Only seeing color bars when connected to tinypilot
- @david
I can attach TP to another machine and it seems to work.
I attach it to my opnsense firewall and only get color bars.
I tried looking into changing the EDID ( https://tinypilotkvm.com/faq/change-edid/ )
but ran into a problem with the first command
case@raspberrypi:~$ EDID="/home/ustreamer/edids/tc358743-edid.hex"
case@raspberrypi:~$ cp --no-clobber "${EDID}" ~/tc358743-edid.hex.bak
cp: cannot stat '/home/ustreamer/edids/tc358743-edid.hex': No such file or directory
indeed, there is nothing in /home/ustreamer
case@raspberrypi:/home/ustreamer$ ls -la
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 2 ustreamer ustreamer 4096 Nov 6 15:17 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Nov 6 15:17 ..
LOGfile: https://logs.tinypilotkvm.com/k26VVcA6
any help would be appreciated
GF
David @david2025-03-04 11:49:40.435ZHi @genfoch01, I'm sorry you're experiencing these colored bars when you connect to your firewall.
Thanks for sharing those logs.
It looks like you're running the community version of TinyPilot on your own hardware. If you're using an HDMI to USB video capture device, it's not possible to change the EDID, which explains why the command isn't working.
I can't see anything in the logs that hints at any display issues, so we'll have to investigate this further.
Do you have a screenshot of the image you receive when you connect to your firewall? And could you tell me more about the firewall setup - for example the make and model of the hardware and the OS version? Are you using a VGA adapter?
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Here is a screenshot. I connected TP to the VGA out of the machine and rebooted it. This is the only thing I see.
I am using a vga to hdmi converter.
I am running opnsense 25.1.1 which runs on top of freeBSD 14.2 this is on a DELL inspiron 660
I have a wired KVM that has no issue with this. also the TP works as expected on a different machine using the same vga to hdmi adaptor
let me know if i missed anything.
I should have said the "different" machine is a linux server not freebsd. I have 5 servers, 3 are linux and TP has not issue with them. 2 are freebsd based (opnsense, and truenas) and tp fails on both of these in the same way. I suspect the default console for freebsd does not use a supported resolution for TP. I'd really like to get this to work though.
thanks again!
David @david2025-03-05 15:11:29.473ZThanks for all those details and the screenshot!
I've only seen these vertical bars once before in a thread from about a year ago. The solution then was to restart TinyPilot's streaming service, but I'm unsure why the USB capture device was outputting the bars in the first place.
When you connect your TinyPilot to a FreeBSD-based machine and see these bars, could you try restarting TinyPilot's streaming service to see if that makes a difference? I'm wondering whether the capture device isn't happy switching between different inputs. If you SSH into your TinyPilot, you can restart the streaming service with the following command:
sudo service ustreamer restartIf you disconnect the HDMI cable from the target machine, do the bars remain on TinyPilot's display?
I suspect the default console for freebsd does not use a supported resolution for TP. I'd really like to get this to work though.
It's possible. We normally see a No Signal screen if there's a resolution issue, but with the USB capture device, the behavior may be different.
ok sshed into the TP and ran
case@raspberrypi:~$ sudo service ustreamer restartno change in the screen, just the same bars
I even restarted the TP and the web server went down for a bit but it came back up with the bars
yes when I disconnect the cable from the machine (not the TP ) I see the bars.
edit: should have added if I disconnect the dongle from the TP I get "no signal " which goes back to bars when I reconnect it
- David @david2025-03-06 11:52:02.194Z
Thanks for testing all this!
If you're still seeing those bars after disconnecting the target machine from the capture device, it sounds like the HDMI to USB capture device is in an odd state and it's outputting the bars to TinyPilot. Seeing the "No Signal" image after disconnecting the HDMI to USB capture device confirms this.
If you connect one of the working target machines when the capture device is outputting the bars, does the capture device start outputting the correct image?
Could you share some more details about the capture device you're using? Is it any of the ones listed in our wiki?
Do you happen to know what resolution your FreeBSD-based machines normally output at?
when I connect a TP showing the bars to any of the three working machines I get the console I expect to see.
The HDMI capture device is from the link you posted (all hardware taken from links on https://tinypilotkvm.com/blog/build-a-kvm-over-ip-under-100/ under "parts list" )
https://www.amazon.com/Capture-Streaming-Broadcasting-Conference-Teaching/dp/B09FLN63B3/I was looking into the default console resolution of freebsd 14 but have not yet found a firm answer.
I don't know how much this matters but my opnsense machine is also my dns and dhcp server so when its down no dns or dhcp for the TP.
i get that not being able to get an ip is (um bad) but if I don't reboot the TP it keeps the lp assigned to it so it should work? (I mean the page stays active )
TP really seems to hate not having DNS though even when connecting to TP vi IP the page could not load when DNS was down. to test this I set up a caching dns server and pointed TP to that which allowed me to stay connected even when I shut opnsense down.- David @david2025-03-07 12:00:44.341Z
Thanks for those details, @genfoch!
Based on the behavior you're describing, it sounds like when you connect the FreeBSD-based machines to your capture device, it enters this odd state and it just outputs these bars. The only cause I can think of is if the target machine is outputting a display signal that the capture device does not support.
You mentioned earlier that you have a wired KVM that works with these machines. If you connect this KVM, are you able to determine the resolution and refresh rate of the display signal? That may give us some more context we can work with.
Are you able to test without the VGA adapter? i.e., via HDMI only? I'm wondering whether the VGA makes a difference here.
I don't know how much this matters but my opnsense machine is also my dns and dhcp server so when its down no dns or dhcp for the TP.
I don't think this will affect the image you're seeing.
If you're concerned about TinyPilot's IP address, you can set a static IP for TinyPilot to use if you'd like - navigate to System > Networking > Static IP on TinyPilot's web interface and then assign a static IP.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
my wired KVM does not give any data about resolution ( its close to 20 years old hence the plan to up date ) all I could find in the user manual was the highest resolution supported was 1920x1440. The display it uses is 1920x1200 but I know my linux servers (consoles ) are using a lower res than that. (If it helps my wired KVM is an Omniview pro3 )
As it happens I looked at my firewall ( the Dell machine ) and DID see an hdmi port so I hooked it up to TP rebooted the firewall and waited (just saw bars) then I hit reload on the page and then saw my opnsense consol. I decided to reboot a few times to test and here is what I have.
with the TP using the HDMI port and I boot the firewall I get BARS (no BIOS shown ) once the fw is up ( the firewall web ui lets me connect ) I can reload the TP page and get the console.
so as long as I don't need to get into the BIOS it seems to be working.
My other freebsd machine ( truenas) only has a VGA ouput. So I can't try this same solution with it.- David @david2025-03-10 12:01:31.935Z
with the TP using the HDMI port and I boot the firewall I get BARS (no BIOS shown ) once the fw is up ( the firewall web ui lets me connect ) I can reload the TP page and get the console.
Interesting! That definitely suggests that we're seeing these bars because the capture device receives a display signal it doesn't support, no matter whether the signal comes from the VGA port or HDMI port on the target machine. One benefit of using HDMI only is that TinyPilot can try and negotiate a more suitable signal with your target machine. With a VGA adapter, TinyPilot can't do that, so that explains why using HDMI input without an adapter changes the behavior.
Could you share a new TinyPilot log now that you can see the display? That may help us determine the resolution you're receiving, and may help us see what resolution the BIOS is attempting to use.
I'm not that familiar with FreeBSD-based machines (or Opnsense / TrueNAS), but is it possible to change a configuration file somewhere to adjust the default output resolution? If not, I'm not sure there's much we can do to resolve this issue.