Emulationstation Will Not Boot

bberlin1

Pi Model or other hardware: Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ Motherboard
Retropie version: Unsure; downloaded from source using the retropie setup update (waited 5+ hours). It told me that the pi image was using stretch.
USB Devices connected: none
Controller used: DS4
Error messages received: Login Incorrect
Verbose log (if relevant):
How to replicate the problem: Download update from source. reboot pi.

When booting up, now instead of going to emulationstation it brings me to this login prompt. I try using the default username: pi and password: raspberry, which does not work.
I tried using my root login, which did work, but I cannot launch emulationstation from root.

mitu

@bberlin1 said in Emulationstation Will Not Boot:

Retropie version: Unsure; downloaded from source using the retropie setup update (waited 5+ hours). It told me that the pi image was using stretch.

If you installed from source, it probably also told you that the your 'Stretch' based system is no longer supported by RetroPie. Any reason you're not using a more recent release ?

I try using the default username: pi and password: raspberry, which does not work.

Which image did you use to install your system ? RetroPie doesn't modify any passwords, how did you logged in to your system before installing RetroPie ?

bberlin1

@mitu thanks for your response. I updated from the source, expecting this to update me from stretch, but it still is using that. Can I update away from stretch from my current build?

I was able to log into my pi user afterall (I must've updated my password a while ago), and made a change to the autologin using the steps from here: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/18591/asking-for-retropie-login-on-boot-after-update/12?_=1619635360621

mitu

@bberlin1 said in Emulationstation Will Not Boot:

I updated from the source, expecting this to update me from stretch, but it still is using that. Can I update away from stretch from my current build?

RetroPie does not upgrade your OS via the update mechanism. To upgrade to a newer OS you need to flash the latest image, upgrading in-place is not recommended.

bberlin1

@mitu got it, thanks for confirming. I can do this but would prefer to not have to need to re-adjust all of my settings again. Are there checklists or docs out there that specify exactly what files I should save from my current image to copy to the new one?

mitu

@bberlin1 Depends, what version did you have before the update and how did you install RetroPie ?

bberlin1

@mitu I installed retropie by flashing my SD card. I downloaded it from this site a couple years ago.

I honestly cannot recall what the version was before the update. Is there a way to identify that?

mitu

@bberlin1 said in Emulationstation Will Not Boot:

Is there a way to identify that?

You can take a look at the update logs in $HOME/RetroPie-Setup/logs and the version should be printed in one of the logs.

You can copy your existing ROMs and configuration files by backing up and restoring the respective folders - see the backup option no. 2.

sleve_mcdichael

@mitu yes that's what I would suggest. Backing up roms, configs, and bios over the network share would probably cover most of your bases, if that's an option on the older version.

bberlin1

@sleve_mcdichael @mitu

what about the data in the opt folder (such a lib cores) or the etc folder (such as emulationstation.cfg) file?

Just trying to cover all my bases here, want to avoid re-doing everything or at least keep that kind of work to a minimum.

sleve_mcdichael

@bberlin1 the new image you install will have the "preferred" libretro cores for the version already installed. These may or may not be the same as what you've been using already; in either case, you're probably better off replacing any missing ones through the setup script rather than trying to copy them over from the old install.

Retroarch and EmulationStation configs are contained within configs/all.

bberlin1

@sleve_mcdichael @mitu just to update, I made the transfers to a fresh image over the weekend and most of the "important" stuff transferred fine, ie games, save states, hot keys, metadata.

But here's what did not:

Bluetooth Connection
lr-dosbox pure package (funny enough, this was no longer available as an experimental package for me. I had to reinstall it manually from putty).
ES Theme
ssh root permission
custom pi user password (reverted back to 'raspberry')
Ethernet not longer recognized (this is a weird one... it connects fine over wifi though)

mitu

@bberlin1 Looks alright to me, none of those things are part of the configs folder - most of them as OS settings/configurations that are not specific to RetroPie.
The Dosbox Pure is part of RetroPie - make sure you're using the latest version of the RetroPie-Setup script.