Documentation is not clear regarding how Raspberry Pi should be connected to be provisioned

[oliora]

The readme file contains picture with Raspberry Pi connected to Compute Module but no picture how to connect a Raspberry Pi for provisioning.

[tdewey-rpi]

@oliora Are you asking for expanded documentation on:

• Provisioning a Raspberry Pi form-factor device; or
• Setting up the Raspberry Pi as the provisioning system

[oliora]

The former: provisioning RPi5 from RPi5

[tdewey-rpi]

Understood.

Provisioning a Raspberry Pi 5 requires a manual intervention for each device. A CM5 can be put into RPIBOOT mode with a jumper wire - but on Raspberry Pi 5, you need to do this by holding the power button as you insert the power & data cable. Make sure your SD card is already inserted, and you have no other peripherals connected.

Beyond that, however, the provisioning flow behaves identically to the CM5 flow.

[oliora]

@tdewey-rpi thank you for the details. Any recommendations regarding the most reliable and convenient way to power both RPi5s during provisioning?

[tdewey-rpi]

I'd strongly recommend using a powered hub - the Raspberry Pi USB hub would be a fair choice, combined with a Raspberry Pi 5 power supply.

That said, for provisioning with just an SD card attached, I've been able to power from the server Pi5 supplied by the Raspberry Pi 5 power supply

[oliora]

Do you mean this one? https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-usb-3-hub

For me provisioning with only official 27W USB power adapter did not work: the provisioned Raspberry with SD card was hanging at the fastboot stage but there is a small chance that my power adapter is defective.

[tdewey-rpi]

Do you mean this one? https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-usb-3-hub

For me provisioning with only official 27W USB power adapter did not work: the provisioned Raspberry with SD card was hanging at the fastboot stage but there is a small chance that my power adapter is defective.

ACK. That's not something I've encountered in my test rigs at all.

Can you confirm:

• What's connected physically to the provisioning server
• What's connected physically to the provisioning client set-up
• Any details of the USB-A to USB-C cable you're using to connect the server to the client.

A picture would be ideal - but if your opsec forbids that, text would be great.

[oliora]

@tdewey-rpi Sorry, was tight on time. I've checked my setup and strangely I was not using the 27W power adapter but the official 15W one which explains my issue with power supply. I'll check the process with 27W adapter and be back

[oliora]

Works like a charm with the official 27W power adapter

[tdewey-rpi]

Glad to hear you've found success, @oliora.

I'll consider some wording to make clear the dependency on the 27W supply for the Pi5 => [Pi5]n case.