[Solved] GoPiGo3 button will not stay on - cannot power on

Received a GoPiGo3 robot 11/12/2018 to evaluate for class use. Assembly went well. Powered up and followed the instructions to connect - did not get the light for the wifi, but the computer detected it. Had problems getting it to connect. Powered off. Researched the forums, and found suggestions. Now the button will not go in and start up. If held down the lights on the Raspberry Pi will flash, but not on the GoPiGo board. Suggestions?

Just to add some extra information on the problem. I can plug in the Raspberry pi portion of the robot (and a monitor and keyboard) and it boots normally and gets to the login. I cannot login of course because I am using Dexter OS. I checked the batteries, and the are 12.6V and are fresh out of the box. It seems that the button just will not stay in or activate. I am thinking there is a problem with the board.

Hi @jesz,

I think the button is okay, so let’s check this out by ruling out the firmware.

Quite recently, we have released a new version of DexterOS 2.2.1 that attempts to flash the firmware to the GoPiGo3 should it be not present, corrupt or just too old. Here’s the link to our website. Use the instructions to burn the image and put it on your SD card:
https://www.dexterindustries.com/dexteros/get-dexteros-operating-system-for-raspberry-pi-robotics/

The way I see it now is that you cannot boot up the robot by pressing the power button on the GoPiGo3 because it’s not doing anything. If this is the case, then please power it up with a micro USB cable the first time. Connect to it via WiFi and follow the instructions to reflash the firmware of the GoPiGo3. It should be pretty straightforward.
After the firmware is flashed, you should be able to power the robot by using the battery pack. And the functionality of the power button should also be back.

Let us know if you’ve got any problems down the line.

Thank you!

OK, I have followed the instructions up to “Connect to it via WiFi and follow the instructions to reflash the firmware of the GoPiGo3. It should be pretty straightforward.” I was able to connect to the wifi, but there were no instructions there (that I could find) on reflashing the firmware of the GoPiGo3. I was told the GoPiGO had low power, I had booted using the USB power cable, but had not plugged in the battery pack – should I have? Sorry to be stuck on what seems like such a small thing.

OK, let it sit for a while plugged in, as I wasn’t sure what else to do. After a bit the power light on the GoPiGo3 started flashing. At this point clicked on the instructions on screen to shutdown, and let it sit. Then plugged in battery pack and pushed button. It flashed, then came up solid green, and eventually the light for the WiFi went blue (which it has not done at all through all of this). Was able to connect via WiFi and do the drive exercises, etc. Is that all the flashing of the firmware requires is letting it sit turned on for a while while plugged into the USB power connection on the Pi, or did I miss some sort of step here?
Thanks.

Great!
Indeed the firmware flashing takes a bit of time, but it’s done automatically for you.
Glad to see you’re up and running (well the robot is)

Cleo

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