Pironman 5 - NVMe PIP - STA and PWR LEDs never on - SSD never detected

General
1

Hey!

I got Rasperry Pi 5 8 GB and Pironman 5 with ADATA Legend 800 1 TB as a gift around 2 years ago, assembled everything but couldn’t make it work (SSD was not detected) and I forgot about it for the time being.

I finally found some time to troubleshoot the issue and after booting from and SD card (SSD is empty, brand new, never used, but connected) - there’s not much I could do as both STA and PWR LEDs on NVMe PIP never light up.

What I tried so far:

  • rpi-eeprom-update
  • dtparam=nvme (and different aliases and gens) in /boot/firmware/config.txt
  • shorting J4 pins on PIP as per SunFounder’s guide
  • reconnected FPC ribbon and made sure orientation is good
  • tried different FPC cable

STA and PWR still always off.

Any ideas what might be wrong? Any other fixes I could try? I don’t want to leave it to gather dust for another 2 years and I’m not sure if the PIP itself is faulty - seems like odds of that are rather slim?

What is interesting: I noticed OLED does not work as well, maybe the cable got loose, but I have no idea how to reconnect it - basically can’t get to the connector after assembling and I’m unsure how to disassebly Pironman 5 - following assembly guide in reverse is not really helpful as some steps seem to be permanent (clips/springs instead of screws - not sure how to unmount). I wonder if OLED might be somehow connected to SSD, honestly I don’t remember if it ever worked…

Thank you!

2

From your description, the fact that both the PWR and STA LEDs on the NVMe PIP never light up suggests that the issue may not just be about SSD detection – it’s more likely that the NVMe PIP itself is not functioning properly.

For the NVMe PIP, we recommend you focus on checking the FPC ribbon cable:

Make sure both ends of the cable are fully inserted and locked.

Check that the cable orientation is correct (the blue stiffener should be facing the right direction).

If you have a spare FPC cable, try replacing it.

Regarding the OLED display, we’d like to confirm:

Have you installed the Pironman 5 software?

Please run this command and send us the output:
sudo i2cdetect -y 1
Normally, the OLED should appear at I2C address 0x3C.

Also, could you check whether the RGB LEDs on the IO board are working? Under normal conditions, they should show a blue breathing effect.

Please let us know the results of these checks, and if possible, send us a few clear photos of the inside of the case – especially the IO board, FPC cable, and NVMe PIP. This will help us determine whether it’s a connection issue or a hardware fault with the IO board or NVMe PIP.

We’ll do our best to assist you.