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Pi general troubleshooting

This is a page for troubleshooting the Pi hardware. See also:

Checking the basics

Some potential problems (root causes) to look for:

  • The software image is not on the SD card
  • The SD card is not in Pi
  • The Pi is not powering on

Connect the Raspberry Pi to a hdmi monitor and power it on.

  • Does it show a color gradient in a square when first poered on?

    • Yes: this a good sign. This is what should happen

    • No -> there is a problem with the power, the SD card, (or maybe the HDMI cable & monitor) Check that these are properly connected. Do you have the right SD card? Is it flashed?

  • Does the Pi show a bunch of text as it boots?

    • Yes: this a good sign. This is what should happen
    • No -> there is a problem with the power, the SD card, (or maybe the HDMI cable & monitor) Check that these are properly connected. Do you have the right SD card? Is it flashed?

Pi Power supply issues

These happen when the power supply doesn’t provide enough power, or the cable isn’t good enough.

Some potential problems (root causes) to look for:

  • Connect the Raspberry Pi to a HDMI monitor and power it on. Watch for a "lightning bolt" in the corner. If it regularly appears, the power supply or cable is the issue.

  • Look for text that pops up on the display console with words "under-voltage".

  • A common symptom is that the Raspberry Pi may stop responding; or a SSH connection may suddenly disconnect.

If you see those, you need to change to your power supply for the Raspberry Pi. See Pi equipment for a list of chargers.

What else to look for

In /var/log/sys log any lines like the following:

Dec 11 11:43:37 escapepod kernel: [  994.885094] rpi_firmware_get_throttled: 7 callbacks suppressed
Dec 11 11:43:37 escapepod kernel: [  994.885103] Voltage normalised (0x00000000)
Dec 11 11:44:03 escapepod kernel: [ 1021.092573] Under-voltage detected! (0x00050005)
Dec 11 11:44:07 escapepod kernel: [ 1025.124419] Voltage normalised (0x00000000)

In /var/log/kern.log any lines like the following:

Dec 11 11:22:58 escapepod kernel: [31302.855548] rpi_firmware_get_throttled: 5 callbacks suppressed
Dec 11 11:22:58 escapepod kernel: [31302.855559] Under-voltage detected! (0x00050005)
Dec 11 11:23:02 escapepod kernel: [31306.887532] Voltage normalised (0x00000000)

In /var/log/dmesg any lines like the following:

[   21.181843] kernel: Under-voltage detected! (0x00050005)

The following text that get displayed on the monitor

brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_htclk: HT Avail request error:

If you see those, you need to change to your power supply for the Raspberry Pi. See Pi equipment for a list of chargers.