PiKVM V4 mini repeatedly blanking its display

PiKVM PiKVM V4 Mini
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1

I’m having a persistent hardware issue with my PiKVM V4 Mini.

The device experiences brief but frequent interruptions, roughly once a minute or more often. During each event, the HDMI video feed blanks and returns on its own (typically 1 to 10 seconds later). During the same window, keyboard input to the target host stops being delivered, and even a brand new SSH connection to the PiKVM itself will hang until the event clears. Existing SSH sessions remain open but are unresponsive during the event.

Here’s what I tried:

  • Confirmed clean power delivery: vcgencmd get_throttled returns 0x0, vcgencmd measure_temp reads a normal 50.6°C, vcgencmd measure_volts reads a normal 0.87V core voltage.
  • Tested with two different power supplies (original power pack and a Dell 65W adapter), no change in symptoms.
  • Checked SD card health: no I/O errors in dmesg, no filesystem corruption in journalctl, card mounts cleanly.
  • Disabled onboard WiFi (dtoverlay=disable-wifi), no change.
  • Disabled CPU C-states in host BIOS, no change (this was a host-side test, since the freeze also affects host input delivery).
  • Checked /proc/interrupts before and after an event: no IRQ storm on any peripheral.
  • Watched dmesg -w and journalctl -u kvmd -f live through multiple events: no output logged during or immediately after a freeze.
  • Reviewed the firmware log via vclog --msg: no errors correlating to freeze timestamps beyond routine firmware messages.
  • Disconnected the ATX/RJ-45 cable to rule out electrical interference from that connection, no change.
  • Fully reflashed the SD card with a clean, current stock image from files.pikvm.org (v4mini-hdmi-rpi4-aarch64-latest.img.xz, linux-firmware-pikvm 20251021-2), with no custom configuration applied. The issue is still present on the fresh install.

The problem persists identically across two independent OS installs, with power, thermal, SD card, WiFi, and known software/firmware issues all ruled out, and with nothing logged at the OS or firmware level during the freeze. Could this be a hardware fault on the unit rather than a configuration or software problem?

Can you tell me what else to try?

Thanks!

2

Hi @russf ,
The PiKVM v4 mini’s 5v port isn’t power delivery aware, so it uses a fallback in actual PD power supplies that go back to a baseline 5v. This is why the Raspberry Pi 5.1V power supply is suggested as it provides slightly more power than a typically adapter and accounts for voltage drops to hold a better level for the PiKVM.

It does sound like something isn’t working properly if the network and SSH is not responding during these hiccups. Was this a kickstarter unit or purchased a couple years ago or fairly new?

The early units contained a CM4 unit that the Raspberry Pi Foundation has admitted had some PMIC issues (power management), which can fail and cause this kind of weirdness.

Reach out to support@pishop.us with your order information and they can help further diagnose and assess options for a potential replacement.

3

I’ve tried a Dell laptop 65W power supply - should be sufficient, yet the problem persists.

Being told that tech support requires me to post to either Discord or this forum, and to have a reply take almost two weeks to come back, these both justify my having since moved to a different solution.

I’ll repurpose the box as a general Raspberry Pi platform.