SOLVED: RPi image - qlc+ blocked at startup

lemon · Wed Apr 15, 2015 3:04 pm

Hi everybody,

I've downloaded the new RPi image for QLC+ and installed it on my RPi 2, all worked fine.
But now qlc+ won't start up anymore. I remains on the console saying "Starting Q Light Controller Plus...".
I've noticed that as long as qlc+ is getting started my keyboard does not work anymore, I can't even light the LEDs on the keyboard (for numlock, shift...). I've tried a different keyboard and a powered USB-Hub, but it didn't help.
Keyboard seems to be recognized correctly, and if I pull the USB connector out the RPi recognizes it, also when I put the USB connector of the keyboard into the RPi again.
Don't know it the keyboard issue has to do with qlc+ not starting anymore.

Thanks in advance

Andreas

lemon · Wed Apr 15, 2015 4:46 pm

Ok, I've found out now that keyboard and mouse stop working BECAUSE of qlc+.
I've renamed /etc/init.d/qlcplus to avoid qlc+ from starting and keyboard and mouse will work fine now. Obviously qlc+ won't run, so this could not be the solution for me.
But maybe it could help you to locate the error.

mcallegari · Wed Apr 15, 2015 5:17 pm

Was the same keyboard working with a previous RPI image ?
I've got a crappy keyboard and a crappy mouse connected directly to the Pi and they both work fine here.

lemon · Wed Apr 15, 2015 8:03 pm

Ciao Marco,

the same keyboard works fine with another SD-Card with your Rpi image on the same Rpi (I've tried out now).
But I'd like to understand what happened and how I can solve the problem 'cause I'd like to use the RPi in a production environment.

lemon · Thu Apr 16, 2015 6:23 am

Hi Marco,

Is there any log of qlc+ where I can find the error that makes qlc+ hang up?
Via SSH the RPi remains still accessible, but on the direct console I can't do anything at all

janosvitok · Thu Apr 16, 2015 7:00 am

qlcplus --debug 0 --log see http://qlcplus.org/docs/commandlineparameters.html

Alternatively, it should be possible to attach debugger and inspect the process, but I'm not able to explain the process here.

mcallegari · Thu Apr 16, 2015 7:00 am

janosvitok wrote:qlcplus --debug 0 --log see http://qlcplus.org/docs/commandlineparameters.html

Alternatively, it should be possible to attach debugger and inspect the process, but I'm not able to explain the process here.

Jano, I think the debug messages are disabled on the RPi as well.
I'm afraid this is a kernel/Qt5 related thing, but I have no idea why is happening. A USB keyboard is one of the most basic USB device out there.

@lemon: Who is Marco ???

lemon · Thu Apr 16, 2015 7:35 am

Sorry Massimo, my smartphone corrected your name to Marco

I've tried the debug mode, it gave me the following:

Code: Select all

"/usr/share/qlcplus/fixtures/Chavet-Legend-230SR-Beam.qxf" not in FixturesMap.xml
bool QLCFixtureDefCache::addFixtureDef(QLCFixtureDef*) Cache already contains "Chauvet Legend 230SR Beam"
"/usr/share/qlcplus/fixtures/KAM-LED-PartyBar.qxf" not in FixturesMap.xml
OLA: common/network/TCPSocket.cpp:158: connect(127.0.0.1:9010): Connection refused
olaout: Connect failed, is OLAD running?
olaout: start thread failed

lemon · Thu Apr 16, 2015 8:25 am

Ok, I've made a few other tests.
As I said the same RPi qill work fine with another QLC+ image and with the same keyboard connected. I've started QLC+ with the same debug-level and... I got the same error log messages.
So that errors are not responsibly for the blocked QLC+.
I also noticed that if I kill the QLC+ process via SSH the keyboard won't work anymore either on that other QLC+ image.

Anyway, the errors are the same, but on the first image QLC+ can't be started.

lemon · Thu Apr 16, 2015 8:41 am

SOLVED!!!

As I had other issues with the other QLC+ image (windows not fullscreen) I looked for other users having the same problem and found one here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1785&p=8793&hilit=fullscreen#p8793.
After deleting that QT... file in the /root/.config/qlcplus directory the windows was fullscreen again.
So I tried deleting that file on my faulty image and voilá! It workes again.

