[Solved] New Raspberry 4b 4g dead upon arrival

[nmstewart]

I recently received the new RPI4 4g and could not get it to boot.

I used a new Kingston 32g SD card with a fresh download (10July) Raspbian Buster, Official Raspberry Pi power Supply from Microcenter.
Plugged into a Westinghouse WD32HD1390 Television.

I get the red LED for power and the green LED blinks for a while, But I never get the Rainbow screen or anything else.

I have tried both HDMI ports with the same results,

Any suggestions would be helpful

Thanks
Neil

[Imperf3kt]

When you say blinks for a while, i
You don't mean a pattern of four flashes, do you?

[HawaiianPi]

HDMI-0 is the default port when only one screen is in use.

Make sure you have the correct input selected on the TV, and the TV is on before you power up the Pi.

Do you have a direct micro-HDMI to HDMI cable, or are you using an adapter?

And as asked above, is the green activity LED blinking in a pattern, or does it seem random?

What happens with the green activity LED if you unplug everything from the Pi4, including the micro SD card, and power it up?

[leo82309]

Try using a few other displays. I had a hard time getting a picture on my Vizio TV but it worked fine on my monitor. Otherwise enable ssh and use raspi-config to cycle through resolutions to see which one your tv will accept.

[Imperf3kt]

Forgot to mention to check that the microHDMI was fully inserted. When I first plugged mine in, it felt like it was all the way in, but wasn't, I kept pushing and then it clicked in.

[nmstewart]

When you say blinks for a while, i
You don't mean a pattern of four flashes, do you?

I get the "Four Flashes" when the SD card is missing. Else with the card in it appears to be booting.

Thanks

[jamesh]

When you say blinks for a while, i
You don't mean a pattern of four flashes, do you?

I get the "Four Flashes" when the SD card is missing. Else with the card in it appears to be booting.

Thanks

Confused. Are you saying it works with the SD card in, but not with it out? That's entirely correct behaviour.

[nmstewart]

HDMI-0 is the default port when only one screen is in use.

Make sure you have the correct input selected on the TV, and the TV is on before you power up the Pi.

Do you have a direct micro-HDMI to HDMI cable, or are you using an adapter?

And as asked above, is the green activity LED blinking in a pattern, or does it seem random?

What happens with the green activity LED if you unplug everything from the Pi4, including the micro SD card, and power it up?

I tried both HDMI Ports, and had the TV set correctly using both a straight cable and an adapter.
The Green LED acts like it is booting. I get the four flashes without the SD card but an irregular pattern with it installed.
The Green LED indicates that it is booting correctly.

I am going to try a different monitor and will report my results.

Thanks
Neil

[nmstewart]

I appreciate all of the support.

I connected my PI to my switch using the ethernet port and powered it up. I logged into my router and it does seem to be there (my router indicates how devices are connected). So it is booting I am just not getting video out.

Unfortunately the network switches and my desktop are on opposite sides of the room.

So this evening I will try using my portable monitor and post my results.

Thanks
Neil

[christopholous]

There is a way to SSH into the pi through a USB connection, if you can't get the screen going, that might be a way in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj3MPmJhAPU

[Soup64]

I am having the exact same issue. I've tried known good SDcards that boot just fine with my 3B+. I've tried multiple cables and multiple TV's and monitors. Using an official USB-C power supply, etc. Same exact situation with the lights, and it just says "no signal."

[davidcoton]

I've tried known good SDcards that boot just fine with my 3B+.

Which OS? The Pi4B requires a new version -- try downloading the latest Raspbian Buster, write it to an SDCard with Etcher, and see if that boots.

[Soup64]

That did it. I interpreted the line on this site saying "and as always, we've kept all our software backwards-compatible" to mean that current configurations (e.g. Stretch) would work. Apparently not. In any case, thank you for your help!

[davidcoton]

That did it. I interpreted the line on this site saying "and as always, we've kept all our software backwards-compatible" to mean that current configurations (e.g. Stretch) would work. Apparently not. In any case, thank you for your help!

"Backwards"-compatible is the other way round -- new software will work on old hardware. To make old software work on new hardware requires "forwards"-compatibility, which is near impossible without a working crystal ball. It can only be done if the hardware has nothing that wasn't anticipated when the software was built.

[nmstewart]

HDMI-0 is the default port when only one screen is in use.

Make sure you have the correct input selected on the TV, and the TV is on before you power up the Pi.

Do you have a direct micro-HDMI to HDMI cable, or are you using an adapter?

And as asked above, is the green activity LED blinking in a pattern, or does it seem random?

What happens with the green activity LED if you unplug everything from the Pi4, including the micro SD card, and power it up?

I tried both HDMI Ports, and had the TV set correctly using both a straight cable and an adapter.
The Green LED acts like it is booting. I get the four flashes without the SD card but an irregular pattern with it installed.
The Green LED indicates that it is booting correctly.

I am going to try a different monitor and will report my results.

Thanks
Neil

So the PI did successfully boot with my service monitor. So the Pi operates. Just not with my main monitor.

I tried a fresh burn of Buster (10July), made sure the monitor was on and set to the proper HDMI input. Still did not get the rainbow. Took the SD card out and installed on a RPI3B+ using the same HDMI port the 4 was on and it works.

Thanks
Neil


UPDATE:
Other steps taken:
1. moved my SD card to a RPI3b+ and used the 3b+ to configure the system.
a, set country and wifi
b, enabled SSH and VNC
2. Transferred the SD card back to the RPI4 and powered up. Again no rainbow.
3. found the new IP address from my router.
4. Successfully connected via SSH and VNC.

Should I close this thread and open a new one for HDMI issues? The RPI4 does actually boot but does not work with the monitor I have successfully used with several earlier PI.

Thanks
Neil

[nmstewart]

WOO HO!!!!!

Edited the /boot/config.txt and removed the hash tag.

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

[jbeale]

sounds like it is working now, if so congratulations!

I am no expert but I had the impression that the new Buster release includes a different process for parsing the EDID information coming from the monitor that describes what video timings, resolution, color, etc. attributes the monitor is prepared to display- and/or with the change in actual video capabilities from the Pi4 (no earlier version supported 4k as standard, I think) there may be some cases where the Pi4 attempts to use some video mode earlier Pi models would not, but the monitor isn't handling it as expected.

[Hcgrant]

I have the same problem to you Neil I think ..
See my post
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 8&t=246139
Hope this might help