Pironman 5 Pro Max Killed My Pi

[kc5jim]

I finished building my Pro Max case today. It booted up just fine. Installed the Pironman software with the following:
cd ~
git clone -b pro-max GitHub - sunfounder/pironman5: Code for Raspberry Pi 5 case (Pironman5) · GitHub --depth 1
cd ~/pironman5
sudo python3 install.py

Rebooted, no LEDs or fans were working.
Took the case apart and verified that every connection was secure and in its proper place.

Flashed a clean Raspbian to the SSD. Installed the Pironman service using the following:

kc5jim@Pi-5-16GB-Pro-Max:~/pipower5 $ curl -sSL “https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sunfounder/sunfounder-installer-scripts/main/pironman5/install.sh” -o install.sh
kc5jim@Pi-5-16GB-Pro-Max:~/pipower5 $ sudo bash install.sh --pipower5

██████╗ ██╗██████╗ ██████╗ ███╗ ██╗███╗ ███╗ █████╗ ███╗ ██╗ ███████╗
██╔══██╗██║██╔══██╗██╔═══██╗████╗ ██║████╗ ████║██╔══██╗████╗ ██║ ██╔════╝
██████╔╝██║██████╔╝██║ ██║██╔██╗ ██║██╔████╔██║███████║██╔██╗ ██║ ███████╗
██╔═══╝ ██║██╔══██╗██║ ██║██║╚██╗██║██║╚██╔╝██║██╔══██║██║╚██╗██║ ╚════██║
██║ ██║██║ ██║╚██████╔╝██║ ╚████║██║ ╚═╝ ██║██║ ██║██║ ╚████║ ███████║
✓ Install pipower5
✓ Install spc
✓ Create pipower5 symlink
Create symlinks
✓ Create pironman5 symlink
Setup shell completion
✓ Register bash completion
Setup auto-start
✓ Install service file
✓ Enable pironman5 service
✓ Reload systemd
Configure kernel modules
✓ Add module i2c-dev
Copy device tree overlays
✓ Copy sunfounder-pironman5promax.dtbo
✓ Copy PiPower5 device tree overlay
Finalize permissions
✓ Set execution permission on work dir
✓ Set final ownership
Write product variant
✓ Ensure work directory exists
✓ Write variant identifier
✓ Write custom module

Install finished.

Do you want the browser to open automatically on desktop startup?
This will install an autostart entry that launches the Pironman 5 dashboard in a browser.
Install auto-launch browser? [Y/n]:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/home/kc5jim/pironman5/pironman5/_launch_browser.py”, line 8, in
from ._constants import CONFIG_PATH
ImportError: attempted relative import with no known parent package
Do you want to reboot now? (y/n)

Still no fans or LEDs

Rebooted, puff of smoke from the area of the fan interface with the Pi. Pi shuts down. Now the only thing the Pi does is light up the red LED solid. Power Supply is the official Raspberry Pi 5 Power Supply.

Removed the Pi from the case, still only gives the solid red LED. Used a new SD card. Same results. I’m guessing the CPU fan failing to turn on cooked the Pi.

[SunFounder_Moderator]

First of all, we are truly sorry to see you run into yet another issue.To be honest, when we read the opening line of your email:"I am convinced that I am just bad luck."we completely understand how you feel.

Over the past months, you have purchased and tested quite a few of our products, and you have also helped us identify and verify several issues along the way. Unfortunately, it seems that this time you may have encountered another very unusual situation.We carefully reviewed the entire sequence of events described in your email.Based on your description, there appear to have been two stages.

Stage 1
You first installed the Pro MAX software:

cd ~
git clone -b pro-max https://github.com/sunfounder/pironman5.git --depth 1
cd ~/pironman5
sudo python3 install.py

After installation, the system booted successfully, but the LEDs and fans were not working.

Stage 2
You then reflashed the system and ran:

curl -sSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sunfounder/sunfounder-installer-scripts/main/pironman5/install.sh" -o install.sh
sudo bash install.sh --pipower5

Based on our internal testing, installing the PiPower 5 software in a Pro MAX environment can indeed lead to abnormal behavior such as:OLED display corruption or garbled output/RGB LEDs not functioning/Fans not functioning

Because of this, we believe the initial LED, OLED, and fan issues were most likely related to the software installation.However, during our testing, even when these software‑related issues were present, we have not been able to reproduce the later smoke event or any Raspberry Pi hardware damage.

