I was having trouble logging into the Ras Pi 4. I tried flashing with Balena and (after reading the Sunfounder docs) Ras Pi Imager. After a couple of hours back and forth with Chat GPT, Claude suggested the fix that worked: Use Ras Pi Imager 1.7.5. Not only that, version 1.7.5 allowed me to customize the hostname and set up wi-fi. I had to root through Sunfounder’s git-hub repository to find Ras Pi imager 1.7.5. Sunfounder could do a better job of making this clearer, as most people using EZ block are doing so for for a reason. Anyhow step 1 is done and now I have found this forum. Onto actually building the kit with my grandsons.
Hello, thank you very much for taking the time to share your experience, and I’m sorry that the initial login step caused you so much trouble.
First of all, I’m glad to hear that you’ve successfully logged into the Raspberry Pi 4 and completed step one. Using Raspberry Pi Imager 1.7.5 to flash the card, and using it to customize the hostname and set up Wi-Fi, is exactly the right approach — thank you for sharing it, as it will certainly help other users who run into the same issue.
Regarding the problem you ran into, here is a clear explanation: the official Raspberry Pi Imager version 2.0 and above has a bug — when flashing a custom image, it cannot pre-configure Wi-Fi network settings, which results in the device being unable to connect to the network / log in after flashing. We therefore recommend downloading and installing a version below 2.0 to flash the system. Here is the download link for version 1.9.6:
The reason your earlier attempt with 1.7.5 worked is precisely that it is a version below 2.0.
Regarding the documentation concern you raised, we completely understand how you feel. People using EZ Block usually want to get started quickly, and if key information (such as the recommended Raspberry Pi Imager version) isn’t prominent enough, it can waste a lot of time. We will pass your feedback on to our documentation team and update the documentation to make this point clearer. Thank you for your suggestion.
We hope you and your grandchildren have a great time building! If you run into any problems during assembly or debugging, feel free to ask here anytime — we’ll do our best to help.