waveshare white screen rpi zero w w
December 15, 2023, 20:19
(I did research but really struggling right now as I've tried different solutions and no luck + I'm a noob)
I purchased this screen and buttons for my Raspberry pi zero 2 w:
https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/1.44inch_LCD_HAT
The problem I have is that the screen is always white. I sometimes have to jiggle it a little to get it to turn on, I have to use headers as they aren't soldered to the board.
I know the documention is a tad outdated because their demo script is in python2. But the demo for both c and python just show a white screen.
I have tried many different OS' of different versions of PiOS, including a 2019 version of raspian (which doesn't even boot on the zero 2 w, it just displays the rainbow screen and does nothing).
All I want to do is get the demo working so I can at very least try the rest of the documentation and get the desktop showing on the mini display.
I contacted waveshares support who told me to use bullseye version of raspbian, I did just that and I got the same result, they also copy and pasted some bits of the guide ok the wiki including instructions on how to I stall python 2, despite me telling them the board and using after they asked me.
Any advice?
The pins that connect the monitor to the board are not soldered?
If the headers aren’t soldered I guarantee you won’t have it 100% working.
Correct
I understand, I bought a soldering iron that will arrive tomorrow and I will solder the header
Did you buy flux?
I ordered this
It has solder but I can tell it isn’t rosin core
I would recommend buying rosin core solder for it
You can use the solder it comes with but rosin core reduces the chances of messing up.
I should know because I daily drive one of these cheap kits and they are honestly pretty good, but just order rosin core solder.
Make sure it’s lead.
Sure, should I still order flux separately?
If you want but if you’re a beginner I would recommend rosin core lead solder
It automatically applies the flux when you solder so it’s simple to solder
Ah so rosin core solder has flux in it?
Yes
Basically
Would this be OK?
Yes
Just make sure when you get it, to quickly use wire cutter and cut a piece off and make sure the center is different and semi distinct.
Thanks just ordered it will come tomorrow
No problem by the way are you a perfectionist?
I would like it to look good
Okay then I would say
I have a sugarpi
I eventually want to hookup to it
On the bottom
Have some way to keep the board and the headers level with each other
Sure
As you can see I didn’t keep it 100% level and it is ever so slightly
Is elevated from the back
It doesn’t affect the performance but it affect that part of my brain telling me it should’ve been perfect
With the header there's a bit of a gap when the hat is attached
Oh no my guy
Get out the yard stick kids because we have some measuring ahead of us
😮
Won't it work?
I’m joking
It will but
You won’t be able to secure that with the screws because of the gap and with gaps in soldering heaves comes angles and in your case the angle is nothing to laugh at
That's fine this is for a prototype anyway
Attempting to screw it could cause unwanted tension potentially snapping the display or bending the pins
I see
Of course if you don’t need to screw it the worst thing about this is probably just the likelihood of breaking contact
Got it
Not an issue if it’s just a prototype and you intend to buy a new one
I'll update you tomorrow after I try to solder it
I will
okay so the right now you have no issues
Got it, so hopefully the screen will work tomorrow
Probably will as long you are taking it anywhere
Sure, once I get the screen working I'll test the pisugar
Don’t take my word as gospel because the video quality is pretty low so I was making educated guesses
I got little brass pillar things I think they fit right
No they probably don’t
And because of the spacing and gaps I probably wouldn’t try
*That means try but with caution
Sure
Extreme caution to not break it
Got it
Ty
Your welcome
You planing on using it as a portable computer?
I wanted to but that module but it didn’t fit in my budget since I allocated my budget to the rpi5 I’m receiving soon.
I do
Which module? Zero w 2?
Zero 2 w
Ah yeah there was a supply issue for like a year
But I also have a Zero w coming tomorrow
I just got my hands on this
Yeah I got my hands on it randomly one day, I don’t even know how.
Now I'm an idiot, I got a banana pi and had the same issue and I thought it was because of the banana pi
I wasn’t even aware of the supply chain issue
Not because of soldering 💀
They were scalped to an oblivion
Bruh
I bought it 2 months ago ish so maybe It died down
Ah possibly
My brother is getting my a pico wh for Christmas
Nice I have a couple of those
Can you run a web server on it?
I wanted a zero because I want it to do more than my pico, plus I run out of memory when writing code for my pico
Nah I made a tamagotchi
I plan to do that with this too
But it'll be an actual computer so it will be 10000x better than the pico
Dude buy the 02w
Yeah I got the zero 2 w
Oh sick
I hate how with each new pi it has less backwards compatibility
Yeah
So that means my rpi5 only supports 1 raspberry pi os
Yeah I mean I guess the newer os is more optimized for it though right?
Yes
That’s why I don’t mind much
What pi’s do you have?
2x pico w, 1x normal pico, rpi 4, an rp 2(?) I think
I've been buying pis since v1
Some of my older boards are done completely in the sense that they don't work. Ones wireless chip is damaged and the other is just so slow compared to the newer ones (I feel)
Are you planning on ordering the raspbrrry pi 5
Likely not, I don't have much money and have been putting it all into my tamagotchi project 😦
😶
Well how much ram does your pi 4 have b
I can't recall, I have a heatsink case on it with sticked cpu pads so I don't want to take it off lol. I set it up with retroarch
I likely would have gotten the higher model at the time
If you get the rpi5
You will be getting the 8gb model
Wtf
Ram?
It’s not a choice it’s an order
Yes
Wow
80$ of pure magic
It feels like magic probably because they’ve improved their marketing
That's pretty sick
Also get ready to shell 200$ on all the peripherals or at the very least 150$
Lol.i literally just got out of poverty
Oh
Im sorry
When j have spare cash flow the rp6 will be out
It's fine
I have faith in my projecy
Project *
Do you have a speaker for itV
No recommend any solutions?
Usb to audio jack
Another screen I had included a speaker on the board, but I didn't like that screen as it had too many buttons
I see
Im pretty sure the only people buying raspberry pi zero 2 w’s are legacy customers. Realistically it has no real application besides maybe Pinole. And they get those mostly legacy customers to buy official peripherals.
The size of itnis ideal for me
How big is the rpi5
Size of a credit card
No size change
Well…
I need smaller lol
Thus I went with the zero
It does need active cooler
I see
Fair
I’m not realistically a legacy customer but it feels so nice to have every official peripheral
🥲
Goodbye 150$ ish just on peripherals
I had to
Lol
The colors matching tickled my brain
Lol
And the logos matching tickles my brain
If colors don’t match or logos it will not be plugged into my precious baby
Soon, 25th of December…
Are you the same?
In my opinion if it’s the lower end pi boards getting the official stuff is unnecessary but if you get the highest end board they currently offer you have to go 100%
Not as much these days
Yeah
It depends on my current money
If I hadn’t gotten money recently I would be using my current keyboard mouse and cheap usb hub and used micro sd card
I have a decent ish pc, I only use PIs for dedicated stuff, today was the first time I easily used ssh
So ill.prob be using it more
But have you heard of VNC?
Yeah
Bro
I can't solder 😦
Halp
😬
I GOT YOU
Put the Raspberry Pi aside and show me how your solder gun works and what temp your working at
!!
Just saw thes3
I completely ruined 1
But I soldered another board ok
My problem is, even with the demo code it was still a white screen :5
* :/
Let me see
This phones camera sucks I'll dm you