3.5-ips-screen - not booting into GUI after installing driver

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1

Hello there,
I used a Raspberry Pi 5 16 GB. For OS I used Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit), release date 2025-10-01, flashed via the Raspberry Pi Imager v1.9.6.
I closely followed the instructions provided here and installed the LCD driver. During the installation of the driver there was an error suggesting that Cmake was missing.
I installed it and re-run the driver installation. Here is the result: https://pastebin.com/wm4QxRq0
The Raspberry Pi doesn’t boot into GUI anymore. The following splash-screen is displayed for a while https://imgur.com/a/2vhjcbM, then the CLI is started automatically.
I am more than happy to help with the debugging, if needed.

Thank you!

2

You are using the latest Raspberry Pi OS Trixie. Have you executed the command to update and upgrade the system?

We do not recommend upgrading the system before installing the LCD driver.
It is advised to reinstall the system, avoid installing other software, and directly run the command to install the LCD driver.
Please check if the driver can be installed normally and if the LCD can display and work properly.

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3

It looks like the installation doesn’t work on Trixie.

Freshly installed Trixie, ran the driver script: the Pi doesn’t boot into GUI anymore. Logs here: sudo rm -rf LCD-showgit clone https://github.com/sunfounder/LCD-show.gitchmo - Pastebin.com

Freshly installed Boookworm, updated and upgraded APT, installed cmake, ran the driver script: the Pi boots into GUI. Problem is that now I cannot log in: sudo rm -rf LCD-showgit clone https://github.com/sunfounder/LCD-show.gitchmo - Pastebin.com. Raspberry Pi Connect doesn’t work either.

4

Sorry the Trixie system is currently not supported by the 3.5-inch touch screen. (As noted in the tutorial: https://docs.sunfounder.com/projects/35-ips-screen/en/latest/quick_user_guide.html

We recommend using the Bookworm system and avoiding kernel updates, as the display uses a kernel-level driver.

Based on your description, it seems you updated the system after installing the driver, which caused the 3.5-inch LCD to fail displaying the desktop.

Please try reinstalling the Bookworm system, do not update it, and then install the driver directly to see if it works.

5

I have the same problem. I’ve tried it several times now. I use a Raspberry Pi 400.

My steps:

problem is, i need to flash the sd-card new at every try…

any suggestions?

thanks

6

We don’t have a Raspberry Pi 400 for testing.
We used a Raspberry Pi 4 with 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS Trixie (with desktop).

After booting the system, we installed the driver directly using these commands:

sudo rm -rf LCD-show
git clone GitHub - sunfounder/LCD-show: 2.4" 2.8"3.2" 3.5" 5.0" 7.0" TFT LCD driver for the Raspberry PI 3B+/A/A+/B/B+/PI2/ PI3/ZERO/ZERO W
chmod -R 755 LCD-show
cd LCD-show/
sudo ./MHS35IPS-show

After the driver installed successfully, the system automatically rebooted.
Once it started again, the 3.5-inch LCD displayed the system desktop correctly.

Important: Make sure no HDMI display is connected.

See our full installation log below:

Linux pi 6.12.47+rpt-rpi-v8 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 1:6.12.47-1+rpt1 (2025-09-16) aarch64

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
only@pi:~ $ sudo rm -rf LCD-show
only@pi:~ $ git clone GitHub - sunfounder/LCD-show: 2.4" 2.8"3.2" 3.5" 5.0" 7.0" TFT LCD driver for the Raspberry PI 3B+/A/A+/B/B+/PI2/ PI3/ZERO/ZERO W
Cloning into ‘LCD-show’…
remote: Enumerating objects: 1623, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (615/615), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (143/143), done.
remote: Total 1623 (delta 552), reused 485 (delta 471), pack-reused 1008 (from 3 )
Receiving objects: 100% (1623/1623), 2.52 MiB | 2.35 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (1078/1078), done.
only@pi:~ $ chmod -R 755 LCD-show
only@pi:~ $ cd LCD-show/
only@pi:~/LCD-show $ sudo ./MHS35IPS-show
cp: cannot stat ‘/etc/rc.local’: No such file or directory
2025
need to update touch configuration
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree… Done
Reading state information… Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
xserver-xorg-input-evdev
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 8 not upgraded.
Need to get 114 kB of archives.
After this operation, 184 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 Index of /debian trixie/main arm64 xserver-xorg-input-evdev arm64 1:2.11.0-1 [114 kB]
Ign:1 Index of /debian trixie/main arm64 xserver-xorg-input-evdev arm64 1:2.11.0-1
Get:1 Index of /debian trixie/main arm64 xserver-xorg-input-evdev arm64 1:2.11.0-1 [114 kB]
Fetched 64.0 kB in 37s (1,752 B/s)
Selecting previously unselected package xserver-xorg-input-evdev.
(Reading database … 119820 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack …/xserver-xorg-input-evdev_1%3a2.11.0-1_arm64.deb …
Unpacking xserver-xorg-input-evdev (1:2.11.0-1) …
Setting up xserver-xorg-input-evdev (1:2.11.0-1) …
Processing triggers for man-db (2.13.1-1) …

reboot now

7

I found the problem.

It just works the way you said. My problem was the GPIO extension.

I use the adafruit cyberdeck to extend the pins but it looks like a voltage-problem, the background light of the display doesnt shine.

Without the extension it works! However, that’s not practical for a 400.

The cyberdeck is not your product but did you have an idea what the solution could be?

Thanks for the nice support!

Okay…After I fiddled with it a few times, attaching and detaching it again, it suddenly worked…

:monkey:

one more question: you said that the “update and upgrade” could damage the driver. Whats the workaround for that? Fresh installation of the driver after?

8

Currently, there is no suitable solution to address the issue where “updates and upgrades” may damage the driver.
If the problem of “updates and upgrades” potentially corrupting the driver is resolved in the future, it will be necessary to reinstall the driver.
However, this issue is unlikely to be resolved in the short term.