No bootup SD card access, tried everything!

[aagnone3]

Hello,

Today I picked back up my raspberry pi to play with after a few months. I had already used it for some time, but today when I went to power it up, the power indicator came up without and card access indicator. I checked voltage levels (right at 5V), the fuse is fine, and I've reformatted and installed a raspbian wheezy image on the sd card multiple times, using both mac and windows os. I've run it with only the power source and sd card plugged in, to the same end. I've gone through every troubleshooting step that the troubleshooting guide has to offer, and have had no success. Any suggestions?

[mahjongg]

try installing berry boot, its simpler to install, and will still show whether the pi is capable of booting or not.

might be bad contacts in the card holder or some sort of similar troubles.

[FTrevorGowen]

Just in case it is a case of SD card socket failure, you can find example pictures at http://www.cpmspectrepi.webspace.virgin ... ilure.html of my second Pi which suffered in that way. I could still get it to boot if I "squeezed" the SD card into place (not recommended "long-term" ). Because this took place within days of the Pi's receipt, Farnell kindly replaced it without requiring return of the said Pi. Subsequently I was able to repair it with some "plastikard" (I also happen to be an N gauge Railway Modeller) and careful application of "superglue" (pictures thereof in the same place).
Trev.