Farrmbot doesn't start

Troubleshooting
1

The farmbot is plugged in and had worked before. Now I see only the U8 LED active and nothing else is happening. All reset plugin/out attempts fail. No idea what to try next. Can anyone point us into the right direction? What does the U8 LED mean? Thanks!

IMG_2956
IMG_29563024Ă—4032 2.35 MB

2

Hi @coworkingbansko !
I don’t know right now what that U8 LED indicates, but am interested in the ACT LED on the Raspberry Pi Zero W

  • Is it green solid ?
3

@coworkingbansko Before you dive too deep in to hardware issues, you may wish to try a “hard reset”. A hard reset is not the same thing as a soft reset from the Web App.

A hard reset involves:

  • Powering down
  • Removing the SD card
  • Re-flash FBOS to the SD Card using Etcher, ensuring that you download the correct version (Farmbot will not boot if the Genesis version of FBOS is selected).
  • Re-configurate.

For many customers, this fixes the problem. Often the root cause is some sort of data corruption on the SD card. This issue will happen randomly and is difficult to isolate unfortunately. If the device does not come online, the next step is to enter “isolated mode” so that we can identify the root cause of the problem:

  • Remove the Raspberry Pi from all other electronics. You will need a hex wrench to remove this module.
  • Gently pull the Raspberry Pi 0 from the Farmduino board. It may help to use a flat screwdriver to gently pull the board from the connector on the Farmduino. Pulling too firmly can bend pins and lead to permanent damage
  • Bring the device inside and re-configurate by plugging the Raspberry Pi 0 into a USB power supply. This step is essential for isolating configuration or network problems from hardware problems.
  • If possible, configure the device so that it does not pass through any intermediate routers. Misconfigured intermediate routers are one of the most common reasons for FarmBot failures:

image
image760Ă—645 138 KB

Please let me know if that helps. We can continue investigating from there.

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4

No other LED is lit. I don’t see the ACT LED. Using FarmBot Express.

5

Okay, I unplugged everything, now the ACT LED is lit and I have finally found it :smiley: It seems when I plug in the camera, things shut down.

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6

@coworkingbansko You may have a defective camera. Unfortunately a percentage of new users have noted hardware issues with the v1.5 cameras. Please email contact@farmbot.io with your order number so that we can provide a free replacement.

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