Raspberry Pi Won't Boot, Red Power Light Only

[Tuskator]

Yesterday the Pi worked perfectly, but today just the red power light turns on. There is nothing through either HDMI or Composite outputs and the OK light never turns on.

Yesterday it worked with a 2GB Toshiba SD card, Logitech USB keyboard, Microsoft USB mouse, Amazon 5V 1.8A charger for Kindle Fire, and HDMI display running Debian Squeeze 19-04-2012.

I tried re-flashing the SD card and tried a Lexar 4GB SDHC Class 2 card and neither worked. Unplugging everything but the power and SD card didn't work either. I checked the SHA1 sum and that's fine.

Can someone help?

Moderator edit, if you want to save time DO NOT read this obsolete thread.
No new information has come to light for a long time from this thread, and in the mean time all available information about getting your PI to boot has been gathered in the boot problem sticky.
So if you have problems getting your PI to boot simply first read the "Boot problems" sticky post, here: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 28&t=58151

[therealeasterbunny]

Have you been holding the silver capacitor next to the power connector when plugging / unplugging? This is sensitive and can easily break according to general Pi troubleshooting page but easily replaceable.

Have you tried a different charger?

Have you unplugged everything then left it for a few hours? The Pi has timer trip fuses which take a while to reset if something funny power wise went on.

Can't thing of anything else what it could be?

[hermann.kerr]

Got my Raspberry Pi today. With a HDMI to DVI cable, a 5volt 1a power supply by Nexxtech, a USB keyboard and Mouse I just get the orange power light on and that is all and the OK light is green but not very bright. The first time I tried it was with a Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard when that didn't work I tried regular USB keyboard and mouse to the same results.

[hermann.kerr]

Got my Raspberry Pi today. With a HDMI to DVI cable, a 5volt 1a power supply by Nexxtech, a USB keyboard and Mouse I just get the orange power light on and that is all and the OK light is green but not very bright. The first time I tried it was with a Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard when that didn't work I tried regular USB keyboard and mouse to the same results.

Messed up the SD card - copied image to the partition, not the device though I now have a different problem.

[brucethehoon]

I'm not sure what happened to mine, but I had the exact same issue. The red light alone came on.

I swapped SD cards out and it's back from the dead. PHEW!

[Tuskator]

Have you been holding the silver capacitor next to the power connector when plugging / unplugging? This is sensitive and can easily break according to general Pi troubleshooting page but easily replaceable.

No, I've held the Pi by the edges of the board when plugging/unplugging

Have you tried a different charger?

No and unless one's hiding somewhere, thats the only one I have.

Have you unplugged everything then left it for a few hours? The Pi has timer trip fuses which take a while to reset if something funny power wise went on.

Yes, its been unplugged since I first posted and I tried it again now. No luck

Anyone else?

[therealeasterbunny]

Maybe try some AA batteries if you only have 1 PSU - I believe it works - search forums first for exact details on this method.

Moderator edit: Don't directly connect batteries, only use a real SPU, batteries may damage your PI!

[Tuskator]

Maybe try some AA batteries if you only have 1 PSU - I believe it works - search forums first for exact details on this method.

I have some batteries, but how would I connect them to the power slot without a cable?

Try it with no SD card in, and the "OK" LED should flash 20 times, if so that indicated an SD card issue.

I tried this and the OK LED doesn't flash so the SD card is not the problem. That just leaves power and the pi itself as potential problems right?

[simonthepiman]

Guys

If you just get the red light it seems to be a function of low input power, I have done some tests and have a small write up of my observations http://www.simonthepiman.com/raspberry_power.php

[mpettitt]

I've got the exact same problem as Tuskator: using a power supply that previously worked without issues (was running it at the Pi Jam in Manchester on Saturday), I plugged in this evening and only got the red power light, and a tiny spot of green from the OK light.

I've tried with an alternative power supply, and without an SD card, as well as with both known working SD cards. It's also cased, so there shouldn't be any issues with component damage.

