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I have formatted my card and written the latest version of Pi Zero from the RetroPie website. Brand new microSD card, card reader, and HDMI wires. The tv screen stays blank when I plug the Pi0 in. I tried reformatting a few times. Unplugging/plugging in.

I'm really new to all this and I wasn't sure how long to wait before anything displayed upon initial boot? Or if I missed a crucial step? I don't think so, but I guess I don't know what I'm looking at. Thank you for your help. I am sure I formatted properly, then used win32 to write to the SD card. Then place it into the Pi, connect USB, HDMI, and power. But nothing. I've waited as long as 10 minutes, but still blank screen. :(

Steve J
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2 Answers2

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Your image is working, the green led flickering means that the rpi zero is successfully booting... so the problem is probably in your display mode or cable. Try this:

  1. insert the sd card into a computer
  2. open the 'boot' partition on the sd card. this partition will have files like overlays, kernel.img, bcm2708-rpi-0-w.dtb... It will likely be the only partition you can access.
  3. open the file config.txt.

  4. find the line(near the top) that says:

    #hdmi_safe=1

    and uncomment it so it reads

    hdmi_safe=1

    this will set the HDMI mode to "failsafe" settings.

  5. If you can not find that line, just add

    hdmi_safe=1

    to the bottom of the file.

  6. Also try un-commenting(removing the #) or adding a line that reads hdmi_force_hotplug=1. This will force HDMI output.

  7. save the file, eject the sd card, and plug it back into the pi. turn the pi on and make sure you have the right input mode slected on your tv. You most likely have multiple HDMI plugs on your tv, so try scrolling through all the input options(by pressing he input button) on your tv(ie HDMI1, HDMI2, ANALOG, CABLE, etc.), until you find the one your pi is plugged into.

Hope this helps!!!

see this to learn more about the config.txt file.

Benjamin Ashbaugh
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[the ACT LED] lightly flickers (not definite flashes), but then stabilizes within a few seconds. Even now, it's steady on.

The flickering is good, this indicates activity on the SD card. The norm on a Pi Zero is for it to flicker irregularly for < 1 min and then remain on. However, before that point you should see stuff on the screen.

You should try setting hdmi_safe=1 or hdmi_force_hotplug=1 in config.txt on the first partition -- unless you are using a linux machine, you will probably see only that one. If you can't find any partitions on the card, remake it.

If the green led is off, this is what will happen with no SD card in (i.e., it is being rejected right away, usually this is misformatting).1 Possibly it was doing the normal thing at one point and then got corrupted when you pulled the power, so you may have to recreate the card and set that option in config.txt.

1. Beware, as per scitronboy's comment below, that the ACT led on the Pi Zero behaves inversely to that on other models.

goldilocks
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