Is my Zero 3W DOA?

#1

Hi guys, just wanted to make sure I’m not losing my mind. I cannot get my new Zero 3W to boot no matter what I try. I just get a green light and nothing on the display. For my testing I am using a 1440p monitor.
I have tried:

  • Two different micro sd cards, one 32gb, one 256gb
  • Both etcher and rufus for burning the images
  • Two different usb to micro sd adapters to the PC burning the images
  • Putting the sd card in both directions (it’s not entirely clear which is correct to be honest)
  • 3 different power supplies, all at or above 30W 3A
  • Serial Debugging via USB on both windows and mac OS (puTTY and cu)

There appears to be no visible damage to the device as far as I can tell.

What am I missing? Should I just return it and get another one?

#2

Hi Matt,

After you burned the image to the sdcard, did the green light switch from a constant state to a heartbeat state after powering up and booting?

The sdcard should be plugged in like this:

%E4%BC%81%E4%B8%9A%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E6%88%AA%E5%9B%BE_17333692467373
企业微信截图_17333692467373.jpg1008×1169 752 KB

Also please check this location in the picture below, does it immediately become hot as soon as you power it up?

%E4%BC%81%E4%B8%9A%E5%BE%AE%E4%BF%A1%E6%88%AA%E5%9B%BE_17333693949192
企业微信截图_17333693949192.jpg1071×1348 860 KB

Does your board come with emmc？ you can try to burn the image to emmc and see if the system can boot up normally.

#3

Hi, thanks for the reply!

Thanks for confirming the direction of the sd card, I have it in the correct direction now. I only get a solid green light when it’s plugged in, no heartbeat. I have a model with no EMMC unfortunately.

Once it’s plugged in, it does heat up, but I wouldn’t say it’s immediately hot in the area that you pointed out. Given a few minutes the whole board gets to be pretty hot to the touch however.

#4

I’m sorry, it could be a hardware problem, you can contact after-sales to give you a refund or exchange. By the way, is your adapter 5V powered?

#5

It is 5V. No worries, I’m just glad I wasn’t doing anything incorrectly. I’ll get a replacement. Thank you for your help!