We have repeatedly tested:Installing the incorrect software combination/Operating with a garbled OLED display/RGB LEDs and fans not functioning/Multiple reboot cycles

So far, none of these tests have resulted in smoke, damaged components, or a failed Raspberry Pi.For that reason, we would like to better understand the exact hardware configuration and setup at the time the failure occurred.

Could you please help us confirm the following?

1. What hardware was installed in the system?
For example:

• Was PiPower 5 installed?

• Was a battery connected to PiPower 5?

• Was an NVMe SSD installed?

• Were any other USB devices connected?

2. What was the power configuration?
In particular, we would like to confirm:

• Was the Pro MAX Type‑C port connected to a power supply?

• Was the PiPower 5 Type‑C port also connected to a power supply or charger?

• Were both Type‑C ports connected to power simultaneously?

• Which power adapter was being used?

3. Were any hardware changes made before the smoke event occurred?
For example:

• Reinstalling or removing PiPower 5

• Reconnecting the GPIO header

• Reconnecting the OLED cable

• Reconnecting the fan connector

• Reconnecting the PCIe/FPC cable

4. Could you provide a few photos?
We would especially like to see:

• An overall photo showing PiPower 5 installed inside the Pro MAX

• A close‑up photo of the connection area between PiPower 5 and the Pro MAX

• A close‑up photo of the area where the smoke appeared

• A close‑up photo of the Raspberry Pi GPIO area

This information will be very helpful in determining whether there may have been a power‑path conflict, connection issue, or hardware fault.

Please also rest assured that if the Raspberry Pi has indeed been damaged, we will not leave you to absorb that loss. We will either provide a replacement Raspberry Pi of the same model or offer equivalent compensation.

At this stage, the most important thing is for us to reconstruct the exact software installation process, hardware configuration, and power setup so that our engineering team can identify the true root cause.

Thank you again for your continued support of our products and for your willingness to help us investigate this issue.

[kc5jim]

1. What hardware was installed in the system?
   For example:

   Was PiPower 5 installed? YES

   Was a battery connected to PiPower 5? YES

   Was an NVMe SSD installed? YES 1TB

   Were any other USB devices connected? NO

2. What was the power configuration?
   In particular, we would like to confirm:

   Was the Pro MAX Type‑C port connected to a power supply? YES, PRIOR TO INSTALLING THE PIPOWER 5

   Was the PiPower 5 Type‑C port also connected to a power supply or charger? YES

   Were both Type‑C ports connected to power simultaneously? THERE WERE NEVER TWO POWER SUPPLPY CONNECTIONS.

   Which power adapter was being used? RASPBERRY PI 27W USB-C POWER SUPPLY

3. Were any hardware changes made before the smoke event occurred?
   For example:

   Reinstalling or removing PiPower 5 INSTALLING PIPOWER 5

   Reconnecting the GPIO header YES

   Reconnecting the OLED cable YES

   Reconnecting the fan connector YES

   Reconnecting the PCIe/FPC cable YES

4. Could you provide a few photos?
   We would especially like to see:

   An overall photo showing PiPower 5 installed inside the Pro MAX PIPOWER 5 WAS INSTALLED EXTERNALLY

   A close‑up photo of the connection area between PiPower 5 and the Pro MAX CASE HAS BEEN DISASSEMBLED, PROPER PIN ALIGNMENT WAS ASSURED

   A close‑up photo of the area where the smoke appeared

   A close‑up photo of the Raspberry Pi GPIO area

5. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

[SunFounder_Moderator]

Thank you for providing such detailed information and photos.We carefully reviewed your notes, installation process, and the photos of the Raspberry Pi 5, IO Expander board, and overall hardware setup.

Based on the information currently available, your installation procedure and power configuration appear reasonable. We have not identified any obvious issues with the PiPower 5 installation, GPIO connection, OLED cable, fan wiring, PCIe cable, or power connections.

We also carefully examined the photos you provided. However, at this stage, we still do not have enough evidence to determine the exact root cause of the failure or identify the specific component that failed.

To help you get back up and running as quickly as possible, we would like to provide you with a replacement Raspberry Pi 5 (16GB) while our engineering team continues investigating this incident.

In addition, regarding the RGB LEDs and fan not working when PiPower 5 and Pro MAX software were used together, we have confirmed that this is a known software issue in the current release.

Our engineering team has successfully reproduced and identified the root cause. A fix is currently being tested, and we expect to release an updated version within approximately two days. Once it becomes available, we will let you know immediately.

Thank you again for all the testing, troubleshooting, and detailed feedback you have provided throughout this process. The information you shared has been extremely valuable to our engineering team.