Upgrade to 2026.04 breaks tdisplay/ST7789V display

ESPHome
1

On 2026.03, my tdisplay esp32 works using:

display:
  - platform: ili9xxx 
    model: ILI9341

When I upgraded to 2026.04, I got a blank (but backlit) display using the now deprecated ili9xxx platform.

When I switched to the new mipi_spi platform:

display:
  - platform: mipi_spy
    model: st7789v

I got a screen full of random colored white noise.

In some cases, when I pressed the reset button, it restarted on the same old screen containing old sensor values - preserving the old pre-upgrade screen sensor values no matter how many times I reset.

Seems like the upgrade perhaps breaks initialization of the display regardless of the driver used.

Any thoughts?

2

Did you configure PSRAM?

Show your config.

3

My board doesn’t have PSRAM.

#### Code for tdisplay s7789 240x135 graphical display follows
spi:
  clk_pin: GPIO18
  mosi_pin: GPIO19

display:
#  - platform: ili9xxx
#    model: ST7789V  # TTGO_TDisplay_135x240
  - platform: mipi_spi
    model: st7789v  # TTGO_TDisplay_135x240
    id: tft_display
    cs_pin: GPIO5
    dc_pin: GPIO16
    reset_pin: GPIO23
    dimensions:
      height: 240
      width: 135
      offset_height: 40
      offset_width: 52
    invert_colors: true  # Required or the colors are all inverted, and Black screen is White
    auto_clear_enabled: false
    rotation: 270
#    color_palette: 8BIT  # Use 8-bit color depth to reduce memory usage
    color_depth: 8  # Use 8-bit color depth to reduce memory usage
    update_interval: ${update_interval}
    lambda: |-

This is the version that gives a white-noise filled screen using mipi_spi
If I use ili9xxx (the commented out code), I get a black screen.

Per the discord channel, it seems like several people are having similar problems on this display as well as others…

4

Are you using LVGL? If so. Please read the release notes, especially the breaking changes to LVGL.

5

There is a specific model for the T-Display. The above should be all you need.

6

And if you still have troubles, show your complete config.

7

I have a GC9A01A display and simply changed the platform line from ili9xxx to mini_spi - this works but introduces horizontal lines on the screen…

display:
  - platform: mipi_spi
    model: GC9A01A  
    id: watchface
    cs_pin: GPIO10
    dc_pin: GPIO2
    reset_pin: GPIO1
    invert_colors: True

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Does anybody know why this is happening?

8

Not using LVGL

9

I posted the complete config in Nov 2025 ESPHome config to read from PC-60FW bluetooth Pulse Oximeter and display locally - #16 by puterboy

The only change is that I tried as-is using platform: ili9xxx which gives the black screen (only backlight is on) and with the above posted mod using platform: mipi_spi that gave the colored white noise-like static.

10

Add draw_rounding: 1 to the config, that should fix it for now. Proper fix in progress.

Or add buffer_size: 25% instead.

ESPHome Device Builder 2026.4.0 breaks M5Stack Dial 1.1
11

Neither option fixes it with mipi_spi.
Specifically, draw_rounding:1 does nothing while buffer_size: 25% fixes the top text line of the screen but rest of screen remains white noise static.

Also neither option is even recognized by the legacy ili9xxx platform.

12

I tried buffer_size: 100% (the maximum allowed) and it fixed everything but a small square in the lower right corner of the display.

Bottom line is that this is still broken

13

I am also getting the same result with M5Stack Dial 1.1. Adding “buffer_size: 100%” does fix the problem. Without “buffer_size: 100%” I also get the startup sound to be slowed down…

15

Should all be fixed with [mipi_spi] Drawing fixes for native display by clydebarrow · Pull Request #15802 · esphome/esphome · GitHub (now merged into dev and will be in the next point release.)

16

Perfect!

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17

I try substituting:

platform: ili9xxx
with
platform: mipi_spi
…on my ST7789V display, I have been making use of the options:
color_palette: IMAGE_ADAPTIVE

color_palette_images:

These color palette options do not seem to be present with “platform: mipi_spi”. Without the option of setting a color palette according to some sample images, my device just can’t display the images well. Is there a plan to add the color palette option to mipi_spi ?

18

There’s no plan as such but it could be done. ili9xxx isn’t going to be removed any time soon, and it has been fixed in the latest release, but if that’s a needed feature it can be added to mipi_spi.

I’d suggest opening an issue on GitHub, then be a little patient.