Raspberry pi zero 2 w not updating

@zander I got my pi from digikey and after I had this problem I contacted them and got a replacement.

@josiah430 Sorry, that means you are doing something wrong. I just did two installs and full updates with no problems.

Good luck.

@josiah430 Start over. Download the Legacy 32 bit Lite. Connect a keyboard, mouse, and display. Plug in the power. Do you see a prompt in the style of user@host? If so, it's working.

Remember, this is a tiny processor, it is not meant to be a desktop machine. If you want to 'play' with a desktop machine your best bet is a Pi 4B 4G or 8G booting from a $20 USB SSD, TF/Mini SD cards are not super reliable and very slow. The SSD has to be plugged into the correct port, try one (of the blue 3.0) and if that doesn't work, switch to the other.

I think all new Pi 4's come with USB boot enabled, but if not there should be instructions on the RaspberryPi.com web site. I just looked and they are complicated instructions. Using raspbery pi imager you can update the boot sequence. See attached pics for how to update the EEPROM.

@josiah430 @zander

Just a note that if you choose to download the Legacy 32 bit Lite then you will not get a desktop environment just a terminal.  This may be a bit of an impediment for a newbie to get started with the Zero2.   Its very capable of running a desktop especially using the Legacy Bullseye image.  Its certainly a tad slower for the desktop to get up and running than the likes of an rpi 5, but once it gets there you will not have any problems running the likes of Thonny to create some python programs.  Its a great little device to get started with.

To ensure you are getting everything set up properly find one of the Rpi docs or articles that hand hold you through the process.  A lot of good articles and doc's to be downloaded for free at https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/issues

@byron I don't know if you read back through all the posts, but he was not able to complete an apt update and upgrade. I know it takes a long time but it does complete eventually when I tried it, faster with lite of course as there is much less to update.

I may be showing my age and bias, but I started with no gui and somehow we managed to run the worlds businesses ok. Learning Linux I think should be the first step so only lite is needed but it's up to the OP, he has never stated what he wants to do other than 'learn'. Learning Linux would be 'learning'.

@byron I agree re Legacy Bullseye, when updating Bookworm, I get errors. Neither the Pi 5 or Bookworm are suitable for new people, it's still flaky. Also no Chromium or Firefox on the Pi Zero with Bookworm, message says not supported.

Posted by: @zander

↑

Neither the Pi 5 or Bookworm are suitable for new people, it's still flaky.

I'm not sure if that remark comes from your personal experience, or perhaps a distillation of various comments you have read.  But from my experience this is far from removed from reality.  My rpi5's with the Debian Bookwork are rock solid and fast and very suitable for beginners. (though beginners do use more recent tutorials and examples)

I think that perhaps because Debian Bookworm introduced some changes to the linux libraries relating to how gpio's are used and the changes to the desktop environment from X to wayland (or whatever they are called) meant that some existing tutorials and the like for the older Debian releases no longer worked did cause some initial confusion.  

If you are personally having an issue with a rpi5 running bookworm then let me know and I'm sure I can assist you.   So changes yes, but flaky most definitely not.  And beginners, as far a an rpi5 is concerned don't hesitate you will not be disappointed.

@byron Mostly by reputation including what Bill said (no pip3 in Bookworm). Also I see errors when doing an update/upgrade of Bookworm on the Pi Zero, I will post them when I get a chance. There is also the general principle that a new hardware platform and a new OS will have more bugs than legacy equipment and as a newbie he may not be able to determine if any problem he encounters is due to one of those.

Since the OP has not shared what it is he wants to do, I don't know if he needs the power of a Pi5 with a larger special power supply, and possibly getting whichever NVME hat he prefers (Top or Bottom). I just bought a complete Windows box with orders of magnitude more power, RAM, disk space for almost the same price. I know the prices of all this stuff is higher in Canada, and maybe also the UK so if he is from the US it will be less so.

I have no dog in the fight, just 50+ years of global support on several hardware platforms and numerous Operating Systems.

