Raspberry Pi Zero W Wont Boot

[VE4GWB]

Hello. I downloaded the RPI image and boots fine in a Pi 3 but will not boot in any of my Zero W's.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Garth

[KE0FHS]

What exactly do you mean by "will not boot"? Describing exactly what happens can help the troubleshooting.

For the RPi Zero W [Note: it must be the W version, not the plain Zero version], you need this image:
Pi-Star_RPi_V3.4.16_10-Aug-2018.zip
This is different from the image that is used for the new RPi 3B+ (which uses the beta image), but the same as the image that is used for the RPi 3B and earlier models.

What happens after you insert the microSD card with the fresh image and power up the RPi?
Are you using an adequate power supply (2.5A)?
Have you tried a different microSD card?

[VE4GWB]

After plugging in the SD card and giving the Pi power, the same cord that powers the others, nothing happens. The display on the MMDVM doesn't light up, no signal to hdmi, will not connect to wifi. Tried 2 SD cards.

Yet this card and setup work fine on a Pi 3 (not B plus)

[KE0FHS]

Try to isolate whether the problem is with the hotspot hat or the RPi.
Are you using the same MMDVM hotspot on both the RPi 3B and the RPi Zero W?
Have you re-seated the MMDVM hotspot on the RPi Zero W?
Have you tried using a freshly downloaded Pi-Star image?
Have you tried booting just the RPi Zero W (no hat) using a Raspbian image?

[VE4GWB]

Problem solved. The card was first used on a Pi 3. So I'm guessing it wouldn't work on the Zero for that reason. Reinstalled onto fresh card and put it in the Zero. All good now. Will have to make up another card to use in the 3. Thanks for the replies earlier.

Garth

[IW2CZG]

Hi There,
I have similar problem onto two specular configurations Pi Zero W + RF board.

With the SD card supplied with the kits, everythink is working fine; the problems are starting when I download the
image file Pi-Star_RPi_V3.4.16_17-Dec-2018.zip
from http://www.pistar.uk/downloads/

Then with a brand new 16 GB SD card I follow the procedure this way on a WIN10 PC:
- 1 format with SD CARD FORMATTER
- 2 write the image with BALENA ETCHER
- 3 optionally I add the suplicant file for the WiFi configuration
- 4 install correctly the SD card into the Raspberry Pi Zero W
- 5 I plug the usual USB power supply unit (that works ok with the original SD CARD)

and ... nothing happens on both access points.

Please can you tell me what went wrong ?
I tried also writing the image onto the original SD card, but still doesn't work at all.

Same problem I got the the previous version of the PI-STAR image file (august 2018), when I was able to successfully cook an SD card at that time, and months later I wasn't able to replicate.
Where I have failed ?

Waiting for suggestions, thanks and regards
Luca IW2CZG

[KE0FHS]

I'm not sure what you mean by "nothing happens on both access points" but if you load a wpa_supplicant.conf file, and the hotspot connects to your configured wireless network on boot up, then Pi-Star AP won't launch. It only launches if it can't find a configured wireless network. It would be helpful to understand better what you mean by both "nothing happens" and "both access points."

Some things to try:

Have you tried clearing your browser's cached, and rebooting Windows?
Are you using a proper frequency? Stay away from the satellite ranges.
Are you running a VPN? If so, it must be configured to allow connections to peripherals.
Find a way to view the network IP addresses and try navigating to the hotspot using the IP address instead of the URL.
Is your hotspot on a recent firmware version?

[IW2CZG]

Hi,
thanks for your answer.
By "nothing happens on both access points" I would like to mean that the system won't boot up. I have solid green LED and the red one slowly blinking.
Then, all the other steps are ok; if I put the original SD CARD inside, the hotspot works correctly.

Looks like the problem sits into the way I am preparing the SD card ...

Any other idea ?

again, thanks a lot
Luca IW2CZG

[KE0FHS]

All I can guess is a problem with how the microSD card is formatted.

[IW2CZG]

Ok, I formatted as a standard FAT32, but after flashing the image, it shoud not matter anyhow. Right ?

Just to be on the safe side, can you please recommend me a way to format and flash the image safely ? I followed the recommandations but ...