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Hello,
I'm setting up a Witty Pi 4 L3V7 with a Raspberry Pi Zero W and I'm seeing an issue where sometimes after the Raspberry Pi shuts down the Witty Pi's red power LED stays lit and the Raspberry Pi cannot be powered on with a button press after (the white LED lights up when the button is held but then nothing happens). It remains unbootable until the Witty Pi is hard reset (holding down the power button for 6+ seconds).
To test this I used the Witty Pi's power button to turn on the Raspberry Pi, wait for it to boot, then use the power button to turn it off. It powered on/off without issue twice, then on the third power off the red LED stayed lit after the Raspberry Pi shut off. I reset the Witty Pi and booted it and pulled the following logs from wittyPi.log:
[xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi daemon (v4.21) is started. [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] System: Raspbian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm), Kernel: Linux 6.6.62+rpt-rpi-v6, Architecture: armhf [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Running on Raspberry Pi Zero W Rev 1.1 [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] RTC offset register has value 0x78 [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Seems RTC has good time, write RTC time into system [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Writing RTC time to system... [2025-01-12 19:45:09] Done :-) [2025-01-12 19:45:09] Firmware ID: 0x37 [2025-01-12 19:45:09] Firmware Revison: 0x07 [2025-01-12 19:45:09] Current Vin=3.63V, Vout=5.22V, Iout=0.08A [2025-01-12 19:45:10] System starts up because the button is clicked. [2025-01-12 19:45:16] Send out the SYS_UP signal via GPIO-17 pin. [2025-01-12 19:45:17] Pending for incoming shutdown command... [2025-01-12 19:45:20] Schedule next shutdown at: 2025-01-13 06:01:30 [2025-01-12 19:45:22] Schedule next startup at: 2025-01-14 06:00:00 INFO:waitress:Serving on http://0.0.0.0:8080 [2025-01-12 19:45:48] Shutting down system because button is clicked or GPIO-4 is pulled down. [2025-01-12 19:45:49] Halting all processes and then shutdown Raspberry Pi... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi daemon (v4.21) is started. [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] System: Raspbian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm), Kernel: Linux 6.6.62+rpt-rpi-v6, Architecture: armhf [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Running on Raspberry Pi Zero W Rev 1.1 [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] RTC offset register has value 0x78 [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Seems RTC has good time, write RTC time into system [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Writing RTC time to system... [2025-01-12 19:46:50] Done :-) [2025-01-12 19:46:50] Firmware ID: 0x37 [2025-01-12 19:46:50] Firmware Revison: 0x07 [2025-01-12 19:46:50] Current Vin=3.63V, Vout=5.22V, Iout=0.08A [2025-01-12 19:46:51] System starts up because the button is clicked. [2025-01-12 19:46:57] Send out the SYS_UP signal via GPIO-17 pin. [2025-01-12 19:46:58] Pending for incoming shutdown command... [2025-01-12 19:47:02] Schedule next shutdown at: 2025-01-13 06:01:30 [2025-01-12 19:47:03] Schedule next startup at: 2025-01-14 06:00:00 INFO:waitress:Serving on http://0.0.0.0:8080 [2025-01-12 19:47:43] Shutting down system because button is clicked or GPIO-4 is pulled down. [2025-01-12 19:47:43] Halting all processes and then shutdown Raspberry Pi... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi daemon (v4.21) is started. [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] System: Raspbian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm), Kernel: Linux 6.6.62+rpt-rpi-v6, Architecture: armhf [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Running on Raspberry Pi Zero W Rev 1.1 [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] RTC offset register has value 0x78 [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Seems RTC has good time, write RTC time into system [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Writing RTC time to system... [2025-01-12 19:49:10] Done :-) [2025-01-12 19:49:10] Firmware ID: 0x37 [2025-01-12 19:49:10] Firmware Revison: 0x07 [2025-01-12 19:49:11] Current Vin=3.63V, Vout=5.21V, Iout=0.12A [2025-01-12 19:49:11] System starts up because the button is clicked. [2025-01-12 19:49:17] Send out the SYS_UP signal via GPIO-17 pin. [2025-01-12 19:49:18] Pending for incoming shutdown command... [2025-01-12 19:49:21] Schedule next shutdown at: 2025-01-13 06:01:30 [2025-01-12 19:49:23] Schedule next startup at: 2025-01-14 06:00:00 INFO:waitress:Serving on http://0.0.0.0:8080 [2025-01-12 19:49:41] Shutting down system because button is clicked or GPIO-4 is pulled down. [2025-01-12 19:49:42] Halting all processes and then shutdown Raspberry Pi... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi daemon (v4.21) is started. [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] System: Raspbian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm), Kernel: Linux 6.6.62+rpt-rpi-v6, Architecture: armhf [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Running on Raspberry Pi Zero W Rev 1.1 [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Witty Pi is not detected, retry in one second... [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] RTC offset register has value 0x78 [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Seems RTC has good time, write RTC time into system [xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx] Writing RTC time to system... [2025-01-12 19:54:00] Done :-) [2025-01-12 19:54:00] Firmware ID: 0x37 [2025-01-12 19:54:00] Firmware Revison: 0x07 [2025-01-12 19:54:00] Current Vin=3.63V, Vout=5.22V, Iout=0.08A [2025-01-12 19:54:01] System starts up because the button is clicked. [2025-01-12 19:54:07] Send out the SYS_UP signal via GPIO-17 pin. [2025-01-12 19:54:08] Pending for incoming shutdown command... [2025-01-12 19:54:11] Schedule next shutdown at: 2025-01-13 06:01:30 [2025-01-12 19:54:13] Schedule next startup at: 2025-01-14 06:00:00 INFO:waitress:Serving on http://0.0.0.0:8080
I don't notice anything different between the three shutdowns in the logs. I was looking at other threads and confirmed from on each boot the white activity LED on the Witty Pi blinked twice on startup, which I understand means the SYS_UP signal was received by the firmware. I did notice on the incomplete shutdown the white activity LED appeared to flash once as the Raspberry Pi was shutting off, but unsure what that could mean. After resetting it, powering it on, and pulling the logs, powering it off with the button worked without issue again. Any idea of what could be causing this inconsistency?
