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So some workmen were working at the house switch box which created multiple power failures for the RPI.

Now it is not working.

  1. At first, it was just dead (red power LED, but nothing else) so I restored my most recent IMG file. It will now start to boot (prints two lines, the second of which says something like "not a IO03166 code", but Google is no help.) It then displays a big Raspberry with a symbol in the center saying "shift".) Then starts to printing console output like it is starting to boot Linux but after printing a bunch of lines it resets and starts booting again. Stuff flashes by so fast I cannot see most of it.
  2. When that didn't work, I restored my oldest IMG file to the SD. I choose to do this particular IMG file because this IMG file I previously restored and booted when I first got the system to make sure my backup procedure worked. However, it still does the same two-line, Raspberry, console, reboot sequence as with the other image.
  3. I used SDCardFormatterV5 to completely reformat the SD, then restore an IMG; still reboot cycles.
  4. I connected keyboard and pressed Shift at the Raspberry . . . it flashes some kind of a software display (maybe GRUB menu?), but then instead of coming to the keyboard, it blinks by that to the console output again and then resets as before.

I am beginning to wonder if there is an actual problem with the RPI itself caused by the repeated power failures.

Other than buying a new RPI . . . my bag of tricks is empty . . . any suggestions?

Frank

Frank Merrow
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  • Did you use NOOBS? – Milliways Mar 25 '20 at 03:33
  • @Milliways I purchased a CanaKit Ultimate Starter Kit and looking at the documentation it says the SD card comes preinstalled with NOOBS. However, if I read the documentation correctly, on first boot you select an operating system and that overwrites the SD with the operating system of your choice. In any case, I am not seeing any of the NOOBS displays shown in the manual at this time . . . so if NOOBS ever did exist, it doesn't seem to be booting NOOBS now. I unpacked it and got it working like two years ago, but once it was working I took the IMG file backup and tested it as I described – Frank Merrow Mar 25 '20 at 04:10
  • To be honest, while I followed the instructions two years ago to get Linux working, I really don't know what NOOBS is. – Frank Merrow Mar 25 '20 at 04:13

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@Milliways Comments about NOOBS sent me on a little research expedition that allowed me to fix the problem. Eventually, I found my way to this excellent article on boot problems: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=58151 From that, I figured out that the little lightning bolt on the rainbow screen was indicating a power problem and not just some random artwork.

I had moved the RPI from my network closet onto my work desk to work on the issue and in the process of that, I had changed USB power cables. Once I understood what the lightning bolt meant, I retrieved the RPI's official power supply and it booted right up.

Frank Merrow
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    I am glad you got it working, however once a SD Card is infected with NOOBS it is there for good (or ill). Most experienced users don't use it as it is almost impossible to update. Your 2 year old card will have an old version. – Milliways Mar 25 '20 at 05:49
  • Please accept your own answer with a click on the tick on its left side. Only this will finish the question and it will not pop up again year for year. – Ingo Mar 30 '20 at 12:38
  • @Ingo Tick? You mean the green checkmark . . . I did that already days ago . . . or are you referring to something else? If this question is in the way for some reason I guess I could delete it, but I thought it offered something useful. – Frank Merrow Mar 31 '20 at 05:19
  • I mean I don't want it back even a year from now . . . I just want to leave it searchable. – Frank Merrow Mar 31 '20 at 05:21
  • Yes, I mean that green checkmark. seems I have something confused, sorry for that. Everything is good :-) Thank you. – Ingo Mar 31 '20 at 09:03