Issues with RetroN 77 or my TV?

[unixdude]

Hi, all.

 

I have contacted both Hyperkin and Vizio about this issue, but figured I'd ask to learn whether others have seen an issue like this.

I have a RetroN 77 displaying to my Vizio D43fx-F4 (5 months old, bought at Wal-Mart), running the community build (latest or at max 1-2 revs back).  Yesterday I was playing H.E.R.O. on it with my son, and the video became garbled -- specifically there were horizontal black lines all over the place.  I power-cycled the R77 and after the power cycle, it wouldn't display on the TV. Tried power cycling it a couple more times, and sure enough, black screen every time.

 

I moved the R77 to another HDMI input on the TV, and it still shows black screen.  I tested another HDMI source on both inputs, and that other source (a 3rd gen Apple TV, if anyone cares) works fine on both inputs.

 

I tried a new HDMI cable with the R77.  No change.

 

I took my R77 to the other TV in the house (a 13-year-old Sharp LC-52D64U), and it displays just fine to that TV, so it would seem that there is nothing wrong with the R77.

 

I do have a receiver I could connect between the R77 and the TV, but I don't want to run that way, so I didn't try it out -- and my guess is that it wouldn't change things anyway.

 

Anybody ever seen this?  Any ideas what I can do?  I'm assuming that this is an issue with the TV and I need to wait for Vizio support to arrive (later this week) to fix it.

Thanks.

Edited August 3, 2020 by unixdude
Clarifications

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Have you been using the same power supply at both locations?

[unixdude]

Hi Thomas.  Yes, the same USB cable and AC-to-USB adapter was used in both locations.  In all cases, the R77's blue light comes on, it just shows a black screen on the Vizio.

 

This is a completely bizarre issue.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

7 minutes ago, unixdude said:

This is a completely bizarre issue.

True.

[fluxit]

3 hours ago, unixdude said:

I have contacted both Hyperkin and Vizio about this issue, but figured I'd ask to learn whether others have seen an issue like this.

I have a RetroN 77 displaying to my Vizio D43fx-F4 (5 months old, bought at Wal-Mart), running the community build (latest or at max 1-2 revs back).  Yesterday I was playing H.E.R.O. on it with my son, and the video became garbled -- specifically there were horizontal black lines all over the place.  I power-cycled the R77 and after the power cycle, it wouldn't display on the TV. Tried power cycling it a couple more times, and sure enough, black screen every time.

 

--snip--

 

Anybody ever seen this?  Any ideas what I can do?  I'm assuming that this is an issue with the TV and I need to wait for Vizio support to arrive (later this week) to fix it.

 

My only thought after reading your post a couple of times, is that while HDMI is nominally plug-and-play, plugging 'hot' doesn't work reliably with all devices.  Many devices will negotiate a link if the HDMI cable is plugged in while they are powered(and the input is live) but some will not, and you will see situations where a TV for example will always get a working connection to a particular device whether hot or cold, and whether you've switched to it before or after plugging it while another device will only properly negotiate if cold plugged.  As for the garbled video, you might have had a partially working cable(usb or HDMI) that was moved, or not securely plugged in.  Note that for the service of this hypothesis I'm assuming the new cable was hot-plugged, which is why it didn't work.

 

For this reason, my procedure for always reliable HDMI is to: 1. Physically plug in the device to the TV/monitor.

                                                                                                  2. Turn on the TV and switch to the correct input.

                                                                                                  3. Turn on the device that's been previously plugged.

 

If you weren't hot-plugging your HDMI cable(with the R77 on,) or plugging into an already active input on the TV(with the R77 on or off,) I'm afraid that I don't have any other ideas.

Edited August 3, 2020 by fluxit

[unixdude]

Thanks, yeah, I think what I'm seeing here is that my R77 has died: it no longer works with either TV in the house, on any input using any cables.

 

Here's a sample scenario:

- power on TV/amp/Apple TV

- observe functional connection (Apple TV displays to TV)

- swap HDMI cable from Apple TV to R77

- power on R77

- observe "no signal" message on TV

 

Doesn't matter what order I do those things -- doesn't matter if the R77 is powered on before or after moving the cable.

 

My guess is that the first time I tested on my second TV, the R77 was simply on its way out, and not fully dead.  At this point I never get any video out of it to either TV.

 

I'm pretty surprised that it died so soon -- mine is 14 months old.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

That's way too fast, IMO. Maybe you should contact Hyperkin and see how they react.

[unixdude]

Yeah, I reached out to both Hyperkin and Vizio, and we'll see what Hyperkin says.  We've gone back a few times, and I'm hoping for a positive result here.

[insertclevernamehere]

On 8/5/2020 at 3:09 PM, unixdude said:

Yeah, I reached out to both Hyperkin and Vizio, and we'll see what Hyperkin says.  We've gone back a few times, and I'm hoping for a positive result here.

Mine has just done the same thing only mine is only 7 months old and it's only been used about 10 times.  I reached out to Hyperkin last night but haven't heard anything yet.  What was your outcome?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

On my (developer) R77, the power switch is shaky, not always powering the console. Have you played with the switch?

[unixdude]

17 minutes ago, insertclevernamehere said:

Mine has just done the same thing only mine is only 7 months old and it's only been used about 10 times.  I reached out to Hyperkin last night but haven't heard anything yet.  What was your outcome?

I bought a new R77. I forget if it was a discounted warranty purchase directly from Hyperkin or if I just bought another at retail. In any case I don’t use it anymore: I now use my S-video (UAV) modded 2600. 

[AndrewM]

On 8/3/2020 at 11:42 AM, fluxit said:

 

My only thought after reading your post a couple of times, is that while HDMI is nominally plug-and-play, plugging 'hot' doesn't work reliably with all devices.  Many devices will negotiate a link if the HDMI cable is plugged in while they are powered(and the input is live) but some will not, and you will see situations where a TV for example will always get a working connection to a particular device whether hot or cold, and whether you've switched to it before or after plugging it while another device will only properly negotiate if cold plugged.  As for the garbled video, you might have had a partially working cable(usb or HDMI) that was moved, or not securely plugged in.  Note that for the service of this hypothesis I'm assuming the new cable was hot-plugged, which is why it didn't work.

 

For this reason, my procedure for always reliable HDMI is to: 1. Physically plug in the device to the TV/monitor.

                                                                                                  2. Turn on the TV and switch to the correct input.

                                                                                                  3. Turn on the device that's been previously plugged.

 

If you weren't hot-plugging your HDMI cable(with the R77 on,) or plugging into an already active input on the TV(with the R77 on or off,) I'm afraid that I don't have any other ideas.

I was having the same issue and this worked. Thank you!!!