I'd check them power supply. Some SD cards may be more tolerant of transients and low voltage.Hello All
Having read this forum a lot, and the sticky on unbootable scenarios, and a handful of other websites, I have run out of ideas. Here is a summary of my predicament and the things I have tried to fix the problem - can you suggest anything else please?
Five SDHC cards:
Sandisk Ultra 64 GB taken from a working a RPi4 a few days ago
Sandisk Ultra 32 GB new from a reliable commercial source
Samsung Evo 64 GB can't remember where from, probably a camera trap, not often written to.
Kingston Canvas Select Pro 64 GB taken from a working a pi zero W a few days ago
"Apeman" 16GB taken working from a similarly underused camera trap
Three different SD card readers tried ... all write to the above cards successfully. All see the cards once written and a variety of linux command line tools show the cards to be working and without fault (e.g. f3, c/o https://fight-flash-fraud.readthedocs.io/en/stable/).
I have erased and reformatted using linux OS tools, using the RPi Imager, using other linux tools.
A new , specifically SD *and* SDHC compatlble card reader purchased which also appears to write correctly and read correctly.
Balena Etcher, Raspberry Pi Imager (v1.7.2, a later version didn't run on my linux OS), MotioneyeOS install script - all seem to write and checksum the cards properly
The only card which works is the Sandisk Ultra 64 GB card in my pi zero W when loaded with the latest MotioneyeOS image or with the 2024-03-15-raspios-bookworm image. In each case a static IP is assigned and I can see it (and the video image from my HQ camera adaptor therein).
This one card, the Sandisk Ultra 64GB, does also work when loaded into my new pi zero 2W,. It too comes up with a static IP as instructed by Raspberry Pi imager or the install script.
The other four cards, whether stuck into my RPi4 or either of my pi zeroes, do not work. It doesn't matter which image I choose, which imaging software, or which card I try - none of them boot. The RPi 4 is using the official USB C power supply; the pi zero W (which works) is using a front USB connector on my PC with two different proven cables, one of which is used for my pi zero 2W powered from a PC USB socket and also tried with a 2.4 A 5V power supply - it didn't change things).
I see a flickering LED (presumably boot activity) on the pi zero W and pi zero 2W boards and also on my RPi4. The flickering is not a warning pattern; none of these Pies come up with a dynamic or a fixed IP and I can't see them in my router tables nor via (e/g.) sudo netdiscover amongst other linux tools.
I have even DD imaged the working card and burnt the image to other cards, resizing as I go or not resizing ...same no boot results. I don't want to overwrite the only working card, as you can probably imagine.
I've rebooted my linux box and tried reprogramming the "non-booting" cards again, all to no avail.
I don't have a spare HDMI monitor at the moment and I don't have a spare machine at the moment but those are something i can try to get hold of. Before that, is there anything you can think of which I have missed or that you know is likely to be the cause of this headache please?
I am very happy to be advised to try the same things again in a certain order, or to double check. I can't go and buy yet another SDHC card, having bought on on Monday just gone, and I am sure the fault lies elsewhere at least for the time being.
What shall I try next?
Statistics: Posted by ejolson — Sun Jun 23, 2024 6:00 am