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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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1 Answers1

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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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