Thanks in advance!
Posted : 13/01/2025 2:53 am
Unfortunately the logs do not really help for diagnosing such issue, because the issue happened after the system has been shut down, and no new content could be written into the log file.
Since revision 0x03, the firmware has the ability to handle the situation that the Pi crashes during the shutdown. According to your log, your firmware version is 0x07, so I guess missing SYS_UP signal could be the only possible reason. However you mentioned the the white LED blinked twice on boot, which seems to rule out that possibility either.
If this situation happen again, you may measure the voltage between the TXD and GND pins after your Pi has been shut down. Although that could not directly solve the problem, it could provide more input for troubleshooting.
Posted : 13/01/2025 2:23 pm
Topic starter
I don't have a multimeter on hand immediately to measure the voltage but I did notice it happen twice again.
The first instance: Hitting the power button made the white Witty Pi LED light up until release and the green Raspberry Pi activity LED blink after release but it returned to solid and did not power off the system, then hitting the button again made the white LED light again and this time did power off the Raspberry Pi but the red Witty Pi LED remained on and was stuck until a reset.
The second instance: Hitting the power button lit up the Witty Pi white LED until the button was released and initiated the Raspberry Pi shutdown. However I noticed before the green Raspberry Pi activity LED turned off, the white Witty Pi activity LED blinked again once and then after the Raspberry Pi turned off the red Witty Pi LED remained on once again and was stuck until a reset.
On both boots the white activity LED on the Witty Pi blinked twice which should have confirmed SYS_UP was received.
This post was modified 1 month ago by doob
Posted : 13/01/2025 7:04 pm
Topic starter
Following up on measuring voltage, there is no voltage between TXD and GND when the Witty Pi is in the stuck state. There is voltage between the 5V/3.3V pins and GND. Notably, the Raspberry Pi seems to producing a quiet high-pitched whine while in this state. Interestingly although the button does not power on the Raspberry Pi, shorting pin 5 (not 7) to GND seems to trigger the on sequence (the Witty Pi white LED lights up and the Pi powers on). Does anything come to mind from this testing? It still happens about every 1 in 3 shutdowns.
Posted : 15/01/2025 2:54 am
I had this happen to one of my museum installations this morning. After running fine for almost a full week, this morning one Pi did not boot. I came into the museum and the red lights were on on both the wittyPi and the Pi 4. But the Pi was inaccessible over the next work. The Pi would not shut down with the button. I had to pull the power from the USB-C on the WittyPi as well as disconnect the 18650 battery. Once I reconnected all these, the white standby LED blinked properly and the system booted with the button as normal.
I have one custom system [SERVICE] that was set to "Restart=always" so I'm wondering if that service trying to restart while the rest of the system was shutting down, might've thrown the wittypi into a weird state. It's just a service that starts VLC and plays some videos. I've set the service to "Restart=on-failure" so it shouldn't try and restart during a legitimate shutdown. But honestly, it's the only thing I can see that might have confused the wittypi.
I'll know tomorrow at 08:00, I guess!
Posted : 15/01/2025 11:39 pm
Topic starter
Update for my case: For ease of testing I had the Witty Pi connected to my Raspberry Pi via a breakout board and ribbon cable. I was swapping out the components to see if they were related to the issue and after changing the ribbon cable I was using I haven't been able to reproduce the issue so I suspect that was the cause. If it occurs again I'll update back.
Posted : 17/01/2025 1:28 am