Current elegoo ui firmware 1.2.17 question

[nubbyless]

Hi my controller/screen is on a more current elegoo firmware 1.2.17 should i downgrade to one of the ones listed here for compatibility or will it work with this version?
thank you

[MercYuriy]

i'm not sure if it will or will not work, however, screen will likely break once you install open neptune, which is expected. Not sure why Devs do not include a fix for this as well as for pip or numpy stuff.

Here is what made it work for me.

Fix: Elegoo Neptune 4 / 4 Max touchscreen stuck on firmware update (OpenNept4une)

(Works on Debian 12 / Armbian Bookworm setups)

Symptoms

Printer + Klipper + Fluidd work

Touchscreen stuck on “firmware update” screen or blank

Happens after running updates via Fluidd / system updates

No hardware changes made

Root cause (confirmed)

The OpenNept4une touchscreen bridge (display.service) runs inside a Python venv

System updates removed or broke Python systemd bindings

Result: display.service crashes → screen never exits update mode

Step-by-step fix (safe, non-destructive)
1️⃣ SSH into the printer
ssh mks@<printer_ip>

2️⃣ Confirm the failure (optional but useful)
journalctl -u display.service -n 50 --no-pager

If you see:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'systemd'

you’re in the exact failure state this fixes.

3️⃣ Stop the display service
sudo systemctl stop display.service
sudo systemctl reset-failed display.service

4️⃣ Install required OS packages

(these do NOT touch Klipper or configs)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y python3-systemd pkg-config libsystemd-dev

Why:

python3-systemd → system bindings

libsystemd-dev + pkg-config → required to build venv bindings

5️⃣ Install systemd bindings into the display venv

(This is the critical part most guides miss.)

/home/mks/display_connector/venv/bin/pip install --upgrade pip
/home/mks/display_connector/venv/bin/pip install systemd-python

6️⃣ Verify the fix BEFORE restarting anything
/home/mks/display_connector/venv/bin/python -c "import systemd.daemon; print('systemd import OK')"

You must see:

systemd import OK

If not → stop here and recheck step 4.

7️⃣ Start the display service
sudo systemctl start display.service
systemctl status display.service

Expected:

Active: active (running)

8️⃣ Reboot
sudo reboot

Expected result

Touchscreen boots normally

No firmware update loop

Screen connects cleanly to Moonraker

Noticeably faster and more stable UI than before

Why this works (short explanation for GitHub)

OpenNept4une’s touchscreen bridge uses a venv, not system Python

Updates removed systemd bindings the venv depends on

Service silently crashed → screen stayed in update mode

Installing bindings into the venv restores the bridge completely

Prevention tip

After updates, if the screen breaks:

journalctl -u display.service -n 50 --no-pager

Check software first — the screen is almost never actually bricked.