My pi 3 B won't boot

Ryan

Hello, I recently downloaded retro pie. I also downloaded a bunch of roms. Today I installed the optional emulators so I could have MAME. After that I updated retropie. As soon as the update had finished i unpluged my pi from the ethernet cable and power and moved it to another room to add more roms. Now the pi is connected to power and won't boot at all. I am getting a stable red light only. No green. What do I do next? Did I over cook it? Do I need a new pi? I'm trying to make an arcade cabinet as a gift so I'm trying to get done as soon as possible. Thanks
-Ryan

Clyde

Hello and welcome to this forum.

Please give us the detailed information about your components as it is requested in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

Did you try to boot the Pi with another SD card or the same card newly flashed with the stock image? If not, I'd recommend that to rule out a defective card.

Do you get at least the rainbow screen?

Ryan

@clyde Hi, Thank you for responding, I don't get the rainbow screen. I am going to try a new sd card but doesn't it seem weird that all of a sudden it just stopped working.

Ryan

@clyde I tried a new sd card, nothing will come up. I also have tried different cables and displays, but nothing. Is there something else I can try or should I just buy a new one? Also, I'm not sure of all my parts but it's just the stock Rasberry pi 3B.

Clyde

@ryan Please give us all the information as requested in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

One of the most important components is the power source, as an insufficiant or faulty one can cause any number of problems.

As far as I know, there are some typical causes for only the red LED coming on apart from a broken Pi. Here are some elaborate descriptions and diagnostic options:

One issue that is often mentioned is a blown polyfuse. Here's a detailed description of it and how to check its status. If it's blown, it may "heal" itself after one to a couple of days. On a Pi 3B, it is located on the backside right next to the usb power plug (it should be the piece labeled "3592" on this picture).

All that said, if time is an issue, it may be better to just buy a new Pi and continue to complete your present, and save any attempts to repair the old one for another time.

Ryan

@clyde Hi, thank you for responding. I am going to buy a new pi and then carefully read the documents you shared to fix my current pi for another project. Thanks again.
-Ryan