Endless Loop Booting RetroPie v4.02

Ron Earp

I am a newbie with just enough info to be dangerous. I used to be able to successfully get images of the RetroPie up and running on the RPi B+ units and then customize it for my purposes of running MAME and 80s arcade games.

I recently purchased a RPi3 for the same purpose. I downloaded the latest v4.02 RetroPie Image to a my hard drive, imaged it on a 8gig microSD card, and attempted to boot it. However, upon boot the system seems to be stuck in an endless loop: It starts up, I see four raspberries in the upper left of the screen a few lines of info are shown:
Pass1
Pass2

And then the RetroPie Joystick is shown, then it reboots again and goes back to the four raspberries and repeats.

One time it went into Emulation Station, which is what I expected, but I don't know how or why that happened. When that occured was able to use the menus and load ROMs etc, but, when I rebooted the system I'm back to square one.

I'm sure this is a simple question with an easy answer, but I apologize for my lack of unix knowledge. I can get a screenshot and upload it as I know my description is lacking.

Thanks,
Ron

Ron Earp

I've discovered something that is important - if I disconnect my Xbox 360 game control from the RPi when it boots it will go to Emulation Statoin, but, if I leave the controller plugged in I end up with the endless loop and rebooting situation.

markyh444

Sounds like your controller is pulling too much power from the usb port. Have you got a decent power supply for the Pi? I'd also try using g a powered usb hub if you're going to be using lots of power hungry peripherals off the Pi if I were you.

rbaker

@Ron-Earp You must have a power supply that is capable of delivering and sustaining 2.5A minimum. If you add peripherals to the pi, people often forget that these devices draw current and therefore the rainbow logo will begin to appear at times of peak load. If you plan on using multiple devices, I would recommend a power supply of 3A or greater.

Ron Earp

Thanks for the assistance.

I've been powering my devices from the TV USB since it is convenient and I'm just using them for games. Since I'd like to continue that I think the way forward is for me to use non-lighted controllers - the Xbox 360 controller I have has a lot of LEDs and two motors, all of which turn on at boot up. There are Logitech controllers with the same functionality but have no lights or motors, therefore they shouldn't be drawing as much current at startup.

BuZz

Tv USB is not sufficient for a rpi3.

Ron Earp

@BuZz

That's good to know. I was building another system for my garage and decided to use the B+ since I'd had good luck with them in the past. I have the Rpi3 though and will put it to other uses.