5

I added this to my config.txt file:

hdmi_drive=1

I can see a rainbow and recovery mode prompt. I pressed Shift key to enter recovery mode and installed Raspbian.

After installation, I can see a rainbow and recovery mode prompt, but the screen becomes blank (no signal) when booting Raspbian.

How can I solve this problem?

P.S.

I have a BenQ T900HD (1366x768 DVI) monitor and a HDMI to DVI cable

Improve this question
6
  • Can you access it through ssh? Is there anything in the logs?
    – Patrick Kostjens
    Commented Jul 7, 2013 at 15:35
  • No, there is no DHCP info from my router, so I do not know the IP address.
    – linquize
    Commented Jul 7, 2013 at 15:44
  • Can you take out the sd card and place it in another computer then to see if there is anything in the logs?
    – Patrick Kostjens
    Commented Jul 7, 2013 at 15:45
  • In order to check logs on SD card, do I need a Linux installation on physical machine or is it possible in VM (preferred)?
    – linquize
    Commented Jul 7, 2013 at 15:48
  • No, this is also possible with a VM. With the right drivers it also should be possible on windows though.
    – Patrick Kostjens
    Commented Jul 7, 2013 at 16:29

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
6

It is because /boot/config.txt is not created from the template. I just added 2 lines of settings on Windows. Every time raspbian boots, the file is overwritten by the template. After editing the /boot/config.txt from SSH, it works now.

uncomment the 2 lines from the template

hdmi_drive=1

hdmi_force_hotplug=1

Improve this answer
1
  • I just ran into the same exact problem. My raspiberry pi ran all this time and today it just quit.. It boots and then goes completely black screen and the green led light is blinking away. I can't seem to figure it out. I followed this answer, but it does NOT work for me.
    – ThN
    Commented Aug 31, 2016 at 19:23
1

Basically, it's a good idea to use proven configuration (TV, plain HDMI cable) to do the installation, and start tweaking the software settings and hardware environment later.

I'd suggest you to get HDMI cable to connect your RasPi to the TV set and check if everything works as it should. usually this won't take long, so nobody will miss the TV really much. And only after you've proven your RasPi is working well you may change your configuration and try to attach it to the monitor using HDMI-to-DVI converters.

Improve this answer
1
  • It can at least show raspb-config with an HDMI cable, HDMI Monitor and empty config.txt, but not work in my case described above.
    – linquize
    Commented Jul 13, 2013 at 3:48
0

Possibly the filesystem on the SD card has been corrupted, people seem to do this sometimes when they first get the pi by unplugging it indiscriminately. To check this with linux (a real system, a VM, or via a live CD), with the filesystem unmounted:

e2fsck /dev/whatever2

This will give you a clue as to whether the filesystem is okay, and hopefully also an opportunity to fix it. You may want to add the -c switch to check for and quarantine bad blocks.

/dev/whatever2 refers to the second partition (the first partition is a small VFAT thing with the OS kernel in it, and is unlikely to be corrupted). So /dev/whatever would be the whole card, /dev/whatever1 would be the first (little VFAT) partition, and /dev/whatever2 would be the primary ext2 partition.

If you are looking at logs, the one to look at is probably /var/log/syslog, however, from the sounds of things very likely booting never reached the stage where the primary filesystem is (re)mounted read-write, so there won't be any information there.

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.