retropie not booting from start up?

karlos

Hi all,

help needed please.

ive built many PI4s for gaming but im having an issue ive never come across before and im stuck!

ive got a new pi4 4gb ram pi and ive set it up as you would normally. ive then installed retropie for pi4/400.

Ive then followed the simple instruction's on this site as always to install and set up retropie . Ive gone into the command line and got emulation-station up and working ,but when i set it to boot on start up it don't work.

it boots up to the point when you see the retropie joystick then its just a black screen. Ive changed the SD card I was using to see if there was some fault on the old one and im debating if its an issue with the pi4 or an issue with retropie its self!

Have i missed something in the installation process or is there a known issue about?

thank you.

dankcushions

@karlos said in retropie not booting from start up?:

ive then installed retropie for pi4/400.
Ive then followed the simple instruction's on this site as always to install and set up retropie . Ive gone into the command line and got emulation-station up and working ,but when i set it to boot on start up it don't work.

if you installed the image you wouldn't need to set it up to boot from startup. can you please describe your install process exactly, linking to any docs you've used, as per https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

karlos

@dankcushions Hi,

I use https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Manual-Installation/ within this site to set up and install retropie. Then i would install any extra emulators required and the rom service to run games from a USB.

When I set up emulation-station as the boot o/s and reboot it, it, the screen goes to a black not to emulation-station screen as it would normally do!

Hope this makes sense?

Ive never had this issue before and ive done a few now with a PI4.

mitu

Post your /boot/config.txt and also look into $HOME/.emulatiosntation/es_log.txt to see if there are errors during EmulationStation start-up.

karlos

@mitu Hi,

Due to it now being set to boot up emulation-station on restart its just now a black screen all i can do is unplug the pi and restart the whole process again i cant change it back.

mitu

@karlos The /boot/config.txt file should be accessible from a normal PC, when you insert the sdcard. If you've enabled Samba shares, the log files can be found over file shares, at \\retropie\configs\all\emulationstation.

karlos

@mitu

so if i put the sd card into laptop i can do commands on it then?
i didnt know that!

will try now

karlos

@mitu

I think the sd card maybe the fault. just inserted into the laptop and loads of screens pooping up all over the place. ive used these sd cards before (san disk) and ive never had an issue. it think i must have a bad batch (tried a few sd cards same make from same pack).

I may have to buy some new ones....

mitu

@karlos said in retropie not booting from start up?:

so if i put the sd card into laptop i can do commands on it then?

There should be at least a boot partition where you can find the config.txt file. If any prompts about formatting the card show up, just say no.

karlos

@mitu ye theres a boot drive on the sd card