Rpi 3 Act LED on GPIO Problem

[luiscesjr]

Hi everyone!

I've searched a lot on google, and found many resources, but somehow I still fail at this.
What I do know.:

• The rpi3 now features a virtual GPIO for ACT LED control;
  We must use and overlay to make it work (?);
  I am using 2v LEDs (5mm), so for the 5 volt pin I should use a 200Ohm
  resistor and for the GPIO 3.3v output I should use 65Ohm resistor. Outside
  the system both of them work (Tested on my external adjustable power source),
  and the Power LED work since it only need 5v, that is always being outputed by the little board.

At first I was doing it the old way, it was the first thing I found around the net, using dtparam=act_led_gpio=xx
on /boot/config.txt, and it wasn't working on any of the pins I specified, and further research showed me I was
not really aware that on Rpi 3 the gpio was "Kinda different".
And after searching some more, I found out that by using dtoverlay=pi3-act-led, gpio=xx it should work. The thing is,
it still won't work. I also downloaded the pi3-act-led-overlay.dtb file and put it on overlays folder.
I'm using dtoverlay=pi3-act-led, gpio=18 and have my LED wired to the pin 12.

What am I doing wrong??

[luiscesjr]

Buuuump.

No one?

[DirkS]

Works for me...
I used it on GPIO26, added this to /boot/config.txt

Code: Select all

dtoverlay=pi3-act-led,gpio=26

Which OS are you using? Do you use Noobs to install it? If using Noobs, did you change the correct config.txt?
Which kernel / firmware version (use uname -a).
Output of

Code: Select all

ls /boot/overlays/pi3-act-led*

?
Is the LED connected the correct way around?

[luiscesjr]

Sorry for taking too long to answer, I thought since this was my post I would automatically receive
an email if anyone replied

Anyway, these are my system specs

Code: Select all

   .~~.   .~~.    Wednesday, 27 April 2016, 10:43:36 pm UTC
  '. \ ' ' / .'        Linux 4.1.19-v7+ armv7l GNU/Linux
   .~ .~~~..~.
  : .~.'~'.~. :    Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
 ~ (   ) (   ) ~  /dev/root        30G  5.7G   23G  21% /
( : '~'.~.'~' : ) Uptime.............: 0 days, 00h01m51s
 ~ .~       ~. ~  Memory.............: 610672kB (Free) / 753132kB (Total)
  (   |   |   )   Running Processes..: 104
  '~         ~'   IP Address.........: 192.168.0.104
    *--~-~--*     Temperature........: CPU: 45°C/113°F GPU: 45°C/113°F
                  The RetroPie Project, http://www.petrockblock.com

So, as you can see I'm using Retropie and my Kernel is 4.1.19. Could it be the kernel version?

This is my config.txt right now
(Added your line and it still won't work)

Code: Select all

# For more options and information see
# http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt.md
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
#disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
#overscan_left=16
#overscan_right=16
#overscan_top=16
#overscan_bottom=16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
#hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
#hdmi_group=1
#hdmi_mode=1

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
#hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
#config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.

avoid_warnings=1
arm_freq=1350
core_freq=500
sdram_freq=500
over_voltage=4

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on
dtoverlay=pi3-act-led,gpio=26

# Uncomment this to enable the lirc-rpi module
#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on

gpu_mem_256=128
gpu_mem_512=256
gpu_mem_1024=256
overscan_scale=1 

The act LED IS disabled on the board, it won't blink unless I cut out that line, but my LED won't turn on, blink or whatevs.

It is wired to the ground and 26 pin (The last one of the rows), and the wire that comes out of the 26 pin, has a 65ohm resistor to it and then it's connected to the LED positive leg. As I mentioned before, it does work on my external Power Supply, the resistor is right for the 3.3v output of the pin.

And it returns the following...:

Code: Select all

pi@retropie:/home/pi# ls /boot/overlays/pi3-act-led*
/boot/overlays/pi3-act-led.dtb   /boot/overlays/pi3-act-led-overlay.dtb
/boot/overlays/pi3-act-led.dtbo

[DirkS]

So, as you can see I'm using Retropie and my Kernel is 4.1.19. Could it be the kernel version?

Not sure... the overlay was added in a later version, but I don't know if it needs anything else that has been added / changed.

You could try to update to the current kernel / firmware, but I don't know if that breaks something else.
You would need to run 'sudo rpi-update'
Make sure you make a backup of your card before you do that.

[luiscesjr]

Thank you for the fast answer! I am having some trouble with the command, it's giving out an
error, so as soon as I solve this an update + test I will let everyone know!

Thanks again!

[guitarans]

Hey.. i just got it to work on my pi 3.

i was missing the pi3-act-led.dtb file.
i found the pi3-act-led.dtbo file on github edit the file name to pi3-act-led.dtb and copy´d it to /boot/overlays

add´ed the code "dtoverlay=pi3-act-led,gpio=21" in config.txt

reboot, and then it worked..