Any suggestions?

EDIT: I should possibly mention that it's been working fine for a couple of weeks now, and I'm getting the same result whether I have an SD card inserted or not, and whether any cables other than power are connected or not.

[stubing]

Had the same problem - red power light and nothing else.

After reading a few posts about SD card issues I came accross a link to some firmware updates. I installed them on the failing SD card (one that I have used before and its been fine)

... and its working again without the need to write the OS again!

The Link is https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware ... aster/boot

I overwrote the start elf files, bin files and the kernal updates.

[contractorwolf]

I would like to take some solice in the fact that i am not the only one having this issue. I also get a red power light and the green light is just barely lit (almost not at all) but nothing else happens. I had it up and running for a week, have an 8 gb card that I was able to load the OS on and even modified the partition so that I could use the full 8gb.

Had no issues before today when I tried to start it up (after a week of trouble free use). I tried stubing's fix but that made no difference. I also tried to see if it would do the flashing of the red light without the card in and it also does not make a difference. Even plugging in a network connection doesnt light the networking lights.

I dont mind the wasting of the $35 as much as the fact that I had to wait over a year to get this thing and it only took a week to die. If anybody makes any headway or discoveries about this issue I would love to hear about it. Right now as far as i can tell (and Ive got 3 years working with microcontrollers like the netduino) this think may be dead.

[Tuskator]

Had the same problem - red power light and nothing else.

After reading a few posts about SD card issues I came accross a link to some firmware updates. I installed them on the failing SD card (one that I have used before and its been fine)

... and its working again without the need to write the OS again!

The Link is https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware ... aster/boot

I overwrote the start elf files, bin files and the kernal updates.

I tried this and overwrote the files with the exception of the kernel_emergency.img because it wouldn't download. It had the same results as before, no luck

[Tuskator]

and a tiny spot of green from the OK light.

I didn't notice before, but I do have a tiny bit of green here too

[rennock]

Me too. Never booted from either Debian (using dd on Linux to flash it) or Arch (using win32imager in Windows 7), plugged in a 5V 1A charger, then a 5V 2A charger, no luck at all. Tried different SD cards, tried removing all peripherals except a keyboard and RCA jack. Same symptoms every time: solid red light, faint green period of an OK light.

Sure hope it's not a bad egg off of the production line. Probably will be another six months to get another in the US if the second wave for us sells out like the first, and the rest of the world will have theirs doing Chinese Algebra before get back on a wait list.

[rennock]

Yikes, considering all the posts from last night, it might be easier to toss mine in the rubbage and just wait until Sept. general availability. Nevermind.

[abishur]

Yikes, considering all the posts from last night, it might be easier to toss mine in the rubbage and just wait until Sept. general availability. Nevermind.

Now now, no need to give up after 1 day! I mean if you think it's bad then contact the distributor and get it exchanged, they usually do it within a week. If you're determined to throw it away, why not send it my way instead?

[msemtd]

Another "me too" with a dead Pi (red power LED only, OK led very faint glow, with or without SD card, PSU is known working and good voltage on test points: 5.03v)

I had a decent Debian setup running with X and networking all fine, and was in the process of updating with aptitude when it froze up.

I'll keep trying to revive it of course - these things are still gold dust!

[Aquarius2112]

One more with the same behavior.

[abishur]

For each person joining this thread saying "Me too" Please provide more information

Such as:

1) What is the rating of your PSU (i.e. 5v @ ??? mA)

2) How did you install the image on your SD card

3) Have you checked the wiki to see if your SD card is on the bad list? (Be sure to check it twice), and also check the sticky about boot problems.

4) What all do you have connected to it?

5) Have you tried unplugging everything and leaving it be for several hours or overnight?

[NickT]

Maybe try some AA batteries if you only have 1 PSU - I believe it works - search forums first for exact details on this method.

I have some batteries, but how would I connect them to the power slot without a cable?

