Retropie Issues onto Pi Zero
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Hello All,
Complete newbie here. Having some issues loading Retropie onto my PiZero.
I've managed to load up the OS Raspbian Julian and the Zero boots up fine and takes me to the start screen with the single Raspberry on the background. This was done using Win32.
I've then powered off and removed the SD card. Put it back into the laptop and stuck on Retropie using Win32 again.
When I go to the SD to check its there, I am told that I need to format the card before I can access it, thus deleting all files on there. When I dont format, and put straight into the Zero, it does not boot up at all (green light doesnt flash)
Now am I missing something here? I've followed numerous guides, which all basically say to do the same when puttin RP onto my SD card. Its getting to a frustrating point now where the Zero is probably going to get snapped and binned.
I know i'm probably missing one stupid little detail, but i just can't seem to find it. Hence me turning up here throwing out my anger on a keyboard!!
Any Help would be greatly appreciated :)
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@Petei87 said in Retropie Issues onto Pi Zero:
When I go to the SD to check its there, I am told that I need to format the card before I can access it
That is because Windows can't read the filesystem Linux uses, so it wants to return it to NTFS or FAT.
As for your boot issue, I have no idea really.
Are you using the right image file? So the img for the Zero and not for Pi 2/3, there's a difference between those. -
@GetKeyOpenDoor I'd like to think I am, yes. When I downloaded the Retropie file, I used the download icon labelled '' Pi 0/1 '' , assuming the '0' means Zero.
This wasn't taken from this site though, it was taken from Instructables.com . Would it make sense to take it from here to ensure that I have the correct one?
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@Petei87 here is the official documentation:
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/First-Installation
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@herb_fargus Thank you!
This is another guide I have read, yet still get the same issues. However, this is the only one that advised using a WIFI dongle? Why so? I don't have to connect to the internet for anything do i? I don't even intend on using the internet. it will just be soley used for NES/SNES/PS1 roms.
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@Petei87 well you do need the internet for updates and transferring roms if you don't go the USB route for that. It's also possible you have a bad sd card, but if it boots up the first time you should just be able to transfer roms over and carry on
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So can ROMS via the USB method just be added to this SD card with the OS and RP?
The SD card i'm using is a brand new Sandisk 16gb . Looking at the list of SD cards, I believe that this is on there.
Is it then easier to use WIFI to transfer over the ROMS? I know which ones i'm due to bring over, its not a handful, just the games I played as a child on each console so probably a total of about 75 over the 3 consoles
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@Petei87 yes you can transfer roms via the USB method listed on the aforementioned wiki page but it probably wouldn't hurt to have a wifi dongle just in case, they are relatively cheap nowadays.
Also as mentioned above unless you have a Linux machine you won't be able to access the files directly on your sd card from your pc unless you are connected over the network via sftp or ssh (which is also explained on the aforementioned wiki page)
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So is the whole process as simple as - Loading OS ton SD card, putting in PiZero and booting up.
Take out SD card and put into laptop. Add Retropie.
Put back into PiZero and boot
Is that correct?
I've just tried again and getting the same issues after i've added Retropie. It will boot up after putting on the OS though.
Is there something inbetween these steps that I'm missing out?
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@Petei87 yes: install RetroPie on sd card. Put in pi. Leave sd card in pi. Use USB stick to transfer roms.
Read over this again:
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/First-Installation#usb
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@herb_fargus But what I cant get to boot is Retropie. The small green light in the top corner doesnt light up as it does when I just have the OS on the SD card. I just get a complete blank screen that tells me no signal is being received. Am I to add the ROMS at the same time when booting up RP??
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@Petei87 sorry I misunderstood. Yeah if it's not even booting to EmulationStation then either you have a hardware issue (power supply, sd card, etc) or a video issue with your monitor which may be fixable by configs and may not be. Or there was an error when you flashed the sd image of RetroPie onto the sd
But if you got stock raspbian Jessie to boot then maybe it might be simpler to just install RetroPie manually on top of that
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you are extracting the image before installing it, right? the .gz download from the retropie site needs to be unzipped so it's just an .img file, before you write it to your SD (via the wiki instructions)
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Couldnt find this original post. APologies for the dupliacted one.
Still having issues.
Does anyone have an Idiots Guide to getting this all set up please?
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@Petei87 what is the full name of the file you're trying to load as an image? including extension? what's the file size?
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@dankcushions I'm trying miserably to get -- retropie-4.0.2-rpi-_zero.img.gz (567,548kb)
Onto 2016-05-27-raspibian-jessie (3,924,992kb) - this boots up fine abd takes me to the main screen with the single raspberry in the centre and bun in top corner. When i add the 1st file to my SD card the zero doesn't even boot
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@Petei87 but looking at the file within the F:/ drive, it is saying that the file size is 42.4mb free of 62.9mb (this is a 16gb sandisk card)
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@Petei87 said in Retropie Issues onto Pi Zero:
@dankcushions I'm trying miserably to get -- retropie-4.0.2-rpi-_zero.img.gz (567,548kb)
Onto 2016-05-27-raspibian-jessie (3,924,992kb) - this boots up fine abd takes me to the main screen with the single raspberry in the centre and bun in top corner. When i add the 1st file to my SD card the zero doesn't even boot
like i said before, .gz means it's zipped. have you unzipped it before writing the image? what are you using to write the image?
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@Petei87 and once ive added the RP file, looking at the SD card, it is now saying 'FAT' and to access the card I need to format!!
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@Petei87 said in Retropie Issues onto Pi Zero:
@Petei87 and once ive added the RP file, looking at the SD card, it is now saying 'FAT' and to access the card I need to format!!
that's because windows doesn't understand linux file systems. that's normal.
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