Black Screen after Booting Up

[j.e.f.f]

@nickymac12 are you able to connect remotely? over SSH? if so you might be able to check MM’s logs to see if anything went wrong

[nickymac12]

@Mykle1 I tried the alt key but nothing happened. The Windows key won’t pull down the menu either.

[nickymac12]

@j.e.f.f I usually use VNC Connect to connect to it remotely, but since I moved into a new house it isn’t connected to the new wifi so it won’t work.

[Mykle1]

@nickymac12

So the mirror has no internet connection?

[j.e.f.f]

@nickymac12 maybe try connecting a LAN cable. it should work with DHCP by default

[nickymac12]

@j.e.f.f I was able to connect but it still shows a black screen and I still cannot control it.

[j.e.f.f]

@nickymac12 is SSH enabled? if so try to connect that way. That will allow you to check MM’s logs

[nickymac12]

I am able to connect via SSH now. How do I check the MM’s logs?

[j.e.f.f]

@nickymac12 type pm2 logs mm

[j.e.f.f]

@nickymac12 Also, at this point, you can start disabling modules one by one until MM starts. That should help you figure out the culprit.

[nickymac12]

@j.e.f.f all it responded with was
“Spawning PM2 daemon with pm2_home=/home/pi/.pm2”

[j.e.f.f]

@nickymac12 ok. Try installing the sample config file.
Type:

cd ~/MagicMirror/config

mv config.js config.js.bak (this will back up your existing config)

cp config.js.sample config.js

pm2 restart mm

If magic mirror starts, then you either have a problem with your config or with a module.

[nickymac12]

So, unfortunately, I only had an 8gb sd card so I used that in my Pi and it is full so it will not write config.js.sample because there is not enough room…

[j.e.f.f]

@nickymac12 Aha! I’d say that might be your problem. See if you can free up some space, then restore your config file, and restart MM

[nickymac12]

Oh! How can I clear up space remotely?

[j.e.f.f]

@nickymac12 you can delete files with the rm command. Be careful with this, because it can’t be undone.

Say you wanted to delete some pictures you have in a folder in you home directory. Navigate to that directory like so:

cd ~/photo-directory-name (whatever the folder name might be)

rm file-name.jpg (this will permanently delete the file)

You can remove entire directories with the -r switch. Example:

rm -r directory-name

And be sure to double-check your typing before you hit enter. deleting things this way is not recoverable.

[nickymac12]

Is there a way to see what directories or files I have so I know what I can delete?

[j.e.f.f]

@nickymac12 yes.

Use the ls command to see a list of files in the current directory

use the cd command to enter a directory e.g.: cd directory-name

use the the command cd .. to go back up to the parent directory

the pwd command will tell show the path to the current directory

cd ~ will take you your home directory

[nickymac12]

how would I restore my config file? Sorry I am new to using terminal and don’t really know all the commands.

[j.e.f.f]

@nickymac12 type:

cd ~/MagicMirror/config (Takes you to the MM config directory)

mv config.js.bak config.js (Restores your config file)

pm2 restart mm (restarts MagicMirror)