【MentorPi A1】I can't start the Ackerman robot's Raspberry Pi

Technical Support
1

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Product and Purchase

  • Product model: MentorPi A1
  • SKU or kit name: Advanced Kit
  • Purchase channel: Amazon
  • Controller board: Raspberry Pi 5 8GB

Issue Description

  1. I can’t start the Ackerman robot’s Raspberry Pi
    It stays red and the fan doesn’t start
2

Thank you for contacting Hiwonder support. Based on your description, the Raspberry Pi 5 in your MentorPi A1 Advanced Kit shows a solid red power LED and the fan does not start, indicating a boot failure. Here is a first-pass checklist based on the official troubleshooting guide for the MentorPi series:

  1. Observe the ACT LED. Check if the green ACT LED next to the red power LED blinks on startup. Count the number of short blinks and report back. The blink pattern indicates the specific failure:

    • 3 short blinks: General boot failure
    • 4 short blinks: start.elf file not found
    • 7 short blinks: Kernel image not found
    • 8 short blinks: SDRAM memory fault
    • 10 short blinks: HALT state

  2. Check the SD card. Ensure a properly flashed microSD card with the official MentorPi image is inserted into the Raspberry Pi 5. If the card is missing, corrupted, or improperly flashed, the board will not boot.

  3. Verify the power supply. Confirm that the battery is connected (if the battery was disconnected for shipping, reconnect it) and fully charged. Check that the power switch is in the ON position.

  4. Re-flash the SD card. If the ACT LED blinks 4 times (or you suspect SD card issues), you can try re-flashing the bootloader:

    • Use the official Raspberry Pi Imager tool.
    • Insert the SD card, select it, and format it as FAT32.
    • Under the OS selection, navigate to Misc utility images → Bootloader (Pi 5 family) → SD Card Boot and write it.
    • Insert the card into the Pi 5, power on, and wait 10–20 seconds. A rapidly blinking ACT LED indicates success.
    • After bootloader recovery, reformat the SD card and re-flash the official MentorPi system image.

  5. Check the fan connection. If the fan does not spin at all, verify that the fan cable is properly connected to the expansion board.

Please try these steps and let us know the ACT LED blink pattern or any other observations. If the issue persists after these checks, please share a photo of your setup and any LED behavior so we can assist further.

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