[Help!] White Screen on 2.8" TFT Display w/ Pi Zero/2

[Racerboy]

Hello,

I've been trying to get this 2.8" TFT Display to work with my Pi Zero and Retropie. The supplier provided me with a Jessie image that is apparently confirmed to work with their display, shown here: http://imgur.com/a/7TmRZ

When I use this image, my Pi Zero freezes upon booting every time at

Code: Select all

Started LSB: Set console font and keymap.

I tried hooking up the display to my Pi 2, and it still freezes, except this time at different varying steps during the boot, such as...

Code: Select all

Started LSB: Prepare console.

and

Code: Select all

Started Trigger Flushing of Journal to Persistent Storage.

I'm able to view the console via HDMI out, of course. The display shows a white screen at first, then partway through the boot it flashes black for an instant, then goes back to white, where it finally hangs.

I originally tried following this guide but wasn't able to get anywhere.

Anyone have any idea what's going on? I've checked my connections multiple times now. Pictures of my setup can be found here: http://imgur.com/a/xcrNg

The pins necessary for the display to work (found on the display's page description linked above) are:


Any help would be appreciated!

[Racerboy]

So apparently I was being dumb...and didn't know that the pi was actually not hanging...

I can communicate with it through SSH, but going through these steps to get RetroPie to work with this display does not work. Still not sure why only the backlight turns on and nothing else.

Anyone have experience with this sort of thing?

[wermy]

Hey, sorry for the delayed response!

I dunno man, those GPIO TFTs have been pretty hit and miss for me. :\

You said you are using the Jessie image they sent you? It really should just work out of the box with that image... Did you upgrade anything in the OS after flashing it, or use it as-is? I know if you upgrade the kernel it will likely un-do the things that were done to set up the screen in the first place.

[Racerboy]

I didn't make any modifications to it, mainly because I wouldn't know how. I've tried multiple times flashing a new image to the SD Card and it still just turns on the backlight only, no response.

They sent me another display that's on its way, this time with the header soldered to it so I can just stack it onto my Pi 2 and try it out, eliminating the possibility of connection mistakes.

I highly suspect that I need more pins connected to the display than just those 8 they listed. The fact that I tried it both on my pi zero and pi 2 pretty much confirms that either:

- the connections are wrong (which they aren't, I checked them a ton of times and the supplier even confirmed that they're fine)
- there aren't enough connections being made from the pi zero to the pi 2
- the display is defective

We'll see what happens when the new one shows up. This display is turning into a backup anyway though since I recently learned that the TFT's aren't optimal for gaming and new options are coming to light with other display options.