Hello Raspberry Shake support,
▎
▎ I have a brand-new RS4D unit that never starts recording. I’d like help diagnosing it, and a warranty replacement if it’s a hardware fault.
▎
▎ Unit details
▎ - Model: Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Rev 1.2
▎ - Shake OS: v21.2
▎ - Pi serial: 00000000ee028ff3
▎ - Unit Serial Number (sticker): [S/N: ____]
▎
▎ Problem
▎ The web panel stays in “BOOTING” forever and nothing is recorded (no /opt/data/archive). raspberryshake.service fails on every boot, and /opt/log/postboot.log shows:
▎ “Unable to read Firmware version number off of Serial Port /dev/serial0 after trying for 15 seconds, cannot continue! Is the Pi computer connected to the Raspberry Shake Board? Please confirm and try again.”
▎ - Reflashed the SD card from scratch with Shake OS V21.2 — identical failure, so the SD/OS is not the cause.
▎ - Verified 0 bytes received on both /dev/serial0 (ttyS0) and /dev/ttyAMA0 at 230400 baud — the Shake board sends nothing over serial.
▎ - OS is healthy: boots, SSH and web UI work, filesystem expanded, /boot/config.txt correct (enable_uart=1, force_turbo=1).
▎ - No under-voltage in dmesg; tried a clean reboot and a power cycle.
▎
▎ This looks like a hardware fault between the Pi and the Shake board. Could you advise, or arrange a replacement?
▎
▎ Thank you,
RS4D — TECHNICAL DIAGNOSTIC REPORT
Symptom: unit never leaves “BOOTING”; no waveform data is ever recorded.
UNIT
Board/CPU : Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Rev 1.2
Shake OS : v21.2 (rsh-fe-config / rsh-data-producer / rsh-data-consumer v21.2)
Pi serial : 00000000ee028ff3
ROOT-CAUSE EVIDENCE
-
Boot service fails every boot:
systemctl status raspberryshake.service
Active: failed (Result: exit-code)
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/postboot.rshake (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
-
Shake board firmware cannot be read over serial (the unit’s own log):
/opt/log/postboot.log:
“Unable to read Firmware version number off of Serial Port /dev/serial0
after trying for 15 seconds, cannot continue!
Is the Pi computer connected to the Raspberry Shake Board?”
-
NO serial data from the board on EITHER UART (raw read, 230400 8N1):
stty -F /dev/serial0 230400 raw -echo ; timeout 5 dd if=/dev/serial0 … => 0 bytes
stty -F /dev/ttyAMA0 230400 raw -echo ; timeout 4 dd if=/dev/ttyAMA0 … => 0 bytes
( /dev/serial0 → ttyS0 ; /dev/serial1 → ttyAMA0 )
RULED OUT (so this is NOT software/SD/config)
- SD/OS: reflashed Shake OS V21.2 from scratch → identical failure.
- Serial config OK: /boot/config.txt has enable_uart=1 and force_turbo=1;
/boot/cmdline.txt has NO serial console on serial0 (console=tty1 only),
so the UART is free for the board.
- Power: dmesg shows NO under-voltage / throttling events.
- Recovery attempts: clean reboot and full power cycle, no change.
- OS health: boots normally, SSH + web UI reachable, root FS auto-expanded.
- postboot.rshake binary fails on its serial read step
(strings: “No data available”, “Device timeout”).
CONCLUSION
The Pi receives zero bytes from the Shake board on the serial link, so the
data producer never starts. With SD/OS/serial-config/power all excluded,
this points to a hardware fault in the Pi ↔ Shake-board serial connection
(board not communicating, or a bad/again header/UART). Requesting hardware
diagnosis / warranty replacement.
Hello estacion1,
Thank you for the detailed troubleshooting you’ve already described here.
Could I ask you to reboot or turn the Shake on again, then attach the latest logs from it?
Is this Shake a DIY version, or a full set?
Hi, thanks. I rebooted the Shake and collected the latest logs (attached).
▎
▎ The Raspberry Pi itself boots fine: it gets a DHCP lease, has internet + NTP, runs Shake OS v0.21.2, and the web UI is up. The problem is board communication: sp-out.txt shows that reading /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyAMA0 and /dev/serial0 all return empty (zero bytes), and postboot.log reports on every boot:
▎ “Unable to read Firmware version number off of Serial Port /dev/serial0 after trying for 15 seconds, cannot continue! Is the Pi computer connected to the Raspberry Shake Board?”
▎
▎ This is a full set (complete Raspberry Shake unit), now out of warranty. I’ve already done a clean reflash (Shake OS v0.21.2 on a fresh FAT32 SD) and reseated the Pi on the board, with the same result — so the Pi is confirmed healthy and the Shake board is not responding over the serial line.
▎
▎ Since the Pi works perfectly, I’d prefer not to replace the whole unit. Could you sell me just the Shake board as a replacement (to reuse my existing Pi)? And given the logs show what looks like a board-side hardware failure, is any goodwill discount possible even though the warranty has expired?
▎
▎ Thanks in advance.
Franui_logs_2026-06-29.zip (3.1 KB)
Thank you for the latest logs and the Shake details.
Question: does the blue LED light on the Shake board turn on at all during the boot process?
Another thing you can try, even if there are no undervoltage messages, is to test a different power supply all the same. Maybe you can use the one of the RS1D (from your other thread) since we know that works fine, and see if there are any changes.
Have you also tried, if you have another unused Raspberry Pi board around, seating the Shake board on that one to see if it produces the same errors?
It’s worth checking these two elements above before we move forward.
Hello,
▎
▎ Thank you for getting back to me. I have a Raspberry Shake setup, but I’ve just realized that the RS4D sensor board itself is missing — only the Raspberry Pi remains (it boots fine, but with no board attached it stays on “BOOTING” and there’s no data on the serial port).
▎
▎ I’d like to buy just the RS4D board (the DIY kit — board + sensors, without the Raspberry Pi), since I already have the Pi here and the SD card flashed with Shake OS.
▎
▎ Could you please confirm:
▎
▎ 1. Can I purchase the board only (DIY kit) as a replacement?
▎ 2. Do you ship to Argentina, and roughly what would the total cost and delivery time be?
▎ 3. Is it the current RS4D V6/V7 version, so it’s compatible with my existing Pi and OS?
Thanks
Yes, you can get a DIY version of the RS4D (here in our shop). There is no “board-only” option, so if you order this, you’ll receive basically everything (board, sensors, enclosure) except for the Pi, Ethernet and power cables.
There shouldn’t be any issues with shipping there, but please check with sales [at] raspberryshake [dot] org before ordering. They’ll know best about this.
Lastly, you can check if your Raspberry Pi board is compatible using our list here. If you find your model/revision on it, then it will work fine.
I hope the above can help.