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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Emulation station freezing

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    4.7.1emultionstationfreeze issues
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    • mituM
      mitu Global Moderator @triforcexp
      last edited by

      @triforcexp said in Emulation station freezing:

      I'm curious which EmulationStation version comes with the 4.6.8 image so I could try to downgrade to it?

      Referenced in a post above - 2.9.1 (see the change list).

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        mahoneyt944 @triforcexp
        last edited by

        @triforcexp unfortunately for me when I updated, even without the kernal update, it still freezes. For some reason the gpu_freq is effected after the update. I commented mine out as well but I'd be interested to know if a lower value will work at all without freezing. This needs dug into a bit more to figure out why this setting is problematic now.

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          triforcexp @mitu
          last edited by

          @mitu Just installed 2.9.1 and still getting the same result if I leave the gpu overclock.

          I'll try to bisect this. Sadly idk which version I had before but was on Stretch so...

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            mahoneyt944 @triforcexp
            last edited by

            @triforcexp I think mine was originally 4.6 updated to 4.6.8 if that helps anything.

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              triforcexp @mahoneyt944
              last edited by

              @mahoneyt944 I'm checking directly over the EmulationStation version.
              I went all the way back to 2.7.6 with the same result, so I'm not completely sure the problem is the ES version itself or some other component of the distro.

              BTW, I thought that I could try playing around with the GL version and, albeit it didn't fix, I believe the RetroPie script is setting the GLES 1.0 define wrongly, and hence would always use GLES2 (?)

              See https://github.com/RetroPie/EmulationStation/blob/064a1818ead9dce730ecf928f27860edddc8e745/es-core/src/renderers/Renderer_GLES10.cpp#L1

              and

              https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/blob/0212b0249c96b5b355c1d180f24cff1ae9937518/scriptmodules/supplementary/emulationstation.sh#L168

              mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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                triforcexp @mahoneyt944
                last edited by

                @mahoneyt944 I just went all the way down to 450 mhz with the same result, maybe staying alive just a bit longer.

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                • mituM
                  mitu Global Moderator @triforcexp
                  last edited by

                  @triforcexp said in Emulation station freezing:

                  BTW, I thought that I could try playing around with the GL version and, albeit it didn't fix, I believe the RetroPie script is setting the GLES 1.0 define wrongly, and hence would always use GLES2 (?)

                  You're confusing the CMake's option (USE_GLES1) with the C++ macro with a similar name. EmulationStation didn't have a GLES2 renderer until version 2.9.1 and it's specifically disabled on VC4 because of the poor performance.

                  Can you post the config.txt you have ? What version of kernel/firmware do you have ?

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                    triforcexp @mitu
                    last edited by

                    @mitu Yeah you are right. I would have named both the same though 😅

                    So here is my config.txt

                    disable_overscan=1
                    overscan_left=0
                    overscan_right=0
                    overscan_top=0
                    overscan_bottom=0
                    hdmi_mode=4
                    
                    arm_freq=1300
                    dtparam=audio=on
                    sdram_freq=500
                    over_voltage=6
                    
                    gpu_mem=256 
                    gpu_freq=500 
                    v3d_freq=525 
                    usb_hid.mousepoll=0
                    
                    

                    I've tried removing v3d freq and moving gpu freq down to 450 without success.

                    dankcushionsD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • dankcushionsD
                      dankcushions Global Moderator @triforcexp
                      last edited by

                      @triforcexp said in Emulation station freezing:

                      sdram_freq=500

                      this caused my pi3 to be very unstable. i would remove all overclocks as a matter of course when you find instability. then if you must overclock, gradually introduce them one by one.

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                        triforcexp @dankcushions
                        last edited by

                        @dankcushions yeah but weirdly enough emulationstation is the only thing that freezes. Plus older versions worked just fine. If I leave the gpu freq with the default value works

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                          thomas1234 @triforcexp
                          last edited by

                          @triforcexp still seeing freezing immediately after removing overclocking. I did the same thing in updating a really old version to buster and building ES from source.