Try it with no SD card in, and the "OK" LED should flash 20 times, if so that indicated an SD card issue.

I tried this and the OK LED doesn't flash so the SD card is not the problem. That just leaves power and the pi itself as potential problems right?

Please don't dismiss the Pi as broken because the LED doesn't 'flash 20 times' when there is no card, only power. I don't know where that information came from but it's NOT true.

The wiki link http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting# ... s_blinking says it shouldn't ever flash as it's hardwired to the rails. If you look at the schematics http://www.raspberrypi.org/wp-content/u ... s-R1.0.pdf

Page 4 of 5 slightly left of top centre, you'll see that it is hard wired. It would only flash if the power rail was hunting up and down.

[msemtd]

Please don't dismiss the Pi as broken because the LED doesn't 'flash 20 times' when there is no card, only power. I don't know where that information came from but it's NOT true

No, we're talking about the "OK" LED not the power LED

D5(Green) - OK - SDCard Access (via GPIO16)

[msemtd]

Please don't dismiss the Pi as broken because the LED doesn't 'flash 20 times' when there is no card, only power. I don't know where that information came from but I don't think it's true.

Sorry Nick, I think you have the wrong end of the stick there: we're talking about the D5(Green) "OK" LED that indicates SDCard Access (via GPIO16). I think anyone who's read the FAQ knows that the red power LED should be constantly otherwise there's real problems!

[msemtd]

Sorry for the duplicate post there (the DDOS SYN attack is making posting rather difficult right now!).

@abishur some info...

PSU: HTC B250 5V 1A - known working with other people's Pi units. Test points measure a constant at 5.03v on this lovely Fluke multimeter (tested with no peripherals).

SD Card: SanDisk 2GB Micro SD - no other labelling on it - not in either list of known good or known bad cards but I intend to try a few others if I can ever resurrect this Pi!

Distro: Debian (debian6-19-04-2012.img) written to SD card with Win32 Disk Imager (as per instructions)

At risk of repeating what is clearly becoming quite common for the unlucky folks like myself the problem exhibits itself as a Pi that fails to boot following previous successful “normal” usage. The red power led is lit but the green OK led is glowing very dimly. This is both with and without the previously functional SD card and both with and without each, any, and all peripherals (kb, mouse, HDMI, RCA, audio out). With no card inserted we would expect 20 seconds of flashing green OK led although I can’t be 100% sure as I have only read this here today!

On the RCA output I see a brief white flash at between 4 and 5 seconds (sorry, no accurate stopwatch to hand) although this TV was previously capable of showing only a monochrome image at quite a low resolution as opposed the quite high resolution full colour output on one of my HDMI capable monitors.

I had been suffering the occasional hang and kernel oops which may have been due to a Microsoft multimedia keyboard (the only one i had to hand at the time). I believe the _last_ hang I suffered was an actual kernel panic (I have those details elsewhere but they may not be relevant).

[hippiemark]

hello all, i am having the same/similar issue. first time i plugged my pi in so i may have missed something, i have a dc 5.0v 1000ma power supply
a hdmi to my telly and
my old apple imac keyboard (m7803)
i used raspiwrite 1.1 to put
debian6 19 04 2012 onto my
dane-elec 4gb class 4 sd card and nothing... i got a red power light and zero picture or sound or anything, after a little internet searching i find this thread and on closer inspection i have a very dim green light, but no picture.
i then tried the above mentioned unplug everything and just have the power.... red light no green.
then tried the charger for my palm pre (output:5v = 1.0a) and the same red power light and very dim green, i tried with nothing plugged in, no sd or keyboard or hdmi just the power and the same.

have i done something wrong? i have a PNY 4gb class 4 card that is apparently ok to work with the pi but if the flashing green light thing doesnt work would the different card make a difference?
also and i cant be sure, i think maybe my pi has cracked the edge of the sd card, there is a very small fracture line along the bottom of it and as i slide the card into the sd slot this seems to flex the card a little... is that normal? i hope someone cant help me. cheers