Re-imaging Hopper’s SD card

Normally you will update Hopper using the over-the-air update capability. However, if your Hopper stops working, support@cs-astro.com might recommend that you re-image Hopper’s internal SD card. To do this you’ll need a computer with a micro SD card adapter and the ability to run the Raspberry Pi Imager program. Here are the full instructions.

Remove the SD card:

  1. Using a small phillips screwdriver, remove the top screw and take off the back cover from your Hopper.

  2. At the top of the processor board, remove the two screws.

  3. At the lower left of the processor board, loosen (but do not remove) the screw.

  4. Tip out the processor board and remove the SD card.

Re-image the SD card:

  1. Download Raspberry Pi Imager (https://www.raspberrypi.com/software) to your computer.

  2. Download https://storage.googleapis.com/cedar-sdcard-images/hopper.img.gz to your computer.

  3. Plug the SD card into your computer using a suitable adapter.

  4. Launch Raspberry Pi Imager.

  5. Choose Device: skip this.

  6. Under Choose OS, scroll to the bottom and pick Use Custom. Select the hopper.img.gz file you downloaded above.

  7. Click Choose Storage and select your SD card.

  8. IMPORTANT! Choose 'NO' on the 'Would you like to apply OS customization settings?' The SD card image is pre-configured. Applying additional customizations will cause issues.

  9. Raspberry Pi Imager will burn and verify your SD card.

When the re-imaging is done, re-install the SD card into your Hopper, tighten the screws until snug, and screw the back cover into place.

Note that Hopper's first boot on the new SD card takes several minutes. Wait until the WiFi access point appears and you should be good to go.