# No HDMI signal in Screenly OSE Raspberry Pi **URL:** \ **Category:** Product support\ **Created:** [February 6, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233 "2019-02-06T15:36:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ienc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Ienc](https://forums.balena.io/u/Ienc)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/1 "2019-02-06T15:36:26Z")
Hi there, I’m pretty new to the Balena environment but I have managed to install my first device. I’m using a Raspberry Pi Zero W, it’s already loaded with Balena OS 2.29.2+rev1 and connected to BalenaCloud. The status of the device is online. When I go to the Public Device URL, I can see and confirm that Screenly OSE is installed and running, however, the monitor connected to the Raspberry Pi is in black . The Screenly Monitor & Power Info says: Unable to run tvservice. Unable to determine display power At the first boot, I was able to see the screen and text while Balena OS was installing in the Raspberry Pi . The installation guide doesn’t mention any more steps, although I remember searching on google and I finding a blog saying that one more step is needed for the Screenly package to be able to show locally through the Raspberry Pi hdmi output but I can’t find that page with those instructions. Any suggestions ? ---
**Author:** ![dansku](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/dansku/32/1183_2.png) [@dansku](https://forums.balena.io/u/dansku)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 10:07am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/4 "2019-02-08T10:07:05Z")
Hey @lenc, could you let me know which tutorial or base images you are using for this so that I can try to replicate the issue. Secondly, is the HDMI monitor/tv connected **before** the raspberry pi is turned on? You can also try adding the environment variable `hdmi_force_hotplug=1` which will forge the GPU to enable HDMI. Let me know how it goes. Thank you ---
**Author:** ![Pauldow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@Pauldow](https://forums.balena.io/u/Pauldow)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/5 "2019-02-12T21:29:29Z")
I’m in a similar situation. I’m just starting, and I had a Balena logo on the screen until I installed Screenly. I turned the monitor on, the slides I loaded appear for about 1/2 second, and then the screen went blank. I changed to a different display device, and it worked. It seems that the monitor I was using didn’t like either the set resolution or scan rate. I found a different one, and the monitor info now says: state 0x12000a [HDMI CEA (16) RGB lim 16:9], 1920x1080 @ 60.00Hz, progressive I’ve got an old small television I plan to use with this, so I’ll try to go in to edit the config file to change the output resolution. ---
**Author:** ![chrisys](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/chrisys/32/1731_2.png) [@chrisys](https://forums.balena.io/u/chrisys)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/6 "2019-02-13T14:08:02Z")
@Pauldow you can also set the resolution via config variables within balenaCloud. All of the options are documented on the Raspberry Pi site [here](https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt/video.md), any of which you can add in the dashboard by prepending `BALENA_HOST_CONFIG_`. ---
**Author:** ![Pauldow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@Pauldow](https://forums.balena.io/u/Pauldow)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/7 "2019-03-01T15:31:39Z")
I followed your advise and set custom configuration variables: RESIN\_HOST\_CONFIG\_hdmi\_group 1 RESIN\_HOST\_CONFIG\_hdmi\_mode 4 That gives me 1280 X 720 resolution for my cheap TV. state 0x12000a [HDMI CEA (4) RGB lim 16:9], 1280x720 @ 60.00Hz, progressive Also, when I created the configuration variable it automatically used the prefix RESIN\_, You said to use BALENA\_ I assume everything will eventually transition to the BALENA prefix, but I just want to check if either will work now. ---
**Author:** ![chrisys](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/chrisys/32/1731_2.png) [@chrisys](https://forums.balena.io/u/chrisys)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 11:45pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/9 "2019-03-12T23:45:47Z")
Hi again @Pauldow - you’re right in that either `RESIN_` or `BALENA_` prefixed variables will work right now but eventually this will fully transition to `BALENA_`. ---
**Author:** ![jason.dinsmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jason.dinsmore](https://forums.balena.io/u/jason.dinsmore)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 3:30am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/10 "2020-01-29T03:30:55Z")
Hi there, I seem to be having a slightly similar issue I was hoping someone might be able to help me with… I have installed Screenly OSE via Balena Cloud but once the Screenly app launches at boot the screen goes blank. I can prove the HDMI output is working because when restarting the device I am able to see the boot screen and Balena logo for a few seconds before it goes blank (I’m assuming this is where Screenly kicks in). The monitor is receiving a signal from the device but nothing is being displayed because it never goes “off” or says No Signal. I have had a look around the forum and tried the following device configs to no success: RESIN\_HOST\_CONFIG\_hdmi\_group 1 RESIN\_HOST\_CONFIG\_hdmi\_mode 4 RESIN\_HOST\_CONFIG\_hdmi\_safe 1 RESIN\_HOST\_CONFIG\_sdtv\_aspect 3 Device - Rasp Pi 3B+ Code Deployed - 2019-09-25-Screenly-OSE I should point out I am pretty new to all this so I’m trying to get my head around the Linux world so please forgive any glaring ignorance or missed important information. I did take a look at the logs for what it was worth and while I couldn’t work out everything that was going on, I can see the Screenly Server service gets restarted every minute or two, not sure if this is normal behavior though. ---
**Author:** ![robertgzr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/robertgzr/32/1387_2.png) [@robertgzr](https://forums.balena.io/u/robertgzr)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 11:37am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/11 "2020-01-29T11:37:22Z")
It would help if you could share some of the logs from right before the service gets restarted. ---
**Author:** ![jason.dinsmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jason.dinsmore](https://forums.balena.io/u/jason.dinsmore)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/13 "2020-01-30T00:18:28Z")
[screenly\_weathered-river-30.01.20\_10\_45\_19\_( 1100).log](https://forums.balena.io/uploads/short-url/aii6nAUcdsB1X3R3fxzWCuVvxVH.log) (104.8 KB) Please find attached the logs after a reboot. I’ve noticed both the screenly-server and screenly-celery sevice restart and this is usually about 3 seconds after the following error: **TypeError: from\_buffer() cannot return the address of the raw string within a str or unicode object** I have tried the same setup on another Rasp Pi 3B+ just in case it was an issue with the SD card but I’m getting the exact same thing. This specific log is from the new Pi i’ve just provisioned but I have compared the logs and it’s the same error and same services restarting. ---
**Author:** ![vicgal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/df705f/32.png) [@vicgal](https://forums.balena.io/u/vicgal)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/23 "2020-01-30T15:59:32Z")
Hi, This tutorial [https://www.balena.io/blog/deploy-free-digital-signage-software-screenly-ose/](https://www.balena.io/blog/deploy-free-digital-signage-software-screenly-ose/) works on a newly flashed RPI3 (with no other changes). Just tested it. Could you check on another RPI3? And if a second RPI3 exhibits the same behavior, could you grant support access and share the link to it? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![jason.dinsmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jason.dinsmore](https://forums.balena.io/u/jason.dinsmore)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2020, 4:16am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/25 "2020-01-31T04:16:43Z")
Hey, so that is the guide I originally followed but I started from scratch and it’s actually working properly now. The only thing changed was the card reader used to burn the image…must have been a dodgy one. I will try the process again on the 2nd pie and hopefully can get that up and running also. Thanks for your help. ---
**Author:** ![rahul-thakoor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de053/32.png) [@rahul-thakoor](https://forums.balena.io/u/rahul-thakoor)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2020, 9:17am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/no-hdmi-signal-in-screenly-ose-raspberry-pi/5233/26 "2020-01-31T09:17:40Z")
hey @jason.dinsmore Glad to hear you got it working! Hopefully, the second one works too. Cheers! Rahul