Two years ago, I made a video to showcase how to fix the issue where the Raspberry Pi does not boot, it somehow is one of the most popular videos on my channel. Since that video wasn’t in the best quality, here is a guide showing you how to fix the issue.
Basic fixes before trying other methods:
Make sure the SD Card is plugged in properly.
Make sure that the RPi is plugged in to power with a compatible power source, atleast the red light should turn on.
Make sure that the HDMI cable is inserted properly on both ends.
After making sure all that is done, if it still doesn’t boot up, follow the instructions listed below.
Issues:
To fix ‘No Signal’ on your monitor:
Open config.txt from the SD Card which has your operating system installed. If the SD card has multiple partitions, you will find this in the boot partition.
Add these lines to ‘config.txt’ after #hdmi_mode=1 :
hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080
hdmi_ignore_edid:1=0xa5000080 At the end, it should look like this:
#hdmi_group=1
#hdmi_mode=1
hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080
hdmi_ignore_edid:1=0xa5000080 If you are on macOS, use TextEdit to edit the file.
If you are on Windows, use NotePad++, NotePad might not work as expected.
This is what I used, and it works flawlessly. But remember you will have to do this every-time you install a new operating system onto the same or different SD Card.
If this doesn’t work, and you are using a HDMI to micro-HDMI adapter, try using a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable instead.
Also, if your config.txt file doesn't include #hdmi_mode=1, then just add it to the end of the file, that should fix it!
Incase you are unable to find config.txt on your SD Card try the following:
Make sure the boot partition of SD Card is mounted, and check it for the file.
Attempt a re-installation, sometimes the image doesn’t get properly installed onto the SD Card.
This is unlikely, but if your OS doesn’t have the config.txt file, it might have another file which performs a similar function, you can find it using a quick search on the internet.
To fix not booting into OS:
There are three things that are possible if your Pi doesn’t boot into the OS:-
The Bootloader/EEPROM needs an update
The OS Installation Failed
The SD Card is corrupted
Bootloader/EEPROM Update:
This should be the first thing you should try, you can follow RaspberryPi’s official guide to update this. View it by clicking here. If that doesn’t work, come back here and try the next few methods.
OS Installation Fail:
Try formatting the SD card and re-installing the OS. I use Balena Etcher to install the OS.
SD Card is corrupted:
This should be the last option, If the SD Card is corrupted, there are very low chances that you will be able to fix it. To find if your SD Card is actually corrupted, mount the SD card to your computer, if you aren’t able to access the files, it is probably corrupted.
While chances of recovery are low, you can try the following:
Try running a first aid using Disk Utility on macOS.
Open Disk Utility (Pre-installed) on your Mac, and choose the SD Card, make sure to choose the correct one.
Select the volume and not a partition.
Click First Aid on the top and confirm the first aid.
In my case, the First Aid failed. If this happens to you, you’ll have to buy a new SD Card as there’s no other way on how to fix this, or atleast that I know of.
But if you are lucky enough and the First Aid succeeds, you can click mount on the partitions of the volume to see if it works, if it does eject it and insert it into the RaspberryPi. This should fix it, but if it doesn’t, try re-installing the OS once again.
If any of this works out, do consider liking this post and subscribing to my channel, and watching one of my newer videos, I promise you’ll like them.
If you’re unable to get it to work by any of these methods, or have a different reason why your Pi isn’t booting, do let me know using the comments on this post or preferably the comments on my YouTube video, I’ll try to help you out as soon as possible.
Also, incase you faced a similar or different issue which prevented the Pi from booting, and used a different method to fix it which isn't mentioned in this blogpost, please share it using the comments section on this post so that you can help others out as well.
Thanks for reading, enjoy your Raspberry Pi.