Sudden change of resolution Pi4

[Stuffu]

@mitu Hmm... since I didn't change anything manually it's strange the change occurred at all.

Is there anyway to revert it? From the TV I can't do any changes to preferred resolution and the config is set to 1080p... Am I missing something obvious? :)

edit: during boot the pi4 switches resolution three times. First from a really low resolution, like vga, the characters are really big, then it changes to 1080p, then again changes to 3840x2160.

edit 2: I added video=HDMI-A-1:1920x1080M@60 to cmdline.txt and it works. Problem solved I guess!

Thanks for pointing out the solution, just curious how it happened...

[mitu]

Just tested it myself and the config.txt configurations are taken into account, so nothing changed here. Are you booting into the desktop environment by any chance ?

[Stuffu]

@mitu nope, I’m using the official retropie image, nothing else added. If it doesn’t cause any problems elsewhere I’m fine using the current solution. But if you want me to investigate it further I’m happy to do so.

[mitu]

We can try debugging the bootloader. Add start_debug=1 at the end of the config.txt file, then re-boot (removing the cmdline.txt resolution setup, but leaving the config.txt settings for 1080p as they were initially).
After the boot, run

sudo vcdbg log msg

and post the output on pastebin.com. It should show the bootloader debug messages.

[Stuffu]

@mitu Here's the output https://pastebin.com/V2GygV9G

[mitu]

Add

gpu_mem=256

to config.txt and retry.

[Stuffu]

@mitu Sorry, retry with logging or try to run it as "default"?

[mitu]

Logging doesn't really matter - you can leave it on, just add the extra line and see if the PI starts in 1080p.

[Stuffu]

@mitu It still 4k with gpu_mem=256

If we can't find a reason for this happening, is there a reason not the use the cmdline alternative? Or even using the hdmi1?

[mitu]

If it works via HDMI1 - with the same settings as before - then that's ok. The 1st HDMI port is the only one able to do 4k@60Hz, other than that they're identical.

[Stuffu]

@mitu I haven't noticed anything strange with hdmi1 so I'll stick with that. Thanks for the effort :)