I2S AMP: Games won't load after driver install

[StonedEdge]

Hi all,

Sorry to raise this issue again in a thread, but I'm still currently having issues with the WM8960 I2S audio HAT from seeed studio and RetroPie compatibility that I was hoping someone may be able to help with. RetroPie works fine on my CM4 before installing the driver, which I have installed here: https://github.com/HinTak/seeed-voicecard

Games work just fine on the stock image of RetroPie with no lag, but as soon as I install the driver for the HAT, RetroPie begins to slow right down - not significantly, its still smooth, but noticeably slower.

Sound works fine in the RetroPie menus (albeit a bit laggy with some small latency), but the main problem is that games just will not load. Upon trying to launch a rom, the game will not launch and simply revert back to the emulation station menu that I was in for that console.

The steps I've taken are below to install driver on the RetroPie 4.7.1 Firmware are below. Note that the driver installed fine as confirmed with sudo dmks status and I can see it on the I2C1 bus with sudo i2cdetect -y 1.

1. Run the below commands so that I can install the driver without kernel compatibility problems

wget -O kernel-headers_armhf.deb http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/pool/main/r/raspberrypi-firmware/raspberrypi-kernel-headers_1.20201022-1_armhf.deb

wget -O kernel_armhf.deb http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/pool/main/r/raspberrypi-firmware/raspberrypi-kernel_1.20201022-1_armhf.deb

sudo dpkg -i kernel-headers_armhf.deb kernel_armhf.deb

sudo apt-mark hold raspberrypi-kernel-headers raspberrypi-kernel

2. Sudo reboot
3. Install the driver with sudo ./install.sh
4. Sudo reboot
5. Result: Can click around in the RetroPie menus with sound, however games will not load.

Is there anything simple that I may be missing here to get roms to launch? Perhaps the driver is just not compatible? I'm running 4.7.1 and haven't upgraded any kernels or anything like that.

It's worth adding that I've also tried updating all the packages and OS/kernel and then installing the driver. It all installs fine but RetroPie slows significantly.

[mitu]

@stonededge said in I2S AMP: Games won't load after driver install:

Result: Can click around in the RetroPie menus with sound, however games will not load.

Providing a log file would be useful. Also, any changes added by the driver in config.txt that would explain/help diagnose the slowdown ?

[StonedEdge]

@mitu
Hi Mitu, thanks for always offering your help.

I've attached the config.txt file below for your reference. This is post driver installation:

# For more options and information see
# http://rpf.io/configtxt
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (here we are forcing 800x480!)
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=87
hdmi_cvt=800 480 60 6 0 0 0

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
hdmi_drive=1

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
#config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=800

# for more options see http://elinux.org/RPi_config.txt

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
dtparam=i2c_arm=on
dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable infrared communication.
#dtoverlay=gpio-ir,gpio_pin=17
#dtoverlay=gpio-ir-tx,gpio_pin=18
dtoverlay=seeed-2mic-voicecard
dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README
# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
#dtparam=audio=on

[pi4]
# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver on top of the dispmanx display stack
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2

[all]
#dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
overscan_scale=1
gpio=12=pu,dh,op
dtoverlay=i2s-mmap

Regarding the log, not sure how to show a list of errors but I do have the errors listed here upon crashing:

Let me add that upgrading to the latest kernel and adding dtoverlay=wm8960-soundcard does give me audible sound with no lag (without needing to install any drivers). Do let me add that the audio sounds like its playing at the wrong frequency in the menus (i.e very noisy) but in game it works perfectly.

[mitu]

@stonededge said in I2S AMP: Games won't load after driver install:

I've attached the config.txt file below for your reference. This is post driver installation:
[..]

Nothing out of the ordinary, though I don't know why I2C is enabled (you're using I2S), maybe something else added it.

Regarding the log, not sure how to show a list of errors but I do have the errors listed here upon crashing:

This looks like a memory/disk issue, though that's an error log from EmulationStation and not from the emulator. The emulators' log is stored in /dev/shm/runcommand.log.