Hi,
Since a few months, I have been using a Hyperpixel 4.0 Touchscreen with my Raspberry 3B+ without any problems. Since a few weeks i use my touchscreen with the Raspberry Pi 4 Compute module and mounted both on my own designed PCB. Unfortunately, I’m facing some difficulties with the Touch function of my Hyperpixel 4.0. I have no clue how to solve these problems because the circumstances, which cause the fault don’t make sense to me.
Which System do I use?
Hyperpixel 4.0 in combination with Raspberry ComputeModule 4 with 2GB RAM and 8GB onBoard eMMC. Both is mounted on my custom PCB, which is supplied with 24V, stepped down by an «APP63300WU-7» Step down converter, which provides 3A @ 5.1V continuous output. The measured Voltage over 2 Days of measurement is a maximum of 5.2V and a minimum of 5.05V. The software ist the latest Raspbian.
What error is caused?
I have been running a GUI on my Raspberry Pi. I have one Page on which i have three sliders for changing brightness of my room light, colortemperature and one slide is to regulate the speed of some fans. Everything works fine in darkmode, but if I change to lightmode and touch the screen for about 1.5 seconds, the touch- function hangs up. My GUI doesn’t move anymore and I have a still image. I know that it’s only the touch function beacause if I plug in a keyboard and mouse, I can open for example chromium or other stuff without problems. With «i2cdetect »-command I can detect the Goodix GT911 driver on Address 0x14. Even if the touch has hung up, i can detect the Goodix GT911. I know that the address should probably be 0x5D but I thought it isn’t necessary to care about this problem as long as it works. After a reboot, the touchscreen works fine again until i use the lightmode of my GUI. Interesting to mention is, that i can click a thousand times for around 0,25seconds and no problems occur. But if I touch the screen permanently for around 1,5seconds, I instantly get my above described problems. Generally considered, this problems seems very strange to me and it doesn’t behave like any physical law i know…
On the first view, the error seems like a software issue ? Hear this!
If i use the official «Compute Module 4 IO-Board » to mount my Compute Module and Touchscreen, I don’t get the issue at all… My actual designed PCB ist the 2nd version. On the 1st version It also worked fine without any problems. The only differnce between version 1 and 2 is the wiring, which I tried to improve on the 2nd version and viewer parts which I only put on my 1st version to evaluate some functionalities like ethernet or 2nd I2C-Bus, which I’m not using on my 2nd version. The wiring did not change between these two versions, i only tried to increase the distance between the GPIO-traces to improve signal integrity.
So it seems like a hardware problem? But why does the GUI work fine in darkmode? I don’t have any explanation to that.
What did I do to narrow down the error?
I flashed a new image on my Compute Module and also used another Compute Module, Custom PCB and touchscreen as well, but without any success. As far as I experienced, the issue is only caused on my GUI and not on any other websites or images, etc. An interesting thing was the interrupt line, which is typically only drawn to 0Volts if the touchscreen gets touched. After the touchscreen hung up, I measured 0,084V on that line and as long as I touched the screen, this voltage rised to about 0,2V, which for me seems also like a strange behaviour. I also checked the «dmseg» file and got some entries for failed i2c tests of the GoodixGT911. I also tried the github fix for the swapped i2c address, but without success. I used the command «git clone GitHub - pimoroni/hyperpixel4: Driver for the Pimoroni HyperPixel 4.0" Touchscreen Display -b pi4-i2c-fix » for that.
What do I try next?
I dont have any clue what to do next. My only solution in mind, is to undo the «improved» wiring of my 2nd PCB to get as close as possible my first PCB version.
Conclusion :
I really need help and hope, someone can do me this favour. I’ve never found my described error behaviour in any forum. Are there any other usable forums for problems with the Hyperpixel 4.0? Let me please know.
Update: I tried to reproduce the errors and specify the error source. As above mentioned, the touchdriver hangs up on lightmode (nearly every pixel on rgb(255,255,255)). If i change the color in lightmode to around rgb(245,245,245) the error does not occur. I also noticed that there are two flatband cables on the Hyperpixel 4.0: One for displaying the image and another for the whole I2C-Communication to the touch driver. I plugged out the one for displaying the image and got no problems at all. Even if was theoretically in lightmode(if display would have been on). The touchscreen worked fine and transmitted everyting flawless:
Conclusion on my Update: It seems as the rgb(666) datalines for displaying the image on the screen cause some problems on the I2C bus. I also checked the bus and the power supply with an oscilloscope but I haven’t seen any unusual behaviour in any case. Voltage ripple was around 200mV Peak to Peak and the I2C-Datalines rised and fell really sharp
I still need help from you!
Thanks, Manuel