Thanks, this set me going in the right direction. The screen was definitely static-y and barely readable--mostly lines and only a red-cast, not much color. Based on you comment, I began to suspect the cable, which was a micro to HDMI cable. No adapters. I had nothing else to test it with (my first Pi and my other computers have regular HDMI ports. But worth trouble shooting:Try the other display port on the pi5 (starting with no SD card)?
Test the HDMI cable with another device?
Is the HDMI cable plugged in firmly? The Pi is in a case so the HDMI cable might not be able to fully seat in its socket.
Remove the lid from the case to see if it is fully engaging with the socket on the board.
The boot up screen with no SD card should be a bit blocky like an old type computer but definitely not static-y or grainy.
No case, still no video
New "official" Raspberry Pi HDMI cord -- success!. That simple.
The SD card issue I seem to have solved on the first try (though I could not tell since the monitor was not coming on), but the "kit" this company was selling had 2 defective parts--a blank or corrupt SD card (that was supposed to be preloaded so you do not have to know anything), and a cheap HDMI cable that did not work at all.
Statistics: Posted by cgorm — Tue Jan 13, 2026 12:55 am