Black screen after installing Attract Mode

b3nb123

I've been following ETA prime's guide on setting up Attract Mode (Starting with Floods attract mode image, then going through the updates. Problem is, after telling Emulation Station to boot into attract mode, it goes through what looks like a long enough boot sequence, but finishes on a black screen. I can still access the Pi with Putty and the files within with WinSCP, but the system itself just shows black. Any ideas?

It's a Pi3, with Northpada 5v 3a power supply
Retropie 4.4.1
USB arcade sticks connected, plus a USB keyboard, not other devices.

I've just gone through the update process listed here: https://github.com/mickelson/attract/wiki/Compiling-on-the-Raspberry-Pi-(Raspbian-Jessie)

Pretty blindly though, not exactly knowing what it would do. Updates went on for about an hour! Still the same thing happens though. How can I find out why the system boots to black?

mitu

Probably a problem with Attract Mode on the newer Raspbian versions. Do you have a log file for Attract Mode to look for errors ?

b3nb123

Thanks for the reply - Where do I find the Attract Mode Log file?

mitu

@b3nb123 I don't know, I don't use Attract Mode - see the Attract Mode docs if it has a log file or a way to debug its start-up.
EDIT: Have you updated Attract Mode from source after updating the RetroPie-Setup script ? Your problem sounds very similar to https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/issues/2193, which means it's already solved by using a recent version of RetroPie-Setup and re-installing from source the Attract Mode package.

b3nb123

Actually, although I think Attract Mode looks cool, i tried a few time to install it, and it's sucked way too much of my life!
Then I found Tronkyfan theme, and I think I like it just as much, plus it just works and isn't a huge new instalation! So I give up with Attract Mode!!!

Walker843

@b3nb123 I'm not sure if it's the same issue, but I had a very similar problem. I found out it starts as a black screen because nothing is set up yet. Hit tab on your keyboard and you should get a menu. Go to Emulators, then pick one you want and select the option for generate rom list. You'll need to do that for each emulator that you use.

That will get you started, and from there you can set up a lot of different aspects. I mess around with attract mode a bit, and have it working fairly decently, but still use Emulation Station as my main front end for now.

Cheers!

b3nb123

If it was as simple as pressing tab I'll be annoyed!! Thanks for the info, I may just try that!

EpicFury

@b3nb123 Did you ever figure out a work around for the blank screen?? I did exactly what you did (updated attract mode from source) and am having the exact same issue. Now I am trying to find a way back to ES.

Clyde

@EpicFury Did you hit the Tab key in AM like @Walker843 suggested?

Do I understand you correctly that you mean by "find a way back to ES" to boot into ES instead of AM? I don't know Floob's image, but since it's based on Retropie, the frontend to start at boot should be in the file /opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh. To boot into ES, the file should (only) contain this line:

emulationstation #auto

I would recommend to backup the file first, though.