Previous case: Pironman 5 (original) — Pi was working correctly in that case until today
Problem
After transferring the Raspberry Pi 5 from the original Pironman 5 case to the newly assembled Pironman 5 Pro Max, the Pi does not boot. Only the red LED lights up. The green LED never comes on at any point during power-up.
What I have already tried
Booted with the existing NVMe SSD (previously working OS) in slot 1 — red LED only, no boot
Moved the NVMe SSD to slot 2 — same result
Removed the NVMe SSD completely and booted from a freshly flashed SD card (Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit via Raspberry Pi Imager) — same result, red LED only
Flashed the official EEPROM reset image (Misc utility images → Bootloader → SD Card Boot) to SD card, booted with SD card only and no NVMe — red LED only, no response
Pressed the power button on the Pro Max case — no change, Pi does not start
Tested with the Pironman 5 expansion board disconnected — same result in all cases above
Important context
Before transferring to the Pro Max, the pironman5 software (v1.2.18) was installed and running on this Pi in the original Pironman 5 case. That software includes a “safe shutdown” feature that configures the Raspberry Pi 5 EEPROM to require a button signal to power on, rather than powering on automatically when USB-C power is applied. It is possible that this EEPROM setting is still active and the Pro Max power button circuit is not sending the expected signal, which would explain why the Pi does not respond to either automatic power-up or button press.
Current status
The Pi is fully removed from the case and tested bare (no expansion board, no NVMe, SD card only, direct USB-C power to the Pi itself). Still only red LED, no boot.
Questions
Is there a known issue with the EEPROM power-on configuration from the original Pironman 5 software conflicting with the Pro Max power button circuit?
Is there a way to reset the EEPROM without the Pi booting at all?
Could the Pro Max expansion board require a specific power-on signal that differs from the original Pironman 5?
Any help is appreciated. Happy to provide additional photos or run further tests.
I also noticed the related topic ‘Pironman 5 Pro Max Killed My Pi’. To clarify: I do not have the PiPower 5 UPS module installed. My setup has no UPS, no battery, and no smoke has occurred. The Pi appears physically undamaged — the only symptom is the solid red LED with no boot activity, even when tested completely bare outside the case with only an SD card and direct USB-C power.
Thank you for your detailed post and for the thorough troubleshooting steps.We have forwarded your case to our engineering team for further analysis.Please bear with us – we will keep you updated.Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Thank you for your patience and for providing so many detailed test results – we truly appreciate your cooperation throughout this troubleshooting process.
Based on the current situation, you have already tested multiple boot methods, including SD card boot and USB boot, and the Raspberry Pi 5 still does not start even when completely removed from the Pironman 5 Pro Max case.
From these results, it appears that the issue is no longer likely to be caused by the Pironman 5 Pro Max. Instead, it seems more probable that the Raspberry Pi 5 itself has developed a hardware fault. Unfortunately, with the information we have at hand, we cannot determine exactly which component has failed or how the fault occurred.
We would recommend that you contact the retailer or Raspberry Pi’s official support where you purchased the Pi, to inquire about warranty service or a possible replacement.
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know. We’re sorry we couldn’t resolve this directly, and we wish you the best of luck with getting your Pi replaced.
First of all, I would like to thank SunFounder for the time and effort put into helping investigate this issue. I really appreciate all the support.
While continuing to troubleshoot the problem myself, I performed a few multimeter measurements on the bare Raspberry Pi 5 (completely outside the case, with no expansion board, no NVMe SSD installed, and powered directly via USB-C).
The measurements were:
GPIO Pin 2 (5V) to Pin 6 (GND): approximately 5V
GPIO Pin 1 (3.3V) to Pin 6 (GND): 0V
So the board is receiving 5V correctly, but the 3.3V rail is completely absent.
From what I understand, without the 3.3V rail the Raspberry Pi cannot properly power the components required to boot. This matches the symptoms I have been seeing: the red PWR LED stays on, the green ACT LED never shows any activity, and there is never any HDMI output.
I wanted to share these measurements because they may help identify similar issues more quickly in the future. A simple voltage check on the 3.3V rail could help distinguish between an accessory-related problem and a hardware fault on the Raspberry Pi itself.
Based on these measurements, I believe the fault is on the Raspberry Pi 5’s onboard power circuitry rather than the SD card, NVMe SSD, or the SunFounder case.
I hope this information is useful, both for this case and as a possible troubleshooting step for similar issues in the future.
Thank you for sharing it – it is very helpful. Having clear findings like this will give us a solid direction when troubleshooting similar issues in the future.
