How do I delete a rom that is causing problems when I can't type?

jonnykesh

@princegumball Take the card out, put it in your Windows machine and add an empty file called sshin the boot partition (the one Windows can see) Not a folder, just a blank file. Put it back in the Pi and SSH should be enabled. This should all happen automatically.
Install a program called PuTTY on your windows machine and use your IP address shown in the info above to access via PuTTY.

PrinceGumball

It's a GuruMediaBox Raspberry Pi 3. The RetroPie itself isn't custom. Does that count as a 3rd party image?

PrinceGumball

@jonnykesh said in How do I delete a rom that is causing problems when I can't type?:

@princegumball Take the card out, put it in your Windows machine and add an empty file called sshin the boot partition (the one Windows can see) Not a folder, just a blank file. Put it back in the Pi and SSH should be enabled. This should all happen automatically.
Install a program called PuTTY on your windows machine and use your IP address shown in the info above to access via PuTTY.

I will try this in a bit (furniture company is over right now). I'll post my results soon. Thanks.

PrinceGumball

Okay, tried that. I was able to put an empty ssh file in the boot partition. Put it back in the Pi and loaded it up, but there's no IP address. It's just blank after IP Address.........:

So, I'm gonna try using an ethernet cable.

PrinceGumball

Yeah, connecting the Pi to my laptop with an ethernet cable didn't do anything. I don't know why I thought it would. So, I'm stuck at...no IP address showing up on the Pi. So I don't have an IP address to type into Putty.

dankcushions

@princegumball said in How do I delete a rom that is causing problems when I can't type?:

Yeah, connecting the Pi to my laptop with an ethernet cable didn't do anything. I don't know why I thought it would. So, I'm stuck at...no IP address showing up on the Pi. So I don't have an IP address to type into Putty.

connect it to your router, not to your laptop.

if you want to use wifi on the pi3, then you need to read the docs

incunabula

Or try asking for help from the support site from the vendor who sold it to you.

PrinceGumball

How can I configure the wifi on the pi3 when I can't type anything? I can't get to any menus or a typable command line. It goes right to the error message after starting to load up. Is there another way to get a command line other than pressing F4? Because that doesn't work.

PrinceGumball

Also, I can't connect to the router with an ethernet cable, since I have my Pi set up with my TV in the living room and the router is upstairs.

Is doing the ssh thing with Putty the only way to do this? I just need to be able to type something. If I could type, I could do the sudo blah blah blah stuff and delete it that way.

dankcushions

@princegumball the screenshot you posted is already in the command line, assuming yours looks the same. i don't know why you wouldn't be able to type.

Also, I can't connect to the router with an ethernet cable, since I have my Pi set up with my TV in the living room and the router is upstairs.

take it upstairs? you don't need to connect it to a tv to access it via the network.

PrinceGumball

@dankcushions said in How do I delete a rom that is causing problems when I can't type?:

@princegumball the screenshot you posted is already in the command line, assuming yours looks the same. i don't know why you wouldn't be able to type.

Also, I can't connect to the router with an ethernet cable, since I have my Pi set up with my TV in the living room and the router is upstairs.

take it upstairs? you don't need to connect it to a tv to access it via the network.

How will I know what I'm doing without a screen though?

PrinceGumball

I'm trying really hard here. I'm not trying to be dense.

dankcushions

@princegumball said in How do I delete a rom that is causing problems when I can't type?:

How will I know what I'm doing without a screen though?

because when you SSH in you are typing in commands into a terminal prompt on your laptop, or any other device connected to the network.

PrinceGumball

Does anyone else have any ideas?

BuZz

@princegumball you've been given instructions already. If you can't manage it, I suggest starting from a fresh image. We don't support 3rd party images anyway.

PrinceGumball

The instructions given aren't working. Hooking the Pi up to my router via an ethernet cable is doing nothing, it's not showing up in the connected devices. I tried rebooting the router to see if that would do anything. Nothing.

Also, this issue is identical to the one this other person had, which WASN'T on a "3rd party image". Same game. Same error. Same terminal screen. Same not being able to type. https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/11389/emulationstation-crashes-after-retropie-boots-up-permission-denied/4

Is there NO way to stop the boot sequence? That's all I have to do. I need to be able to type the remove game command. That's all.

BuZz

@princegumball you can edit /boot/cmdline.txt and add the word single to the end - this can be done on a PC as this partition can be read. This will drop to a command prompt on boot. You can also possibly rename it over windows networking or however you copied the file on.

You are still probably better off re-imaging since if you can't get ssh working, I doubt you will manage the commandline aspect.

I don't care if the problem happens on non 3rd party images btw - why should we support those who are selling retropie ? Don't argue with our rules. If you can't get this working with the instructions given, you will have to reimage.

rbaker

@princegumball said in How do I delete a rom that is causing problems when I can't type?:

The instructions given aren't working

I have a Pi connected to a laptop directly with an ethernet cable right now. All you need is the ip address of the Pi and you can then SSH in with ease. I followed this. Also, typing ping retropie gives a result.

lostless

I’m assuming that ssh is disabled. It’s off by default now. So if a keyboard is not working and ssh is off, reimaging would be the easiest option

PrinceGumball

@buzz said in How do I delete a rom that is causing problems when I can't type?:

@princegumball you can edit /boot/cmdline.txt and add the word single to the end - this can be done on a PC as this partition can be read. This will drop to a command prompt on boot. You can also possibly rename it over windows networking or however you copied the file on.

You are still probably better off re-imaging since if you can't get ssh working, I doubt you will manage the commandline aspect.

I don't care if the problem happens on non 3rd party images btw - why should we support those who are selling retropie ? Don't argue with our rules. If you can't get this working with the instructions given, you will have to reimage.

Okay, I tried that but adding the word single to the end of cmdline.txt did nothing. Still same problem, still boots up and aborts in the same spot with the same error.

Also I want to point out that the other person who had the identically same problem with the same game DIDN'T have a "third party image". So it's not an issue with the custom Raspberry Pi I bought.