RPi3B+ double failing

[HansR]

I have two RPi3B+ in operation. One is (was) my operational weather station computer and one I use for external sensors.
The weather station computer runs on a 120Gb SSD, the other on an SD. Both have been running perfectly until this morning until 11h38. Th weather station machine failed first.

I took both machines out and tried to repair, could not fix it quickly and copied the backup to my RPi4 (also on an SSD) so I have a running system again (easily). But the RPi3+ did not restart. Not with a fresh SD card, not with a freshly written SSD. They just won't boot. It could be the Wifi but when connected through an ethernet cable nothing happens.

One may fail, but two at the same time? (they are appr. the same age).
And I assume (think to know) that an SD card always has boot preference over an SSD (on the USB).

Any suggestions what to try, test, experiment? I refuse to believe the two RPi's really are gone.

[SamiS]

What power supplies do you use? It would be the first suspect in my opinion. Do they give any signs of life with a newly imaged and verified sd card? Status of red and green leds? No signal at all on hdmi?

If they both are really dead, there could be some kind of a power surge behind it.

[SamiS]

Here is a link to the ”official” boot problems debugging thread:

https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=58151

[HansR]

Thanks.

The power led is on and the green led is flashing calmly at regular intervals on both RPi's. Afaik this means it is looking for something to boot from. I cou;d live with the fact it can't find a USB but apparently it also can't find an SD (on both machines. That would mean they are electrically gone.

I thought about power as a cause as well but the adaptors work and the multi connector I use also has the RPi4 on it (which has no issue). So yes, it could be a power surge with the RPi4 more resistant (and a true original power supply).

I'll walk through the boot problems debugging thread tomorrow.

[mcrossley]

Plug in a HDMI cable and see what they are reporting - if anything?

[HansR]

Plug in a HDMI cable and see what they are reporting - if anything?

It says no signal. Red light is on, green light is flashing.

So following the suggestions of SamiS indeed I conclude that both RPi's are dead and as they died at probably the same moment a power surge or whatever seems most likely. I need at least a spare one to avoid a breakdown leaves me without my meteo station. Grrr...

That will cost

Given the warning in the link in SamiS second post, I think I need to pay more attention to the power supply (they need to be of high quality) and beside that I will connect them to my UPS outlets. I have four stabilised UPS outputs one of which serves the NAS with an automatic shutdown when needed. The other three are free. I should have used those for the RPI's as they provide more stability and protection.

From what I could check it seems as if the SSD survived.

Written as a warning for other users.

[rogerthn]

I do have an older version of USB Voltage Meter
Might not be VERY accurate but can be used to compare power supplies

[AndyKF650]

Hi Hans

Deems like you have sorted your issue from last night, your web site looks normal and operational. Well done.

[HansR]

I do have an older version of USB Voltage Meter
Might not be VERY accurate but can be used to compare power supplies

I have something similar, thanks.

Deems like you have sorted your issue from last night, your web site looks normal and operational. Well done.

Yes, I have a good backup system and converted my test machine quickly into the operational one. The only thing is that it needs to rebuild the charts over a period of three day. I can live with that But will need another RPi(4) for some €100,-

[SamiS]

Given the warning in the link in SamiS second post, I think I need to pay more attention to the power supply (they need to be of high quality) and beside that I will connect them to my UPS outlets. I have four stabilised UPS outputs one of which serves the NAS with an automatic shutdown when needed. The other three are free. I should have used those for the RPI's as they provide more stability and protection.

I would recommend using the RPi official power supplies, those have always worked perfectly for me. I think I have four or five of them. They are actually designed to provide stable voltage for a constantly changing power need (alternating cpu load and frequency). Typical usb power supplies are designed just to charge a phone or a tablet.

[HansR]

I would recommend using the RPi official power supplies, those have always worked perfectly for me. I think I have four or five of them. They are actually designed to provide stable voltage for a constantly changing power need (alternating cpu load and frequency). Typical usb power supplies are designed just to charge a phone or a tablet.

I do so since buying RPi4 but the RPi3 came with some unknown power supply and was delivered by a specialist RPi selling point. So I trusted wrongly