Has anyone else experienced the screen going black, requiring the purchase of a replacement controller? I’ve tried replacing the Pi 3B and followed all 8 points in this link:
No signal on Screen / No video output from controller - Troubleshooting Video)
Hey Tor,
the HDMI port of a Raspberry Pi 3B can easily be made to break. When I opened the Onefinity Controller for the first time, I forgot that the power switch does not interrupt power to the internal power supply (!) and I opened the wrong end. One of the wires with lacking terminal insulation touched the case and I had a Raspberry Pi 3B with HDMI port no more working then (no image anymore). Controller was still usable remotely. Reinstalled the (matching outdated OS version) video firmware on the Raspberry, but it did not help. Bought a new Raspberry Pi 3B then.
When opening the Onefinity Controller, always unplug power plug before! Power switch does not interrupt power to the power supply!
When replacing the Raspberry Pi 3B, always work ESD-safe!
Image: ESD-safe work mat, grounded. Also use a ESD-safe and grounded handwrist strap.
I would check whether the new Raspberry Pi 3B works on another monitor. Any HDMI monitor (or DVI-D or DVI-I with adapter) will be suitable.
Welcome to the forum!
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I concur with this.
And, more specifically I had the situation where the HDMI jumper cable that runs from the Pi to the back panel of the controller box is what failed. I attribute this to having the monitor’s HDMI cable not supported enough, and over time, it placed too much downward stress on the outside part of the control box side of the connector causing it to fail.
The replacement part was inexpensive enough from Amazon that I bought two of them just in case (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WJGPQSW).
You could also check your HDMI cable going to the monitor itself, and even the HDMI port on the back of the monitor.
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Hey Forrest,
I agree that this is a general problem with HDMI, maybe this is with sockets soldered into the pcb and not otherwise supported. I have had this problem on various devices, e.g. a BluRay player, a HDMI audio extractor, and a HDMI source selector. I support the plugs externally now on different devices.
But of course I checked the HDMI output of the Raspberry Pi 3B that was inside the Onefinity Controller withouth the small HDMI extension. The HDMI output really did not work anymore.
But a good place to report this. Readers with the issue should always check this of course.
I believe there are thousands of buildbotics controller to have on the cheap from all the guys that upgraded to the elite.
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