Can't Get Anything To Work

[JakeSid]

I bought a RaspberryPi (Model B) months ago, and despite buying several new power supplies and SD Cards I cannot get the thing to work.

Every time I install any operating system it freezes at random points. In my latest attempt it froze whilst setting up for the first time in terminal. I powered down and reinstalled again. This time I managed to actually boot the OS, but there was no task bar.

I reinstalled again and upon powering up it froze on the settings again. It has done this several times on different options, even whilst choosing a keyboard layout.

I'm beginning to think that my Pi was just faulty to begin with.
Is there anything I can do to actually get it working?

My setup:
RaspberryPi (Model B)
OS: Rasbian "Wheezy"
Monitor Connection: HDMI
Internet Connection: Ethernet Cable
Power Supply: 1000MaH 5v MicroUSB
SD Card: Sandisk 8GB (30MB/s)
Keyboard: Wired Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000

[drgeoff]

Last autumn there were many postings about RPis freezing soon after power-up. If you are convinced the power supply is OK (http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting# ... r_problems) your best option is probably to return it for an exchange.

[JakeSid]

Thank you so much, I've just tried a variety of different cables and plug for my power supply and my Pi seems to be working fine for now.

I guess I'll have to get myself a new power supply (as I'm currently using my phones MicroUSB cable).

It's strange because I'd tried using that cable before and still had problems with freezing.

One other quick problem... if I plug in a USB to the upper USB port while my Pi is on it crashes and restarts. Is that due to a short circuit perhaps?

[pluggy]

One other quick problem... if I plug in a USB to the upper USB port while my Pi is on it crashes and restarts. Is that due to a short circuit perhaps?

No, the Pi's power system can't handle the power surge when certain usb peripherals are plugged in , the voltage drops too far and the Pi crashes. If its an early model, without the 'mounting holes' but with USB poyfuses, you could have a faulty polyfuse. Many people, including myself short circuited the polyfuses to reduce the power problems.

[skidoobond]

A quick test of the USB device would be to attach a powered USB hub the the RPi and then the device into the hub. The hub will act as a power buffer. If the hub causes the RPi to reboot, the RPi might be faulty. If it runs, the device does indeed draw too much power and needs the powered hub. There is a known list of devices on this forum that do this, it is common. I have added a powered hub configuration every time I use a new device just for this reason.