CS Lite won't boot

[MrErickson]

Hey everyone, hey kite.

Seems i've run into an issue assembling my son's CSL, everything is soldered and connected but it won't boot up. When powering the CSL on i get a brief white flash, I hear the audio come through the speaker and the screen then remains at a slightly illuminated state. I wasn't really able to get a good picture of it in this state compared to it off but can try again if anyone thinks it will help. As far as I can tell I get the lights that I should, I just get nothing from the screen.

Things I've tried so far all with the same result:

• Re-imaging SD card

• A different SD card

• A different Screen

• Touch-up/double check Pi0 solder to board

ImageShow

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I welcome any suggestions on things to try or what I can do to resolve this.

Thanks!

[kopas]

Before you soldered everything up, did you test anything on your Pi Zero? Maybe you got a bad one?

You may still be able to perform some of the diagnostics listed here.

[MrErickson]

I did, I plugged in a card with a copy of Retropie and plugged it into a spare monitor via HDMI. Retropie started up just fine, so I presumed I was good to go. I've been hesitant to attempt to remove the Pi0 as I'm not sure I even can and I dont want to risk damage to the board.

[kite]

I wouldn't try removing it.. could you get some pics of your soldering on both sides? Also what image are you actually using?

[MrErickson]

I wouldn't try removing it.. could you get some pics of your soldering on both sides? Also what image are you actually using?

I'll grab close-ups of the soldering on both sides tonight when I get home. I should be using the CSLite v101 pulled down from the wiki/github but I will triple check that as well. Hoping it is something silly I overlooked or goofed on.

Thanks for the quick response.

[MrErickson]

I wouldn't try removing it.. could you get some pics of your soldering on both sides? Also what image are you actually using?

I triple checked, I am using the CS Lite image v101 and not the regular CS image.

Side 1Show

Side 1

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Side 2

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[kite]

Everything looks pretty good!

Could you using some acetone/alcohol to remove all the flux that is around everything that you have soldered? Ideally something like a small brush or old toothbrush or something with it on to remove it from between the pins..

When you power it on, the Pi itself has a green LED in one of the top corners, does this start blinking after a few seconds, or does it remain off, or does it do like a TINY flash on when you throw the switch?

With the CSL powered on with the switch, if you lookup the Pi pinout and find the GND and 5V and 3.3V pins, can you measure them with a multimeter (so gnd -> 5v, and gnd -> 3.3v). Just remember that the pi is mounted upside down and most diagrams show it pictured the 'right way up' so just remember that when picking out the pins!

[MrErickson]

I'll check this tonight when I get off work.

[MrErickson]

Everything looks pretty good!

Could you using some acetone/alcohol to remove all the flux that is around everything that you have soldered? Ideally something like a small brush or old toothbrush or something with it on to remove it from between the pins..

When you power it on, the Pi itself has a green LED in one of the top corners, does this start blinking after a few seconds, or does it remain off, or does it do like a TINY flash on when you throw the switch?

With the CSL powered on with the switch, if you lookup the Pi pinout and find the GND and 5V and 3.3V pins, can you measure them with a multimeter (so gnd -> 5v, and gnd -> 3.3v). Just remember that the pi is mounted upside down and most diagrams show it pictured the 'right way up' so just remember that when picking out the pins!

No green light that I could see, the two 3.3 volt pins look good but I was only 3.9-4 volts on the two 5v pins which I'm going to venture a guess is my issue. Anything I can do to try and touch them up beyond cleanup and maybe apply a touch more solder?

The voltage from the main board's side was closer to 3v which doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

I did try a couple different batteries just to be sure it wasn't an issue with my battery not supplying enough juice, both registered the same values so I don't think that is the issue.

::Update::

I cleaned up the flux this morning and touched up the solder on the two 5v pins. After plugging in a battery and a wall jack to cover both ends I'm still only getting 4.7v on the two 5v pins.

For testing purposes would I be able to solder a power supply to the two pads on the opposite side of the Pi's USB power plug to see if I get 5v that way or would that risk damage to your CS Lite board which I do not want to do?

[kopas]

Methinks there might be some desoldering in your future. Fingers crossed!