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I just bought a new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ with the official power supply. When inserted, it does absolutely nothing. None of the LEDs light up, with or without an SD card.

However, a cheap phone adapter does work. It shows the red LED without the SD card, and I can boot into the OS normally. Unfortunately, the Pi then reports undervoltage (the lightning symbol).

I also tested the official adapter to see if it could charge a phone, and it could.

What does this mean?

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Check, if the connector of the cable is bent in some way. Make sure it's inserted all the way. You should also try wiggleing the cable.

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  • I've often found the PI USB power connections to be "touchy". As in one touch and the Pi reboots or dies. I now power my Pi's via GPIO with big fat wires. If I do need to power my Pi with USB, I have multiple wall warts. Usually one works. In your case, use the cheap phone charger. It works. – OyaMist Jun 1 '18 at 16:09
  • I've examined the connections with a magnifying glass. Everything seems fine. Again, the official adapter works as a phone charger, the Pi sort of works with a different phone charger. – Alex Jun 1 '18 at 23:42
  • As for using the phone charger, it doesn't work because the Pi reports undervoltage. The symbol is perpetually on-screen. I'd expect the official charger, plugged into the Pi with nothing else added or modified, to work as advertised. – Alex Jun 1 '18 at 23:43

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