Raspberry PI GPIO not working

Question

I just got a raspberry pi 3 B+ model and have wrote some scripts to create an LED pattern. Everything worked and then suddenly stopped. Now every time I run a python script through sudo python #scriptName the console crashes meaning I can't run anymore python code or shutdown the computer without pulling the power chord, I can't ctrl+C as it just prints ^c on the console screen and there in no python program to use the kill command on. Without the Cobbler connected code will run sometimes, but with it connected the console freezes. Also the led connected in the bread board dimly glows without the GPIO being turned on on startup and stays on until I turn it off from the console. Did I burn something out? Can someone please offer me advice as to what is happening? My Trial Script

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
GPIO.setwarnings(False)
GPIO.setup(12, GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.output(12, GPIO.HIGH)
time.sleep(1)
GPIO.output(12,GPIO.LOW)

Here is a picture of the problem. Here is a picture of the circuit I set up

Answer 1

Have you installed the RPI.GPIO on your Pi?. If not, try installing it using one of the following commands:

Python2: sudo apt-get -y install python-rpi.gpio

Python3: sudo apt-get -y install python3-rpi.gpio

If this is not the problem, you can skip this step.

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There is a difference between physical numbering and GPIO numbering. Have you taken this into consideration?

Please refer to the following image:

Notice that for example Pin#16 is GPIO23 not GPIO16.

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If this is not the problem. try changing the mode to be PWM instead of BCM.

An example to blink an LED once every two seconds:

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
GPIO.setup(12, GPIO.OUT)

p = GPIO.PWM(12, 0.5) # channel=12 , frequency=0.5Hz
p.start(1)
input('Press return to stop:')   # use raw_input for Python 2
p.stop()
GPIO.cleanup()

I am trying to give you all the possibilities. I have faced your problem before and I tried these solutions and It worked for me pretty well.

Answer 2

Try adding GPIO.cleanup() before calling the GPIO functions. Also sometimes I add debug prints after every statement to see which call the process is hanging. Adding a handler for ctrl+C (keyboard interrupt) may help in killing the process or use kill command from another terminal. A quick dirty workaround maybe to use Ctrl+Z so the process goes to background and you get access to the terminal. Then kill it. Of course, not a solution but won't need reboot.

Answer 3

In such a case it's recommended to go "one level lower" and to use a diagnostic utility like the gpio program, which comes with the wiringPi library. See the manpage on how to use it. To find out the logic levels of your GPIO pins, you can use the piscope utility. If it also hangs whilst trying to access the GPIO pin with the LED attached, a hardware issue may be the cause.