Need help debugging RetroPie, can't launch ROMs

terminalhit

First off, I love this project, and think it's a great use for my raspberry PI2.

What I want to do:
Build a retropie that has it's own mounted display, and automatically connects to "known" Bluetooth devices for audio output while playing ROMS. While i've used debian\ubuntu linux for several years, i'm not that advance with peripherals, and troubleshooting so I need help. At one point I actually got the menu sound from emulation station to output through my Bose Soundlink 2 speakers, but not the ROMs

What i've done so far:

Paired a PS4 controller
Created a ugly case to house the components
Installed Blueman & bluez for bluetooth management
Installed pulseAudio and created a bluetooth audio sink
Installed LXDE for GUI tools for pulseAudio (I think this is what broke the ROMs from loading?)

What's currently happening
Retropie boots just fine into emulationstation. I can see all the ROMs i've loaded, but when I try to launch any of them (SNES/NES) all I get is a black screen, with no way of getting back to emulation station. Not only does this happen when loading the ROMs but also when doing something simple like "Show IP Address" from the RetroPie menu (or any of the menu items).

At first I thought the device was locking up, but i'm able to SSH into the box. When I do ps auxwwf I can see emulationstation running, but not the ROM? example from pastebin]. When I first installed the 7" DSI display, I validated that the ROMs worked and can be seen from the display, so I don't think it's a video output issue. The problem started after I installed and started messing around with LXDE. I remember I had to modify some local ".file" in my home directory to get LXDE to launch properly. The only issue I see in syslog seems to be related to DBUS snippet of syslog

Current build:

RPI2 B+
7" Touchscreen (only using for DSI display and not touchscreen)
PowerBlock (for power switch)
Linux retropie 4.1.19-v7+ #858 SMP Tue Mar 15 15:56:00 GMT 2016 armv7l GNU/Linux
USB wifi-adapter
USB bluetooth adapter

Any help would be much appreciated!

MasterC

I recently ran into this issue as well. I'm not sure what the exact cause is, but I can reproduce it consistently. I boot up into emulationstation, and once all booted, I connect my phone to the Pi via Bluetooth. If I launch a ROM at that point, it hangs just prior to launching the ROM. On my TV I can actually see it go really dim, not black, and still see the game selection screen.

I can also reproduce my workaround. So if I get to the point of hanging, if I disconnect the Bluetooth, it launches the ROM.

I blame PulseAudio, but really it might just be the way emulationstation and Pulse play together, both/neither of them actually being the culprit.

Hopefully that helps!
-Chad