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Troubleshooting

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Alesh Slovak edited this page Jan 26, 2025 · 23 revisions

Troubleshooting

This page is a knowledge base on how to solve common problems in ChimeraOS. If you wish to add to it, please contact us.

Installation issues

SSD/HDD are not showing up for installation

We’ve seen this issue reported a few times and in one occasion it was related to Intel RST (Rapid Storage Technology). The fix was to disable this feature in the bios.

The installer said the installation failed, what do I do?

Unfortunately these issues are hard to isolate and give an easy answer too. It could be as simple as the Github servers are having problems and the download you received was corrupted so the install failed. Multiple users have reported that the installation worked after waiting a while and trying again or by trying a different network connection.

ChimeraOS system maintenance

How can I access a shell?

To get access to a bash shell, there are two options :

Option 1 (Recommended)

Using the Chimera web app, you can configure SSH access from another computer :

  1. On your computer, generate a public SSH key and copy the whole file content to the clipboard

  2. In the web interface, click the top-right cog wheel icon, then System

  3. Under the SSH section, paste your clipboard’s content in the Add public key field, then hit Save.

You can now access your ChimeraOS box from this computer using SSH with the following default credentials :

Warning
 If you can’t access your ChimeraOS box through chimeraos.local, see [mdns]

Option 2 (Not recommended)

If you can’t use another computer to SSH into your ChimeraOS box, the other option is to plug a keyboard, and hit CTRL+ALT+F2 to switch from the GUI to a TTY terminal. When you’re finished, to switch back to the GUI, hit CTRL+ALT+F7.

The default username/password is gamer/gamer.

First, try waiting at least a few minutes. This can be the result of Steam waiting for an internet connection and may resolve itself after a short time, or it may be downloading an update over a slow connection.

Second, check the Gamescope and Steam logs to see if you can identify an error or behavior that is causing the problem. A list of log files can be found here. Use the tail -f <logname> command to follow the log in real time, or less <logname> to look through the entire log.

If you’re unable to resolve the issue try resetting Steam. This will erase all games installed to the main drive through Steam so this should be a last resort. Access a shell ([shell]) and run the following command: 

steam-runtime --reset

If that still doesn’t work, try this command: 

rm ~/.steam/steam/config/config.vdf
Warning
 This will clear your login credentials and general configs, so you will need to adjust your preferences again after doing this.

Chimera app

I can’t access the Chimera web app through chimeraos.local

Issue

When trying to open the Chimera web interface in a Web browser using the http://chimeraos.local URL, it fails to load.

Possible causes

  • The device you are using is not on the same network as your ChimeraOS box

  • The OS you are using does not support mDNS resolution. This is especially the case for Android.

Solution

Android

If you are trying to access from Android, there is no solution. However, there is a workaround.

Windows

Windows 10 supports mDNS resolution out-of-the-box : check your updates if it still does not work. If you are using an earlier version, you may need to install Bonjour Print Services or another mDNS implementation. Otherwise, use the workaround.

Linux

Some Linux distribution disable mDNS by default, please refer to your distribution’s documentation for instructions. For example on Arch Linux, you may need to activate it in systemd-resolved.

Workaround

Instead of using the http://chimeraos.local URL, you can replace chimeraos.local by the LAN IP address of your ChimeraOS box. To find it out, go into the settings menu in Steam. Example : http://192.168.0.16

Aya Neo Air audio out of phase/sounds strange

At the command line, run the following command: systemctl --user enable --now aya-air-audio.service

Now in the Steam Audio settings, select the "AYANEO" output device.

4k @ 120 Hz does not work over HDMI with AMD GPUs

HDMI is a closed spec controlled by the HDMI Forum. They do not allow 4k @ 120 Hz to be implemented in open source code. https://www.techpowerup.com/319797/hdmi-forum-rejects-amds-hdmi-2-1-open-source-driver-proposal-no-4k-120-hz-or-5k-240-hz-on-linux

This is not an issue specific to ChimeraOS, but affects all Linux operating systems. A workaround is to use DisplayPort or a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter.

The Steam UI is laggy with Nvidia GPUs

To reduce lag in the Steam UI when using an Nvidia GPU, do the following:

  • Open the Steam menu

  • Select "Power"

  • Select "Switch to Desktop"

  • Click on the "Show Apps" button (the icon with 9 dots)

  • Launch Steam

  • Open the "Steam" menu in the top left of the main window

  • Select "Settings"

  • Select "Interface"

  • Toggle "Enable GPU accelerated rendering in web views"

  • Exit Steam

  • Click on the top right menu with the power button icon

  • Click on the power button icon

  • Select "Log Out…​"

Audio output device is reset every boot

This appears to be an issue with Steam resetting the default audio device every time it starts.

You can work around this by doing the following:

  • Switch to a TTY with ctrl-alt-F3 or open the Terminal program on the desktop

  • Run pactl list short sinks to list your audio devices

  • Take note of the audio device sink names in the second column of the output

  • Run pactl set-default-sink <sink-name> replacing <sink-name> with the desired audio device name, testing to make sure you have found the right one

  • Run mkdir -p ~/.config/environment.d to create the configuration directory

  • Run echo "PULSE_SINK=<sink-name>" > ~/.config/environment.d/default-audio.conf, replacing <sink-name> with the chosen audio device

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