Does it look okay? New Pi

[Chaaru]

Okay, so I finally got my Raspberry Pi Model B I ordered off of Amazon. It was a bundle that included a clear case and a WiFi Dongle for $55.

Anyway, it came in the mail today, and the seller said it was brand new (I asked them). And I noticed that it didn't come in its original packaging (the white thin box that has element14 on it) . I'm concerned that seller was misleading and the Pi is actually used / something wrong with it, etc.

Can there potentially be anything wrong with used Raspberry Pis? Is there something to lookout for? I didn't notice anything 'wrong' with it. I just want to know if I got my moneys worth, as I paid for the product because I was under the impression that it was new. I thought I would ask here before I leave negative feedback for being misleading.

I'll attach some pictures of it. (I already attached the bottom part of the case to the Pi)

What do you make of the black marker marking over the "C E" on the lower left side of the board? Could that be something bad?

Any thoughts? I'd greatly appreciate it. I just want a smooth first experience with my Raspberry Pi, and I don't want to have to send it back, or send negative reviews because the product wasn't new (as described). Thanks.

[liz]

I can't tell whether or not it's been used, but you don't need to worry about that mark: it's applied in the factory as a visual check for the next person on the line to show them it's been through a certain test. You can actually see that mark being applied at 2:30 in the video at http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2675.

[mikerr]

What do you make of the black marker marking over the "C E" on the lower left side of the board? Could that be something bad?

That's normal, if by black marker, you actually mean RED over the CE mark

The "christmas tree" mark on the USB is also normal now too, as is the copper square on the hdmi.

My older 256Mb Pi don't have the USB mark, I found a page here showing model differences:
http://www.buyraspberrypi.com.au/how-to ... ooting-up/

[solar3000]

I also have red marks over the C on all my pis.

[liz]

I was assuming colour blindness - is that right, OP?

[Sharpdog]

In the past I have put together two R Pi Model B's without a hitch, but I think that there is currently a run of bad circuit boards that Amazon is selling. I bought an R Pi Model B and when I pulled it out of the anti-static bag the circuit board smelled burned. When I plugged everything in and turned it on, it showed the color splash screen but hung on the splash screen. I've tried it with known good memory chips and newly created NOOB chips, but it still hangs on the color splash screen. I returned this board to Amazon and received a replacement with the same problem, hanging on the color splash screen. I did this two more times with the same results. I've now sent four bad R Pi Model B boards back to Amazon as defective and I'm waiting on my fifth replacement board <sigh>. I've tried different power supplies and memory chips and nothing is working. I tried calling Amazon to report this but the only thing they wanted to know was did I want a replacement or a refund. At no point did the person from Amazon say encouraging words like "Oh! I will report this problem to our Quality Assurance team to investigate."

[mahjongg]

In the past I have put together two R Pi Model B's without a hitch, but I think that there is currently a run of bad circuit boards that Amazon is selling. I bought an R Pi Model B and when I pulled it out of the anti-static bag the circuit board smelled burned. When I plugged everything in and turned it on, it showed the color splash screen but hung on the splash screen. I've tried it with known good memory chips and newly created NOOB chips, but it still hangs on the color splash screen. I returned this board to Amazon and received a replacement with the same problem, hanging on the color splash screen. I did this two more times with the same results. I've now sent four bad R Pi Model B boards back to Amazon as defective and I'm waiting on my fifth replacement board <sigh>. I've tried different power supplies and memory chips and nothing is working. I tried calling Amazon to report this but the only thing they wanted to know was did I want a replacement or a refund. At no point did the person from Amazon say encouraging words like "Oh! I will report this problem to our Quality Assurance team to investigate."

I'm assuming it is you which is doing something wrong, rather than four random PI's all being bad in exactly the same way. The burned smell probably just means its gone through the soldering oven. The splash screen shows the GPU is reading the card, and is running, but it seems there is no valid ARM code it can run. It also seems Amazon is extremely lenient with you.

[kusti8]

In the past I have put together two R Pi Model B's without a hitch, but I think that there is currently a run of bad circuit boards that Amazon is selling. I bought an R Pi Model B and when I pulled it out of the anti-static bag the circuit board smelled burned. When I plugged everything in and turned it on, it showed the color splash screen but hung on the splash screen. I've tried it with known good memory chips and newly created NOOB chips, but it still hangs on the color splash screen. I returned this board to Amazon and received a replacement with the same problem, hanging on the color splash screen. I did this two more times with the same results. I've now sent four bad R Pi Model B boards back to Amazon as defective and I'm waiting on my fifth replacement board <sigh>. I've tried different power supplies and memory chips and nothing is working. I tried calling Amazon to report this but the only thing they wanted to know was did I want a replacement or a refund. At no point did the person from Amazon say encouraging words like "Oh! I will report this problem to our Quality Assurance team to investigate."

I'm assuming it is you which is doing something wrong, rather than four random PI's all being bad in exactly the same way. The burned smell just means its fresh from the soldering oven. The splash screen shows the GPU is reading the card, and is running, but it seems there is no valid ARM code it can run. It seems Amazon is extremely lenient with you.

+1 Read the booting sticky in the troubleshooting forum, that has answers to why your Pi is not booting, but I would try a different card reader and make sure you are formatting it before copying the NOOBS files.