Raspbery Pi confusion

[mikeprice]

Hi all

 

I am currently confused. I have a background task to get the RPi things working and useable in the classrooms. I have a robot that was working fine before the summer and several programs that I was using.

 

My main problem at this point was simply operating it headless via VNC - can't remember the exact problems but it wasn't far off working OK

 

I have just started/restarted this project now that other things have calmed down a bit and I am having problems

 

The problem is that the Pis won't work.

I started with the robot - with Pi attached and wifi - which was working fine. But it won't connect

 

I assumed that the SD card had failed/got corrupted or something so I reformatted it and reimaged it.

I have also tried different Pis and downloaded new images - and to different SD cards - all with the same result

 

When I start the Pi - with a network cable plugged in - powered from either a USB port or using a powered adapter

and with a keyboard and mouse plugged into the 2 USB ports

 

The gui interface starts OK but the mouse pointer won't move and the keyboard does work either

The red light on the mouse flashes rather than just being on

 

The only difference between this setup and when I first started is that I have misplaced (i.e. lost) the USB hub that I used to used (unpowered)

 

Oh - and I have tried different keyboards and mice (that all work on PCs)

 

any ideas??

I will bring my usb hub from home tomorrow if I don't get any ideas/solution but I can't see why that would work??

 

p.s. my pis at home (a model B and a new zero) all work fine

[bald_pig]

Sounds underpowered, do you get a rainbow in the top-right corner when you start up?

[mikeprice]

Sounds underpowered, do you get a rainbow in the top-right corner when you start up?

 

thanks

I though that - but no rainbow - monitor looks normal - tried with no network but made no difference

 

Surely a Pi should be able to boot with only a monitor keyboard and mouse??

[bald_pig]

You'd be pushing it connected to a pc, pi needs ~350ma by itself, are you able to SSH onto the pi?