out to try reinserting it without dismantling the whole thing.

 

Looking through a couple of posts on here I see that others are complaining of the same thing ie thing wont boot and light on Pi staying red.  So have I got a duff board or has this thing not been tested properly or is it just a waste of time and money.  Not impressed.

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  • in reply to cstanton

    I now have a working system.

     

    It seems that the problem was the SD card.  Or rather the SD cards.  I have been using Sandisk 16Gb Class 10 microsd cards and they have been absolutely fine.  They boot up the Pi without any issues whatsoever.   However, they don't seem to work when the Pi Desktop is added to the mix (I tried more than one Sandisk card so it wasn't a one-off)

     

    Having exhausted all of my testing as above the only thing left was to try a different brand of SD card and this seems to have worked although I am perplexed as to why.

     

    Using a Samsung Class 10 16Gb I was able to get the Pi to boot up inside the case and also power down and up again using the Pi Desktop button.  It even works when the power supply is removed and reinserted.

     

    If I revert back to the Sandisk cards however, the problems with booting etc recur.

     

    If I get some time I may carry out some more extensive testing - just in case I have missed something along the line - but for now the situation is resolved.  Pi Desktop + Samsung card works.  Pi Desktop + Sandisk card doesn't work.

     

    Note that I can boot up the Pi on its own using either the Sandisk or the Samsung.  But it's only the Samsung that will work with the Pi Desktop

     

    Thanks to all for their advice and assistance

  • in reply to masterplumber

    That's very interesting - I can think of some possible reasons that you might (if you have the test gear) be able to check out.

     

    It could be that the power supply is not switching on cleanly and that some SD cards care more than others about this.

     

    I haven't seen schematics of the boards involved but ti might be worth checking the reset signals to SD card and processor on switch-on as well.

     

    (This problem shows why the Pi people (and the Pi Desktop people) should publish complete schematics.)

     

    MK

  • in reply to michaelkellett

    Certainly a strange one for me as I couldn't work out how an sd card could affect power but hey ho.

     

    I don't have the kit to carry out that kind of testing unfortunately but I may experiment with other cards to see if I can replicate the issue.

  • in reply to masterplumber

    So, can you tell me what power supply are you using? What is its volt and amp rating? Please?

  • in reply to cstanton

    reportedly 5v 2.5a

     

    It's the official Raspberry Pi one for the Pi 3

  • in reply to masterplumber

    With my new Pi Desktop, I am having very similar problems to Roberto and can only get the set-up to work at all outside of the case. (Hint to everyone - fully check out the rig before putting the top flap on - it's difficult to get off again!)

     

    Unfortunately, all of my micro SD cards are SanDisk and I don't have a Samsung one to try.

     

    I'll keep experimenting.

     

    Alan.

  • in reply to masterplumber

    With the kind of current the Pi takes, the cable often has a significant voltage drop, making even the best power supplies marginal. It doesn't take much extra contact resistance to cause intermittent problems. I have started using heavier gage cables whenever significant current is needed. I don't know if this was your problem, but you can always measure the voltage getting to the Pi to see if it is marginal.

  • in reply to jardino

    I don't have a conclusive solution, but everything seems to be working well after I simply re-flashed my SanDisk SD card with the latest version of Jessie.

    I made the system bootable from an external USB memory stick - following the procedure given on the Raspberry Pi forum, not that given in the Pi Desktop instructions. This will do me until I get a micro SATA drive.

     

    The only little problem is that when I close down the system from the shutdown menu on Pixel, the blue light on the Desktop stays on. Otherwise, I was happy enough with it to put the lid back on!

     

    Alan.

  • in reply to jardino

    We're now able to provide the latest debian package via github: https://github.com/pi-desktop/deb-make/releases

     

    Please do raise any issues on the github repo.