I’ve got a Raspberry Pi for my lad and his computer nerd expectations. But it’s voyage into the unknown for me.

I’ve plugged it all in; and all’s well. Ran Noobs and setup as Rasbian. All seemed to go well.

Now the thing won’t go. A multicolour screen pops up. Stays for a bit then goes off. This repeats indefinitely.

What’s gone wrong? A quick riffle through the Rasb forums suggest everything from software issues to the power supply being too weak.

Any ideas? I’m going to reflash the SD card and go through the process again, but am I missing something obvious?

Can you check the power supply with a meter?
Do you know what the power requirement is (current at a voltage?)of the Pi? Does the power supply have a label on it saying what it’s output is?

They do need a decent power supply.

I’d also suggest reflashing the SD card first, mainly because it’s quick and easy to do.

I generally use phone chargers which work fine. If you aren’t plugging accessories in then the power demand is pretty low. I did have one power supply that had some smartness and would shut down if the demand was too low which it did when used with a pi. I’d start with a different supply if you have one, even a usb lead from a of should be fine. After that reflash the card.

I’ve found the lower power supplies won’t work, Raspberry recommend ones that can push out 1 amp+, especially if you have peripherals attached.

It’s a Maplin Pi starter kit, with all the useful gubbins thrown in the box.

Except the power supply; because that’s a bit weak. Changing that to the Samsung one that came with my phone seems to have done the trick.

So far, so good.

mine worked OK with an HTC charger (which I thought was a 2A one, but it says 5V 1A).
best to put USB peripherals on a powered USB hub, especially if connected to the LAN, if it is not working reliably.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/help/faqs/#powerReqs pretty much maxing out most bog standard chargers. Ones designed for tablets tend to be higher power.

I had one from Maplin. the SD card was dodgy and we got one from ebay for button; no probs since