Apalis iMX8QM Torizon 7.4.0 - missing splashscreen during OS boot

Technical Support
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1

Hello,

We are experiencing an issue with the splashscreen on Torizon 7.4.0 running on Apalis iMX8QM. The problem occurs both when building with Yocto and when using TorizonCore Builder. The splashscreen does not appear during system boot, although it is displayed correctly during reboot and shutdown. We are using the native LVDS.

Is this a known issue? In the issue tracker we noticed some problems on Verdin iMX8MP, but those were fixed in 7.3.0.

2

Hi, I’m the Toradex AI Assistant.

I might make mistakes or occasionally get you wrong. Our support team will step in if needed.

Splash Screen Issue on Apalis iMX8QM with Torizon 7.4.0

Yes, this appears to be a known issue that affects multiple Toradex modules running Torizon OS 7.x.y with LVDS displays.

Known Issue Status

Based on the community discussions, there are confirmed splash screen issues on Torizon OS 7.x.y that affect both LVDS and HDMI interfaces(1). The issue was identified during release testing for version 7.2.0, but the release proceeded with the issue present as it wasn’t deemed critical(1).

Affected Configurations

The splash screen issue has been reported on:

  • Verdin iMX8M Plus with native LVDS(1)
  • Verdin iMX8M Plus with native HDMI(1)
  • Your Apalis iMX8QM with native LVDS (based on your report)

Issue Behavior

The typical behavior matches what you’re experiencing(1):

  • Splash screen does not appear during initial boot
  • Splash screen does appear correctly during reboot and shutdown
  • Display functionality works normally otherwise

Workarounds and Solutions

For Evaluation/Testing

You can use the ostree-customize-plymouth.sh script for quick testing(2):

# ostree-customize-plymouth.sh [splash] [ostree ref] [new ostree branch]

(2)

However, based on community reports, this script may also be affected by the same underlying issue(1).

For Development/Production

The recommended approach is using TorizonCore Builder with a configuration YAML file(2):

# Sample configuration file:
input:
  easy-installer:
    local: images/torizon-core-docker-colibri-imx6-Tezi_5.3.0+build.7.tar
#Sample customization: insert a Splash Screen
customization:
  # >> Splash screen:
  splash-screen: splash.png
output:
  easy-installer:
    local: torizon-core-docker-colibri-imx6-Tezi_5.3.0.CUSTOM

(2)

Current Status

The development team is aware of these splash screen issues and will work on fixing them in future releases(1). The issues were documented but didn’t block the quarterly release schedule.

Display Configuration Verification

Ensure your LVDS display overlay is properly configured. For Apalis iMX8, the native LVDS interface should use the appropriate device tree overlay for your specific display(3).

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3

Greetings @szymon.politowski,

I was able to reproduce the same behavior as well. Though looking at our testing for the 7.4.0 release it seems this limitation is known. I believe there is a technical limitation that inhibits the ability to have splash screen on boot with Apalis i.MX8. I think it has something to do with how the graphics software works on this hardware. Namely the graphics stack is too slow to start on boot for the splash screen to be displayed.

That said I will double-check to confirm this.

Best Regards,
Jeremias

4

Hello Jeremias,

Thank you for your quick response.

I suspected it might be related to the splash screen issue, but I wasn’t entirely sure. Do you know when it might be fixed?

5

After checking internally, we do have a ticket to fix native LVDS splash screen, but it hasn’t been scheduled yet. So I can’t give you a concrete timeline.

I will say this did work back on Torizon OS 6.X, so seems to be a regression of some kind.

Best Regards,
Jeremias