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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    First time poster in need of help: Pi3 not booting

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Help and Support
    not bootingsd card
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    • G
      grant2258 Banned
      last edited by

      it will work just do the sd format then the guiformat.exe youll be good. I really do need to get a bigger sd no excuse now they are cheap enough

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      • J
        jbryan1984
        last edited by

        lol it still didn't work! I formatted it with SD card formatter, then did the fat 32 format in guiformat, then burned the image using windisk32. Still has the same results. How can I tell if the pi or sd card is faulty? Like I said the pi lights up red and the sd card shows it has files on it.

        mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • mituM
          mitu Global Moderator @jbryan1984
          last edited by mitu

          @jbryan1984 Besides trying either another PI or another card, take a look at https://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting#Red_power_LED_is_blinking. It explains the LED color relation to various boot problems, including if your SD card is read or not by the PI.
          I assume you inserted the SD card correctly, so it's not one of those 'is the monitor pluged in ?' moments.

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          • J
            jbryan1984
            last edited by

            ok next I am going to try the fat32 format but instead of burning the retropie image, I will try the Rasbian lite image you suggested. If that don't work then I will try your next suggestion. Yes, the sd card is inserted face down. I even went threw some youtube videos to ensure they inserted it the same way. it doesn't go in the other way anyway. I am using my TV as the monitor. I have switched HDMI ports but the others plugged into my xbox, cable and roku all work fine.

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            • G
              grant2258 Banned
              last edited by

              did you delete the partitions and and FORMAT SIZE ADJUSTMENT" set to "ON in sd formater? You would get some kind of error if the sd failed to write

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              • J
                jbryan1984
                last edited by

                @grant2258 I did not. But where are those options at in formatter? I open it and the only things you can do are select card, refresh, click quick or overwrite and then finally format at the bottom.

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                • J
                  jbryan1984
                  last edited by

                  then on guiformat, all you can do is pick the drive, the allocation unit size (which i left on the default 32768) and click start. Those are the only 3 options on there. Where is format size adjustment at?

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                  • G
                    grant2258 Banned
                    last edited by

                    format size adjustment is on sd formatter :)

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                    • J
                      jbryan1984
                      last edited by

                      Also I read somewhere else that sometimes you have to install NOOBS yourself? Is that true?

                      Where is it at on formatter? All I can do is select my card, click quick or overwrite format, refresh and format at the bottom

                      mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • G
                        grant2258 Banned
                        last edited by

                        they must have removed the option from the latest sdformat its on mine. Just use the minitools on it and delete all the partitions and make one big fat32 then use the guiformat

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                        • J
                          jbryan1984
                          last edited by

                          what do you mean mini tools? i don't have an option for that either. Nothing about fat32 shows up in formatter, only on guiformat. I'm sure this is the problem but I cannot access anything like that on sd card formatter.

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                          • J
                            jbryan1984
                            last edited by

                            Also I went ahead and uninstalled formatter and made sure I had the latest one. Exact same version though.

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                            • G
                              grant2258 Banned
                              last edited by

                              I see where your getting confused. Let me try explain first we need to remove the partitions and make one big one the option " FORMAT SIZE ADJUSTMENT" set to "ON", in sdformat that that isint there is what does this. It then make the card on partition in the wrong format. Then we format it with guiformat.exe. Since sd magic isint working for that you will need to use minitools at the bottom of that page

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                              • mituM
                                mitu Global Moderator @jbryan1984
                                last edited by

                                @jbryan1984 said in First time poster in need of help: Pi3 not booting:

                                Also I read somewhere else that sometimes you have to install NOOBS yourself? Is that true?

                                No, that's not necessary.

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                                • J
                                  jbryan1984
                                  last edited by

                                  ok so i decided to take it completely out of the case, and it installed. It is booting now. I am not sure what the problem was? Perhaps the case was preventing the sd card from going in all the way? So I am just going to go ahead ans set up and then put it in the case. Something obviously involving the case was preventing it. I thank you both for all your help.

                                  mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • BobHarrisB
                                    BobHarris
                                    last edited by

                                    If I want to get rid of the Linux partition on my sd card, I always use my Sony camera to format the card. (It can be quite tricky in Windows because windows can't see the partition.)

                                    Pi 3B , 64 GB Sandisk ultra flashdrive, 19 systems, 872 hand picked classic gaming gems :-) Dual shock 4v2

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                                    • mituM
                                      mitu Global Moderator @jbryan1984
                                      last edited by

                                      @jbryan1984 Strange issue,but you figured it out - now you can have fun playing :).

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                                      • G
                                        grant2258 Banned
                                        last edited by

                                        glad you got it working nice result

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                                        • G
                                          grant2258 Banned
                                          last edited by

                                          just for future reference to anyone going to do this if they read it when using mini tool be sure to pick your sd card disk and not something else select it delete the partitions. Then make a new fat32 partition with all the space. It does format fat 32 cant verify that it works right the so use the gui formatter to be sure

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                                          • J
                                            jbryan1984
                                            last edited by

                                            I still don't understand that part but at least I got it to power on. I hope I won't have any more issues after this.

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