stereopi with cm3L not working well

[yuqis]

Hi,

I had a stereopi with cm3L kit from Pishop. I inserted the SD card, power on with 5V. The status of the stereopi is unstable. It has several situations:

1. Nothing shows on the screen through HDMI -- happens most of the time
2. Rasbian is shown on the screen but the USB port with keyboard and mouse is not working
3. The starting of raspbian system is shown on the screen, but the system keeps restarting
4. Rasbian is shown on the screen and keyboard and mouse works well, however, the screen keeps flashing --- happen once

I am sure the screen, keyboard and the mouse work well.

Do you know how could I use it?

[Realizator]

Hi yukis,

I have several suggestions for such a behaviour:

1. Please check Compute Module is inserted firmly (Wiki details)
2. I hope you are not powering your StereoPi with micro USB connector. Wiki cite "The MicroUSB on StereoPi is not for power as with the classic RaspberryPi", details on this is here in our Wiki.
3. What kind of power source you are using? I mean maximum available current (1A, 2A, other?)

When I feel something goes wrong with my StereoPi, I disconnect all equipment (like cameras, USB mouse and keyboards, USB flash dongle, Ethernet cable), keeping just CM, micro SD, HDMI monitor and power (over power connector). Then I try to start system in this minimal setup. If everything goes well - I do next step (power off, connect one more device like camera, power on again) to locate my problem.

I will be pleased you to take a photo of your setup and share it here. It might help me to help you.

[glen]

Hi

I bought the StereoPi Starter Kit on crowd supply. Like yukis I had problems getting it to boot.
I did manage to solve the issue - in case it helps other users, here is my experience:
- Initially there was nothing going to the screen and just 2 red LEDs on the board lit up
- When I read Realizator's advice to yukis I re-inserted the CM and removed the cameras
- I then got a third red LED on the board lighting (and blinking) and sometimes a start up sequence of messages on the screen, but it was still failing and resetting, causing a loop
- I reinserted the CM a number of times, giving it a bit of a jiggle to make sure there was a good contact. Also, note that when you click it in, you should not see any of the metal of the contacts.
- Eventually, it worked, but be aware the boot time is quite long - it could be a couple of minutes with a blank screen before you see an animation then the StereoPi logo screen. So don't be impatient and turn off too soon!
- Once you get as far as the logo screen it should be all ok. So switch off, connect both cameras and switch back on. Now you should also see a light come on for one of the cameras. When the boot sequence ends (~2 mins) you should have the side by side videos on the screen.

Hope this helps. Happy StereoPi-ing
Glen

[Realizator]

Hi Gen,
2 minutes looks too long...
At the first boot our image try to find existing FAT32 partition, and if it does not exists, it formats all free space on micro SD to FAT32. After this formatting system reboots. But it should not take 2 minutes.
Looks like I need to do a video with all first steps needed to boot up StereoPi.