Adafruit Pi Zero-W - No HDMI output

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Shag47
 
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Adafruit Pi Zero-W - No HDMI output

Post by Shag47 »

Booted Pi Zero-W with Adafruit NOOBS SDC. No video. Pi seems to boot, but can’t see anything. Tried Pi4 on same HDMI port and works fine. Using Adafruit adapter to full size HDMI cable. Changing cables doesn’t work either.

Suggestions???

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Re: Adafruit Pi Zero-W - No HDMI output

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

The adapter could be causing some interference between the Pi and the display, resulting in it not being able to negotiate specific display settings. Try booting with HDMI safe mode enabled. To do that:

* Put the SD card in another PC. You should be able to see the boot folder.
* edit the config.txt file
* uncomment the line that says HDMI_SAFE=1
* save
* reboot the Pi with updated SD card

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Shag47
 
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Re: Adafruit Pi Zero-W - No HDMI output

Post by Shag47 »

The config.txt file contains only the following:

gpu_mem=16
start_file=recovery.elf
fixup_file=fixup_rc.dat

[pi4]
start_file=recover4.elf
fixup_file=fixup4rc.dat

How should I insert the line you suggest. There are no commented lines.

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Re: Adafruit Pi Zero-W - No HDMI output

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Oh, yah, I think that's because of NOOBS.

Try starting over with a copy of Raspberry Pi OS Lite imaged to the SD card.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/operating-systems/

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Shag47
 
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Re: Adafruit Pi Zero-W - No HDMI output

Post by Shag47 »

Downloaded Lite and properly installed on brand new 32GB SD card. Even found the line in the config file and uncommented, before loading. Still no video. TV says no signal. Pi4 works great. Still no joy with Pi Zero.

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Re: Adafruit Pi Zero-W - No HDMI output

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Hmmm. OK. Let's see if we can verify the Pi is booting. It seems like you are at least seeing activity on the green ACT LED? Do you know how to ssh into the Pi?

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Shag47
 
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Re: Adafruit Pi Zero-W - No HDMI output

Post by Shag47 »

I am definitely getting activity, when it tries to boot up.
I rechecked to ensure the HDMI adapter was fully seated. It looked like it might go a little bit further and it did.. absolutely won’t go any more. Still no video.

I don’t know how to SSH.

Thanx for your patience with me.

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Re: Adafruit Pi Zero-W - No HDMI output

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Just to check, the adapter is one of these?
https://www.adafruit.com/product/2819
And you're using the same full size HDMI cable as used on the Pi 4 that worked?

As another way to sanity check the Pi Zero's state, try running this check and see what happens:
https://learn.adafruit.com/raspberry-pi ... -zero-dead

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Shag47
 
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Re: Adafruit Pi Zero-W - No HDMI output

Post by Shag47 »

Great guidance, Connected USB ports and PC instantly recognized the board, as you said. The board is alive! Changed the HDMI adapter . No joy… Looking for another HDMI cable to try.

The green LED does a lot of flickering on boot. I think the problem is in the video section. Perhaps the HDMI cable. It appears as though the board is booting up.

You mentioned SSH. Is that a way to throw the video at a different monitor???

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Re: Adafruit Pi Zero-W - No HDMI output

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

SSH is a way to remotely log into the Pi. Info here:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruits-ra ... -using-ssh

And as a way to configure wifi and other settings for the Pi, you can use this process:
https://learn.adafruit.com/raspberry-pi-zero-creation
which works by editing files directly on the SD card in another computer before booting on the Pi itself.

The other option for access is a debug cable:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruits-ra ... sole-cable

In general, this a tricky situation to troubleshoot - how do you troubleshoot display issues without being able to see the display? That's where SSH and/or using a USB debug cable comes in handy.

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