I think my CM5 is broken

[Cafe_Lab_Arty_Day]

It seems like my CM5 is broken, and I’m wondering if the CM4 adapter is the cause. I had been using the CM5 with the stock CM4 adapter included with the uConsole; it was intermittent at times, but now it won’t work at all.

I tried the CM5 in another uConsole and it still wouldn’t boot, whereas the CM4 works fine in both units.

Given that the CM5 fails in both uConsoles while the CM4 works in both, I suspect the CM5 itself is faulty.

Has anyone else experienced a CM5 failure?

It’s frustrating that it broke after so little use, especially with prices being so high these days.

I found a dual-compatible CM4/CM5 adapter sold by Hackergadgets—would using that help protect the CM5?

Alternatively, since the CM4 works fine, should I just keep using the CM4 adapter and buy a new CM5?

Which approach would be better?

[Rex]

I’ve been using the CM5 in the uConsole since it first came out. Mine is still running fine, I also haven’t heard of the adapter killing a CM5… Anythings possible though. I think it might have just been a bad unit from the start.

You overclock it at all? How long have you had the CM5? RMA maybe?

The HackerGadgets board is just an upgrade won’t make a difference to protect it.

[Cafe_Lab_Arty_Day]

Very helpful. Just wanted to check.

It worked really well at first.

I think the cm5 is defective.

[sudo_rm_username]

My First Posting in this Forum and hopefully i can assist or help here.

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My cm5 (with eMMC) was also faulty. I tried it several times in the Uconsole (at first I thought I’d connected it wrong, but I also tried two different IO boards … yet unfortunately it wasn’t ‘recognised’ properly (I followed these instructions: https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/compute-module.html#flash-compute-module-emmc). In the end, I sent it back to the retailer and received a new one.

Flashed it, mounted it on the (stock adapter board) and it started fine.

[AleReb]

may be can power isues? the adpater gives 5v 3A the batteries are full cm4 its far away less power hungry i overclock my cm5 and have power issues im gona stay on default no issues

[Greg_E]

I would get a carrier board for cm4/5 to turn it into a “normal” pi and test it.

[Cafe_Lab_Arty_Day]

That was very helpful. It certainly seems to be broken, but I’m actually finding myself satisfied with the CM4—the CM5 used to get way too hot.

[Cafe_Lab_Arty_Day]

I tested the batteries from three different manufacturers during the replacement process; they worked fine with the CM4 but did not work with the CM5. It seems the batteries themselves are not the problem.

[Cafe_Lab_Arty_Day]

I’ll give it some thought. I need to buy another AIO set anyway.

[sudo_rm_username]

the CM5 used to get way too hot.

… that’s true, unfortunately. But there are a few small tweaks and modifications you can try to bring the temperature down (when the CM5 is under heavy load).

For example, I like this post by: @Wander_Menezes

Say no to CM5 overheating in your uConsole: a practical, low-cost fix

Greetings from Brazil. This is my first post on the forum, arriving after what felt like an epic campaign to get a uConsole with a CM5 to boot from an SD card—only to be defeated by a stubborn “failed to open device ‘sdcard’.” I lost, decisively. And with that, I also lost one of the CM4 platform’s quiet pleasures: swapping operating systems as easily as swapping cards. For context, I’m not using the Lite—this is the 4/32 variant. After too many shutdowns, too many card swaps, and too many atte…

or this one by @bgav: Effective CM5 Cooling Solution - #4 by L_Huddy

My Uconsole (CM5) is currently running at around 40–50 °C … I think that’s fine. (I’m still using the ‘standard cooling pad’, but I’m planning to modify it so that I can use an active fan.)