No HDMI even after format & reimage SDcard?

stebai

OK - Am here because I have lost my will to live. I am new to Rasberry Pi’s and to be honest in a world of pain trying to understand what happened to my setup.

I have a 2gb Pi 4b on which I had Batocera running OK. Just to learn more I started to look at the shader options, as I liked the look of the curved screen. Sadly was too slow to really use, so thought i’d try checking out some others. 2 or 3 in I used the “enhanced” shader. Well.. that was a helluva mistake.

My full screen Pi now booted only into a small 640×480 video in the center of the screen. Fair enough I thought lets check the settings: Well the HDMI video option had completely dissapeared as has the audio option. Infact both only had “AUTO” as a listed choice. Tried changing lines in my config & config64 files as I read that this had helped others. no joy.

I got so fed up trying to troubleshoot I figured I may as well re-image the SDCard. I had kept the original 128gb image safely on an ext HDD for exactly this purpose. So back to formatting the SDCard and Balena Etcher. All went smoothly - no issues.

Popped the SDcard back into my Pi 4b and…. nothing had changed - no hdmi options, a tiny display on my TV and a heartbroken feeling. I felt certain that all the configs for Batocera on the Pi would have been on that formatted and re-imaged card.. What am I missing??

I have a retropie image that boots fine (so I know the HDMI port isn’t to fault..) Why oh why will Batocera not recognize the HDMI in my Video Options - any help will be massively appreciated. I am not a tech savvy 20 something - far from it I am a 56 yr old vintage gamer with limited skills, so please bear this in mind if you have time to help me.

Here is my config file - Using Notepad++ I have tried removing the # from the following following lines 32 & 47, - made no difference.. So do not think this problem is related to the config file (tho I am a novice)

Thanks for reading this and all the best.

# For more options and information see

# http://rpf.io/configtxt

# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# 64-bit mode

arm_64bit=1

# sets the initial CEC name of the device

cec_osd_name=batocera

# uncomment will lead to “safe mode” settings being used to try to boot with maximum HDMI compatibility.

#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible

# and your display can output without overscan

# at 0, it causes flickering on hdmi output

disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console

# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border

#overscan_left=16

#overscan_right=16

#overscan_top=16

#overscan_bottom=16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display’s size minus

# overscan.

#framebuffer_width=1280

#framebuffer_height=720

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

#hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment the hdmi_group command which defines the HDMI output group to be either…

# 1 use CEA (Consumer Electronics Association, the standard typically used by TVs) or

# 2 use DMT (Display Monitor Timings, the standard typically used by monitors).

# This setting should be used in conjunction with hdmi_mode.

#hdmi_group=1

# uncomment to apply an appropriate CEA or DMT mode for your display

# see the web site below for valid options depending on the hdmi_group setting

# https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt/video.md

#hdmi_mode=16

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in

# DMT (computer monitor) modes

#hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment will remove all other modes except the ones specified by hdmi_mode and hdmi_group from the internal list

# meaning they will not appear in any enumerated lists of modes.

# this option may help if a display seems to be ignoring the hdmi_mode and hdmi_group settings.

hdmi_force_mode=1

# use this option to allow selection of 4k 60Hz refresh rates.

# note, this will increase power consumption and increase the temperature of the Raspberry Pi.

# it is not possible to output 4Kp60 on both micro HDMI ports simultaneously.

#hdmi_enable_4kp60=1

# forces the EDID content type to a specific value.

# the options are:

# 0 = EDID_ContentType_NODATA, content type none.

# 1 = EDID_ContentType_Graphics, content type graphics, ITC must be set to 1

# 2 = EDID_ContentType_Photo, content type photo

# 3 = EDID_ContentType_Cinema, content type cinema

# 4 = EDID_ContentType_Game, content type game

#edid_content_type=4

# if you plug your tv at the same time as your rpi and that the rpi switches from the hdmi or give a low resolution because tv had no enough time to initialize it

boot_delay=3

# uncomment to enable composite output via 4 pole TRRS (“headphone”) socket.

# note: slightly slows down the entire system on Pi 4 models.

#enable_tvout=1

# uncomment for composite mode.

# 0 Normal NTSC (defult)

# 1 Japanese version of NTSC – no pedestal

# 2 Normal PAL

# 3 Brazilian version of PAL – 525/60 rather than 625/50, different subcarrier

# 16 Progressive scan NTSC

# 18 Progressive scan PAL

#sdtv_mode=2

# uncomment to define the wide aspect ratio for composite video output above.

# 1 4:3 (default)

# 2 14:9

# 3 16:9

#sdtv_aspect=3

# uncomment if you have slow sound issues on composite output

#audio_pwm_mode=0

# uncomment to pretend that all audio formats are supported by the display

# allowing passthrough of DTS/AC3 even when this is not reported as supported.

#hdmi_force_edid_audio=1

# uncomment to pretend that all audio formats are unsupported by the display.

# this means ALSA will default to the analogue audio (headphone) jack.

# hdmi_ignore_edid_audio=1

# uncomment to avoid the firmware parsing the EDID of any HDMI attached display

# that way the Linux video mode system (KMS) will then parse the EDID itself and pick an appropriate mode.

#disable_fw_kms_setup=1

# uncomment for lirc-rpi

#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# uncomment if you don’t want the rainbow at startup

disable_splash=1

kernel=boot/linux

initramfs boot/initrd.gz

# enable UART (required for for retroflag)

# affect rpi performances

enable_uart=1

# 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

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Configure GPU memory based on SDRAM size

# https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt/memory.md

# Default GPU memory split - at least 288M is needed for some 4k HEVC files

#gpu_mem=256

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)

dtparam=audio=on

[rpi4]

# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver on top of the dispmanx display stack

# Preferred ‘Full’ Kernel Mode Setting (KMS)

dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d-pi4

# Optional ‘Fake’ KMS for displays that won’t work with ‘Full’ KMS

#dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d

# Ensure only one display output can be used on the Pi4 with batocera

max_framebuffers=1

[DPI]

# Put any DPI required display code here

# i.e. Official 7″ DSI Raspberry Pi Touch Display for ‘Full’ KMS

#ignore_lcd=1

#dtoverlay=vc4-kms-dsi-7inch

# Overlay setup for proper powercut, needed for Retroflag cases

dtoverlay=gpio-poweroff,gpiopin=4,active_low=1,input=1

overscan_scale=0

Thanks again.

stebai

In a fit of fedupness, I booted without an SDcard. Inoticed that although the Pi booted the text was very fuzzy and breaking up. I had read earlier that some chap had had issues like that and had been using an HDMI F/F connector, as was I. Sooo, I plugged the Pi directly into my TV (unsightly cables but….) it worked!! Everything as it should be, I am ecstatic.

Just posting this incase it helps others down the line..