System Configuration
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First off, I am a noobie to RetroPi, so I have zero programming experience. With that being said, I have watched a lot of youtube videos on the Pi prior to buying one. My intent is to build and arcade that will run on Pi. I recently got the Pi, and this morning I watched a video on Emulation Station Themes. I followed everything from the video from connecting to WiFi then updating the theme files, then I installed the ones I wanted based on what I seen from GitHub. Once I finally decided on a theme after the install process, I restarted my Pi. That's where things went wrong. On boot up, I was told it crashed and then I get a message saying that the system configuration file has not been set up, or is invalid. Says I need to do this by hand. Not sure where to go from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated....
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@jwat147 Please add the info requested in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first to your post and the EXACT error message you're receiving.
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I did a search on the this topic before I posted this topic, but I couldn't find anything that related to my problem. On boot, I get this:
"It looks like your systems configuration file has not been set up or is invalid. You'll need to do this by hand, unfortunately.
Visit emulation station.org for more information.I also looked on their site and couldn't find any posts similar to mine.
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@mitu
Pi Model or other hardware: 3B+
Power Supply used: came with it (canakit
RetroPie Version Used: I think 4.2, I just updated today.
Built From: Pre made SD Image purchased on Ebay. It worked fine until today.
USB Devices connected: Mac Keyboard
Controller used:iNNEXT (SNES style)
Error messages received: See above -
We don't support 3rd party images - especially the ones coming with ROMs. It's outlined in the https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first page.
Note that the RetroPie's license forbids distribution of the image with commercial purposes, so the scammer that sold you this combo is breaching the project's license. I'm sure that when you update RetroPie there's a popup info that outlines this.Please start with an image from retropie.org.uk/download and follow the instructions from https://retropie.org.uk/docs/First-Installation/ to install your system.
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@mitu
Thanks for helping with this problem. I get the not supporting 3rd party images or ROMS's deal and all that is associated with that. From that though, are you saying that I need to start the whole process over with installing a new RetroPie image? Is the RaspberryPi still good? I already had the RetroPie images prior to the install of the emulation station themes; that's where things went wrong. I'm guessing that since I didn't save any configuration settings, or something to that affect after I installed some themes and before I did a system reset, that possibly that could be the culprit.... -
@jwat147 We cannot know what kind of configuration was done on that image. Starting with a clean image would get you a properly configured system, from which we can diagnose any problems. Your RPI should still be good - you can install the 4.4 image and then update (RetroPie and the packages included) to get you an up-to-date image.
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@mitu,
Ok, I formatted the SD card. I downloaded and installed the retropie image as indicated and then plugged it into the RPI. Nothing on boot. Shut it off, reinstalled all of the content that I had backed up when I first bought the SD card, prior to today's crash, and plugged that back in to the RPI and still nothing. -
@jwat147 What does 'nothing on boot' mean ? It doesn't boot at all or you just get an error in Emulationstation as before ? How did you write the image - did you use Etcher or another tool to write the image ?
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@mitu By boot, I mean when I turn on the RPI. After I turn on the RPI nothing happens on the TV screen. I didn't use any programs to write the image. All I did was download the image, and drag the image to the formatted SD card. After it copied, is when I did everything else. DO I need to use etcher to write the image for retropie? If so, what do I do with the back up information that saved on my computer. Am I able to copy the files to the SD card after everything else is complete?
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@jwat147 https://retropie.org.uk/docs/First-Installation/ - has everything you need, including a video. Yes, you're supposed to write the image with Etcher on the card, it's not drag'n'drop.
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@mitu Ok, so I did everything as described and the RPI works. When I got to the part in the video about transferring the ROM's to the appropriate files, I can't find them on the back up that I made. Not sure how they work in this particular instance if the RPI has to read files in a specified place. Not sure if there is anything else that can be done at this point. If not, lesson earned I guess.
Moving forward, if and when I am making and changes to say, themes or any thing in retropie, probably safe to say that I should be saving changes??? If so, where is the specific place that I should save any changes at.
Thanks for you help today!! -
@jwat147 Saving changes - you probably mean backup ? Use
Win32DiskImagerto take a backup of your SD card - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Updating-RetroPie/#making-a-backup-option-1 - or just copy your files over the network - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Updating-RetroPie/#making-a-backup-option-2.
I don't know how you backed up your existing card - if you didn't use something likeWin32DiskImager, then I guess it's not a valid backup ? What files do you have from the previous image - it's an.imgfile or a bunch of files likekernel.img, etc. ? -
@mitu I didn't use Win32. Drag and drop like a traditional file... Here is a screen shot of the backup file.
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@jwat147 looks like you just copy/pasted the contents of your boot partition.
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Updating-RetroPie/
The above page should help, specifically the section on making back-ups is what you are looking for.
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@quicksilver thanks for the information. I use Mac, so Win32disk won't work. Looks like there is a section for OS to do this or even RPI clone. Both seem a little over my head, but I will look into this so I don't have a repeat like I did today.
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@jwat147 For macOS, use ApplePi-Baker instead of Win32DiskImager, works the same.
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@mitu thanks, will do
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@mitu Do you have any preferences for where to get ROMS at? Since my system is back to normal, and that's all I am missing, I cold just do it myself. Looking at
[removed]and once a ROM is downloaded, there are two files downloaded. A .nes and a .zip what goes in the ROMS folder on RPI? -
@jwat147 https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2/forum-rules
We don't discuss where to get ROMs here. Please refer to the forum rules.
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