I suggest you connect the serial console, as it will help you figure out what is blowing up:
On a Pi 4, the serial console (when enabled) comes out on GPIO14/15 (pins 8/10 on the 40‑pin header). You could try Pi 4, make sure all your system components are working: Power Supply, SD Card, connections. On a Pi 5, enabling the serial console now targets the *3‑pin debug UART connector* near the HDMI ports, not GPIO14/15. Raspberry Pi Forums+1 <https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=362821&utm_source=chatgpt.com> You *can* still put the console on GPIO14/15 on a Pi 5 by adding, for example, in /boot/firmware/config.txt: dtparam=uart0 dtparam=uart0_console That maps UART0 to GPIO14/15 and makes it the console, just like older boards. (NOTE: I have not actually tried this! So if you do this, please let us know if it works). 8,N,1 115,200 baud I use these Adafruit cables: https://www.adafruit.com/product/954 which can comfortably go to 921.6K (via PuTTY Windows, presumably others) CP2012 USB Serial Chip, Micro Semi. On Thu, Nov 20, 2025 at 8:14 AM Palmer, John <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I keep trying NetBSD on RPI5 but nothing works. I have tried the standard > arm_64.img, the rpi_inst.img and even the > 2025-10-10-netbsd-raspi-earmv6hf.img from "jun" that is on the NetBSD site. > Nothing works. As soon as the netbsd kernel image starts to load, the HDMI > screen goes blank. The rpi_inst.img is supposed to enable SSH so you can > log in and complete the install that way. No luck. The network light never > comes on (either on the hub or the RPI itself). As HDMI is broken, nothing > works. If anyone has gotten these to work, could you post your EXACT steps? > I'd appreciate it. > > > > Thanks > > > > >
