# SPI on = Black Screen

**URL:** <https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/spi-on-black-screen/21783>\
**Category:** uConsole\
**Created:** [March 8, 2026, 7:43pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/spi-on-black-screen/21783 "2026-03-08T19:43:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![trinity](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.clockworkpi.com/trinity/32/16167_2.png) [@trinity](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/trinity)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 8:11pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/spi-on-black-screen/21783/2 "2026-03-08T20:11:24Z")

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> [@Raspberry Pis' config.txt](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/raspberry-pis-config-txt/19360/1):
>
> ```auto
> # On the CM5, using SPI causes the backlight to be disabled (TODO: why?),
> # requiring the operating system to re-enable it. This is necessary if using
> # other things on the SPI bus, such as the HackerGadgets SDR board. Comment
> # this line out to re-enable it.
> dtparam=spi=off
> 
> ```

I haven’t gotten around to fixing this on my own uConsole, but I might start here:

> [@HackerGadgets AIO Board Package](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/hackergadgets-aio-board-package/17875/292):
>
> For that it was also important to enable only `dtoverlay=spi1-1cs` and **NOT** `dtparam=spi=on`, because otherwise the display won’t work.

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