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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

      This is the second pi I have set up. I did not have these problems the last time. So, I have formatted my SD card and written the image file to my 64 gb Samsung Evo SD card. However, the Pi will not boot it once I have put the SD Card in the Pi. Its just a blank screen that says no signal. Yes, the red light does come on. I have tried all the HDMI ports on my TV, I have tried different HDMI cables. I have tried re-formatting the card and re-writing the file 3 times now. None of that is the problem. Any clue what I am doing wrong here? The last time I set one up was last month for a friend. I did these exact same steps and it booted up just fine. The only difference at all is that last time, I used the Canakit bundle version, but this time I bought my SD Card separately from the Pi cause I wanted a bigger size than the one in the kit. However, I have checked and this SD Card is compatible. Also, I am using the NEPSI classic NES case instead of the standard case. Can anyone at all help?

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      • G
        grant2258 Banned
        last edited by

        what software are you using to burn the image? a common mistake people often make on the raspberry pi in general is they forget to unzip the img from the gz file. rhe file your writing should be retropie-4.3-rpi2_rpi3.img not retropie-4.3-rpi2_rpi3.img.gz use 7 zip or winzip to extract the file in there if you havent done so.

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        • J
          jbryan1984
          last edited by

          I am using Win32DiskImager. The file name you listed "retropie-4.3-rpi2_rpi3.img" is not what mine says. Mine says "retropie-4.3-rpi2_rpi3", no img

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          • G
            grant2258 Banned
            last edited by

            yes windows by default hides filetypes do you have winzip installed ?

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            • J
              jbryan1984
              last edited by

              No my trial ran out on that. I am using the same image file from last month. Could that be the problem? Should I just delete it and do the entire process over again?

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              • G
                grant2258 Banned
                last edited by

                just get 7zip http://www.7-zip.org/ its a free winzip basically just choose the what version 23 or 64 bit. 4.3 is the latest image anyway just install 7zip select the file right click and extract it with 7zip

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                • J
                  jbryan1984
                  last edited by

                  OK I actually do have 7zip installed. I will re-download the original file completely and get back to you.

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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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                                        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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