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                            mahoneyt944 @thomas1234
                            last edited by

                            @thomas1234 what I did was I built a fresh image then copied over a few settings at a time until I found what caused the freeze. Then I corrected that setting to fix my freezing issue.

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                              thomas1234 @mahoneyt944
                              last edited by

                              @mahoneyt944 What setting was it that needed corrected? I have completely reverted config.txt

                              I guess I just need to start fresh.

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                                mahoneyt944 @thomas1234
                                last edited by

                                @thomas1234 gpu_freq was effected after the update. Comment out any of these.

                                #gpu_freq= ?

                                roslofR 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • roslofR
                                  roslof @mahoneyt944
                                  last edited by

                                  Would like to confirm:

                                  Since upgrading RetroPie to latest awhile back and also upgrading the RPi software with:

                                  sudo apt update
                                  sudo apt full-upgrade
                                  

                                  The freeze occurs randomly, but only during the screensaver. I read above this was occurring with a slideshow. I use video, and each day return to a frozen video or a black screen.

                                  Turning off GPU overclock dramatically affects some 3D system (N64, Dreamcast, Naomi, Atomiswave) so not a great option. Better to disable the screensaver, but that's such a great feature.

                                  Has anybody been able to track down the source of the problem? ES update, or the Raspberry Pi upgrade?

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                                  • roslofR
                                    roslof @mahoneyt944
                                    last edited by

                                    @mahoneyt944 said in Emulation station freezing:

                                    @thomas1234 gpu_freq was effected after the update. Comment out any of these.

                                    #gpu_freq= ?

                                    Clarifying: "after the update" of what? RPi software, or ES?

                                    roslofR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • roslofR
                                      roslof @roslof
                                      last edited by roslof

                                      A couple of anecdotal data points:

                                      1. The issue should not be with EmulationStation V2.9.6RP. I used to run it extensively without issue.
                                      2. I've more recently been using EmulationStation-Dev V2.10.0RP-DEV without issue.

                                      Then I updated Raspberry Pi software to latest and updated RetroPie Script. The later was common and I don't see any commits that should affect ES.

                                      The freeze started here. #1 and #2 now freeze. Unless user-error on my side, the issue should reside with the Raspberry Pi software update (it did also update kernel). Possible a newer version of VLC. Not sure.

                                      I'll see if I can find out more. It wouldn't be the first time a RPi upgrade adversely affected overclock settings.

                                      Q: When updating Raspberry Pi software, is the output logged somewhere? I'd like to see what changed. It had been awhile, so A LOT changed.

                                      mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • mituM
                                        mitu Global Moderator @roslof
                                        last edited by mitu

                                        @roslof said in Emulation station freezing:

                                        Q: When updating Raspberry Pi software, is the output logged somewhere? I'd like to see what changed. It had been awhile, so A LOT changed.

                                        The updates are logged to /var/log/apt/history.log or one of the gz files in the same folder.

                                        roslofR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • roslofR
                                          roslof @mitu
                                          last edited by

                                          @mitu said in Emulation station freezing:

                                          @roslof said in Emulation station freezing:

                                          Q: When updating Raspberry Pi software, is the output logged somewhere? I'd like to see what changed. It had been awhile, so A LOT changed.

                                          The updates are logged to /var/log/apt/history.log or one of the gz files in the same folder.

                                          Will investigate now. Thank you mitu.

                                          roslofR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • roslofR
                                            roslof @roslof
                                            last edited by roslof

                                            Logs show that I ran apt full-upgrade on 2021-06-12.
                                            Issues started on that date. Should rule-out an ES update, correct? I upgraded RetroPie regularly.

                                            Kernel was updated
                                            12 VLC related updates
                                            ...and lots more :|

                                            Full log from history.log.1

                                            Might start with rolling back VLC... then test for awhile
                                            Then try to find the previous stable kernel and try that next my previous kernel (which, if I'm reading the log correctly was kernel dated: 20210303.

                                            Also, this thread...
                                            A change from Dec/Jan affected VLC. Should be unrelated, if my previous kernel was working well (20210303)...

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