Issue Installing LightBurn Bridge on Raspberry Pi 3B+

I followed the guide carefully, but the issue happens right after writing the LightBurn Bridge image to the SD card and inserting it into the Raspberry Pi 3B+. The Raspberry Pi does not boot properly.

Here’s exactly what happens:

  • The red LED stays on.
  • The green LED blinks 4 times slowly and then 7 times rapidly, which, according to Raspberry Pi documentation, indicates a bootloader or firmware issue.
  • However, if I install Raspberry Pi OSon the same SD card using the same method, the Raspberry Pi boots perfectly fine (!).

I also tried:

  • Downloading the LightBurn Bridge image again.
  • Running it from a USB drive instead of an SD card.

In all cases, I get the same LED blink pattern, meaning the Raspberry Pi is unable to boot LightBurn Bridge.

Could you confirm if the latest LightBurn Bridge image is fully compatible with Raspberry Pi 3B+? Or is there an older version I could try?

Thanks for your help!

Hi! I wanted to share an important update regarding this issue.

I just tested the same SD card (which does not boot on any of my Raspberry Pi 3B+) in a Raspberry Pi 4, and it boots LightBurn Bridge successfully. This confirms that:

  • The image was correctly written to the SD card.
  • The SD card itself is working properly.
  • The LightBurn Bridge image seems to be incompatible with all of my Raspberry Pi 3B+ ¿?

Additionally, I made sure to select the image specifically for Raspberry Pi 3 version in Pi Imager, which should include support for all 3-series variants. However, the issue persists.

Given this, ¿is there a issue with the 3B+ model…?
Thank’s.

The Bridge should work on a 3B+. We have not released any updates to the Bridge firmware for a long time now, so a bootloader failure code is interesting. Are you loading the firmware with the Pi Imager or something like Balena Etcher?

There’s not a clean resolution but this Topic covers some issues with 3B+.

Thank’s Colin. I’ve tried both (Pi Imager and Balena Etcher) with same results :downcast_face_with_sweat:

It seems that around 2022 the Raspberry Pi 3 Model 3B+ had a revision with an updated PCB and a new DA9090 PMIC that required different firmware.

Was reading here:
https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=361383

The newer firmware may not have made it into the bridge image which hasn’t been updated for some time (we’re looking into it, and will update the bridge image soon if needed).

How to tell if you have the revised model:


As suggested in the pi forum post, I guess right now you could try manually updating the firmware in the bridge image and see if that helps.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share my experience and solution in case it helps anyone else facing the same issue.

The Problem:

I tried to install LightBurn Bridge on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ following the official guide using Pi Imager to flash the SD card. However, after inserting the card and powering on the Pi, it wouldn’t boot. The LED indicators showed a red light (solid) and a green light blinking 4 slow times and 7 fast times.

To rule out hardware issues, I:

  • Used different SD cards (including one that works fine with the standard Raspberry Pi OS).
  • Tried flashing the image multiple times.
  • Used different card readers and computers.
  • Even tested the same SD card in a Raspberry Pi 4, where it booted without any issues.

The Solution:

After talking with the LightBurn support team, they suggested that my Raspberry Pi 3B+ might have a newer hardware revision that requires updated firmware files and they explained me how to proceed.

So, to fix it:

  1. I downloaded the latest Raspberry Pi firmware from this GitHub repository.
  2. I extracted the start*.elf and fixup*.dat files from the ZIP.
  3. I replaced all start.elf, start_x.elf, start_cd.elf, start_db.elf and fixup.dat, fixup_x.dat, fixup_cd.dat, fixup_db.dat on the LightBurn Bridge SD card with the new ones.
  4. Inserted the SD card back into the Raspberry Pi 3B+ and… it worked! :tada:

Now the LightBurn Bridge boots perfectly, and I’m moving on to setting up the laser connection.

Big Thanks to LightBurn Support!

I really appreciate the quick response and dedication from the LightBurn support team. They were incredibly helpful and actively looked for a solution. Their guidance was key to solving this issue, and I hope this post helps others who might run into the same problem.

If you have a Raspberry Pi 3B+ that won’t boot LightBurn Bridge, try updating the firmware files as described above.

Thanks again to the LightBurn team, and I hope this helps someone else!

1 Like

Yes. My raspberry pi is the new model. :+1: