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Tinkerboard won't start with connected HDMI

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Hello,

I'm observing a strange behavior. If I connect the Tinkerboard to HDMI, it won't start. Only the red led LED lights up. Yellow and green did not light up. The Tinkerboard ist connected to a NorthPada 5V 3A Micro USB Charger power supply. I measured the supply voltage with 5.3V and checked with an oscilloscope if there are voltage dips. But the voltage was stable.

I did a cross test. I unplugged the HDMI cable and started the Tinkerboard. The Tinkerboard starts and the yellow and green LEDs lights up. I measured the supply voltage with 5.3V and checked with an oscilloscope if there a voltage dips. The voltage was stable and dropped to roughly 5.1V for a short time when the green LED flashed. I can connect the HDMI monitor and work with it. The board works fine.

I use Armbian_5.59_Tinkerboard_Debian_stretch_next_4.14.67

How can I check what's going wrong and where the Tinkerboard stucks in the boot process.
Whats wrong with the HDMI?

TonyMac32

TonyMac32

Posted
Posted
  On 10/30/2018 at 10:44 PM, The said:

Only the red led LED lights up.

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This says you are stuck in u-boot.  There are some patches there that may be troublesome, would need checked.

 

  On 10/30/2018 at 10:44 PM, The said:

But the voltage was stable.

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Good information

 

  On 10/30/2018 at 10:44 PM, The said:

I unplugged the HDMI cable and started the Tinkerboard. The Tinkerboard starts and the yellow and green LEDs lights up.

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We added some patches from Asus to enable some of the nicer things like CEC/etc, unfortunately someone with a similar problem apparently simply decided to start cutting wires instead of finishing the software debug.  Have you tried another monitor that may have different/more limited capabilities?

 

  On 10/30/2018 at 10:44 PM, The said:

How can I check what's going wrong and where the Tinkerboard stucks in the boot process.

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UART adapter on the debug UART (it is either UART 2 or 3, it changed at one point and then again after the vendor kernel issues)  That will show whatever output is being produced by U-boot/the kernel (assuming it gets to the kernel but dies parsing the DT)

 

  On 10/30/2018 at 10:44 PM, The said:

Whats wrong with the HDMI?

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What is typically wrong with such things:  open source drivers created without 100% cooperation of the vendor who produced the thing.  Changes in the codebase have entirely unintended consequences (See BayLibre's comments about the Amlogic clock system and their undocumented system supervisor core)

The

The

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  On 10/31/2018 at 1:30 AM, TonyMac32 said:

We added some patches from Asus to enable some of the nicer things like CEC/etc, unfortunately someone with a similar problem apparently simply decided to start cutting wires instead of finishing the software debug.  Have you tried another monitor that may have different/more limited capabilities?

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I've tested it with two Full HD televisions of different brands that works when it is connected at startup. Then I checked the monitor that don't work.

 

  On 10/31/2018 at 1:30 AM, TonyMac32 said:

UART adapter on the debug UART (it is either UART 2 or 3, it changed at one point and then again after the vendor kernel issues)  That will show whatever output is being produced by U-boot/the kernel (assuming it gets to the kernel but dies parsing the DT)

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UART 2 with 115200 baud shows me U-Boot. Here is the recording of the monitor that works.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Here is the second recording of the monitor that dont works.

  Reveal hidden contents

Both outputs are equal up to the line "Failed (-5). I don't get an error message.

 

I checked UART 3 with 115200 baud. Here is the first with the monitor that works.

  Reveal hidden contents

All works fine. No error messages. With the second monitor that dont works I don't get an output.

 

Bottom line: I can start the tinkerboard with a Full HD TV. When I connect the board to the monitor (resolution 1920 x 1200) via HDMI it does not start. I started the tinkerboard with the unplugged HDMI cable. The Tinkerboard starts normal. When the yellow and green LEDs lights up I connect the HDMI monitor. The monitor works an has the correct resolution. The board works fine.

 

Appendix:

I searched the internet for the message "Card did not respond to voltage select!". It seems to be a common problem with U-Boot but nobody is concerned. So I guess in my case, it's not the problem.

 

  On 10/31/2018 at 1:30 AM, TonyMac32 said:

See BayLibre's comments about the Amlogic clock system and their undocumented system supervisor core

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I don't know the comment. Do you have a link?

TonyMac32

TonyMac32

Posted
Posted

Thank you for the info, it is definitely u-boot where the problem lies.

As for the comment, more or less while mainlining Amlogic SoC's they've come across hardware dependancies that were completely undocumented and caused very strange bugs after what should have been pretty simple code improvements.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

freak

freak

Posted
Posted
  On 10/31/2018 at 1:30 AM, TonyMac32 said:

We added some patches from Asus to enable some of the nicer things like CEC/etc, unfortunately someone with a similar problem apparently simply decided to start cutting wires instead of finishing the software debug.  Have you tried another monitor that may have different/more limited capabilities?

Expand  

 

Cutting the wire is what helped me find the problem.  Finishing (or even starting) the software debug of u-boot is probably out of reach of most users.

TonyMac32

TonyMac32

Posted
Posted

I agree, however we weren't clear which wire was even cut last time we discussed, so I can't be sure what feature is truly causing the issue without confirmation. I unfortunately don't have a monitor that causes this, I'll run through them again and see if I can find one I guess.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

freak

freak

Posted
Posted
  On 11/5/2018 at 7:06 PM, TonyMac32 said:

I agree, however we weren't clear which wire was even cut last time we discussed, so I can't be sure what feature is truly causing the issue without confirmation. I unfortunately don't have a monitor that causes this, I'll run through them again and see if I can find one I guess.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 

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Yeah I was sure.  Line 15 DDC. 

 

I also offered to donate a monitor.

 

 

TonyMac32

TonyMac32

Posted
Posted

Ok, that gives me a direction, the kernels are having I2C problems now too that were noticed.  I'm going to make the crazy guess it all lies in U-boot.  

freak

freak

Posted
Posted

I should also add that I don't EXPECT anyone to fix this.  That's why after I was told to debug u-boot I stopped talking about it.  We stopped updating the units for now while we weigh out our options.

(but I do appreciated any effort anyone puts into it!)

TonyMac32

TonyMac32

Posted
Posted
  On 11/5/2018 at 7:34 PM, freak said:

I should also add that I don't EXPECT anyone to fix this

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No worries, I don't like that something is wrong, like I said I think it is spilling over into the kernel and needs to be addressed.

dragonlost

dragonlost

Posted
Posted

Hello. I have exactly the same problem on an HP EliteDisplay E242 display.

If I plug in the screen just after booting, the image is displayed correctly.

maurizio_69

maurizio_69

Posted
Posted (edited)

Same problem here on monitor DELL SP2309W.

Connected on Samsung TV, the problem desappear.

 

Is started after the 5.59 release (no issues on 5.41).

 

 

 

 

Edited by maurizio_69
TonyMac32

TonyMac32

Posted
Posted

OK, for the unafraid, I have removed some HDMI hackery that was part of some patches on older U-boots than what we use.  Install the file below if you have kernel 4.14 (so "next") and are seeing this issue, let me know if that alone fixes it, or if you see any other issues.

 

http://electricgraveyard.com/armbian/tinker/uboot/linux-u-boot-next-tinkerboard_5.67_armhf.deb

 

[EDIT]    Updated, I found the issue now appeared on one of my "previously good" monitors.  I disabled video in u-boot entirely, seems ok now.  That does leave some questions for the 4.4 kernel as I think it now needs u-boot to set this up...

1
hissingshark

hissingshark

Posted
Posted

@TonyMac32

Hi, just received my Tinkerboard this week.  First time boot with my Dell 2408WFP monitor and was stumped by this bug.

True to form it only boots with the HDMI disconnected, and I can then connect it after boot.

 

I've installed your .deb on debian_stretch_next(4.14). and now it's booting for me.

Good job.

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