MB not booting in a RPi Zero W, power LED flashes seven times

Ratna

I know, RPi Zero W is not recommended. Still I want to know whether it can boot MoodleBox. Installed MB 4.5.1 just now on a good SanDisk 16 GB using RPi Imager but the RPi Zewo W refuses to boot. Well, it is my guess without connecting it to a monitor. The power LED gives a kind of a Morse code, it flashes seven times in quick succession and then takes a pause. According to https://support.pishop.ca/article/33-raspberry-pi-act-led-error-patterns it means "kernel.img not found" which I find odd, since the SD card is good, my RPi 400 boots without a problem. The power supply is supposed to deliver 2.1 A, so shouldn't be a problem either.

Could somebody check?

Edit: Made a standard 32 bit Raspberry Pi OS Lite and it boots - takes some time though. 😉

ralfkrause

Ratna The MoodleBox 4.5.1 comes with 64bit so the software will not start on a Raspberry Pi Zero W.

The MoodleBox image is based on Raspberry Pi OS lite 64bit since MoodleBox 4.3.0. In earlier versions until MoodleBox 4.2.0 the image was build with 32bit because Raspberry Pi OS lite only existed with 32bit.
https://github.com/moodlebox/moodlebox/releases/tag/v4.3.0
https://github.com/moodlebox/moodlebox/releases/tag/v4.2.0

Best regards, Ralf

ralfkrause

Ratna Blinking 7 times says that there can‘t be found the correct kernel.
https://support.pishop.ca/article/33-raspberry-pi-act-led-error-patterns#:~:text=While%20booting%2C%20the%20ACT%20LED,Pi%20with%20SDRAM%20from%20Micron.

Nicolas

Ratna Could somebody check?

Here's the definitive documentation for LED flashes meaning.

Ratna

ralfkrause That's what I vaguely remembered, but wasn't sure. Thanks for confirming!

RPi Zero 2 W should work though, as documented in https://moodlebox.net/en/help/hardware-needed/.

ralfkrause

Ratna Yes, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W starts with the 64bit image but it runs very slow.

The processor of the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W is nearly the same as the processor on the Raspberry Pi 3B (not 3B+). The processor speed is only 1 GHz (instead of 1.2 GHz for the 3B) and the ram is 512 MB (instead of 1 GB for the 3B). And the Zero 2 W has no ethernet port.

Nicolas

ralfkrause Yes, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W starts with the 64bit image but it runs very slow.

I could not experiment this. My MoodleBox on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W runs acceptably swiftly.

Ratna You must have meant https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/391-raspberry-pi-zero-2-w-speed-up.

I'm not sure this post is accurate. Increasing the swapiness will just increase the swapping and slow up the MoodleBox more.

Anyway, do use a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W for MoodleBox only for very low profile Moodle usages.

ralfkrause

jjrbfi This post shows how to speed up the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. No, I haven't tested it yet for myself.

Ratna

ralfkrause You post puzzled me. You must have meant https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/391-raspberry-pi-zero-2-w-speed-up. Yep, very useful.

The bad news, RPi Zero 2 W are difficult to find.

Ratna

Nicolas I'm just curious. Does the code at https://github.com/moodlebox/moodlebox have a "bitness", I mean is 64 bis OS is the condition?

What are the chances of starting with the 32 bit Raspberry Pi OS, say in a Pi 400, then subject it to the Ansible treatment as documented on GitHub? Will the result boot on a RPi Zero W, theoretically?

Ratna

Since the RPi Zero W (not Zero 2 W) is idling and not compatible with the MoodleBox, I started with RapberryPi OS Debian 11 32 bit and installed LEMP and Moodle 4.1 manually and turned around the wireless to a hotspot, imitating MoodleBox just without the Ethernet. To my surprise it runs. I was working from two computers one as a normal user and the other site admin. Most of the requests are in the range 2-3 seconds, rarely reaching 5 seconds. Here is the MoodleBench result:

The installation was default. Anybody has an idea where I can tune?

Even as it is, the Pi Zero W is very practical for me, because it runs happily from the power of the USB of my laptop! Making power banks and bigger power supplies unnecessary.

Nicolas

Ratna Anybody has an idea where I can tune?

I'm afraid there's not much to be done: the CPU of the Zero W is just not powerful enough 😦 . Have a little patience and get yourself a Zero 2 W: it seems they are slowly becoming available again.

Ratna

Nicolas I came to the same conclusion. To compensate the slow CPU I should load as much as possible to the RAM. But where is it, when the total is only 512 MB? Still the fact that a full LEMP and Moodle runs on a RPi Zero W - I find amazing.

Note that I am talking about my hand-made imitation of the MB mentioned earlier. When adding content and design, etc. I insert the SD in to a RPi 400 and connect through the Ethernet.

I know, this is a one-way road. As you reminded, from 4.2 onward Moodle requres 64 bit PHP. But the Zero W is hugely practical, it runs from the USB power of my laptop! A power bank would last days, I have the feeling.

ralfkrause

Ratna The Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W should also run with the usb power of your laptop. And with a PowerBank 20.000 mAh it works a very long time. The availability of the board should get better. Please search for rpilocator and zero 2 w.