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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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    • J
      jbryan1984
      last edited by

      Unfortunately, same exact results. Blue screen, no signal. I have even opened the SD card to make sure something is on it. There is one folder that says "overlays" and 24 other stand alone files. Some say DAT, DTB, ELF and a few others. Is that what is supposed to be on the SD card? I thought the last time I did it, there was an OS folder too? One thing I should bring up that is odd is that the SD card will only appear on my computer if I use the adapter, it doesn't show up with the usb reader.

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

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

        Some say DAT, DTB, ELF and a few others. Is that what is supposed to be on the SD card?

        The 1st partition on the card should have those files, yes.

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        • J
          jbryan1984
          last edited by

          Is there anything else that should be on there?

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          • G
            grant2258 Banned
            last edited by

            i had this problem with a toshiba laptop on windows ten. The only way i could get the sdcard to write properly was to format it with https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/index.html.

            download the above and format the sd card reboot the pc
            now try writing the image again.

            I had problems on my toshiba laptop, Problem is you card is partitioned now sdcard format will fix that and you can write it again like fresh

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            • J
              jbryan1984
              last edited by

              I actually have that same software installed and have formatted it each time before writing the image. I have checked each time to make sure nothing is on the card. Am I writing the file with the correct hash? MD5?

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

                @jbryan1984 There's a MD5 checksum on the download page, so you check that the image is downloaded correctly. So far, from what you've said, there doesn't seem to be a problem with the image, but with the PI itself or the SD card. Can you try downloading another image - Rasbian Lite for instance - write it and see it boots ?

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                • G
                  grant2258 Banned
                  last edited by

                  i dont use hash leave it at none

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                  • J
                    jbryan1984
                    last edited by

                    @mitu and @grant2258 I will try both suggestions.

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                    • G
                      grant2258 Banned
                      last edited by

                      here is the thing your missing though the reboot format reboot burn. My toshiba laptop needed this its the only computer ive had that particular problem with

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                      • J
                        jbryan1984
                        last edited by

                        @grant2258 what is the steps to do that? and @mitu where do you download Rasbian lite? I found something called Rasbian Lite Stretch.

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                        • G
                          grant2258 Banned
                          last edited by

                          i think ive found your problem https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/sdxc_formatting.md you need to get it formatted fat32 then burn the image this page explains it. max i have went is 16 gigs

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                          • J
                            jbryan1984
                            last edited by

                            @mitu Rasbian Lite didn't work either. @grant2258 I will try that next. After reading it, it sure does make sense. Wish me luck.

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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 :)

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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