All White Screen

[PickBricks]

I received the FreePlay Zero CM3 about a month ago and finished building it like 2 weeks ago. I flashed the micro SD card with the FreePlay Image and it worked for about a week. It still worked through HDMI and I know that my soldering is not the issue because it worked for that week. I looked through other posts and tried what that said to do, and it did not help. I plugged it into a monitor with the 18032101 image flashed onto the micro SD card and it showed up with a start up page I think. I don't know what else to try. I also don't know how to turn off the backlight. People where saying that that was what fixed it. If someone could help me fix my FreePlay Zero, that would be great.

[Flavor]

Hey PickBricks. Sorry about the late reply. I had this open all day yesterday, but sometimes my browser windows/tabs get out of control and I forget about stuff.

I think the #1 cause of this would be the connector where the LCD's ribbon meets the main PCB. If this isn't fully locked down properly, then it will sometimes work and then, when it gets a poor connection, it will be a white screen.

Here's an old video, but it's still applicable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sch5ZW1idz4

The Pi module itself can cause this, but that's rare. You can disconnect the Pi and reconnect it to see if that helps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn_pFBwEQxA

The other potential culprit can be the LCD driver. Offhand, I don't recall exactly the steps, but (with HDMI connected):
- When you boot up, go to the RetroPie menu (at the main menu)
- Choose Freeplay LCD driver (depending on which version of the software you're using, there may be a Freeplay menu and then the LCD driver is in a submenu)
- Choose the driver that suits your build (Probably "fast filled" or "fast cropped")

OR (if it's software) just try using a new SD card and burn the SD image to it to see if that helps. Then we'd know if it's a configuration problem.

Let us know if any of that helps.

[PickBricks]

Flavor,

Thanks for replying, I have made sure that the LCD screen is fully connected about 5 or 6 times. I have also tried an older image to see if that solved he problem, and it did not. I thought it was because I had connected it to the internet because the day after I did, it stopped working. So I tried to flash the image again and never connect it to the internet, but still no luck. I then thought that it could be the screen itself and ordered a new one from the FreePlay website. I just received it in the mail and plugged it into the FreePlay, I have not messed around with it but my first attempt did not give me what I was hoping for. I want to think that it is the FreePLay board itself, but I don't want to just to that conclusion just yet because you mentioned the driver in the menu. When I boot it up to HDMI it brings up a RetroPie menu and sample games in one collection. I will try the driver that you mentioned and I will tell you if it actually works.

Thanks for the help and understanding my situation.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
PickBricks

[Flavor]

PickBricks,

I re-read your first message and now see that you said you got a "FreePlay Zero CM3." In my reply, I had assumed that you had a Freeplay CM3. Now, I see, that you did say "Freeplay Zero" later. If you have a Zero, then the soldering on the Pi itself can definitely be a culprit for a white screen problem.

It can also be that something is contacting something else.

Basically, if everything else (button controls, green LED, audio, etc) is working properly, the white screen means that data is not getting from the Pi to the LCD. That could be the driver (like we mentioned) or it could be a connection problem.

A bad connection could be in a few different places.
1) Where the pins solder to the Pi
2) Where the Pi pins plug into the Freeplay board
3) Where the LCD plugs into the Freeplay board.

I think you already checked #3. To check #2, I'd probably just pull the Pi off of the Freeplay and then re-insert it.

For #1, maybe show some photos of both sides (the "back" where the pins are soldered being the most important) of the Pi. Often, this is a pin that's either not fully soldered or some solder that's touching something it shouldn't.

YES, it could be a problem on either circuit board. It's unlikely to be the Pi itself, but I will say that we have had a few people get new Pi Zero and that fixed things. In the same way, problems on the Freeplay board are rare, but it could be an issue there.

[PickBricks]

Flavor,

I have disconnected the Pi and then reconnected it with no change in state. I also checked to see if it was my soldering, and did not see anything touching. I just don't understand why my FreePlay Zero CM3 worked just fine before, and is now not working. I also messed around with the new screen and still no luck. I can try to re-solder it if you think that might help.

[PickBricks]

I have tried to change the LCD driver and the only options are:

Default Driver
Exp Cropped for FP Zero
Update binaries and Me...(I can't see the rest)
Exit without any chans(again, can't see the rest)

When I press "A" on the Exp cropped driver, it brings up some script saying "failed to stop fbcp.service: Unit fbcp.service not loaded.
Freeplay-fbcp: no process found
fbcpZero: no process found
update-rc.d : error: cannot find a LSB script for fbcp.sh"

And how do I show pictures of the FreePlay?

[Flavor]

I have tried to change the LCD driver and the only options are:

Default Driver
Exp Cropped for FP Zero
Update binaries and Me...(I can't see the rest)
Exit without any chans(again, can't see the rest)

When I press "A" on the Exp cropped driver, it brings up some script saying "failed to stop fbcp.service: Unit fbcp.service not loaded.
Freeplay-fbcp: no process found
fbcpZero: no process found
update-rc.d : error: cannot find a LSB script for fbcp.sh"

And how do I show pictures of the FreePlay?

On the Freeplay Zero, you would probably want to use the Default Driver.

The "Update" option is to try to update the scripts (pull any new changes from the internet).
The "Exit" option is just to exit that menu without any changes.

You can post photos here, but the tech support is starting to get a bit more in-depth.  I think you might want to open a SUPPORT ticket here.  Then, when we reply, you can attach photos.
https://www.freeplaytech.com/contact/

[PickBricks]

Do you have to be connected to the internet to be able to change the driver?

[Flavor]

No, but you would have to be to update.

BUT, if you started with a new fresh SD card and put the image on that, it should boot up using the LCD right away.

Actually on the second bootup! The first bootup will resize the filesystem to the SD and shutdown.

[PickBricks]

Can I use the same sd card and just delete the other image?