Orange Pi PC - Legacy kernel + Monitor with EDID?

Kestranor · May 1, 2018

Hi, Good people of Armbian-land!

First of all, thank you all for the awesome work you've been putting into Armbian. I recently purchased an Orange Pi PC, for which I'd like to use the Ubuntu desktop image, since I need the HW acceleration features. I tried using Mainline briefly but after confirming that the performance is just not there without the Mali drivers (as suggested by the description, so no surprise there), it seems Legacy is my only viable option. Which would be fine, but the monitor I'd like to use with my setup doesn't work with legacy (it works fine in Mainline). Also a sidenote: I connected the monitor using an HDMI-VGA converter.

I set the resolution after the initial setup via h3disp via SSH to a compatible resolution with the monitor, but if it is plugged in as the system boots, the whole screen just turns red instead of displaying the correct image. However, if I plug the monitor in AFTER the system booted, the screen is displayed correctly, according to the resolution I set up in h3disp.

This leads me to believe that somehow the EDID that this monitor sends overrides my manual settings during boot and the (probably) unsupported settings cause the red image. When using another - lower end and older - monitor with the same setup, including the HDMI-VGA converter, that one works fine. But I'd like to use the other one for my application, since the other one is higher-end.

In summary: can EDID indeed cause this issue in legacy? And more importantly: if so, is it possible to make the OPi ignore all EDID info coming from the monitor and just hard-force the resolution set in h3disp, regardless of what the monitor sends?

Thanks in advance.

Pasha Ram · May 2, 2018

Same here with such problem. The board is OrangePi PC+. Armbian_5.38_Orangepipcplus_Ubuntu_xenial_default_3.4.113_desktop

TV is not recognizing video signal from HDMI-VGA adapter connected to OrangePi. Adapter is 100% working with that board. Also this adapter starts up to this TV with my Dell notebook with windows.

tried all the modes of h3disp

stopped U-boot by pressing space and tried:

setenv video-mode sunxi:1024x768-24@60,monitor=dvi,hpd=0,edid=0

saveenv

restart

and then had a small progress at booting TV showed that signal is XGA just for 1 second and nothing more. Just black

Found out the troubleshooting guide https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/34512708-troubleshooting-a-raspberry-pi-hdmi-vga-adapter

Quote

First, try uncommenting the following line by removing the # from the start:

hdmi_force_unplug=1

This line tells the Pi to force output through the HDMI port, and not the composite port (the yellow plug on the original Pi, or shared 3.5mm audio/video port on the A+/B+/Pi2). Save the file, eject it from your PC/Mac, put it back into your Pi and try booting again.

If this does not work, try uncommenting the following line:

config_hdmi_boost=4

This will boost the HDMI signal. The value ranges from 0 (the default) to 7 (maximum). Try increasing it if necessary.

The last value you may try to uncomment is:

hdmi_safe=1

If one of these three works, you may find that your Pi is not using the monitor's optimal screen resolution. If this is the case then you may have to manually tell the Pi to use a specific resolution.

Once again, edit the config.txt file and add the following four lines:

hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080
hdmi_drive=2
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=28

The first line tells the Pi to ignore everything that the monitor is telling it about the resolution it can run at.

The second line tells the Pi to output video and sound through the HDMI port. Most VGA adaptors have an audio out for connection to your monitor or external speaker.

I dont want to even try Raspbian, How can i try this steps on Armbian?

zador.blood.stained · May 2, 2018

8 minutes ago, Pasha Ram said:

Found out the troubleshooting guide https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/34512708-troubleshooting-a-raspberry-pi-hdmi-vga-adapter

...

How can i try this steps on Armbian?

This is hardware specific and will not work on anything other than Raspberry Pi boards.

Pasha Ram · May 2, 2018

Just now, zador.blood.stained said:

This is hardware specific and will not work on anything other than Raspberry Pi boards.

Thanks for the reply, i have little more understanding. Found some info about forcing hdmi on Armbian but i'm very weak with compiling/decompiling boot scripts. Last time i crashed whole system by setting up hdmi things.

Kestranor · May 3, 2018

One workaround I found for my monitor is to just switch the OPi on, let it get past booting and then switch the monitor on afterwards. Then the image is displayed properly. This is a super-crude solution but if nothing else works, I guess I'll just do that to avoid the issue. Maybe you can try the same with your TV, assuming it's really the same issue?