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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Screen goes black randomly during playing

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    raspberry pi 4hdmisetings
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    • C
      chriej
      last edited by

      I used for the basic setup this guide link text
      For me, it looks like the problem is on the emulation station site, thus all other applications work without this issue.
      When I press select on the X-Box controller or on the keyboard the screen appears again. In the time the screen was black I can hear the game music, it looks the game is still running.

      mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • mituM
        mitu Global Moderator @chriej
        last edited by mitu

        I used for the basic setup this guide link text

        From the 'guide':

        For this setup, you will have to install RetroPie manually as of this date as RetroPie does not officially support the Raspberry Pi 4 yet. We will be constantly looking out for updates on the RetroPie system for the Raspberry Pi 4 and updating this blog as it goes!

        If you want an official setup, you will have to use a Raspberry Pi 3B+ instead.

        For me, it looks like the problem is on the emulation station site, thus all other applications work without this issue.

        EmulationStation doesn't run while you're playing games, it's suspended when any emulator/port is running, so that's not the issue here.

        The problem is that RetroPie doesn't support running in a desktop environment, like the 'guide' instructs, and most likely the screensaver kicks in after some time.

        RetroPie support for the PI4 is still a work in progress, but if you'd like to test it out, then use the Manual installation method and install it starting from a Raspbian Lite image.

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        • S
          StigNasty @mitu
          last edited by

          @mitu Do you have any idea why setting it in the os and app settings it wouldn’t work? Is there a manual workaround that you or anyone else is aware of? I get it’s not officially supported yet, but there has got to be some way to disable the screensaver.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • mituM
            mitu Global Moderator
            last edited by

            @StigNasty said in Screen goes black randomly during playing:

            Do you have any idea why setting it in the os and app settings it wouldn’t work

            No, I don't. I don't use the desktop environment for RetroPie, so that's not something I have experience with.

            BuZzB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • BuZzB
              BuZz administrators
              last edited by

              I think we need to put in the sticky topics about this - we keep getting people using incorrect 3rd party guides reporting issues. So much bad information out there. Not sure why people expect us to support it!

              To help us help you - please make sure you read the sticky topics before posting - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • BuZzB
                BuZz administrators @mitu
                last edited by

                @mitu I have amended the first sticky topic to include for now "Do not report issues with running on a RPI4 - it's not yet officially supported, and there are many 3rd party guides with incorrect instructions out there. We can't support installs based on these." - not that people will bother to read it but :-) Feel free to reword.

                To help us help you - please make sure you read the sticky topics before posting - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

                S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • C
                  chriej
                  last edited by

                  I found a workaround for the black screen issue: Switch from the X-Windows season to TTY with Ctrl+Alt+F1 start emulationstation, play your games exit emulationstation, switch back to your X-Windows system with Ctrl+Alt+F7

                  C 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • C
                    chriej @chriej
                    last edited by

                    @chriej Or you install sudo apt-get install xscreensaver
                    and set the screen safer appearance time higher, worked for me, now I can use retropi above X-Windows.

                    S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      StigNasty @chriej
                      last edited by

                      @chriej i’ll try that.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • S
                        StigNasty @BuZz
                        last edited by

                        @BuZz Read it. Know it. Was just looking for a workaround to use till it eventually is supported (for the most part, most has been working on retropie, I’m happy to report). I’ll try the other package that was suggested.

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                        • D
                          deaftlolight
                          last edited by

                          Hi, I'm having this same problem on the Raspberry Pi 4.

                          I have a couple of extra things I can add if it can help diagnose. I really think this is just an issue with a controller not being able to wake a screen time out, and there's some setting that just needs to be configured -- I don't know where it is though.

                          If I start a game from emulationstation, I can play it for awhile, and after a certain period of time the screen will go black but the music will still be playing. So the emulation is still running. If I go to a keyboard connected to my RPi4 and hit any key, the screen comes back up. So it's some sort of screen timeout issue that responds to a keyboard but not a controller. I have a PS3 controller connected through the ps3controller package.

                          When running emulationstation, if i leave it alone for awhile, the screen will dim but no go black, and the screen undims when I touch the controller. So no issues there. When running Kodi I don't have this problem either.

                          One thing differently is that since I had to install Raspbian Buster first, I've been starting emulationstation from the terminal in the Raspbian Buster GUI (is that what it's called? the desktop environment? I'm not that well-versed with Linux, so any corrections are apprectiated). When I had an RPi3, the system would boot directly to emulationstation, which was probably pre-configured by the downloadable RetroPie image. Since I am installing on an RPi 4 and doing it manually, there are probably some configurations that need to be done manually, and I assume one of them has to do with a screen timeout.

                          mituM S 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • mituM
                            mitu Global Moderator @deaftlolight
                            last edited by mitu

                            @deaftlolight Retropie is not configured to run from a desktop session - just like on the Pi3, if you want to manually set-it up, use the Lite version of Raspbian and install over. I see that despite the read-me-first topic warning, people still report 'bugs' for unsupported configuration.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • S
                              StigNasty @deaftlolight
                              last edited by

                              @deaftlolight look earlier in the post. The aforementioned install works fine. Also, I think the newest version of Raspbian now allows the screen blanking/screen save to be disabled completely.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • P
                                phiin
                                last edited by

                                I've found a work around, if you are using a ps4 controller you could use the middle touch pad to "wake" raspberry pie. As i said, it is a work around but it is working :)

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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