Black Screen when selecting menu/config items in Retropie

Blake91

Hey guys! So I did a fresh, clean install of the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS on a Raspberry Pi 4 as well as the official Retropie 4.6 beta, and followed the install instructions on their website. I've got the image up and running, successfully imported some games for my son and I to play - But, I'm running into a couple of issues.

1.) When I select anything at all in the Retropie config/settings menu, such as Audio, Splashscreen, Wifi, anything at all, I'm met with a black screen. No buttons work, aside from the Esc key which brings me back to the menu list.

2.) When I try to close Retropie and boot back to the desktop, I get the same thing - just a black screen.

Any reason why this could be? Would appreciate any help with this! :)

mitu

Running EmulationStation from the desktop is not a supported/tested configuration. You should choose to auto-login to the console from raspi-config and automatically start EmulationStation from there.

Blake91

@mitu Hey Mitu,

Thanks for the response - still troubleshooting.

It's setup to autoboot into Retropie when starting up my rp4, and I canteven exit Retropie even if I wanted to. When selecting anything in the config menu or settings, Im met with a black screen - as well as when I try to quit out of emulationstation.

Im stumped!

mitu

Are you running on a 4k TV, by any chance ?

Blake91

@mitu I'm not! A 1080p monitor, which has the capability of running at 144hz. Not sure if that's the issue here? Awfully strange.

mitu

It's not quite clear to me if you've tested the image retropie.org.uk/download or just manually installed over Raspbian - can you test with the RetroPie image and see if you get the same issue ?
You can still install the desktop if you'd like - as a Port - see https://retropie.org.uk/docs/FAQ/#where-did-the-desktop-go for how to do that.

Blake91

@mitu Hey mitu! Thanks for the suggestions. I figured it out after - I simply tried plugging it into a TV instead of my monitor, and no issues - I can see everything just fine. I think I had the wrong resolution settings perhaps, or maybe it was something to do with the high refresh rate. Regardless, thanks!