# Check if the screen is working or not
**URL:** https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/check-if-the-screen-is-working-or-not/263
**Category:** Uncategorized
**Created:** [June 23, 2021, 3:28pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/check-if-the-screen-is-working-or-not/263 "2021-06-23T15:28:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tadam](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/tadam)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2021, 3:28pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/check-if-the-screen-is-working-or-not/263/1 "2021-06-23T15:28:36Z")
Hey there,
The screen I am using is in a remote location, which is hard to reach.
Can I check somehow if it works or not via ssh?
Thanks for the tips! 🙂
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### Author:  [@marcmerlin](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/marcmerlin)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2021, 10:15pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/check-if-the-screen-is-working-or-not/263/2 "2021-06-25T22:15:35Z")
no, it’s blind, you send data and get no feedback as to whether it worked
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### Author:  [@tadam](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/tadam)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2021, 9:19am UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/check-if-the-screen-is-working-or-not/263/3 "2021-06-28T09:19:14Z")
makes sense. thats what I thoungh.
Maybe with an additional power monitoring.
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### Author:  [@Yaoun2000](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/Yaoun2000)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2021, 6:49pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/check-if-the-screen-is-working-or-not/263/4 "2021-09-15T18:49:04Z")
OK, is there a way to generate a BMP file (or similar) of what has been sent thanks to the library ? That would allow to make a “fake” rendering at least to give a feedback of what it “should” look like
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### Author:  [@marcmerlin](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/marcmerlin)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2021, 11:53am UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/check-if-the-screen-is-working-or-not/263/5 "2021-09-16T11:53:44Z")
you can dump the canvas which is an array of RGB888 (24bit), add a PPM header and dump a PPM file.
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### Author:  [@Yaoun2000](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/Yaoun2000)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2021, 4:38pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/check-if-the-screen-is-working-or-not/263/6 "2021-09-16T16:38:15Z")
Thanks for this quick and positive answer. That would be very straightforward.
Any hint on how to dump the canvas array, if possible using python bindings ?
Johan
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### Author:  [@marcmerlin](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/marcmerlin)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/check-if-the-screen-is-working-or-not/263/7 "2021-09-16T17:34:57Z")
Have a look at examples-api-use/ledcat.cc, it does the opposite but should be close enough