Won't boot, read your sticky [solved]

[Shakesignal]

Ok I got what seemed a nice present from my fiancée: an RPi 3 for retro gaming. Not so nice in reality. Caveat: I've been using, building, and modding computers since 1991. I'm not an expert, least of all using Linux machines, but I know enough to fix an out of the box problem.

Right, I got the Canakit from Amazon, USB Micro SD adapter included. That didn't work. Fine. I've never had this problem out of the box, but cool. I'm a rational human animal. I like problem solving. I'm sure there's a legitimate reason why RPi designers insist on using Micro SD tech vs. USB flash, but this seems like an area for improvement. Not really for me, but for the target market of people who otherwise don't have another option for a computer. Just a thought.

I proceeded to buy an extra of each part (extra Pi, extra power adapter, 2 extra Micro SD adapters, 3 Micro SD cards, extra HDMI cable), and have tried every variation with the above, to no avail. I've reloaded the SD cards (which two different MBPs have read and loaded with no problems), using multiple loaders (ApplePi Baker, RPi-sd card builder, Pi Filler) and I've tried Raspbian, NOOBS, and RetroPie.

Having done my due diligence, I'm at the end of my rope. One week and nothing but a solid red LED. Am I missing something so glaringly obvious? May I please have some help from someone? I'm tempted to return these toys and but a laptop from one of the evil corporations. Thank you very much in advance, for understanding my irritation, and for helping as well. Happy New Years!

[B.Goode]

Welcome to the forums and the RPi.


Honestly, everything currently known regarding what might prevent an RPi from booting is summarised here, which you say you have read: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=58151

Where are you putting the SD card once you have primed it with the NOOBS Installer or a specific Operating System? (Hint: it doesn't go in the usb adaptor that canakit supply... )

[fvgs]

Just a shot in the dark here, but are you inserting the micro sd card all the way into the slot on the pi? The slot uses a push-push system, so it should click into place when you insert the card.

[HawaiianPi]

Just a shot in the dark here, but are you inserting the micro sd card all the way into the slot on the pi? The slot uses a push-push system, so it should click into place when you insert the card.

Not on the Pi3. The Pi3 is a friction fit (push-pull) slot. No click.

[HawaiianPi]

May I please have some help from someone? ... Thank you very much in advance, for understanding my irritation, and for helping as well. Happy New Years!

Happy New Year to you as well.

Try this:

Download and install Etcher on your main (Windows/Mac) computer: https://etcher.io/

Get Raspbian Jessie with Pixel image here (Download ZIP): https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

You can verify your download by comparing the SHA-1 hash (checksum) to the one published on the download page.
6587483c9b90b11185e2ce99175e27fe75af1f61 2016-11-25-raspbian-jessie.zip

Extract the Raspbian image file from the zip archive. The image file should have the same name as the zip file you downloaded, except the file extension should be .img (instead of .zip). The extracted image file should be slightly over 4GB in size.

For comparison, I got the following SHA-1 hash for the extracted image file:
25bd5e7a4ed7f7321edc1949e81b9cc4f3f46014 2016-11-25-raspbian-jessie.img

Note that the hash values above are only good for the 2016-11-25 release (which is the most recent at the time of this post).

Put the Micro-SD card into your main (Windows/Mac) computer using either the built-in SD card slot or a USB SD card reader and write the image to the card with Etcher (Etcher is pretty self-explanatory, just follow the steps).

Remove the Micro-SD card from your main computer (and the USB card reader if you used one) and put it into the slot on the bottom of the Raspberry Pi3 board (under the DSI/Display port).

Connect the Pi3 to your HDMI display and turn on the display, connect your USB keyboard and mouse, and finally, connect the power supply to the Raspberry Pi3.

You should see the RED power LED turn on. The red LED should be steady. If it blinks (or you don't see the red LED) you have a problem with your power supply.

After the red LED lights you should see a green LED blinking. The green LED is the SD card activity indicator.

After a moment your HDMI display should show the Raspbian boot screen.

[drgeoff]

Possibly the biggest impediment to success for someone new to RPi is long term experience with other computers, especially Wintel computers.

Do not blindly assume that something you have learned previously with other computers also applies to RPis.

[Shakesignal]

FIXED IT!!! Ok I would feel like a git (or berk, prat, dork, dummy, whatever), but I can't recall reading specifically that the card was to be put in the unlabeled card slot, but I must be that thick. Anyway, thank you all for your help. I'm off to play! Cheers!