Can't get it to do anything

[rowan.bradley]

I have a Raspberry Pi Zero W and am trying to get it working for a project that I have. Here is what I have done so far:

1. Format a 32GB micro SD card using SD Card Formatter, quick format option, on my WIndows 8.1 desktop PC. It formats as FAT32.
2. Download NOOBS as a ZIP
3. Extract the ZIP
4. Copy all the files in the ZIP to the micro SD card
5. Compare the card with the source directory using Beyond Compare. It all compares except for a few *.tar.xz files, which it claims not to be able to find. Is there something funny about .tar.xz files?
6. Once copied, eject the disk, and insert the micro SD card into the Raspberry Pi.
7. Connect from the Pi to the monitor using an HDMI cable.
8. Connect from the Pi to a USB keyboard and mouse using a USB cable.
9. Plug a 3A charger with a micro USB plug into the PWR socket on the Pi.
Nothing at all happens. No lights flash on the Pi. Nothing appears on the monitor. If I type things on the keyboard, nothing happens. I bought another Pi Zero W in case the first one was faulty, but the same thing happens. What am I doing wrong? How do I get to the point where the Pi is alive, and I can start loading some application software onto it?

Thanks - Rowan

[neilgl]

What happens if you power it off and on again? does the green led on the pi flicker ?
Anyway, I would use etcher on the PC to re-create the SD card from a download of Raspbian Buster Lite - forget NOOBS for now.
No need to unzip anything when using etcher.

[B.Goode]

There is a summary of all the knowledge accumulated from these forums during the past 8 years about difficulties getting an RPi to boot, see - STICKY: Is your Pi not booting? (The Boot Problems Sticky) - https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 28&t=58151


There is a section dedicated to the RPi Zero boards which includes a simple usb connection test which might determine whether the board is non-functional.


Is the card reader/writer facility in your laptop SDXC compatible? Maybe the microSD card is not being written correctly.

[hippy]

5. Compare the card with the source directory using Beyond Compare. It all compares except for a few *.tar.xz files, which it claims not to be able to find. Is there something funny about .tar.xz files?

I had some issue similar to that, involving .xz files, it was all very weird.

I recall I got round it by ensuring the SD Card was given a FULL Format, not just Quick Format, ejecting it and reinserting it before copying the files extracted from the NOOBS downloaded file over.

Using 7-Zip rather than WinZip, WinRAR or the built in Windows Extractor, to extract the NOOBS files may have also been part of the solution.

[Forris]

I have a Raspberry Pi Zero W and am trying to get it working for a project that I have. Here is what I have done so far:

4. Copy all the files in the ZIP to the micro SD card

Thanks - Rowan

You can't just drag & drop the files onto the sd card, you need to use something like Etcher (https://www.balena.io/etcher/) to copy the ISO file to the card. All your other steps look correct.

HTH

[rpdom]

I have a Raspberry Pi Zero W and am trying to get it working for a project that I have. Here is what I have done so far:

4. Copy all the files in the ZIP to the micro SD card

Thanks - Rowan

You can't just drag & drop the files onto the sd card, you need to use something like Etcher (https://www.balena.io/etcher/) to copy the ISO file to the card. All your other steps look correct.

Yes, you can with NOOBS or PINN. In fact it's the only way to install if you use NOOBS.

Also, if you do use Raspbian (or other) image files, they are IMG not ISO.

[DougieLawson]

Yes, you can with NOOBS or PINN. In fact it's the only way to install if you use NOOBS.

If it comes to a choice between NOOBS or PINN the answer is ALWAYS PINN.

There's even an Etcher compatible version of PINN (which also has the benefit of working on ExFAT formatted cards as it rewrites the partition table).

[B.Goode]

You can't just drag & drop the files onto the sd card, you need to use something like Etcher (https://www.balena.io/etcher/) to copy the ISO file to the card.

HTH

I don't think that helps. You may have overlooked Step 2 of Rowan's description -

2. Download NOOBS as a ZIP

The downloaded and unpacked NOOBS zip archive does not contain a .ISO file.

[drgeoff]

I have a Raspberry Pi Zero W and am trying to get it working for a project that I have. Here is what I have done so far:

4. Copy all the files in the ZIP to the micro SD card

Thanks - Rowan

You can't just drag & drop the files onto the sd card, you need to use something like Etcher (https://www.balena.io/etcher/) to copy the ISO file to the card. All your other steps look correct.

HTH

T
@Forris

The "certified" stuff is unwarranted. The OP clearly stated NOOBS. You cannot use Etcher to put NOOBS on a card.

[Forris]

I have a Raspberry Pi Zero W and am trying to get it working for a project that I have. Here is what I have done so far:

4. Copy all the files in the ZIP to the micro SD card

Thanks - Rowan

You can't just drag & drop the files onto the sd card, you need to use something like Etcher (https://www.balena.io/etcher/) to copy the ISO file to the card. All your other steps look correct.

HTH

T
@Forris

The "certified" stuff is unwarranted. The OP clearly stated NOOBS. You cannot use Etcher to put NOOBS on a card.

Not sure what you mean by 'The "certified" stuff is unwarranted' but , yes, I did miss the bit about using NOOBS. I've never used it myself, partly because it seems to confuse things, as in this case.

[HawaiianPi]

5. It all compares except for a few *.tar.xz files, which it claims not to be able to find. Is there something funny about .tar.xz files?

Missing files means the NOOBS archive did not extract correctly. So it's not surprising it doesn't boot.

Skip NOOBS and use a Raspbian image.

1. Download and install the Etcher image writing software from here: https://www.balena.io/etcher/
2. Download a Raspbian image from here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/
3. Use Etcher to write the Raspbian image to your card directly from the .zip download (do not extract the image first).
4. When Etcher has finished writing and verifying the card, it's ready. Use it to boot your Pi0W.

[juanlopez12]

5. Compare the card with the source directory using Beyond Compare. It all compares except for a few *.tar.xz files, which it claims not to be able to find. Is there something funny about .tar.xz files?

I had some issue similar to that, involving .xz files, it was all very weird.

I recall I got round it by ensuring the SD Card was given a FULL Format, not just Quick Format, ejecting it and reinserting it before copying the files extracted from the NOOBS downloaded file over.

Using 7-Zip rather than WinZip, WinRAR or the built in Windows Extractor, to extract the NOOBS files may have also been part of the solution.

[/quote]Hi guys, someone on that forum has used 7-zip because I have Winrar and it has given me problems and investigating I found this page https://7zipiler.com/ that recommends me to use that application.


What do you know about this program?[/quote]