Problems with Display Going Blank or self-selecting TonTec

[G8GKQ]

A number of Portsdown users have reported a problem where their touchscreen display has suddenly gone blank, and on checking, the display settings have reverted to the TonTec display.

I want to cure this problem, but have been unable to reproduce it during my many hours of testing different software builds on 3 different RPis and many SD Cards. So, I need your help to identify possible causes. If it has happened to you, please reply to this post answering the following questions:

- What were you doing when it happened?

- Were you in Console mode or touchscreen mode before it happened?

- Had your callsign or locator been erased?

- What SD Card are you using? (BATC or other make/model)

- Have you ever seen the lightning bolt appear in the top right of your display?

"Don't know" answers are acceptable!

Thanks

Dave, G8GKQ

[KenW6HHC]

Hi Dave G8GKQ,

I used this REBOOT sequence to create a stuck WHITE screen twice this afternoon (in a Portsdown-RPi3-DATV-Express configuration)

1) Power up DATV-Express then RPi3
- Assure Touchscreen buttons appears normally at boot-up
- select TX...watch Spectrum Analyzer and video on TouchScreen is working OK
- Select TX again to turn off the transmitter

2) Start-up Putty SSH MENU
- use SSH MENU to verify DISPLAY set-up is OK with WaveShare selected....CANCEL out of DISPLAY

3) Use MENU Shutdown and Reboot to initiate REBOOT
- select REBOOT from menu
- watch Putty Error message pop-up and then say OK
- Touchscreen turns WHITE
- I can NOT see SSH menu any more
- Disconnect power from RPi3

4) On RPi3 Power-Up...Touchscreen hangs in WHITE screen after boot-up
- using the bash MENU string I can start up the SSH MENU again and confirm that TonTec display is selected again.
- I think sometimes I have to re-start Putty to get to the SSH MENU?

Answers to your questions:
A) What were you doing? - trying to do a REBOOT from SSH MENU
B) in Console mode or touchscreen mode? - I was using both at same time when I started REBOOT
C) callsign or locator been erased? - do not know...not sure callsign works yet with DATV-Express configuration.
D) SD Card are you using? - BATC purchased
E) ever seen the lightning bolt icon appear? - never

I hope this info helps your efforts...de Ken W6HHC

[DG8KD]

Had the choice set to tonTec instead of the selected Waveshare screen, was confused by non working buttons which were not touchable while rotated by 90 degreees.

- What were you doing when it happened?
happened after start , maybe not correctly powered down before

- Were you in Console mode or touchscreen mode before it happened?
in touchscreen mode

- Had your callsign or locator been erased?
No.

- What SD Card are you using? (BATC or other make/model)
own SD

- Have you ever seen the lightning bolt appear in the top right of your display?
no more after using a 5.1V specified power supply

BTW: Would it be possible to add a "Shutdown" button to the touch screen menu? Would help to avoid corrupted data on the SD card.

[G8GKQ]

Ken, Rainer

Thank you both for your replies. They pointed me to exactly the right place in the code and hopefully I now have a fix for the problem.

Once I have tested it, I will release it so that it will be available for everybody through the normal upgrade process.

Thanks again for your help.

Dave, G8GKQ

[G8GKQ]

Rainer

The shutdown button is coming in a few releases time (with another page full of useful buttons).

Dave

[G8GKQ]

Hopefully, this issue is cured in today's release, 201704080. Thanks to Ken for pinpointing it.

Dave