If your Raspberry Pi 4 won't turn on when connected to certain USB Type-C cables, now we know why. The Raspberry Pi Foundation confirmed to TechRepublic that the single-board computer won't work with some cables.
Raspberry Pi co-creator Eben Upton told the site that "A smart charger with an e-marked cable will incorrectly identify the Raspberry Pi 4 as an audio adapter accessory, and refuse to provide power."
These e-marked cables have chips that verify the cable's characteristics. According to Upton, these cables will classify the Pi 4 as an audio adapter accessory.
"I expect this will be fixed in a future board revision, but for now users will need to apply one of the suggested workarounds," Upton told TechRepublic. "It's surprising this didn't show up in our (quite extensive) field testing program." For those interested in the technical reasons this occurs, Upton has pointed to this article.
If you want one that you know will work, Raspberry Pi recommends and makes its own charger, which usually sells between $8 and $10.
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