MagicMirror stays black, but loading from another browser (Windows, Android) works

[AnduriI]

Hey there,

up to yesterday my mirror worked fine. I did install a few modules (to name them MMM-Remote-Control and MMM-forecast-io) and prepared to install facial recognition. For this last point I followed the instructions on github MMM-Facial-Recognition-OCV3. I did the following:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo rpi-update
sudo reboot
sudo apt-get install build-essential git cmake pkg-config
sudo apt-get install libjpeg-dev libtiff5-dev libjasper-dev libpng12-dev
sudo apt-get install libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libswscale-dev libv4l-dev
sudo apt-get install libxvidcore-dev libx264-dev
sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-dev
sudo apt-get install libatlas-base-dev gfortran
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/Itseez/opencv.git
cd opencv
git checkout 3.3.0
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/Itseez/opencv_contrib.git
cd opencv_contrib
git checkout 3.3.0
wget https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
sudo apt-get install python3-dev
sudo python3 get-pip.py

I did not yet started building OpenCV. After that I noticed my mirror turned black (didn’t checked inbetween these steps). Just to check I disabled the modules installed since last known working condition, but without success. I only checked the modules after installing from both my Windows pc and my smartphone. That worked fine at all times.
My suspicion is that the updating in the beginning of MMM-Facial-Recognition-OCV3 did break something.
I tried npm install electron@1.4.15 and checked the logs, but there is no entry. My node is version 6.14.2 and npm is 3.10.10
Can anyone give me a hint on what to check for?

Best regards,
Anduril

[sdetweil]

I had to uninstall electron and install version 1.7.9 to get rid of the blank screen

[AnduriI]

what do you mean with uninstall? I did remove ~/MagicMirror/node_modules/electron and reinstalled via npm install in the MagicMirror folder. But still black screen.

[sdetweil]

@andurii npm has a remove operation

npm remove electron
npm install electron@1.7.9

[AnduriI]

ok I did use npm remove, but on installing electron@1.7.9 I got this:

pi@Spieglein:~/MagicMirror $ npm install electron@1.7.9

> electron@1.7.9 postinstall /home/pi/MagicMirror/node_modules/electron
> node install.js

events.js:160
      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
      ^

Error: EIO: i/o error, read
    at Error (native)
npm ERR! Linux 4.14.44-v7+
npm ERR! argv "/usr/bin/node" "/usr/bin/npm" "install" "electron@1.7.9"
npm ERR! node v6.14.2
npm ERR! npm  v3.10.10
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE

npm ERR! electron@1.7.9 postinstall: `node install.js`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the electron@1.7.9 postinstall script 'node install.js'.
npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed.
npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the electron package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR!     node install.js
npm ERR! You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with:
npm ERR!     npm bugs electron
npm ERR! Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via:
npm ERR!     npm owner ls electron
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR!     /home/pi/MagicMirror/npm-debug.log

I tried to use only npm install and see what version it installes:

pi@Spieglein:~/MagicMirror $ npm install

> electron@1.8.7 postinstall /home/pi/MagicMirror/node_modules/electron
> node install.js


> magicmirror@2.3.1 install /home/pi/MagicMirror
> cd vendor && yon install

npm WARN optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: fsevents@^1.0.0 (node_modules/chokidar/node_modules/fsevents):
npm WARN notsup SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Unsupported platform for fsevents@1.2.4: wanted {"os":"darwin","arch":"any"} (current: {"os":"linux","arch":"arm"})

> magicmirror@2.3.1 postinstall /home/pi/MagicMirror
> sh installers/postinstall/postinstall.sh && yon run install-fonts

MagicMirror installation successful!

> magicmirror@2.3.1 install-fonts /home/pi/MagicMirror
> cd fonts && yon install

magicmirror@2.3.1 /home/pi/MagicMirror
└─┬ electron@1.8.7
  ├── @types/node@8.10.19
  └─┬ electron-download@3.3.0
    ├─┬ fs-extra@0.30.0
    │ └── klaw@1.3.1
    ├── home-path@1.0.6
    └─┬ sumchecker@1.3.1
      └── es6-promise@4.2.4

So version 1.8.7 installes without problem but doesn’t work. Any further ideas?

[abetterway]

@andurii,

I ended up installing Chromium and displaying the Mirror locally using that. That was the only way I could get past the black screen.

Kyle

[AnduriI]

ok, I found a simply way to make chromium start in full screen mode, but how do I have to disable electron from entering full screen?

[AnduriI]

well that didn’t worked. I still only see a black monitor. I did also reinstall MagicMirror and connected to it via VNC. Strange thing is that I can see my MM on my VNC client, but not on my monitor. I didn’t even thought this would be possible…

[abetterway]

@andurii, I have no idea then. It worked perfectly for me. I’ll have to take a look at my configuration and let you know. I am currently traveling so I can’t look at the moment.

[Snille]

@andurii Hmm… Sounds like your monitor has gone to standby.
Login via SSH:

Make a sh file named: monitor.sh

Add the flowing to the file:

#!/bin/bash

if [ "$1" == 'on' ]; then
  tvservice -p;
  chvt 6;
  chvt 7;
fi

if [ "$1" == 'off' ]; then
  tvservice -o
fi

Then make it executable with: chmod +x monitor.sh
Turn on them monitor it like this: ./monitor.sh on
Turn it off like this: ./monitor.sh off

And of course, make sure you are on the correct input to actually see the Pi… :)

That should “turn on” (or off) the screen from SSH. :)

[AnduriI]

trying your script or chvt 6 [or 7] manually does result in this error:

Konnte keinen Dateideskriptor finden, der auf die Konsole verweist.

The monitor is turning on correctly and I can see the background dark grey in the mirror, but it simply does not show the mirror. Maybe it somehow has multiple desktops defined and just showing the wrong on hdmi output…

[idoodler]

@andurii Yep, that definetly sounds like your monitor just went sleeping.

[Snille]

@andurii I get the same error message “Couldn’t get a file descriptor referring to the console” but the monitor turn on… :)

I have tow desktops as well, the Mirror shows up on one of them… I can use (in VNC) CTRL + ALT + Right or Left arrow key to switch between virtual desktops.

[sdetweil]

that only works for PI devices where tvservice command exists… I run MM on an ODROID so, that doesn’t help…

I also use an EnergyStar TV, which freaks out when the video input signal is cut and then powers off after 15 minutes…

[AnduriI]

I did use CTRL + ALT + RIGHT or LEFT, but that didn’t helped either. Only change was that in the middle of the VNC-session was a small blue notification saying Desktop 1 so I suppose I have only one virtual desktop active.

[AnduriI]

well something strange I noticed… (don’t know if that’s related)
My Desktop used to be PIXEL I think (this nice road wallpaper and menu bars at the top. Now it looks like it is running Openbox. I don’t know how this happened, but it was not intended by me. Was that changed in the newest version because of my upgrades?