So, I have v5.1 for 2 weeks now, and I’m on the verge of returning the kit. When it works, it is really awesome and I had some great time with it, but the problem is, that most of the time it does not work. I’m hoping someone here maybe can offer some tips or solutions.
I feel that it is purely random whether it works or not. I can’t see any pattern or anything. It’s just random, and it’s frustrating af.
So, here is the list of problems or events:
I built it, tested it, had some fun – everything worked. Then, I left it on the table for few days (unplugged), having much work to do. After few days I’m trying to turn Zynthian on – black screen. IT WAS LITERALLY JUST LAYING UNTOUCHED FOR FEW DAYS. So, I plug it off, repeat – black screen. OK. I flash SD with the fresh Oram OS – black screen. OK. I flash the OS again, same SD card, same OS image – now it just boots without any issue?? What the actual f**k!?
So, next day I’m having some fun jamming, setting up synths and so on. While adding new chain the screen freezes on adding chain. Buttons, knobs, all not responding. The loop still playing in the background. Well, I guess, i just lost the work.
Later, it freezes again, this time on removing the chain. At least it was after few minutes, and not 2 hours of jamming. Yeah. Turn it off, then on. It shows: ERROR IP: AUDIO/MIDI. Well, turn it off, then on again – now it loads without any issue? WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K?? I didn’t connect or disconnect anything, I didn’t change anything, from the previous attempt it passed like 10 seconds. It just randomed to work this time.
Another time, another black screen while turning it on. Power it off, then on – now it loads without any issue??? Again, zero changes when it comes to what’s connected. It just randomed to not work, and then work.
So far I had only one session with Zynthian which went flawlessly, and it was the test boot after assembling it. So, I’d much appreciate any tips on how to make it more stable, or a plain answer that having to roll a dice to check whether it will boot at all is part of the „experience”.
Time, then, to check for intermittent contacts.
Examine ribbon cable connections to see they are properly seated and perhaps provide photographs.
Can you operate webconf?
Do you see any error messages displayed in the GUI log in webconf?
Can you ssh on to the machine?
If you attempt to start up the zynthian after stopping the running instance
systemctl stop zynthian
cd /zynthian/zynthian_ui/
. zynthian.sh
Are there any error messages reported?
Do you have access to a multimeter?
If so check voltage levels on sub components.
As well as double checking all the connections are properly made, you could try putting the uSD card directly into the RPi, instead of the extended cable. This has been known to have issue. (See other forum topic.)
Please do not use Etcher to flash the µSD.
A µSD card prepared with Etcher has defects that can show up with the errors described. Raspberry Pi Imager is the recommended software to flash the image. See updated Wiki.
Alright, thanks for all the advices! Good to hear my case is not standard, I really like the concept and the design of Zynthian, and I’ll like to fix mine.
I must’ve missed the part about not using etcher, so I’ll try with the official RPi one. BTW, the Gnome Disks tool didn’t work for me either, as now I see that wiki states it should – that’s why I used etcher.
If that won’t make situation better, I’ll try to log errors via ssh and to check voltage on components, and to put the card directly into the Pi.
A little update (maybe will be useful to someone) – I etched once again the SD, and this time I got error saying that setup is taking too long during the first boot. As I doubted it is SD faults (class A2, brand new), i flashed it again and plugged SD directly into the Pi. Now, the setup went flawlessly (and much faster than ever before!) so my guess would be it was fault of the fpc connecting sd port to the main board. I did bent it a bit more than I should I guess.
Also, this time during the first boot there were no failed tasks (last time there were some, but flashed to quickly to let me read what exactly failed).
I’ll try to have few sessions with Zynthian despite the working week and see how it goes. And then write something here, hopefully it really was faulty sd connector.
So, one more question since I’ve already started – I also tried to ssh, but both zynthian.local and zynthian.lan does not work (webconf neither). Seems like Zynthian is not detected at all (arp showing only my router). I’m pretty sure lan cable I used works (well, I haven’t used it for long time, but last time it was working…). Am I missing something, I should turn something on in settings to make Zynthian visible, or the problem is somewhere on my side?
And sorry if my first post was a bit harsh, it’s always frustrating to loose few hours of work on loop Hopefully everything will work now, and we’ll get along well with Zynthian!
Zynthian webconf runs on a separate thread from the main zynthian engine, so it is perfectly possible that this isn’t running for some reason, if things have been dynamic
If you have a GUI running you can find the IP address the machine believes it exists in by going into the zynth GUI admin section and checking the network section. It should tell you if it actually has managed to get that far and also gives you an ip address you can use to examine webconf or log in via ssh.
With an IP address you can check the webconf process in the same fashion we would use to check the output messages from a start up …
systemctl status zynthian-webconf
Will tell you the webconf’s status
systemctl stop zynthian-webconf
Will stop the running web server and rather more crucially stops it attempting to restart , which can add to the confusion.
cd /zynthian/zynthian-webconf/
. zynthian_webconf.sh
This should start the webconf component, or give you are reasonably detailed error message which will explain why it hasn’t started.
Don’t worry, we get the frustration, I could tell the passionate story of a round waveshare LCD display and it’s interactions with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2w but it’s all still too, too, recent…
No flowers. two replacements have been ordered, but they won’t be the same…
This was changed in the wiki in the last days. I hope this solve your issues. if not, we will help you to find and fix the problem. This community has a high rate of success on solving this kind of issues, if you have a little bit of patience and give us the info we need.
Hopefully everything will work now, and we’ll get along well with Zynthian!