Raspberry Pi Locked RAM Upgrades to Stop Scammers, but DIY Users Are Bearing the Brunt
The company says the restriction stops resellers from passing off modified boards as higher-capacity models, but it also blocks legitimate repairs and upgrades.
- Raspberry has confirmed its firmware now locks boards to factory-configured RAM capacities, preventing upgrades and repairs as highlighted in a recent video by Jeff Geerling.
- Third parties were purchasing low-spec Raspberry boards, replacing onboard RAM with low-quality chips, and selling them as higher-capacity models, prompting Engineer PhilE to confirm the lockdown targets this fraud.
- Locking the configuration reduces chances of users buying modified, unreliable hardware; replacing memory with another chip of identical size may also result in failure.
- Legitimate DIY modifications are now caught in the same net as fraud, frustrating the maker community; fortunately, users can revert to older EEPROM firmware images to work around the restriction.
- Home automation and media servers remain viable with factory RAM, but heavier projects now face permanent memory limitations, forcing enthusiasts to accept whatever configuration arrives from the manufacturer.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Raspberry Pi's RAM lock was built to stop scalpers, but it's blocking repairs too
The issue came up on the Raspberry Pi forums after a user replaced the RAM on a Compute Module 5 but couldn't get the board to recognize the new 4 GB chip. PhilE, a Raspberry Pi engineer and forum moderator, said the company has been "locking devices to their original...Read Entire Article
On Pi, increasing RAM is a challenge because it is not possible by design. RAM is a soldered component to the card. As on other PCBs or even PC, you need to unweld the RAM chip and replace it with a compatible chip or an identical chip from another Pi to restore its card for example. But Raspberry Pi decided to block these changes directly in the firmware. A "current" modification would be to buy a 2GB card and put an 8GB RAM there for example. …
The hackers collateral victims of unscrupulous people's practices, episode 3254. The furious thing is that the limitation does not seem based on capacity but of course the chip itself. No possible exchange between 2 chips of the same quantity for a repair for example. Damage...
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