Freeplay Zero unresponsive

[mason.wm.richins@gmail.com]

Mason,

Does this always happen on the same ROM?  
If it happens with different games, does it always happen on the same emulator/system (like always GBA)?

It would happen on emulation station, the command line, and when playing that rom that came preinstalled. 
When I had it hooked up to HDMI, I tried out metroid on the gba and it worked fine.

[Flavor]

This seems very odd. Here's my thinking:

- I feel like bad controls could (in theory) be a hardware problem, but you already tried a new Pi Zero. Of course our Freeplay Zero could have issues, but I can not think of any hardware problem (on our board) that could cause all buttons to stop working while other parts kept working. When you say that the USB keyboard also stops working, and that's not even something that connects to our board. Those things make me think it must be a software issue.
- If it's a software problem, we do supply the joystick driver (https://github.com/TheFlav/mk_arcade_joystick_rpi) in our SD image. BUT, it's a kernel driver. That means that if it dies, it would likely cause a problem with the entire operating system and not just stop the controller from working. Yes, there are things that could happen to stop the controls from working and leave everything else running, but then there's the fact that the USB keyboard stops working. That's not something we control in our driver.

When you say that you hooked it up to HDMI, did you ALSO have it running on the built-in LCD?

Is it possible that the LCD stops working but the HDMI is still working? If so, that might look like no controls are working, but (in fact) the system is actually running and the LCD is just no longer responding. There are multiple things that could cause this. The LCD may not be fully seated, and it could become disconnected at random times. Then you'd have to reboot the machine to get the LCD working again.

There are, also, software things that could happen to stop the LCD driver from running. The LCD driver is not a kernel driver, so it could crash and the rest of the operating system (including HDMI output) could continue to work properly.

Try this...
Play on the handheld until it "freezes" and then (do not unplug it or reboot it) connect HDMI. Can you play it on the HDMI screen?

and also try this...
Boot up the machine and connect HDMI. Do you see the same image on HDMI and LCD? Start playing until the machine freezes. Is it only the LCD that froze? Is HDMI still working?

[Flavor]

Also, could you try a different SD card image?

At
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folde...nlPS2M4czg
please try the Freeplay_Zero_18032101.img.gz file. That's an older SD image. I have just heard from another user that had some (MAYBE the same) issues, and the other image worked well for him. If that's the issue, then we need to track down what has caused this to happen on some boards with the new image.

Thanks!

UPDATE: It actually seems like the other guy's issue was completely different, but I do think it would still be a great idea to test that Freeplay_Zero_18032101.img.gz image to see if it acts the same or not.

[TexasPorcupine]

Also, could you try a different SD card image?

At
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folde...nlPS2M4czg
please try the Freeplay_Zero_18032101.img.gz file.  That's an older SD image.  I have just heard from another user that had some (MAYBE the same) issues, and the other image worked well for him.  If that's the issue, then we need to track down what has caused this to happen on some boards with the new image.

Thanks!

UPDATE:  It actually seems like the other guy's issue was completely different, but I do think it would still be a great idea to test that Freeplay_Zero_18032101.img.gz image to see if it acts the same or not.

I'm actually having similar problems. I have tried different SD cards and images but no luck. The newest image will run for a while but that's after switching to the carbon theme. I actually had the most success with the newest image but it did hang when I was trying to add ROMs. The other times I'll get crashes to the command screen saying either bus fail or something about illegal instruction. Sometimes I'll just get a screen that says emulation station crashed and to be sure I'm using the correct image. I'm super bummed because I was really excited to see what a raspberry pi zero could handle. BTW, I don't have a HDMI adapter to try to see if it'll work on a TV. I have also rechecked my soldering job but still no luck.

[Flavor]

Hey TexasPorcupine,

Could you post a couple photos of the soldering on your Pi Zero?

Do you have a different Pi Zero to try in there, by any chance?

Based on your explanation, I doubt that the HDMI would tell you much. It sounds like the Pi itself is having problems somehow (maybe overheating).

[TexasPorcupine]

No, unfortunately I don't have a second zero to try and test. Silly me, I assumed that my brand new raspberry pi zero wouldn't be defective. I guess I should have bought a second since it was only 5 dollars but I just thought mine would work. It's sad that they have a reputation of often being defective, even if they are only a few bucks.

[TexasPorcupine]

It seems to not like emulation station for some reason. It will stay running when I start a ROM and will even transfer ROMs while the game is running. But when it sits idle in emulation station is when it seems to crash.

[TexasPorcupine]

Oh, I forgot to mention that the temperature only got up to 51° c.

[TexasPorcupine]

Guess that's all there is...

[Flavor]

Hey TexasPorcupine! I'm sorry that I didn't respond sooner. Sometimes it's tough for me to respond on the weekends. I was actually camping Sat/Sun.

I wouldn't say that the Pi Zero has a reputation for being defective, but I have definitely heard of cases similar to yours where replacing the Pi itself just made things work.

I don't see a problem with your soldering. There is a fair bit of flux there that you could clean up with some isopropyl alcohol, but I don't think that would actually be causing any issues.

One thing you could try is turning off the WiFi to see if that potentially helps anything.

How are you transferring ROMs? USB memory stick, WiFi?

Does it crash in Emulationstation without any ROMs on the SD?

How many ROMs are you putting on there?

What size SD are you using? I know you said you tried multiple, but were they all from the same seller and/or the same size/brand?

I'm kinda just trying to brainstorm some troubleshooting ideas here. I have heard of counterfeit SD cards, and I have heard of SD cards that had compatibility problems with Raspberry Pi. I've also heard of ROMs that caused crashes. All of these things are rare, but I think we're at the point of chasing a rare occurrence sort of issue, I guess.