Since he has been unsuccessful at simply running sudo apt upgrade according to him, my hunch is he is not a bleeding edge candidate.

If he is going the python route, then your experience takes priority, but I can well imagine that python has a different impact on both hardware and software than conventional C or C++.

I wish him all the best, but I think the Pi Zero is a poor choice for him (I have 5 or so but have a purpose for each of them and 32 bit Bullseye Lite is all I need) especially as a development machine for other than Thonny/Python perhaps.

@zander , I don't know the context in which Bill made his pip3 remark but here it is on my rpi5 working just fine.

I had nothing more I wished to pip but here is the command responding to help.   

Of course there are similar low priced computers with more power, but none that has the sort of tutorials to assist getting to grips with using a SBC in a maker environment, which makes the rpi very suitable for beginners wishing to use it in that context.

I've contemplating a small cheap windows 11 based computer to replace my old and far too large (and rarely used) windows 10 pc. It appears not to be w11 compatible, but in any case its too loud and too big.  I'm hesitating at the moment as I wondering if I should jump back to mainly using a windows based environment and relegating my old mac to the rarely used category, or wait for a new mac to come out with one of their new chips.  I've been looking at some quite powerful and reasonable priced fanless pc's which are quite tempting.   I know a new mac, suitably loaded with ram etc will have a go at squeezing the remnants of my wallet, but if I do go mac then a diddy pc will also be on the cards.   Which pc did you go for and how do you rate it?

We will have to disagree on the suitability on the rpi Zero2 for beginners as I think its a very usable little SBC that runs a full linux op at very low price point. It comes with a lot of supporting documentation and tutorials etc.   If its just c, c++ or python programming one is after than the likes of a EPS32 or rpi Pico would be my recommended starting point, but for a full linux op with plenty of support then it would be a Zero for me (and thats not points out of 10 😎 )

I should point out to @josiah430 that the forum for rpi help is to be found at https://forums.raspberrypi.com/    where you will find more help and expertise than you will find on this mainly electronics and embedded microcontroller forum, though the likes of a raspberry pi does feature from time to time.

@byron Totally agree re the following

I should point out to @josiah430 that the forum for rpi help is to be found at  https://forums.raspberrypi.com/ <   where you will find more help and expertise than you will find on this mainly electronics and embedded microcontroller forum, though the likes of a raspberry pi does feature from time to time.

I got my new Win11 on Amazon.ca here is short link https://amz.run/9E7O

I just got it 2 days ago. It is quick, all I need but oh so hot. Later today I will get some silicone to isolate the case from what it is sitting on (another mini PC running several Linux distros) and my Pi 5 on top.

I had an M1 Mac Air, had ordered the M2 15" Mac Air when the M3 15" was announced so I cancelled the M2 and got the M3 with same trade in allowance.

One difference re the Pi Zero, I am using Pi Zero 2017, I will try a Pi Zero 2 later today to see if it is quicker. I will download the latest Bookworm Desktop for it.

I will let you know how that goes.

@byron I don't know what I and @josiah430 are doing different from you, but I used the RPI Imager and selected Pi Zerro 2, Recommended Recommended Bookworm 64 Bit Desktop. When I booted it took a while but eventually got to the desktop. That was 15 mins ago at least. I clicked the Browser and then went to the Config menu. NOTHING is happening. This is a Pi Zero 2 2021.

@byron @josiah430  It's going downhill. It locked up, so I rebooted, and now nothing. I give up, this is not a configuration I have any need for, simple Legacy Lite is all I need, light, quick, and fails extremely rarely.

@zander For me the neither of the 32 bit lite OS's had any updates.

@byron I did post on the Rpi forum but had not responses.

@josiah430 They didn't have any as in the command ran (sudo apt update followed by sudo apt upgrade) or you typed that in and it did not run anything. WORDS are critically important if we can't see your screen. Maybe you need to video what you are doing starting after power up has presented a prompt.

@zander Here is a pic of what I am getting. Is that enough info?