New Install Trouble - Pi Won't Boot - TV says No HDMI Signal

Sandman

Pi Model B acqired from Radio Shack in USA as a MAKE Starter Kit
Power Supply used: I.T.E. GEO061U-0510, 5.25V 1A
RetroPie Version v4.1 – 5th November 2016.
Built From: new install on newly formatted SD card using retropi-4.1-rpi1_zero.img.gz
USB Devices connected: Bluetooth dongle for mouse and keyboard, game controller
Controller used: Tata Kiwitata Game Controller (SNES)
Error messages received: TV reports No Signal from HDMI source
Log found in /dev/shm/runcommand.log (if relevant): Not sure how to get this yet, will try if deemed relevant
Guide used: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/First-Installation
File: N/A
Emulator: N/A
Attachment of config files: Didn’t get this far yet
How to replicate the problem: I’ve replicated this problem numerous times with two different SD cards so far using OSX GUI and Win10 GUI
md5sum: 53b3c455a134f1314979350213cb2ba0, which is correct

1st and 2nd attempts: 32GB Sandisk Ultra PLUS MicroSDHD (SDSDQUIP-032G-AW46) in Sandisk Adapter formatted FAT32 using 1st att) Diskutil followed by Apple Pie Baker to write image file to SD and 2nd att) SD Card Formatter FAT32 and using OSX Terminal to write image file to SD as per

.

3rd and 4th attempts: 16GB Sandisk Ultra PLUS SDHC, all else same as above.

5th and 6th attempts: 16GB Sandisk Ultra PLUS SDHC formatted FAT32 using 5th att) Windows 10 GUI writing image with Win32 DiskImager and 6th att) SD Card Formatter and FAT32.

With all six attempts, after disk image was written to SD card, MAC OSX Terminal reported the card as a Boot disk with FAT16 with a 59MB Boot Sector and a second 2GB Partition. I am aware the img file actually makes a Linux EXT4 file system and that Win10 and OSX won’t see the actual size or contents of the card.

I have checked and discovered that neither of these SD cards is on this compatible list: http://elinux.org/RPi_SD_cards

In addition to the power supply that came with the Raspberry Pi kit MAKE listed above, I also tried a 5V 3.4A Ikea power supply that has 3 USB ports and delivers a max of 2.4A to any single port. Both power supplies work fine with the Pi using my 8GB Raspbian SD card.

As you can see, I have followed the github instructions closely and also tried a few things from other instruction sets. What is the likelihood that I have randomly found two incompatible SD cards or have two bad ones in a row, especially since the 16GB one worked fine in my Nikon Camera before I tried it with RetroPie?

I did do a check sum on the Win10 downloaded file, so there is something to dig out instructions and try.

Besides buying a new SD Card that is on the known compatible list, what else can I try?

I have also tried putting tape over the little write protect notch on the edge of the card below the notched corner, as I have read that it interferes on some card readers and devices. I suspect this was a useless exercise.

synack

@Sandman said in New Install Trouble - Pi Won't Boot - TV says No HDMI Signal:

What is the likelihood that I have randomly found two incompatible SD cards or have two bad ones in a row

Fairly unlikely. Sandisk is usually pretty compatible.

Besides buying a new SD Card that is on the known compatible list, what else can I try?

Start up your Pi with a freshly flashed SD card, and wait a minute or two. Then try accessing it from another computer on the network. Either via ping retropie from the command prompt or via the network UNC \\retropie from Windows.

If it's responding, then try it on another TV, or do some HDMI troubleshooting.

If it's not responding then the Pi itself might be the problem.

Sandman

@synack, The Pi works fine when I put my Raspbian card in and boot it up, so I think the Pi is fine.