No Network (No Ethernet Lights) on Yellow with CM5 Lite (NVMe SSD Boot) After Initial Setup

Installation
1

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping for some guidance with a new Home Assistant Yellow Kit with Raspberry Pi CM5 Lite (no eMMC model), booting from an NVMe SSD. I’m encountering an issue where it doesn’t seem to connect to the network after the initial HAOS installation.

My Setup:

  • Home Assistant Yellow Kit
  • Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 Lite (no eMMC).
  • Booting from an NVMe SSD.
  • Connected to my network via a Texas PoE adapter, which is known working and provides network connectivity to other devices.

Followed the official Nabu Casa instructions I found for the “Home Assistant Yellow Kit with CM5” located here: https://support.nabucasa.com/hc/en-us/articles/25606333033501-Home-Assistant-Yellow-Kit-with-CM5

Steps Taken:

  • Successfully put the CM5 Lite into rpiboot mode using the jumper.
  • Used Raspberry Pi Imager on my computer to flash the latest official Home Assistant OS image (selected “Yellow” or the relevant image recommended for the CM5 Lite with Yellow) directly onto the NVMe SSD. The imaging process completed without any apparent errors.
  • Powered down the Yellow, removed the jumper used for rpiboot mode (to enable normal boot from NVMe, as per the CM5 Lite instructions I was following).
  • Connected the Yellow to my network using the PoE adapter.

Observed Behaviour:

  • When powered on, the status LEDs on the Yellow show:
    • RED: Solid
    • YELLOW: Heartbeat pulse
    • GREEN: Blinking

Critically, there are NO activity/link lights on the Yellow’s Ethernet port itself. (I’ve also checked the corresponding port on my switch, and it shows no link).

The device does not appear on my network (not getting a DHCP lease, not pingable).

My Question:

Has anyone else experienced this specific issue with a CM5 Lite / NVMe SSD setup on the Yellow? Given the LED status (which seems to indicate it’s trying to boot HAOS), I’m particularly puzzled by the complete lack of Ethernet port lights.

Could this point to:

  • An issue with the CM5 Lite’s network interface initialization when booting from NVMe?
  • A power issue (though the PoE adapter is capable and works for other devices)?
  • A faulty Ethernet port on the Yellow itself?
  • Any specific HAOS compatibility considerations or OS versions required for the CM5 Lite on Yellow that I might have missed?

Any ideas or troubleshooting steps would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

2

Is anyone able to provide and help out guidance on what I might be doing wrong?

3

similar issue here. having network issue.
successfully installed HA using rpiboot and Raspberry Pi Imager from a UBUNTU PC onto home-assistant yellow with CM5

When powered on (using POE), the status LEDs on the Yellow show:

RED: Solid
YELLOW: Solid
GREEN: Blinking

but no network connectivity when pinging homeassistant local
Sanjay

4

To test:
Try powering with the 12 VDC 2 amp power brick using the standard round power jack on the Yellow. Plug the network cable into a non-PoE port on the switch.
This should help eliminate PoE as a problem.
Hopefully you have a brick from some other gear that has been replaced due to age, limited function/capability.