Sunday, February 28, 2021

Raspberry Pi display problems

Having successfully installed a new Raspberry Pi with Raspbian OS, it is common that the next reboot the screen display just leaves a blank screen. You just know its the display setting run when at the boot screen the system messages can be seen.

Firstly, the most important file you must know is the /boot/config.txt

This contains many configuration, that require the file to be save and RPi to be restarted. 

If your display is working, but the resolution is wrong, then access the start menu And look for Configuration, or directly access the resolution setting, type 

raspi-config


When the display is a touch screen, it would be a good idea to install a virtual keyboard. Do this by

sudo apt install florence

Back to troubleshooting a display that's not showing. Always check your display is powered, and that system messages appear at boot before proceeding here.


Step 1.

Ensure RPi is connected to your local network, then SSH to your RPi. On MS Windows there is a software named Putty. 


Step 2. 

Determine your device supported resolutions. Use either of following commands;

tvservice -m CEA

tvservice -m DMT

Depending on whether you are connected to a TV (CEA) or computer monitor (DMT). Generally, a TV with VGA cable will use CEA. 


Step 3.

Edit the file /boot/config.txt

Use the settings identified in Step 2. If you are using CEA then the value of hdmi_group=1,

if its DMT then hdmi_group=2. 


Eg 1. when connected to a monitor with resolution 1280×720 and frequency 60Hz, these are the settings;

hdmi_safe=1

hdmi_group=2

hdmi_mode=85

Eg 2. when connected to a TV through HDMI with resolution 640x480 and frequency 60Hz. Since the TV have a standard HDMI connector, hdmi_safe will be commented out. These are the settings;

#hdmi_safe=1

hdmi_group=2

hdmi_mode=4


Reference: Raspberry site

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