# Piglow is not working

**URL:** <https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/piglow-is-not-working/318>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [January 29, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/piglow-is-not-working/318 "2015-01-29T16:42:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![erniee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/erniee/32/120_2.png) [@erniee](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/erniee)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/piglow-is-not-working/318/1 "2015-01-29T16:42:09Z")

</div>

Hi everyone I purchased a unicorn hat and a piglow for an existing b+ board.  
I’m not sure if I’m missing something but here is my problem.

I was able to get the unicorn hat working without any issues.  
I have been having problems getting the piglow working.  
I went through the steps in the README but I don’t see any leds light up when I run the example.

```auto

```

The console outputs  
update pwm over and over again.

Here is the output of the following command.

```
sudo i2cdetect -y 1

```

```auto
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d e f
00: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
10: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- UU -- -- -- --
20: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
30: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- UU -- -- -- --
40: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
50: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
60: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
70: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
```

Any help would be appreciated.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gadgetoid](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/gadgetoid/32/13_2.png) [@gadgetoid](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/gadgetoid)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 9:44am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/piglow-is-not-working/318/2 "2015-01-30T09:44:51Z")

</div>

This is odd. Can you type:

```
uname -a

```

In LXterminal/at command-line and tell me the output?

Cheers!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tigerfrost](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/tigerfrost/32/88_2.png) [@tigerfrost](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/tigerfrost)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/piglow-is-not-working/318/3 "2015-01-30T14:42:01Z")

</div>

did you follow the guide from here ?

> **[Boeeerb/PiGlow](https://github.com/Boeeerb/PiGlow)**
>
> Controlling the PiGlow from Python. Contribute to Boeeerb/PiGlow development by creating an account on GitHub.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![erniee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/erniee/32/120_2.png) [@erniee](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/erniee)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/piglow-is-not-working/318/4 "2015-01-30T15:52:12Z")

</div>

> [@gadgetoid](#):
>
> uname -a

I guess I forgot to mention this is a retropie build :)

```
Linux retropie 3.12.35+ #730 PREEMPT Fri Dec 19 18:31:24 GMT 2014 armv6l GNU/Linux

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![erniee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/erniee/32/120_2.png) [@erniee](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/erniee)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/piglow-is-not-working/318/5 "2015-01-30T15:54:16Z")

</div>

I followed this link

> **[pimoroni/piglow](https://github.com/pimoroni/piglow)**
>
> Python library & examples for the Pimoroni PiGlow. Contribute to pimoroni/piglow development by creating an account on GitHub.

But let me give the link you posted a try.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![erniee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/erniee/32/120_2.png) [@erniee](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/erniee)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/piglow-is-not-working/318/6 "2015-01-30T15:58:24Z")

</div>

Thanks for the reply’s here is more info.  
/etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf

```
# blacklist spi and i2c by default (many users don't need them)

blacklist spi-bcm2708
blacklist i2c-bcm2708 

```

/etc/modules

```
# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.
# Parameters can be specified after the module name.

uinput
joydev
snd-bcm2835
i2c-dev
i2c-bcm2708
```