Analog video (RCA cable) on NOOBS Raspberry Pi

HDMI to VGA adapter
HDMI to VGA adapter

On a Raspberry Pi where the operating system (e.g. Raspbian) is installed using the NOOBS setup, using the analog port for video can give some trouble. In this post I’ll tell you why, and how to fix it.

The Raspberry Pi has quite a few ways to connect it to a screen. The most common one is the HDMI port because screens these days are often equipped with a HDMI connection. As an alternative, a HDMI to VGA adapter can be used to connect a VGA (analog) cable to the HDMI port. The third option is useful for old tv’s that only have a RCA/composite video port (or scart port, using this composite to scart adapter set to input). For the more advanced users you can also connect to the Raspberry using a remote desktop approach, and use for example an Android phone as screen (and mouse!).

RCA/composite video port on a tv
RCA/composite video port on a tv

Unfortunately, when NOOBS was used to install the os, the RCA connector seems to not work. The reason for this is that NOOBS has added a setting to the config.txt file, forcing the Raspberry to output its video on the HDMI port. So the solution for making the RCA port work is to remove that setting. Of course, if you have a HDMI cable or adapter, you can use that to boot the Raspberry, open the file and change the setting (see below for instructions). Otherwise if all you have is an RCA cable, it is easier said than done. As far as I have found, the only option then is to put the SD card into a Linux machine, and change the file that way. As a last resort, you could also give the Raspberry internet, figure out its IP address, and log in to it remotely to change the file.

RCA/Composite cable
RCA/Composite cable

If you have a HDMI cable
This is the easiest way.

  1. Connect the Raspberry via the HDMI port, and start it up.
  2. Open a terminal window (“LXTerminal”).
  3. Type: cd ../../boot to get to the /boot/ directory.
  4. Type: sudo nano config.txt to open the config.txt file with ‘administrator’ rights. If you are asked for a password, write raspberry and press enter. (You will not see anything happening while typing in the password.)
  5. Move down to the line where it says: # NOOBS Auto-generated Settings:
  6. Put a # in front of hdmi_force_hotplug=1 to disable it.
  7. Press Ctrl+x to close the file, and press Enter to save it with the same name.
  8. Now you are done! You can open the file once more to see if the saving worked. (If it did not, you might have forgotten the sudo command.)
  9. Now you can restart the Raspberry with the RCA cable connected instead of the HDMI cable.

If you have a Linux computer

  1. Turn off the Raspberry. Make sure it is off by unplugging the power (usb) cable.
  2. Take the SD card out, and put it in the SD card reader of your computer.
  3. After a short moment you should see a file explorer window open, showing the contents of the contents of the card. If nothing happens, open a file explorer yourself, and locate the SD card with the name BOOT.
  4. In this BOOT directory you should find a file called config.txt. Open it in a text editor.
  5. Scroll down to find the line where it says: # NOOBS Auto-generated Settings:
  6. Put a # in front of hdmi_force_hotplug=1 to disable it.
  7. Save and close the file.
  8. Put the SD card back in the Raspberry and start it up, with the RCA cable connected.

If you have an Android phone, internet cable, and access to your router (and feel a bit adventurous).
There are more ways to do this, feel free to find alternatives to what I write here.

  1. Start up the Raspberry without it being connected to a screen.
  2. Connect the Raspberry with an internet cable to your router.
  3. On your Android phone, find and install the app Ping Tools
  4. Make sure your phone is connected on the wifi of the router. And make sure the Raspberry had some time to start up (1-2 minutes)
  5. Open the app, tap on the top blue bar that says Ping and select Subnet scanner in the dropdown menu.
  6. Click on the settings button (right next to the scan button).
  7. In the list of ports, add the number 22. This is the port that the Raspberry will have open.
  8. Then tap the scan button. Now your phone will try to look for other devices on the same network. This will take a while. If you see a device that has port 22 open, then that is most likely the iIP address of your Raspberry.
  9. Now you can remotely connect to the Raspberry using SSH (Secure Shell). For this you can either download Putty on a computer or use an Android SSH app.
    • On a Computer connected to the same network
      1. Download putty.exe and run it.
      2. Fill in the IP address of the Raspberry in the Hostname field. The port should be 22.
      3. Then click connect.
      4. The first time you will get an alert, click yes.
      5. As username type in pi and the password raspberry.
    • On an Android phone
      1. Download a SSH app, for example ConnectBot.
      2. You probably also need a keyboard that gives you more control, like the Hacker’s keyboard.
      3. Fill in pi@192.168.1.1 where you replace the IP address with the address of your Raspberry.
      4. Type in raspberry as password.
  10. Now that we have a SSH connection to the Raspberry, we can do anything that you can do in a terminal window on the Raspberry.
  11. Type: cd ../../boot to get to the /boot/ directory.
  12. Type: sudo nano config.txt to open the config.txt file with ‘administrator’ rights. If you are asked for a password, write raspberry and press enter. (You will not see anything happening while typing in the password.)
  13. Move down to the line where it says: # NOOBS Auto-generated Settings:
  14. Put a # in front of hdmi_force_hotplug=1 to disable it.
  15. Press Ctrl+x to close the file, and press Enter to save it with the same name.
  16. Now you are done! You can open the file once more to see if the saving worked. (If it did not, you might have forgotten the sudo command.)
  17. Now you can restart the Raspberry with the RCA cable connected instead of the HDMI cable.

If it still does not work
Please note that if the HDMI cable is plugged in, the Raspberry will automatically switch to that as output. So make sure the RCA cable is connected before the Raspberry starts, and no HDMI cable is connected. If it still not works, feel free to ask your questions in the comments!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.