Pi 3b+ Retropie crashing, freezing and other shenanigans...

harv052

@rbaker 5v 2.5a. Plugs straight into the wall with a micro usb connector on the other end...Never seen the lightning bolt because of poor power...definitely not a charger.

mitu

@harv052 Can you try a firmware upgrade through rpi-update and see if it fixes the crash ?

harv052

@grant2258 I do have the txt file with the results. Am I allowed to paste it right here or should I put the file somewhere else?

grant2258

https://pastebin.com paste it there

harv052

@grant2258 https://pastebin.com/gg8Q53Gc

harv052

@mitu I could definitely try it....Is it advised though? I know firmware upgrades can screw over a lot of things....Is it possible to revert back once it's done?

mitu

@harv052 You can revert it if the system is still working. However, you can upgrade safely to the latest kernel + firmware with the commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

The latest kernel is 4.14.52-v7+, you have 4.14.30-v7+. There have been some firmware update since the 3B+ was released that fixed some crashes related to new SOC. When I recommended the upgrade, I was thinking about a recent fix for the network adapter on the 3B+ model (https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/2608), but from the log you posted it doesn't seem your LAN (wired) network interface is connected. However the firmware you have is from March

[    0.070087] raspberrypi-firmware soc:firmware: Attached to firmware from 2018-03-23 16:31

and the latest - stable - firmware is from July. The log from my updated system shows:

[    0.070086] raspberrypi-firmware soc:firmware: Attached to firmware from 2018-07-03 14:15

About the dmesg output you posted: you should try running the command and capture the output after the lock-up - if you're able to log in via SSH at the time. As it is now, the log your posted shows only the messages immediately from after the system boot.

harv052

@mitu thanx for the great explaination! I will try to upgrade the firmware and see what happens! Will test it out and follow up later. Thanx again, really appreciated!

mitu

@harv052 OK, just use apt-get (not rpi-update) to update for now and let's see what happens afterwards.

harv052

@mitu I did the sudo apt-get update. which command do i use to install it? sudo apt-get install?

mitu

@harv052 I posted the commands a couple of posts above

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

It should take some time, so be patient.

harv052

@mitu Froze during the upgrade. Safe to unplug?

harv052

@mitu Ok. I unplugged it. I also took it out of it's case, thinking maybe it's too hot. I did the update/upgrade and it finished completely. Played a game for about 5 minutes, and froze. I monitored the temperature throughout and it climbed steadily to 58.5 degrees right before it froze. Is that kind of temperature too high? I've seen people on forums they go as high as 68 without any problems...So what could the next step be?

mitu

@harv052 said in Pi 3b+ Retropie crashing, freezing and other shenanigans...:

Is that kind of temperature too high?

For the 3B+, the temperature threshold is set at 60, so it will throttle down when reaching it (which might happen for you).

So what could the next step be?

I think you should try another power source, if possible a RPI genuine one. What is the model for the current power source you're using ?

harv052

@mitu It's a CanaKit
model: DCAR-052A5
input: 100 - 240V AC
50 - 60 hz / 0.5a
output: 5V 2.5a

DougA

I have two of those, one is powering a Pi 3B in my arcade cabinet, and the other which is on a 3B+ in a case with a fan, which started as a loose board with no fan. I have not seen any power dip issues with either. That’s a pretty well known, and as far as I know trustworthy, power supply.

harv052

Well after a few reboots, I've left it idle for about 2 hours without issue. I've tried a few games as well, and all seems fine so far, with temp hovering at about 58-59 under stress, 50 at idle. Will monitor to see if anything changes but so far so good.

harv052

Yeah, no, still freezing...I don't know what happened since yesterday, but now it freezes at 59-60 degrees....which is strange because from what i've read, it only starts to throttle at 80 degrees...60 is not that high! Power supply should be good, I've tried different outlets, same results. And like I said, i've used it for a good solid 2-3 weeks before it started doing that. I've also noticed that if I leave it frozen for a while, the monitor screen will sometimes go black for a few seconds and come back....Anyone know what could be causing all these problems? At this point, could it really be that the board is bad?

I've also got a new dmesg from when the usb ports stopped functioning and wouldn't come back on:

https://pastebin.com/22DA8LiE

KN4THX

@harv052 Try running df -h and see what the root is % is.

Edit: Nevermind, just saw the log.

dankcushions

@douga said in Pi 3b+ Retropie crashing, freezing and other shenanigans...:

I have two of those, one is powering a Pi 3B in my arcade cabinet, and the other which is on a 3B+ in a case with a fan, which started as a loose board with no fan. I have not seen any power dip issues with either. That’s a pretty well known, and as far as I know trustworthy, power supply.

the canakit PSU is quite notable for issues in my experience. i only trust the official PSU.