[RESOLVED] Pinball X opening to black screen

[Itchigo]

I originally had a problem with Pinball X taking blank screengrabs on the backglass, so I tried to upgrade to the latest version. Then I tried to revert to an older version after having this problem. Here's what happens when I open Pinball X.

The intro music comes on, along with the intro picture. Once the menu/wheel should be coming up, my playfield and backglass are complete black. It's like it's working without displays or something. The program seems to work because I can exit Pinball X without seeing the screen, as I know the sequence. I am not having monitor issues and vp by itself is fine. I attached the Pindmd log because it said it was searching for a Pindmd and I don't have one. I also have it turned off in the wizard. I also attached a video of this behavior.

NVIDIA System Information 09-28-2024 17-16-38.txt log.txt PinballX.ini pinDMD_log.txt

[Mike_da_Spike]

The log is going mad about creating your backglass.

I see you got videocards in it, I think that is causing the issue that it cant create the backglass. Cant you just have all via the 3060ti? 

[Itchigo]

I just upgraded to the 3060 from the 1050, but I had a problem with unsigned drivers from Nvidia. Once I got around the unsigned drivers I couldn't get the displayport to work because of a NVidia bug. Nvidia made a tool to fix this, which I eventually got to run, which didn't help. So the only way to get 2 working screens was to run both cards.

[Mike_da_Spike]

Did you clean up the registry for the displays when you added the extra video card ?

My gues is still that the extra vidro card causes this isue. If you just set windows to just use 1 monitor and try to launch pbx ? Just to see whats happening in the log

[Draco1962]

I am in agreement with @Mike_da_Spike regarding the conflict with the two cards. Is it stable with and displaying on the backglass with just the 1050? If so, then I would say that your 3060 is at fault.

[Itchigo]

VP is finally stable with the settings I'm using. I used DDU when changing/trying drivers.

In the Nvidia control panel both cards are using the same driver. That driver is signed so there's no conflicts.

I'll unplug 1 screen and see what I get.

Does Pinball X not support 2 cards?

[Draco1962]

That would probably be a @Tom Speirs question to answer.

Since you were not able to get just the 3060ti working alone is what troubles me and leads me towards dual card support not being an issue to triage.

[Itchigo]

I tried uninstalling/reinstalling as well as just running 1 screen. I get the same behavior no matter what. I'm wondering if it's related to my earlier taking black screenshots problem I was trying to fix (which was a problem before the upgrade).

The 3060 will only work as the PF screen because my PF is HDMI. The BG screen being displayport won't work because of a Nvidia bug (from what I've read). That's why I'm running 2 cards.

[Draco1962]

What is the manufacturer for your 3060ti? Does it only have HDMI and DisplayPort?

Also, the BG monitor - what kind of ports besides DisplayPort are available?

Have you tried disconnecting the HDMI on the 3060ti to see if the DisplayPort then works? If so, it may very well be a missed setting that needs to be enabled.

[scutters]

Plenty of factors at play with this issue @Itchigo!

4 hours ago, Itchigo said:

Does Pinball X not support 2 cards?

Searching on the term "GPU 2:" in this forum shows plenty of matches which suggests it does (but whether the 2nd GPU was in use for anything i don't know - but i suspect 2 GPU's in itself is not the issue in PinballX)

The underlying issue is probably linked to the DP issue you have and if that is resolved then the 2nd GPU can be removed from the equation so i don't want to muddy the waters of @Draco1962 questions too much but a a couple of extra things to confirm;

1. Windows 7 SP1 - does your install include the post SP1 updates? (How to obtain and install Windows 7 SP2 - Microsoft Community)
2. Can you try running PinballX with the option in settings -> display settings -> 'use directb2s in front end' set to No. There's a chance that an issue running the B2S in pinballx is creating the backglass <-> playfield loop seen in the log file.

[Itchigo]

I updated per that link, and rebooted. I also changed use DB2S in front end to no and tried it. Black screen like before.

When I use the 3060 I get the playfield only. Then I have to use rigorous detection display, then move the displayport plug to another outlet on the 3060 card. Then the 2nd screen comes up as 1024x768.

The 3060ti card only has 1 HDMI and 3 displayport.

Booting with just the displayport and no HDMI I get no screens. But, the boot screen and bios screen shows up on the backglass before boot. Then the backglass is blank at boot.

log.txt

[Draco1962]

When you are running the 3060ti only, do you still have the 1050 installed?

If so, uninstall it completely (remove the card, etc.) and try again. You will also need to go into the Nvidia control panel and enable it.

A few suggestions for triaging further: 

https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/rtx-3060-display-port/195085

Also from Reddit:

"EVGA XC3 Ultra 3070

Hey guys, Ive been using a EVGA XC3 Ultra 3070 for about over a month now with two monitor. One monitor is running on HDMI and the other on a Display port. After having a windows update. My display port stopped working for some reason. Ive tried switching to other display ports but none of them work. The only port that seems to work is my HDMI. Anyone know any fixes to this issues? How do i get my Display ports to work again?

Edit:

I found the solution guys!! Its just as simple as unplugging my monitor for 30 seconds. I unplugged the display port and the power from my monitor and waited for 30seconds and boom. It works again."

 

[Itchigo]

Thanks. I read that and about 100 others, all I could find on it lol. I did power down and unplug for like 2 hours (watched a movie). No changes.

When I get more time I'm going to put 10 on a SSD and see what happens just for the hell of it.

[Draco1962]

My guess is Windows 10 with just the 3060ti will set you on the right path. Just make sure the 1050 is not installed when you update to Win 10.

