Hi TLR,
OK, first point - by far the majority of issues we get with PilotAware are due to inadequate power supply. The supply must be able to maintain a minimum of 5 volts - even if the unit decides to draw up to 2.1 Amps. Laptop USB sockets and most USB ’chargers’ just aren’t designed to do that. The hint is in the name - they are designed to charge phones or tablets at a varying rate, NOT to provide a constant current and constant voltage supply. The same applies to your aircraft jump start pack - it is designed to supply high current at about 14+ volts for jump starting a vehicle, but probably only to provide low current at 5 volts via the USB port for ‘charging’ or topping-up electronic devices. We do not recommend running a second device from the same Anker USB adapter for the same reason - if the second device (such as a ‘flat’ tablet) suddenly tries to draw lots of power this pulls down the voltage level and bye-bye PilotAware! (Which is why I asked that question specifically - which I note you haven’t answered).
The other associated issue we regularly come across is that the carefully specified supplied power lead has been replaced because ‘it wasn’t long enough’, ‘got mislaid’ or ‘the microUSB connector got loose’. The problem here is that the supplied cable length and wire gauge were chosen to ensure that any voltage drop in the cable would not cause voltage supply issues. Other random cables unfortunately aren’t likely to meet the tight specification required. This is stressed in the paperwork and elsewhere on the site. We also recommend NOT connecting and disconnecting at the microUSB end to minimise the risk of damage to the Rosetta socket, which can easily be caused by rough handling.
That said, there can be other reasons for voltage issues which are extremely difficult to determine remotely, hence why I asked for the screenshots.
The fact that you aren’t seeing any WiFi signal appear on the newer unit would imply that the unit simply isn’t getting to that stage. Firstly as indicated above, you need to have a suitable power supply available (such as one of the recommended Anker Battery Packs or Anker power socket adapter), plus the supplied power lead or an equivalent replacement. Next, when you power up, you should be able to see a solid red POWER LED on the main (lower) board underneath the P3i antenna socket - visible through the ventilation slots at the side. If this red light isn’t present or isn’t solid, there is a power issue. You can test the integrity of the microUSB socket by gently ‘wiggling’ the power cable. Any sign of dropout of the Red Power LED means the socket has become damaged, which usually means a new board is required. As the boot continues, there should also be a Green ‘Disc Access’ LED visible through the same ventilation slots, going on and off (though NOT ‘flashing’) as the unit boots up, after which it is not normally visible. This is the stage at which the Bridge LEDs near the rear top LHSide of the unit start to appear.
If you can, try to connect the unit to a monitor or TV using an HDMI cable (the one already connecting your DVD player to your TV is good) before powering up the unit. This will allow you to see progress as the unit boots up. While the content won’t necessarily mean anything to you, you should see a rainbow coloured ‘Splash Screen’ a few seconds after power is applied, then a load of scrolling text for several minutes, terminating in a ‘Login Prompt’. You don’t actually log in at this stage, but getting to this point means the boot has been successful and the WiFi hotspot should now appear. If the unit either doesn’t start at all, or freezes completely part way through the boot, this indicates either a significant power issue or a problem with the microSD card holding the software (though give it time - there are a couple of stages where it pauses deliberately while loading certain processes).
Give this a try and let us know what happens.
Regards
Peter