Common Issues You May Face While Using Raspberry Pi

By Nathan Young on November 25, 2020

Raspberry Pi is a truly innovative piece of technology that has made it possible for people at home to create a diverse array of maker electronics and computer-centric projects. As a beginner, though, your unfamiliarity with the Pi and other electronic components may lead to some difficulties. In this post, we identify some common issues you may face while using Raspberry Pi and how to resolve them.

Problems With Booting

The Raspberry Pi has two tiny LEDs along its edge labeled as the power and activity lights. When it boots up correctly, the activity light will be green and blinking, while the red power light will remain off. You may run into a situation where you can’t get your Pi to boot, though. When this happens, you’ll notice that the power LED is red, while the activity light is either off or not blinking. This common issue you may face while using Raspberry Pi is often due to the software in the SD card failing to run. Check that the SD card is connected correctly to your Pi. If this doesn’t fix the problem, use a computer to view the SD files and check for corruption. Reformat, if necessary.

Unresponsive To Key Presses

Sometimes, a Raspberry Pi may not respond to your inputs on a connected keyboard. Unresponsiveness arises when the Pi lacks sufficient power, so to fix this, you may need to switch out the power supply cable that you’re using. Lower-quality power supply cords may not function at a high enough level for the Pi. As you look for a new cable, make sure that it has a maximum of five volts and 100 milliamperes. If the volts and milliamperes are higher, the Raspberry Pi will not be able to handle the electricity. Should your keyboard operate at 150 milliamperes, you’ll need to get a USB hub to connect it with the Pi.

Nonfunctional Circuit

Many maker electronics projects with the Raspberry Pi require you to make a circuit with them. While doing this, you may find that your circuit is not working, even though you’ve connected each component and wire correctly. This may be the result of your various pieces responding to inconsistent logic voltage levels. Basically, the voltage ranges at which different electronic parts activate may not match. You can fix this by using a level shifter with the Raspberry Pi in your circuit to make everything consistent in terms of logic level. From there, the circuit should operate just fine.

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