What is this file about? Can I delete it every time? As I use my RPi on different monitors obviously the fullscreen problem will be present every time, but if I could delete that file at startup (=before QLC+ is getting started)...
I've seen the file will be created only after QLC+ hat been started, so deleting it shouldn't be a problem, shouldn't it?

Thanks again

Andreas

mcallegari · Thu Apr 16, 2015 1:05 pm

Andreas, wait a second. Are we talking about the OP issue or another one now ?
The file in /root/.config/qlcplus is where all the QLC+ configurations are stored, including some specific parameters of the plugins.
So I wouldn't suggest to delete it.

It should have nothing to do with the keyboard.
It would be more interesting to understand what is the parameter actually causing your issue.

lemon · Thu Apr 16, 2015 1:16 pm

Hi Massimo,

I'm sorry but the Q...conf file already has been deleted, otherwise I won't be able to use my QLC+ on the RPi again. I did that after reading that other thread.

But will there be any solution for different monitors with different resolutions?

Jimmy T. · Thu Apr 16, 2015 9:33 pm

Hi Lemon,

But will there be any solution for different monitors with different resolutions?

I have a custom application I'm doing with my RPi and I'm using a 9" LCD HDMI/Composite screen to show my button information as I use a foot controller to run my lights.

The Raspberry Pi #2 does seem to work a little differently that the original when it comes to using my display. I takes HDMI but is VERY small is showing the whole screen like on a TV. I had to modify the /boot/config.txt so it would display well enough to be able to see my screens.

I set the following parameters:

Code: Select all

hdmi_group=1
hdmi_mode=3

Sdtv_mode=0
Sdtv_aspect=3

I found good information at http://elinux.org/RPiconfig. I don't know if it is updated with any of the 2.0 information but was a great start.

There is a large difference in picture quality between HDMI and Composite, but the small cable for the composite video is a big advantage for me.
HDMI

Composite

I attached my project so you can see the button sizes. I have 18 foot buttons to allow me to select scene, pages and anything I want. I'm still working on it so not completed yet.

13 Light Rig v4.qxw: (140.44 KiB) Downloaded 461 times

lemon · Fri Apr 17, 2015 5:00 am

Hi Jimmy,

thank you very much for this information you provides, unfortunately it wasn't the one I'm looking for.
I own 5 RPis (v1 and v2) and know the possibilities of the config.txt very well, but obviously Massimo's RPi image looks for the screen resolution the first time it starts and then it writes these information in another .conf-file. When I attach another screen afterwards, the RPi puts out the resolution of the screen before, just because it's written in that .conf-file. So it will happen that QLC+ is not shown in fullscreen but just half the screen (and that's not very useful).

What I'm looking for is the possibility of attacching different screens to my RPi without having to modify this .conf-file at all.

mcallegari · Fri Apr 17, 2015 5:00 am

lemon wrote:Hi Jimmy,

thank you very much for this information you provides, unfortunately it wasn't the one I'm looking for.
I own 5 RPis (v1 and v2) and know the possibilities of the config.txt very well, but obviously Massimo's RPi image looks for the screen resolution the first time it starts and then it writes these information in another .conf-file. When I attach another screen afterwards, the RPi puts out the resolution of the screen before, just because it's written in that .conf-file. So it will happen that QLC+ is not shown in fullscreen but just half the screen (and that's not very useful).

What I'm looking for is the possibility of attacching different screens to my RPi without having to modify this .conf-file at all.

Andreas, you started this thread for a problem with a keyboard and now it became a problem with the screen.
Thing is that you didn't even reported which screen and resolution you're using ! HDMI ? VGA with an adapter ? DVI with an adapter ?

Please, to get help here you need to let us understand what you're doing and what is your equipment.
As for changing monitor on the Pi, you need to remove the .conf file. Maybe I can improve the code to always force fullscreen, not caring of the conf file.

But again, please give us all the details first.

lemon · Fri Apr 17, 2015 11:16 am

Hi Massimo,

ok, I started with the problem my RPi didn't execute QLC+ properly, and I found out it was because of the Q...conf file which I deleted and could use QLC+ again.
Regarding the different solutions I just wanted a little hint from you, didn't want to make this thread explode because of this.
So there will be no more questions about resolution, I'll continue in that other thread I mentioned.

Thank you

Andreas