Zero w starting problem

Support Raspberry Pi
1

Hi I’ve recieved the package yesterday. Only issue is that I don’t seem to get it started…

I’ve tried on both models, zero w and zero and I can’t find what ive done wrong…

What could have possibly gone wrong?

  1. Can I use laptop USB port to power the zero? Or any mobilephone charger?
  2. Do I need to use specific micro SD card? I’ve got 2 micro SD cards but not bought from core-electronics…
  3. Does the power turn on without video input?

Any ideas??

2

Hi @Kj37099,

Can I use laptop USB port to power the zero? Or any mobilephone charger?

Sure can. But we recommend the official Pi Power Supply, especially if you are powering other bits from the Pi Zero.

Do I need to use specific micro SD card? I’ve got 2 micro SD cards but not bought from core-electronics…

No, but Class 10 would be best. Also, the card needs to be formatted and an operating system installed (checkout our tutorials)

Does the power turn on without video input?

Yes, and all going well the activity light will flicker as the operating system boots (providing you have installed an OS on the uSD card). To use the Pi Zero without a screen is called “headless”. We have a tutorial for that as well.

3

If it all gets too hard then you could grab one of our preloaded NOOBS cards (which stands for New Out Of Box Software).

4

Thanks for your reply.

How do I know if it’s SD card problem?

If I know it’s SD card issue then I would buy noobs SD card but if it’s not the addressee card issue then it’s useless… isn’t it?

Thank you

5

Given the Pi’s are electrically tested and the same issue is occurring on both, with a high degree of certainty I lean to this being a user issue (incorrect format settings / OS not installed properly).

Again, what OS are you using? Also, what format settings did you use, and how did you write the OS to the card?

6

Hi, I’ve tried with osx and PC and I tried both jess lite and pixel and
Formatted fully with SD formatter with the thing “on”

I used the SD card adpter and I also used “pibakery” to make sure what I was doing right…

Anything went wrong here?..?

Thank you

7

What are you currently powering it with, the laptop USB or a phone charger?

8

Hi K,
You say you have access to OSX. Thats all I use and recently had to learn how to “make” a bootable MicroSD Card for my PI Zero W.

I make no apologies from starting from the beginning…

Suggest you download NOOBS (Not the Lite version just yet) from here and store in on you computer:

Download and install etcher on your Mac:

Put MicroSD card in SD adapter and put into Mac.
Run Etcher and select the SD Card and NOOBS image and click on Flash!

When Etcher finishes its thing, the card can be put into the Pi and it will boot / you will see some activity on the screen (via the HDMI port).

Hope that helps.
Jon

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