Cannot boot Image, Can boot Noobs

[ThisGuyEveryTime]

Brand New Everything: pi, mirco sd, case, power, etc.
This is my first experience with raspberry pi and Linux in general, so please stick with me.
I have read the "!!READ THIS FIRST!!" and have gone through the other topics. This has been addressed before but not this specific of an issue.
On a Windows 10 Laptop
Raspberry Pi 3 B+
Sandisk 32 GB Ultra PLUS

I have Tried to flash the sd card several time (bringing it back to factory setting after each attempt)
After Flashing when trying to boot I get a solid power light (which is good) but the ACT light usually flashes twice (not super consistently, sometimes after flashing twice the light will be off and the come on for a while then turn off again).
I have gotten the zip from retropie 4.4, I have used 7-zip to unzip in combo with win32image to flash and have also tried the still zipped file with Etcher to flash the micro sd card.
It always has a black screen after trying to boot, I never make it to the rainbow.
After all of this I tried to clear the card and boot with NOOBS, which worked. I have follow the Retropie First Install guide to a T when trying to flash the Micro SD Card. Why can I boot with NOOBS but not a flashed image of Retropie, and should I just install rasbian through NOOBS then get Retropie Installed?

Thanks for any Help, or if I have just missed a resource feel free to point it out and then chastise me lol

[rbaker]

@ThisGuyEveryTime said in Cannot boot Image, Can boot Noobs:

I have read the "!!READ THIS FIRST!!"

Where are your answers? Power Supply? Image name? etc etc. Describe your steps exactly. If you burn the correct image with etcher, you don't even need to unpack the file. You take the card out , place in the pi and it boots. The ACT LED is essential in determining if the Pi can actually read from the card. It indicates that it can read from the card by blinking. If the ACT LED doesn't blink quickly in an irregular pattern for at least twenty seconds, this indicates that the Pi cannot read from the SD card, and that booting is not taking place. It doesn't matter if the ACT LED initially starts on or off. It is only the blinking of the ACT LED that is significant. Are you using retropie-4.4-rpi2_rpi3.img.gz?

[ThisGuyEveryTime]

@rbaker
Thank you for your reply. I type everything out set by step and did it as I went and it worked, I think I was unzipping while also using etcher (not sure if that even maters) or didn't have the controller plugged in before boot. As an aside I tried on another sd to unpack with 7-zip and then burning using win32image and that still does not work, not sure why but it doesn't really matter now. Thanks again.

(I was typing as I went)
Raspberry Pi 3 B+
Sandisk 32 GB Ultra Plus
2.5A canakit switch and power supply
Pre made SD image on RetroPi website
USB Devices connected: have tried with controller and none at all
PS4 controler with PS4 usb
no error recieved, just a black screen
Following offical RetroPi guide
image: retropie-4.4-rpi2_rpi3.img.gz

Exact Steps:

1. list itemDownload retropie-4.4-rpi2_rpi3.img.gz from https://retropie.org.uk/download/
2. Format micro SD to FAT32
3. Burn retropie-4.4-rpi2_rpi3.img.gz with Etcher to SD (did not unzip)
4. Safely eject and input SD in Pi
5. Connect HMDI, and turn on monitor
6. Connect controler
7. Connect power supply and turn on
8. Power light on, ACT light oh.....
   it worked user error i suck lol

[rbaker]

@ThisGuyEveryTime said in Cannot boot Image, Can boot Noobs:

I tried on another sd to unpack with 7-zip and then burning using win32image and that still does not work

How did you format the card? Did you use this application? before using win32 disk imager?

Is the card compatible? See this list

When you extract the image, it should be a Disc Image File which is 2.4GB in size. Write this to the card. The zip file is about 600MB before extraction. Try unzipping with something else.