3. Raspberry Pi 4 won't work with some power cables due to its USB-C design flaw
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

Raspberry Pi 4 won't work with some power cables due to its USB-C design flaw


  • Oops https://www.zdnet.com/article/raspberry-pi-4-wont-work-with-some-power-cables-due-to-its-usb-c-design-flaw/

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  • Yeap, the workaround is to use "dumb" cables and not smart ones.

    AFAIK this will be resolved in a new board revision.

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  • Yes, a Revision has been announced.
    As far as i wait for a stable retropie version before i buy a Pi4 it will probably the 4B+ :D

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  • Never buy the first version of anything.

    • RPi 1 had issues with heavy SD card , network access, etc. causing it to lose data ("patched" in firmware by making it work slower when doing those things).
    • The B model had issues with a capacitor that regularly broke off.
    • The PoE hat had to have a revision because it couldn't feed enough power into the board to run USB devices because they changed a chip and never properly tested it.
    • And now a completely non-compliant USB-C interface that nobody bothered to test with a handful of USB-C chargers before they finalised the hardware.

    Sure, they fix them all eventually, but you do have to question their testing regime that they never stress-tested the first board at all, and that they changed chips on the PoE hate without even bothering to plug it in and give it a stress test, and that they never really tried some of the most common USB-C chargers available on the market... like not even once.

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  • While I prefer every device I purchase to run flawlessly upon purchase, I know this is not and never will be a real world expectation.

    The Nintendo Switch was built with a non-compliant USB C as well. Things happen, some people may not like them, but at the end of the day pretty much all manufacturers tell you to only use approved or first party equipment anyway. I personally only use the official Pi power supplies. Pi's shouldn't be run from phone/usb chargers. I am not sure if USB C technology changes this but they typically cannot provide steady voltage like a dedicated PSU would.

    As far as whether it should have happened on the first place, of course it really shouldn't in a perfect world but these kinds of things happen and have been happening forever with both hardware and software. Originally NES games game shipped with plenty of bugs while routers always need a firmware update after their initial release and they would eventually release a v2 hardware.

    As much time as I play with my Pis I want the best quality for reliability so I do not even go down the road of digging through my cable basket to find a compatible charger and use the real deal. With the price of one at a measly $8 it's hard to justify not doing so. It's a project board and a sensitive piece of equipment at that.

    I love my Pis and if something is only broken when you don't use an official PSU then I can't consider that broken.

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  • I use this power adapter:

    https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07654YLSB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    With this cable:

    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33045572260.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4drD2Iey

    Zero issues whatsoever.

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raspberry pi 4 29 usb c 3
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