I have to hold Power Switch

[TylerDurden622]

I'm experiencing a power switch issue. My power switch is working as a momentary switch as in it springs back to the left if I let it go, unfortunately this shuts of the system. If I continue hold it to the right, the system loads up and stays on but the power LED never lights up. If I plug the USB directly into the pie I don't need to hold the switch. If I plug the USB into the PCB, I have to hold the power switch. Everything else seems to be working fine. I used your supplied image in Google Drive. Is there something I'm missing?

[Flavor]

I would suspect a bad connection to the Pi. I wonder if there’s a bad solder joint on the pin that controlls the power on/off feature. Can you send a photo of the Pi and it’s solder?

[TylerDurden622]

That was probably the issue, but now I have another issue. I'm using the hammer header and I accidentally hammered it too far. Oops lol. Any tips for a fix or am I buying a new header and Pi Zero?

[TylerDurden622]

Nevermind I was able to reset the header. Working well now! Thanks

[Flavor]

Oh. That's good news. Thanks for the update, TylerDurden622.

[CameraGuyKurt]

I would suspect a bad connection to the Pi. I wonder if there’s a bad solder joint on the pin that controlls the power on/off feature. Can you send a photo of the Pi and it’s solder?

Hi there,

I've just completed a build and I'm having the same problem. I'm using the hammer header and all the connections seem good to me. The solder around the switch seems good as well.

I've gone through the troubleshooting steps of checking the batteries and their connections. With the batteries removed and USB power connected to the FPAzero charging port, the charging LED lights up green. With batteries installed the LED shows blue while charging, then green as expected.

EDIT: I am also using the disk image from the FreePlayZero website, not stock RetroPie.

I'd appreciate any suggestions,

[Mootikins]

I would suspect a bad connection to the Pi. I wonder if there’s a bad solder joint on the pin that controlls the power on/off feature. Can you send a photo of the Pi and it’s solder?

Hi there,

I've just completed a build and I'm having the same problem. I'm using the hammer header and all the connections seem good to me. The solder around the switch seems good as well.

I've gone through the troubleshooting steps of checking the batteries and their connections. With the batteries removed and USB power connected to the FPAzero charging port, the charging LED lights up green. With batteries installed the LED shows blue while charging, then green as expected.

EDIT: I am also using the disk image from the FreePlayZero website, not stock RetroPie.

I'd appreciate any suggestions,

Kurt, does your unit boot when you hold the power switch? If so, then it is more than likely a connection on the PCB. If it does not, I'd try first reflashing your image (I recommend using Etcher). If that still does not work, then try booting a stock Raspbian image using the HDMI out to see if the Pi Zero is possibly faulty.

[CameraGuyKurt]

Yes, the unit boots properly as long as the power button is held. If I connect power directly to the Pi (instead of connecting power to the FreePlay PCB) everything works perfectly.

[Mootikins]

The only thing I can think of at this point is to try another Pi or to reflow the solder on all of the header pins since that is what fixed TylerDurden's issue.

[Flavor]

Hey Kurt. I'm just getting back to "normal" and going through everything that happened while I was traveling. How are things working for you, now?

Did you go through everything at https://www.freeplaytech.com/support/troubleshooting/ ?

When this (having to hold the power button) happens, it means that the Pi itself is not taking over and "telling" the Freeplay PCB that the operating system is running. This can be caused by several things in software, but if you are using the SD image we provide, then the software should be working.

If the software isn't the issue, then it would likely be one of the pins that connect the Pi to the Freeplay PCB. If there is a bad solder joint or a solder blob that is "bridging" to another pin, that can also cause this problem.

If you could post (or send me) some photos of the solder on the Pi, that might be helpful.