First time starting up Core Pro—it won't start

Hello everyone,

Désolé pour l’anglais, je suis suisse et je ne parle pas allemand. Par contre j’ai Deepl.

I hope someone can help me.

Today I tried to start up my Core Pro for the first time.

I have a first-generation Core Pro ,bought immediately after its release.

I downloaded the current official image VanPICTRL_pi4_pi5_v2.1.0_VANPI_CORE_PRO.img from the Pekaway download page and wrote it to a microSD card using balenaetcher.

Afterward:

microSD card inserted.

Core is switched on.

Since then, no Pekaway Wi-Fi network appears and the web interface is inaccessible.

I then removed the microSD card and restarted the Core. Unfortunately, the problem persists:

no Wi-Fi

no access to pekaway.local,

Only the red LED on the core is constantly lit.

The Core Pro has a connected touchscreen. The screen displays the Pekaway logo, the loading animation, and the message “Waiting for system.”

I try two Micro sd card:
-SanDisk Extreme 256gb
-SanDisk Extreme 64gb

Two different utility for flashing the micro sd card:
-balenaetcher
-Rufus

My questions:

Is there an additional step required after flashing the SD card on the first generation Core Pro?

Does the Core Pro boot directly from the SD card?

Is there a recovery guide for this case?

Thank you so much for your help!

Rémy