Overclocking question-can't edit config.txt - no free space?

[megafacehead]

Hi pi's
Kinda at my wits end here, never have i needed to hit up a forum a problem, usually i can muddle my way through basically anything with google as my friend, but i've hit a brick wall.

I recently purchased a 'gaming' pi 3 with a 32gb with retropi pre-installed, a few el cheapo controllers etc, a power brick etc etc.

Works great, getting the hang of it, i'm interested in overclocking.

Take the card out of the pi and put it into my windows pc.

I go to edit the file necessary for overclocking, config.txt, in the boot partition of the micro sd which is showing as a 56.8mb card.

BUT-i am unable to do so, no free space, 100% filled to the brim.The partition shows 0.0mb free of 56.8mb.

I am aware of partitions that are hidden and non-accessible via windows, this question has nothing to do with, i have already tried expanding the file system via sudo config to no avail as well.

I read through the beginners FAQ, and also the getting started with your pi guide, but i can't find an answer to my problem.I keep seeing mention of this 'expand filesystem' option using the 'sudo raspi-config' command prompt but i have done this already and it has changed nothing.

tl;dr How can i edit the config.txt file in the boot partition when 100% of room(56.8mb of 56.8mb) is used??How can i increase the size of the partition without doing a complete format and reinstall??

p.s. go easy on me first post and all.Would really appreciate some insight on this baffling problem.

p.p.s. i am aware of the dangers of o/c

[AlexMurphy]

@megafacehead How do you know there is no free space? If that's what windows is telling you it's wrong. Go to the command line on the Pi and enter df -h that will give the the free space on the /boot and the root partition. The /bootshould be about 21MB used out of 57MB. There is always plenty of space left in this partition to handle future updates. Unless whoever pre-made your image filled it with junk.

[megafacehead]

Wow thanks for your fast reply!

I think your onto something!

The sd card when selecting all shows 27 items (3 folders, 24 files).While selecting all 27 items and checking the size in properties the size is 20.1mb; pretty much exactly what you said it should be.

And yet, it still says 0 bytes free of 56.8mb.

Is there some trick the seller has done to stop buyers from editing their configs and overclocking?

How has this been done???Is there a way of hiding some junk file he's made that takes up exactly 36.7mb (56.8 minus 20.1mb)??

EDIT-checked space on pi using the cmd prompt you gave me and again your correct, it says 21m used of 57m, 37% used.

[AlexMurphy]

@megafacehead Glad you got it straight. To overclock enter sudo nano /boot/config.txt into the command line. At the line #arm_freq=800 remove the hash to make the line active and change the value to what you want. The default max is 1200 on the Pi3. Once changed press ctrl+x then Y to save then enter to exit the nano editor. Reboot and the OC is done. Be careful how high you go at first. Not all Pis handle it as well as some.

[megafacehead]

I'd really still much prefer to edit the config file via windows and place the sd card back into the pi.Just a bit more flexibility and perhaps a bit apprehensive using the pi cmd prompts, much more at home editing stuff the normie way via windows and notepad ++.

Thanks for your help though, it really sounds like i should just start from scratch, format the card, and reinstall retropie.If everything your saying is correct, after i've done that the boot partition should have plenty of room left to fiddle with, without (what appears to be) this sellers meddling.

[AlexMurphy]

@megafacehead No worries, whatever you are comfortable with. As for a fresh install there is nobody on this forum who would not recommend doing it. Pre-made images can be full of junk, unknown tweaks, configs and who knows what else... In fact a lot of people probably didn't even bother with trying to help you once the saw you mentioned buying a pre-made image. You can back up the ROMs folder to your PC and then just transfer it back after a clean install. That'll save you some time.