Dead or Alive?

[Ludovic]

Hi,

I have received less than 2 weeks ago my Pine A64 2Go board with the Bt/Wifi module.

I used a 32 Go Samsung microSDHC class 10, sold 2 of my switchs (there was not neither in the box nor in the electrostatic bag), and install android 5.1 and later RemixOS; the charger is a 2 amp (5V).

it works fine for a little bit more than a week but last monday it wouldn't start.

I thought that my come from my microSD card, take an other one, but I had the same symptom, light turn on red and ...... nothing.
And then I began the following checking :
1/ change OS and image read/writer
2/ change again the microsd another 32Go micrSD
3/ check the microsds were working well (on raspberry) the 3 were ok
4/ change the charger
5/ change the HDMI cable
6/ check the 2 button sold: start and stop is working fine, reset has no effect (was working when the os was launching)
7/ of course, all that with and without the BT/wifi module (who knows why?)

I presently have no response from customer service

what else shall I test ? any idea?

[Rivera73]

I believe you need a charge than can supply at least 2.5 amp. I've heard of others having issues using less than that. I use a charger from Canakit with no issues.

[MarkHaysHarris777]

I believe you need a charge than can supply at least 2.5 amp. I've heard of others having issues using less than that. I use a charger from Canakit with no issues.

Yes, you need a PSU that provides  5v @ 2.5A.  (2500ma)

Also, your SD card may have become corrupted if you're just reseting that thing, or just powering it off;  always properly shutdown/

marcus

[Ludovic]

thanks for replying;

isn't weird the pine was starting/working well for a week and then stop?
(I haven't change the charger during the working time)

sd card are not corrupt, I tested it on my rapsberry2

I'll try to find out a 5V 2.5Amp charger

[bonterra]

Come on, you don't need a 2.5 A PSU. According to the people on this forum who measured current consumption the Pine maxes out at under 1A with full gigabit Ethernet activity and 100% CPU, there is no way you can cause a 2 A PSU to overload with just one correctly working Pine connected. The 2.5A recommendation is there because the Pine can supply current through the USB ports to peripheral units such as external hard drives, not because the Pine itself can sink this much current. Generally when people blame their PSUs it's more likely a voltage drop causing system instability. This voltage drop is not a problem when the PSU is used as a battery charger but can cause severe headache when using it to power sensitive computer equipment. That's why some retailers have begun to sell 5.2 V PSUs.

@Ludovic: when talking about a corrupt SD card it's generally the software that has been corrupted, not the physical circuits inside. If the card works in a RPi2 it's most likely a software error, try reinstalling the OS of your choice and always perform a controlled shutdown rather than just pulling the plug. That said, SD cards can break from over-usage but if it works in another SBC that's not the issue here. If your Pine still won't boot after you've replaced the PSU, the cables and reinstalled the OS on a card known to work the problem is most likely with the board.

[Ludovic]

I have tried several time (4-5) to install another a new OS (android or remixos even) on the cards after it crashed;

I measured the comsoption of pine and never exceed .9Amp but if I found a higher current i'll try.

I guess too the card is dead, but try again tonight (now it's afternoon for me, at work), with a fresh download of remixOS image

I'm really disappointed, custumer do not respond to mailing

thanks

[ssvb]

Come on, you don't need a 2.5 A PSU. According to the people on this forum who measured current consumption the Pine maxes out at under 1A with full gigabit Ethernet activity and 100% CPU, there is no way you can cause a 2 A PSU to overload with just one correctly working Pine connected.

There is no such thing as some fixed "100% CPU" power consumption. Different workloads may cause very different power consumption even though they all look like 100% CPU usage in the task manager. You can see some numbers here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewt...67#p919667

And yes, you can have the current draw spiking up to 2A by just using the CPU alone. But of course the average current draw is much lower than that.

[Ludovic]

one more I tested 2 of my microsd card (32Go et 4Go; I used the 32 Go for a week and worked since the beginnning) with a "freshly" download remixos image.

No response from the 32Go, red light turn on, no boot

Pine logo appear with the 4Go, even for a moment the RemixOs which dedouble and then nothing frozen screen; I reset the pine, the pine did not boot. might be the µsd or the pine,

I'll buy a new µsd card

[DonFL]

Come on, you don't need a 2.5 A PSU. According to the people on this forum who measured current consumption the Pine maxes out at under 1A with full gigabit Ethernet activity and 100% CPU, there is no way you can cause a 2 A PSU to overload with just one correctly working Pine connected. The 2.5A recommendation is there because the Pine can supply current through the USB ports to peripheral units such as external hard drives, not because the Pine itself can sink this much current. Generally when people blame their PSUs it's more likely a voltage drop causing system instability. This voltage drop is not a problem when the PSU is used as a battery charger but can cause severe headache when using it to power sensitive computer equipment. That's why some retailers have begun to sell 5.2 V PSUs.

Amen. I'm running a nominal 2A PS cube and it works fine. As long as you have a stable 5V, and a couple amps, you'll boot all day long. I would agree you can likely boot with even less, and unless you have a lot of peripheral activity, you're just fine.

That's definitely not the issue here, I'll bet my "sub 2.5A running my pine just fine adapter" on it.

[Ghost]

Using a power supply that drops voltage is as much of an issue, if not even more so, as amperage.