If you're reading this then you are likely having troubles getting your kit to start. While we do apologize if your kit isn’t functioning right when you turn it on, don’t panic! This is a fun and engaging opportunity for you or your child/student to think critically and learn the value of troubleshooting, a useful skill applicable to any school or work environment.
Remember, if at any point during the troubleshooting process you figure out what's wrong or feel stuck, simply reach out to us at hi@playpiper.com and we will take it from there.
Engineer Troubleshooter:
If your Piper is not working correctly, our first recommendation would be to check out our Engineer Troubleshooter!
This is an interactive experience that will walk you through the troubleshooting process.
If you would prefer more in depth instructions, refer to our Troubleshooting Steps below.
Troubleshooting Steps:
Here are some steps you want to make sure to cover as you go about the process of troubleshooting. Following these steps will help aid you in diagnosing the problem at hand and getting it fixed as soon as possible, while also bettering your own understanding of the inner workings of your kit.
Step 1: Check to see if the battery is charged and turned on. This allows the Raspberry Pi to receive power.
Step 2: Assure all the cables and the SD card are snuggly fit inside their respective ports. If you’re uncertain, refer to this video which will walk you through the process. Commonly, this issue is caused by the HDMI cable not being pushed in all the way.
Step 3: Inspect your Raspberry Pi. You can tell a lot about the Pi by looking at its lights. The red light means the Pi is on and receiving power while the green light means the Pi is reading the SD card which loads the content you see on the screen.
Here is what the presence or absence of lights mean:
No Lights: Pi is not receiving power, check to see if battery is on/charged. If the battery is not charged then charge it. If it is on/charged, then the Micro-USB cable or Raspberry Pi may be defective. Try swapping out the Micro-USB cable with a known working cable and see if it fixes your issue. If it does not, reach out to us at hi@playpiper.com and we will get it sorted out.
Only Red light on: This means the Pi has power but can’t read the SD card. The SD card is either corrupted or not fitting correctly. Try removing it and blowing on the port it sits in to remove any dust that may have lodged inside. Reinsert the SD card and attempt to power on your kit. If there is still no green light, contact us and we will walk you through your options for getting this fixed.
Red and Green Light: The Pi is powered and reading SD card, the issue likely has something to do with the display, specifically the screen or the HDMI cable.
Step 4: Swap out the HDMI cable with another one if you happen to have an extra laying around. If everything works after swapping it out, then reach out and we will send you another HDMI cable. If swapping out the HDMI cable doesn’t fix the issue, try and hook the Raspberry Pi up to another screen/monitor. If this solves the issue then the problem is with the screen and we will gladly replace it. If you don’t have an extra HDMI cable or screen monitor to swap out and test, simply reach out and we will find a solution.
Boom! You just successfully completed the first step in troubleshooting your Piper Computer Kit. That wasn’t so bad, right? Thank you for your patience and willingness to work through this process, we applaud you and hope it was a relatively fun and engaging experience.
Need a new part? Visit our Parts Store!
Still stumped? Reach out to us at hi@playpiper.com.
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