10

I formatted my SD card to fat32 using GParted and copied all the files from the official NOOBS Lite download: https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/noobs/. I unzipped using unzip command on the terminal. When I turn on the rainbow appears and the Pi gets stuck there. Red LED is on, green turned off after a few seconds. Don't know if I did something wrong or my card is broken. Appreciate your help.

Sebastian Braga
  • 461
  • 1
  • 4
  • 12

4 Answers4

25

I connected it to the other HDMI port and the image appeared, it was actually booting but showing the rainbow through that port.

goldilocks
  • 58,859
  • 17
  • 112
  • 227
Sebastian Braga
  • 461
  • 1
  • 4
  • 12
  • 2
    Yep, was doing the same thing. Connect your micro hdmi to the hdmi port nearest the USB C power connection. – Chris S Jan 04 '20 at 13:13
  • 6
    This should be the first thing that comes up on Google when "stuck on rainbow screen" is searched. I spent literally hours downloading, reformatting, unzipping, etc., under the assumption that the kernel or SD card was corrupted only to learn the answer is just to connect to the second HDMI port. – Kevin Feb 06 '20 at 22:59
  • 1
    I've removed the parts of this post that had nothing to do with an answer and instead belong in a question. Please take the tour to understand better how the site works. – goldilocks Feb 13 '20 at 14:56
5

Try plugin your display to the other port. I spent an hour to figure out that my display was not on the primary display port and the secondary port was showing rainbow. Switched my display to primary port i.e. next to the power input and it came up :-)

Shobhit Deep
  • 51
  • 1
  • 1
1

The Boot Problems Sticky contains detailed troubleshooting steps.

Using NOOBS just makes fault finding harder.

The rainbow screen is due to missing (or obsolete) firmware.

I suggest you use Etcher to install Raspbian to a SD Card (like the vast bulk of us).

If you REALLY want to install NOOBS, make sure you have the LATEST version and follow the Foundation instructions =>

Visit the SD Association’s website and download SD Formatter for Windows or Mac.

Milliways
  • 59,890
  • 31
  • 101
  • 209
-1

I ran into the same problem while working on my project. It seems like a low voltage problem so make sure the power supply has minimum of 2A Output and that should fix the rainbow screen problem.

Rahul Chakravarti
  • 11
  • 2
    The rainbow screen is unrelated to low voltage it indicates missing or obsolete boot files. – Milliways Aug 23 '19 at 03:28
  • 1
    @Milliways "Immediately after displaying the splash screen, the PI starts consuming a little more current. If the PI resets at that moment, it is an indication that the power supply isn't able to deliver the full current your PI requires..." https://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting#Coloured_splash_screen Of course this does not mean stuck on the rainbow screen. – goldilocks Aug 23 '19 at 12:43