Wi-Fi Not Found; SD Image Questions...
Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 5:44 pmHey Alan! I purchased the Pi Bot recently - the build-out went fine, but am getting hung up after that.
On switching the Arduino to the "On" position, everything seems to power up nicely, and I get a quick "I'm alive" response from the pan/tilt. A blue LED on the driver begins blinking and doesn't stop.
From there, I can't find the wi-fi access point ('Pi_Mini_Robot'). I initially suspected the wi-fi adapter (I didn't get the Edimax that you sell), and swapped it with another that is similarly micro in size as the Edimax, which I presumed would have a comparably small power draw. That didn't work either. (Note - I have the Edimax model your site prescribes on order now).
Then I started suspecting the SD card (not purchased from Dawn Robotics, but successfully ran Raspbian on this same Pi unit in prior experiments), or the files therein. Disconnecting the Pi from the Arduino, I wanted to see if I could get the image to boot with AC power (wall outlet), and hooking up via a HDMI. Nothing seems to boot. I then formatted the card, and reflashed it with the original Raspbian from the official Pi site, and got a successful boot.
I guess I'm landing on the image on the SD card. So, a few questions:
- should the blue light on the Arduino continue to blink indefinitely? Or is something perhaps getting hung up in downloading the sketch?
- there are two files in the Index; one is the huge zip file, the other is a tiny "sha1sum" file. Must both get copied to the card? (I think I tried this, but have been through so many iterations, I've lost track).
There's any number of things I could be doing wrong here, so troubleshoot away!
Thanks a lot!
John
On switching the Arduino to the "On" position, everything seems to power up nicely, and I get a quick "I'm alive" response from the pan/tilt. A blue LED on the driver begins blinking and doesn't stop.
From there, I can't find the wi-fi access point ('Pi_Mini_Robot'). I initially suspected the wi-fi adapter (I didn't get the Edimax that you sell), and swapped it with another that is similarly micro in size as the Edimax, which I presumed would have a comparably small power draw. That didn't work either. (Note - I have the Edimax model your site prescribes on order now).
Then I started suspecting the SD card (not purchased from Dawn Robotics, but successfully ran Raspbian on this same Pi unit in prior experiments), or the files therein. Disconnecting the Pi from the Arduino, I wanted to see if I could get the image to boot with AC power (wall outlet), and hooking up via a HDMI. Nothing seems to boot. I then formatted the card, and reflashed it with the original Raspbian from the official Pi site, and got a successful boot.
I guess I'm landing on the image on the SD card. So, a few questions:
- should the blue light on the Arduino continue to blink indefinitely? Or is something perhaps getting hung up in downloading the sketch?
- there are two files in the Index; one is the huge zip file, the other is a tiny "sha1sum" file. Must both get copied to the card? (I think I tried this, but have been through so many iterations, I've lost track).
There's any number of things I could be doing wrong here, so troubleshoot away!
Thanks a lot!John
Although having said that, with regards to the Arduio Mini Driver board, the blue LED should only flash a few times on power up and whenever the reset button is pressed. If it's flashing lots then it could suggest that it's being reset for some reason, which might be low power but I'm not sure. How much does it flash if you just plug it into your normal PC using the USB cable?