[Itchigo]

Welp... I almost expected this to work lmao! I can't say about Pinball X, but I can't get the 2nd screen to work in 10 either... (with just the 3060 plugged in to both screens). The "fix" tool won't even run.

The 2nd screen doesn't have any issues though. I was on the bg during the windows 10 setup, then that was it.

 

[Draco1962]

Is the 3060 installed alone?

How many DisplayPort ports are on your GPU?

If more than one, did you test them? Swap to another DisplayPort cable?

What about configuration settings in the Nvidia control panel?

Not sure what is going on but definitely not a PinballX issue.

[Mike_da_Spike]

2 hours ago, Itchigo said:

The "fix" tool won't even run.

What is this?

[Itchigo]

The fix tool is this.
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/nv-uefi-update-x64/

30x series cards are supported, but not listed on that page.

 

I have 2 separate issues. I have a backglass screen not working issue. And, when I run 2 cards to get around it, I get the blank screen when Pinball X loads. Prior to all of this, before I upgraded the card, I was getting black screengrabs on the backglass (was working during play, just couldn't screengrab). That was with both screens plugged into the 1050, BEFORE the upgrade.

 

But, it looks like I have to fix the video card issue before I can fix Pinball X.

[scutters]

7 hours ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

What is this?

I assume this one? https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5233/?linkId=100000076816300 @Itchigo please confirm

Edit - just saw your post above, not that one then! - might be worth a shot with this one. And yes, agree sort out the issue with the 3060 first.

And a few more question for @Itchigo..

On the win 10 OS with just the 3060 ti ;

1. Are Windows and Nvidia drivers updated (think 561.09 for Nvidia - GeForce Game Ready Driver | 561.09 | Windows 11 | NVIDIA)
2. In Device Manager -> Display Adapters is the 3060ti shown or some form of generic adapter name
3. When the 1050 ti was used on its own was the BG connected via HDMI or DP? (asking mainly because I have had an issue before where I actually had to enable DP 1.2 in monitor settings for DP to work correctly at higher resolutions - but I guess if the monitor worked ok with DP on the 1050 then that's probably not it)

[Itchigo]

6 minutes ago, scutters said:

I assume this one? https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5233/?linkId=100000076816300 @Itchigo please confirm

Edit - just saw your post above, not that one then! - might be worth a shot with this one.

And a few more question for @Itchigo..

On the win 10 OS with just the 3060 ti ;

1. Are Windows and Nvidia drivers updated (think 561.09 for Nvidia - GeForce Game Ready Driver | 561.09 | Windows 11 | NVIDIA)
2. In Device Manager -> Display Adapters is the 3060ti shown or some form of generic adapter name
3. When the 1050 ti was used on its own was the BG connected via HDMI or DP? (asking mainly because I have had an issue before where I actually had to enable DP 1.2 in monitor settings for DP to work correctly at higher resolutions - but I guess if the monitor worked ok with DP on the 1050 then that's probably not it)

Correct, that is the tool.

I used the 561.09 when I tried windows 10. It showed as 3060 in the device manager with no errors. The backglass was working during the install as that was the screen I had to click next on through the installation.

The 1050 was using the same cords. HDMI to DP for the backglass and HDMI to HDMI for the playfield.

[Draco1962]

9 hours ago, Draco1962 said:

Is the 3060 installed alone?

How many DisplayPort ports are on your GPU?

If more than one, did you test them? Swap to another DisplayPort cable?

What about configuration settings in the Nvidia control panel?

Not sure what is going on but definitely not a PinballX issue.

??

I am assuming that the first question is answered (3060 installed alone).

Also, can you attach updated pinballx.ini and log.txt files for post Win 10 update? Thanks.

[scutters]

@Itchigo This is about the best i can find for black screen issues, see first post here and links - https://forums.evga.com/Comprehensive-Windows-10-Black-Screen-Trouble-shooting-Guide-m3131813.aspx

Lists a lot more than i could suggest anyway!... Hopefully something on there is the answer. Like @Draco1962 i'm pretty sure once the BG DP issue is resolved on the 3060ti PinballX will just work.

[Itchigo]

Ok again- all the ports on the 3060 have been tested (3 DP and 1 HDMI). There's no problem with the cords because when I boot the computer all the selections come up (Press F8 for safe mode, DEL for Bios, etc). That comes up on the backglass before the computer is fully booted. Then when the computer is fully booted the backglass is dark and no signal.

I'm returning the 3060. I just put the 1050 back in running both screens, with no stutter or graphics tearing like before. I think that is due to playing with the driver settings when I was running both cards. And possibly the newer driver 474.11 was good for both cards. I will keep playtesting with some higher end tables.

 

Ok, so now I'm running JUST the 1050 for both screens. The 3060 is completely out of the picture. Pinball X boots to a black screen as in the beginning. Here's the log. FYI, I also cleared the CMOS before switching back to the 1050. Not sure if that makes a difference but it was the last thing I tried before I switched back to the 1050.

log.txt

[Draco1962]

I see from the log file that you went back to Windows 7. 

Did you test the 3060 on Windows 11 or 7?

Same question for the 1050.

Sorry but the variables keep changing making it difficult to triage.

[Itchigo]

I tested on windows 10 but didn't save the log. With 1 working screen I still had a black screen for Pinball X. That was directly after the install I installed the driver and then Pinball X and then tested.

 

The one I just sent was for the 1050 under windows 7, the original 2 screen setup before upgrading. The 3060 is in it's box. I will either exchange the 3060 for something else or leave the cab as is. Right now I have no vp issues, but some tables don't load or crash that used to work. A gripe I have is long loading times form pressing play, but I'm guessing that's the processor not being strong enough. But that's not a Pinball X issue.