BLACK SCREEN IN OPTION SETTINGS (resurrected)

Addison

Are you able to SSH into your Pi?

SSH is disabled by default.

If so:

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/SSH/#option-2-from-the-retropie-menu

sudo /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/retropie_setup.sh

I once had black screen trouble, but that was immediately on boot.

The solution was to switch to the other HDMI output on the Pi.

Unplug your HDMI cable and try the other slot instead.

Good luck. :)

dankcushions

@war4peace as i recall if you are using a 4k tv it can be solved by forcing 1080p, which you should do anyway: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Pi4/#4k-video-display

war4peace

@addison I'm afraid we're talking about different issues.
The main screen does show up. I have tried various HDMI modes and all of them resulted in images being displayed on the TV.
The issue is that menu entries selection result in a blank screen.

Step 1: loading RetroPie is fine.
Step 2. Press East on my controller to enter Configuration.
Step 3: RetroPie configuration with all entries is being displayed: Audio / Bluetooth / Configuration Editor and so on.
Step 4: Press East on my controller to select any of those configuration menu entries.

After doing that, the screen nicely fades to black and stays there until I press Escape on the keyboard, which I also connected to the Pi.

I have enabled HDMI Safe Mode, at which point the screen didn't fade to black indefinitely, allowing me to see the text mode configuration menus. However, once I disabled the Safe Mode, the issue resurfaced.

war4peace

@dankcushions
My issue is not about stuttering while in 4K, but about inability to use configuration menus because every time the machine tries to switch to "text mode", the screen goes blank.

YFZdude

@war4peace
The reason it was suggested to switch to 1080p resolution is because it has been shown to cause blank screen when switching to the menus for configuration.

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/31018/can-t-launch-retropie-setup-or-raspi-config-black-screen

Thorr69

@war4peace It's related. Put your Pi into 1080P mode. Do not use it in 4K mode. 4K mode causes choppy emulation AND it causes text-based utilities and settings menus to show a black screen.

Addison

If you're not able to SSH into your Pi, I guess the best hope would be to reflash to the latest Pi 4 OS.

You never did mention what version you're currently using.

https://retropie.org.uk/download/

I don't really see anything else since your screen goes blank when trying to use any configurations in the main menu.

Without SSH, it's difficult to see what all is going on there in your system.

war4peace

@yfzdude
Ah, thanks, I missed that topic for some reason.
I'll do that.
@Addison I can SSH into the Pi. However, it looks like my question has been answered :)

war4peace

@yfzdude
I might have spoken too soon.
There is still a blank screen when trying to access the menus. I have implemented the fix from the other topic, described below:

@mitu said in Can't launch RetroPie Setup or Raspi-Config (Black Screen):

This usuall happens on the Pi4 when you're using a 4k resolution, for some reason the setup dialogs are not properly displayed.
Edit the config.txt file on your SD card (you can edit it from a PC) and add 2 lines at the end:
hdmi_max_pixel_freq:0=200000000
hdmi_max_pixel_freq:1=200000000
Try booting again your RetroPie system and see if you can open the setup script or raspi-config.

However, that did not seem to have any effect. There is still a blank screen when accessing menus, same as before.

mitu

@war4peace What's the current video resolution after applying the changes ? You can get it from the tvservice -s command.

Post also you config.txt file.

war4peace

@mitu
With the immensely wonderful and patient help from "clatl" on the SBCGaming Discord server, retropie channel, the issue is resolved.

After much troubleshooting, the magic line added to the config.txt was this:

hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080

Afterwards, I was able to eventually run Retropie on my TV at 1920x1080@60 FPS with no black border and menus working.

Everything is peachy!

Next steps are pairing the Bluetooth gamepad (which is now connected to USB) and adding ROMs from a SAMBA share.

war4peace

In case anyone else encounters the same issue, here are my config.txt settings:

# For more options and information see
# http://rpf.io/configtxt
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
#overscan_left=16
#overscan_right=16
#overscan_top=16
#overscan_bottom=16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
hdmi_force_hotplug=1
hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
#hdmi_group=2
#hdmi_mode=4
# THE ABOVE ARE WORKING, USE AS FALLBACK
hdmi_group=1
hdmi_mode=16


# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
#hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
#config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=800

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable infrared communication.
#dtoverlay=gpio-ir,gpio_pin=17
#dtoverlay=gpio-ir-tx,gpio_pin=18

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on

[pi4]
# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver on top of the dispmanx display stack
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2

[all]
#dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
overscan_scale=1

#hdmi_max_pixel_freq:0=200000000
#hdmi_max_pixel_freq:1=200000000