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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

    Pi Zero arcade issues

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    pi zeroarcadetroubleshootingmamefinalburn
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    • F
      FormulaFox @dankcushions
      last edited by FormulaFox

      @dankcushions
      Hokay, so, here's the situation...Altered Beast dipped slightly in performance - still plays full speed with no slowdowns but audio issues returned in full force.

      But something else has been noticed. Since I am considering trying to overclock the Pi, I did my due diligence and checked to make sure the CPU was running at the advertised clock speed of 1GHz. It is not. It is running at 700MHz.

      Could this have been the problem all along? I know from messing with a Pi 3B that I overclocked to 3B+ performance(1.4GHz) that a few hundred MHz goes a long way.

      (I'm heading in to work soon and I sleep after work, so any overclocking will take place tomorrow if there may be a benefit to it)

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

        @formulafox said in Pi Zero arcade issues:

        But something else has been noticed. Since I am considering trying to overclock the Pi, I did my due diligence and checked to make sure the CPU was running at the advertised clock speed of 1GHz. It is not. It is running at 700MHz.

        i don't think so. how are you measuring the clock speed? rpis downclock when idle. looking at your config you have the cpu speed commented out which should mean it runs at default (1GHz)

        overclocking could help, mind.

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        • F
          FormulaFox @dankcushions
          last edited by FormulaFox

          @dankcushions
          I used vcgencmd measure_clock arm in the terminal.

          I just looked at the config.txt file and noticed the overclocking line reads as follows(emphasis added, obviously):
          "#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
          #arm_freq=800"

          I am definitely going to uncomment that and set arm_freq to 1000 when I get up just to see what we get.

          EDIT: A thought occurs. The Retropie build for the Pi Zero is also meant for the Pi 1. Which, IIRC, uses a 700MHz chip. Could something have glitched out and set up some sort of hardware config that assumed it was being set up on a Pi 1?

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

            @formulafox said in Pi Zero arcade issues:

            @dankcushions
            I used vcgencmd measure_clock arm in the terminal.

            I just looked at the config.txt file and noticed the overclocking line reads as follows(emphasis added, obviously):
            "#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
            #arm_freq=800"

            yes, you get the same comment on pi4 builts. raspbian have never update the comment, but it still defaults to an appropriate value for the hardware. don't worry about that message.

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            • F
              FormulaFox @dankcushions
              last edited by FormulaFox

              @dankcushions

              Whelp, uncommenting that and setting it to 1000 resulted in a failure to boot. It froze on the EmulationStation screen. If the chip doesn't even like being told to clock itself to what it's already doing, then I can be pretty confident this particular chip does NOT want to be overclocked.

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

                @formulafox hmm, it's possible this is a known issue but should have been fixed by the a firmware update years ago: https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/pi-zero-w-read-this-first/4117

                what exact image did you start from? have you tried updating the firmware as per that link?

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                • F
                  FormulaFox @dankcushions
                  last edited by FormulaFox

                  @dankcushions said in Pi Zero arcade issues:

                  @formulafox hmm, it's possible this is a known issue but should have been fixed by the a firmware update years ago: https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/pi-zero-w-read-this-first/4117

                  what exact image did you start from? have you tried updating the firmware as per that link?

                  It should be 4.7.1(the file still sitting on my desktop is "retropie-buster-4.7.1-rpi1_zero.img") as provided in the Retropie download section. I have not attempted to update the firmware, but I can give that a go when I have some more time after dinner.

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                  • F
                    FormulaFox
                    last edited by FormulaFox

                    Temporary failure resolving 'archive.raspberrypi.org' and 'raspbian.raspberrypi.org' when I try to follow those instructions. Tried multiple times.

                    I'll have to try again later.

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

                      @formulafox works for me - the those websites are up. perhaps a problem with your wifi/network connection.

                      In any case, in the event that it doesn't fix your issue, you can see here for some ways of measuring the speed: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=266260#p1618068, if they are different to how you were doing it. try both?

                      without having a zero i can't really diagnose but this sounds to me like some kind of power supply/hardware issue. might be worth asking on the rpi forums, as this isn't really a retropie issue now.

                      F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • F
                        FormulaFox @dankcushions
                        last edited by

                        @dankcushions
                        Yeah, I checked the sites myself and had no issue. I don't see how it could be the connection on the Pi, though, since the wifi works for anything I do via the GUI - both the main Retropie interface and the setup interfaces. Scraping, updating, etc, all works until I go into the terminal. I'll probably have to seek help elsewhere as I suspect that's still outside of your ability to assist.

                        Thanks for the help, though. I at least now know some stuff to look at should other problems arise in the future.

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