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

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion and Gaming
    usb craspberry pi 4
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    • ShizzmoneyS
      Shizzmoney
      last edited by

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

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • hostolisH
        hostolis
        last edited by hostolis

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

        AFAIK this will be resolved in a new board revision.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • sirhenrythe5thS
          sirhenrythe5th
          last edited by

          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

          -- Retro-Achievements Username: SirALX --
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          • ledowL
            ledow
            last edited by

            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.

            KN4THXK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • KN4THXK
              KN4THX @ledow
              last edited by

              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.

              "If you're gonna play the Game Boy, You gotta learn to play it right" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYLGl92ETNQ

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • matchamanM
                matchaman
                last edited by

                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.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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