MagicMirror screen goes black

[sdetweil]

@bhepler said in MagicMirror screen goes black:

It looks like there’s a temporary problem with Spotify. Since the problem is on their end, it most likely will be resolved soon.

but the module could be changed to handle that error and not crash

[DavyC]

Will try to do that soon. I do not have a lot of time to test, so there will be some delay :-)

[Cr4z33]

@davyc yes please fix it as I am getting the same issue (actually since today only although I got it running perfectly for weeks… :thinking_face: )

[stuartiannaylor]

https://github.com/MichMich/MMM-WatchDog

Isn’t this supposed to cover such occasions as that and restart the server.
I only have a Pi-Zero so far so have never tested the effect with the normal Electron setup just Chromium standalone kiosk style.
So I don’t actually no if or what the mechanism to restart the browser (Electron) is.
If it doesn’t refresh via MMM-WatchDog you can always use xdotools to send keys to an Xwindow and all you need to do is a ‘ctrl+F5’ which is a refresh and drops the cache so all is effectively loaded as new.

sudo apt-get install xdotool 

Then with ~/MagicMirror/run-start.sh add a line and nano xdotool.sh and chmod a+x xdotool.sh

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ]; then #If not set DISPLAY is SSH remote or tty
	export DISPLAY=:0 # Set by default display
fi
sh xdotool.sh &
electron js/electron.js $1

With xdotool.sh being something like this

export DISPLAY=:0
export XAUTHORITY=~/.Xauthority
sleep 10
xdotool search --onlyvisible --class "chromium" key ctrl+F5  -v 2>&1 | logger &

Dunno what the Electron class is but really its just Chromium in a wrapper so expecting that actually that will work.
If not you will just have to do a bit of testing to find the class or PID of electron http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man1/xdotool.1.html

[stuartiannaylor]

Replied again cursed by that akismi bot troll thing.

PS still setting it up but just monitor your logs.

Create a shell script with something like

 tail -fn0 logfile | \
while read line ; do
        echo "$line" | grep "pattern"
        if [ $? = 0 ]
        then
                ... do something ...
        fi
done

Maybe with a --retry to the tail command, or use -F instead of -f

Tack it onto your electron log and do the above xdotool.

[stuartiannaylor]

I gave you some bum steers on export XAUTHORITY=~/.Xauthority but prob was when I was using lightdm but for it to work omit that line.

I have 2 monitors running well 1 really as the Chromium one isn’t really doing anything as all is working fine.

xdotool.sh ended up just being

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ]; then #If not set DISPLAY is SSH remote or tty
	export DISPLAY=:0 # Set by default display
fi
xdotool search --onlyvisible --class "chromium" key ctrl+F5  -v 2>&1 | logger &

chrome-log.sh is just

#Grep is a bit confusing as \| ie OR not AND so you get the following of Or + inline there is the other string
#grep -q '8080\|ERROR' would return true if either exist (OR)
( tail -f -n0 ~/.config/chromium/chrome_debug.log & ) | grep -q '8080.*ERROR\|ERROR.*8080'
sh xdotool.sh

Main one for me is the PM2 one that waits for MagicMirror to say all is finished and point your browser

( tail -f -n0 ~/.pm2/logs/MagicMirror-out.log & ) | grep -q 'Ready to go! Please point your browser to:'
sh xdotool.sh

Better explanation can be found on https://github.com/StuartIanNaylor/MagicMirror-Install-Guide-Raspberry-0-to-3/tree/master/Magic Monitor

[motdog]

i have a black screen too. Just got dark sky working. was finally happy and while rebooting after installing another module it goes to black. I thought it was my pi (3b) so I tried my other pi 3b+ and just black. I noticed earlier what looked like a draining battery icon but have no clue what that could mean. I do have a cursor on my black screen. alt tab shows Electon but I cant do anything from there. Help

[sdetweil]

@motdog run

npm start dev

Select the console tab, and scroll back to find any errors, red text.

Usually black screen is syntax error in module.js

[motdog]

@sdetweil I can’t get to terminal. All I have is black screen with pointer on it. I’m sure it was when I copied a config

[sdetweil]

@motdog ctrl-shift-i

[motdog]

Thanks I’ll try in the morning. If I can somehow get to config.js I’ll undo what I did. Appreciate all of your help!

[sdetweil]

@motdog always make sure u have an alternative way into the system. Like ssh from your PC.

[motdog]

@sdetweil I use VNC viewer pretty much all of the time to access this and nothing happens. I do see the green light occasionally flash on the pi when I try with the keyboard hooked up to it & my tv.

[Cr4z33]

This post is deleted!

[motdog]

So I am still getting this about every 3-5 days. I have now playing on spotify and am wondering if that is the issue. Dark Sky is my weather app but the issue I had with the number of requests is not an issue any more. Curious as to why this happens. At the same time I can see the screen via my remote module

[sdetweil]

@motdog if you can, ctrl-shift-i to open the developers window and select the console tab…scroll around to see errors…

[motdog]

@sdetweil thanks, I will next time. I just hit control c and then reclicked on the MM tab on the desktop and it starts running again

[motdog]

@sdetweil got a message that dev tools was disconnected, once page is reloaded dev tools will automatically reconnect

[sdetweil]

@motdog so, some module crashed… the old updateNotofication module might still be the cause… is that enabled in config?

[motdog]

@sdetweil yes. I will delete it and see what happens. Typically its been every 3-5 days. I haven’t updated this version to the new software, should I or should I leave it alone?