Ghost Inputs Turning TV Back On

mattrixk

Okay, this is a strange one, but I'm basically getting ghost inputs, despite there being no active controllers.

The explanation of this may be pretty long, but I want to make sure I supply all the info.

There have been a few ghost input issues in RetroPie before this, but I just assumed it was from either my old keyboard or the cheap snes controller I used in set-up.

Here's a short list of the order things happened:

RetroPie: cheap snes and old keyboard connected (PS3 controller not yet set up), ghost inputs randomly swap between systems and sometimes continuously scroll through gamelists. I assumed it was the cheap snes controller.
RetroPie: PS3 and old keyboard connected. Ghost inputs act the same. I assumed it was the old keyboard.
Kodi: Old keyboard connected (PS3 set up, but not powered up). Ghost inputs turning volume up, and turning TV back on.

I have Kodi installed through RetroPie, using the Aeon Nox theme. My old keyboard was plugged in, and I use my TV remote to navigate Kodi.

As I was watching a movie last night, the volume bar kept popping up every few minutes. Annoying, but not too bad. Then when I went to bed I put Kodi back to the main menu screen and turned the TV off. A few minutes later the TV turned itself back on. I assumed it was the same ghost input issue from previously, so I unplugged the keyboard and turned the TV back off. A few minutes pass and it turns back on again. As it turns on I see a flash of the volume bar at the top of the screen again.

I decided to leave it and just watch. The screen dimmed eventually, and then a few minutes pass and the volume bar pops in as the screen goes back to full brightness.

It was getting late so exited Kodi back to RetroPie. I had no controllers connected, so I left it on the Kodi System screen and turned the TV off. I checked about 20 minutes later and the TV was still off.

I discovered at some point that one of the PS3 thumbsticks can be used to change the volume within Kodi, so it seemed like that might be what's happening, however, the PS3 controller wasn't active at the time (and the ghost inputs were happening before the PS3 controller was ever connected to RetroPie).

I'm at a loss. Does anyone have any ideas?

Stats:
Pi Model: 3B
Power Supply used: Official Pi power cable
RetroPie Version Used: v4.6 from https://retropie.org.uk/download/
Built From: Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website - retropie-buster-4.6-rpi2_rpi3.img.gz
USB Devices connected: keyboard, 2x controllers,
Controller used: PS3 Dual Shock, no-name brand SNES controller from ebay
Error messages received: none (that I'm aware of)

mattrixk

Update:

I turned the TV on this morning and fired up the PS3 controller so I could leave the Kodi System screen within RetroPie, and go back to the System Select screen.

Occasionally I would look back at the TV and it would be displaying a different active System (currently using the Dark Noir theme, but it's been doing this on a couple of different themes, including Carbon and MetaPixel).

After a certain amount of time the PS3 controller went to sleep and the TV seems to have been steady on Gameboy since then.

It's now been a few hours and the TV has displayed nothing but Gameboy each time I've looked at it.

Clyde

Are the controllers connected by USB or Bluetooth?

Ghost inputs are an old problem and may come from the controllers themselves, not from Retropie. There is a long thread from 2017 to 2018 about this. There, someone fixed it for a Buffalo SNES controller by replacing two capacitors and adding a third one.

I also had ghost inputs with my Qumox Wii U Pro controllers. I fixed it by using a Mayflash Wii U Pro bluetooth adapter instead of connecting them to my Pi (3b at that time) directly.

You can test your controllers for ghost inputs by using jstest --event /dev/js0 in Retropie's command line. You may have to change js0 to the designation of your controller(s). This command will run until you stop it with ctrl+c.

mattrixk

Thanks @Clyde

The PS3 controller is connected via bluetooth. I did look around the forums before posting, but didn't find anything that really fit, but I'll have a look through the one you posted.

This is the exact same controller I was using on my old build, but the controller is pretty old by now, and I don't use it very often, so I suppose it's possible it's starting to go bonkers (is that a thing that happens to older controllers?).

I have the day off tomorrow, so I'll give the jtest thing a go. Is that something that has to be done within RetroPie, or can I do it from Putty on my PC?

Clyde

@mattrixk I don't know Putty since I use Linux on all of my machines, but as long as Putty gives you a command line connection to the Pi, it should work all the same.

jbsapp

@Clyde did you ever get your issue addressed re: DragonRise usb encoders causing the ES screensaver to exit? I have two of these encoders and both have the ghost axis #2 issue that you mentioned in Is it possible to filter out certain (faulty) button inputs.

I've performed the same calibration correction as you and ES is still going back to the main menu at random times, despite jstest no longer reporting the inputs.

Clyde

@jbsapp Unfortunately, no. I stopped searching for a solution after awhile, since it doesn't bother me that much. Actually, I came to appreciate that the beautiful Comic Book Theme is shown from time to time this way.

A friend of mine who is an electrician suggested to short-circuit the port in question by sticking a piece of wire in both sockets. I never got around to do this unbelievably complicated operation, though. 😇