Raspberry Pi Forums

Hi everyone,

I figured I'd give it a bit more troubleshooting before I gave up.

I'm using a 512mb Pi board with one of either 2 Sandisk Ultra cards. I've tried it with multiple USB power sources (1-2 amp), cables, and 2-3 distros (raspbian/kali/openelec) but the result is always some variation of a theme - it will boot (usually), but at some point (anywhere from 1-10 minutes) all the lights (/act/link/fdx/etc) will go out and leave only the power (PWR) LED. I tried watching the console to see what happens when this occurs, but the display immediately goes out. No events are written to the log, so it seems that this would be some sort of electrical short.

Is this common? It's a board I ordered back when the wait was 11-12 weeks from rs/allied, and naturally it shipped from across the pond so I'm not sure how I'd return it. Should I give up and buy another one for the price? If not, what's the best way to troubleshoot it? I'm not the world's best hardware person but am willing to learn if it's at least an educational experience.

Normally the procedure is to request an RMA and exchange the unit under warranty.
Some people report that heat makes a difference. But even if you know the unit works longer if you keep it cool, it's not a solution. It just proves for sure it's a defective unit that needs replacement.

Sounds fairly reasonable - if I were to bet, I'd bet on it being defective. I'm also going to try some things today from this guide:

http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting# ... r_problems

Part of my problem is that I ordered my pi under the big RS-components pre-order last fall, so it shows as having been sent from rs-online, which is their UK supplier. They don't have anything but a UK phone # (not even an email!) on their contact page, so I was hoping someone here might know another way to get in contact with them that doesn't involve running up a Pi's worth of phone calls and shipping

Thanks!

Update: Ok, nevermind - I've gotten a bit better with my searching and found the support email for RS (raspberrypi at rswww, etc). Note to self - always give forum searching at least 2-3 tries!

Looks like I'm in for an adventure, but it's the best anyone has to go on, it seems. Here's hoping - will continue to play with troubleshooting. Thanks!