How to check for hardware/chip issues

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How to check for hardware/chip issues

Postby ngoonee » Wed Jul 20, 2016 2:23 am

I have a Raspberry Pi 3 which runs with no problems at home, and 2 identical Raspberry Pi B+ at my office.

One of the B+ units was non-responsive, so I did some testing (note, I do not have a monitor, everything is over SSH).

1. The unit would be ping-able after the usual duration, and as long as it was responding, SSH in would work.
2. After some indeterminate period of time (normally 20-30 seconds), the unit would stop responding to pings and SSH would stop working. Existing connections would time out.
3. ONCE, leaving it alone for about 5 minutes resulted in it responding to pings again, and an existing not-yet-timed-out SSH connection continuing as if nothing had happened. I cannot replicate this.

Moving the same SD card over to my other Pi B+ results in none of the above problems, leading me to suspect hardware issues. I also use the same power supply and LAN cable to eliminate those suspects.

Please advise whether my conclusion is reasonable and if so what I can do.
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Re: How to check for hardware/chip issues

Postby summers » Wed Jul 20, 2016 10:48 am

Yes sounds to me like hardware problem.

I'd connect a serial interface to the UART on the pi - then from the computer following that serial interface, you we able to see any messages that are happening on the pi - which may give a clue as to what is failing.

Does the pi have a watchdog? Most of my machines do, and it means after a hard freeze, the machine reboots - usually 30s or so later. That may explain why the pi comes back to life - its just continually rebooting after freezes ...
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Re: How to check for hardware/chip issues

Postby sdjf » Wed Jul 20, 2016 4:03 pm

Sounds like it could also be a faulty cable or inadequate or unstable power supply. How are you powering the Pi?
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Re: How to check for hardware/chip issues

Postby ngoonee » Fri Jul 22, 2016 3:55 am

Unfortunately I don't have the appropriate cables for a serial connection. And I doubt its a watchdog, my ssh connection would not have survived that.

I'm ruling out cables/power supply issues because for the one which works I reused the same power supply cable and SD card. Literally only exchanging the Pi. It was even in the same location! (not that that should matter much, i don't have heavy machinery causing EM interference here).
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