Hi-Perf HotSpot for newbie ..

[IW2CZG]

I am using the radio modem with the OLED and single UHF radio, which is working really ok.
The images are:
Pi Zero W: Pi-Star_RPi_V3.4.16_17-Dec-2018.zip (and previous version of Aug 2018 as well)
Pi 3B+: Pi-Star_RPiB+_V3.4.16_10-Aug-2018.zip (not tried yet .... I will do this tomorrow or in the weekend)

I tried a bunch of PSU ... and with the original SD all of them are working. With the new SD, I have no reboot at all

[KE0FHS]

I just downloaded a fresh version of Etcher (1.4.8) to my Win 10 laptop and installed it. I also downloaded a fresh image of Pi-Star (Pi-Star_RPi_V3.4.16_17-Dec-2018.zip). I burned the image to a 32 GB microSD card, booted up a hotspot running on a RPi Zero W, used Pi-Star's Auto AP feature to add my local wireless network, rebooted, and connected just fine. No problems.

This tells me that it's most likely NOT an issue with the latest Pi-Star image, nor with the latest version of Etcher.

Even though you have used your microSD cards for other things, I suggest you try a new, good quality microSD card. They don't cost very much, so it's a reasonable troubleshooting step to take. 2 GB is probably too small. I suggest 8, 16, or 32 GB.

I also suggest you try a new, good quality power supply. It doesn't matter whether your current power supply units have worked for other things. You need a good quality power supply for a hotspot. The important thing is a power supply unit that can supply a steady 2.5A output under load. Again, they don't cost very much, so it's a reasonable troubleshooting step to take.

If I were encountering the issue you are facing, another troubleshooting step I would consider taking would be to download a copy of the Raspbian image, burn it to a microSD card, and boot up just the Raspberry Pi (with no radio/modem board attached), to verify that the RPi is working properly.

Another thing you should check is to make sure the OLED is not shorting anything on the radio/modem board it is attached to, and that all the solder joints are good.

Finally, if you are using one of the Chinese clone radio/modem boards, you might want to consider getting a better quality radio/modem board.

After that, I'm out of suggestions. Good luck.

[IW2CZG]

Hey Toshen,
thank you so much for the time you dedicated me with the test.

I am goin' crazy.
I am using SanDisk 16 GB SDs only. The one prepared some months ago is working fine, as well as its image copied on the SD I would like to use for the updated Pi-Star of dec 17.
Same SD with specular image of the working SD is ok. Etching with both versions of aug and dec is resulting in no boot. Same SD.

I have a bunch of PSU and all of them are powering correctly the Raspberry Pi ZeroW.
I have a second hotsport kit which reflects perfectly the behaviour.
No short circuits at all ... everything is nice and clean.
No RF around during the whole process...

The only logical explanation I can find is about that during the etching process something goes wrong.
But BTW, what ? Basically there are no option I can set on etcher ....
Maybe not Linux format ... but how can this be possible ? Just etching the image !!!

This story is drivin' me mad.
Luca

[KE0FHS]

One last thought: are you extracting the zip file contents from the downloaded Pi-Star zip file? You should be burning just the .img file it contains, not the entire .zip file.

Other than that, you might try re-downloading Etcher, and re-downloading the Pi-Star zip file.

[IW2CZG]

Yes, of course I am flashing the .IMG file ....
Re-downloaded and installed ... no changes

[IW2CZG]

Hey, maybe I am getting to a possible conclusion:
I didn't see (it's damn small) the message that the verification failed during the etching process !
The report says that the written xxHASH is different from the image ... how can I include the snapshot ?

How can I proceed ?
I am not able to override the problem ... any other etcher I should try ?

UPDATE 1: Just etched image with a Mac. It ended successfully ... let's see it Raspberry will boot now

UPDATE 2: Etching was 100% OK now, BOOT OK NOW !!!!!

THANKS A LOT EVERYBODY !!!!!

[AF6VN]

For Windows -- you might have tried the older win32 disk imager program https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/ (this is what /used to/ be suggested for the BeagleBone Black, before Etcher showed up; it was capable of both reading and writing image files, Etcher is a write-only program).

I'd also recommend using https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ to format SD cards before writing (even though image writers basically do high level formatting in the process, the SD card association formatter should restore a card to the recommended optimal FAT configuration)