[Living Legend]

I'm running an Asus Chromebox with openelec.

I have an advancedsettings.xml file in order to sync my data across numerous clients.

All clients are working now except the Chromebox. We were working fine, but now for some reason I can no longer boot into openelec. It will get to the screen where it says Kodi v 14.2 but then quickly reset back to the openelec log and continue this reboot loop forever.

Here is my simple advancedsettings.xml file

<advancedsettings>
<videodatabase>
<type>mysql</type>
<host>192.168.1.3</host>
<port>3306</port>
<user>*******</user>
<pass>*******</pass>
</videodatabase>
<musicdatabase>
<type>mysql</type>
<host>192.168.1.3</host>
<port>3306</port>
<user>******</user>
<pass>*******</pass>
</musicdatabase>
<videolibrary>
<importwatchedstate>true</importwatchedstate>
<importresumepoint>true</importresumepoint>
</videolibrary>
</advancedsettings>

Any idea why this was once working and now will no longer boot?!

Also, how can I SSH in and view the log files when I'm not able to log in to openelec?

Thanks!

[ironic_monkey]

Os is probably up so just ssh. I would suspect a network stall. Kill them mysql things and see if they boot. If that is the case you know your error.

[Prof Yaffle]

If this is a literal cut-and-paste, the missing < at the beginning would be relevant.

A debug log (wiki) would tell you if the advancedsettings file is being read and, if so, what Kodi thinks is in it.

EDIT

Of course, there's a challenge getting into debugging if you can't boot (says he, realising he's been stating the bleedin' obvious). And the command-line way of hacking advancedsettings to get into debug mode clearly won't work here either... maybe there's still something in the regular log.

You don't say how far you get before 'failure to boot'. If the system is still running, but Kodi isn't, then ssh should still work fine, as would the Windows-share way of accessing config files. It depends on what exactly is dying.

[Living Legend]

Yes, I missed the "<" in the cut and paste. Unfortunately SSH won't work since I can't completely boot into the OS. I've tried. It allows me to type "root" as the password but says access is denied on password "openelec". If it actually boots into openelec, it allows me to access with these credentials.

So with that said, I can't access the debug log, regular log OR remove advancedsettings.xml. The only thing I can do is a fresh install and then upload a new .xml file with modifications.

[Prof Yaffle]

The fact you can't get the OS running suggests to me that it's not a Kodi issue - that would cause Kodi to die, but the Syslinux underpinnings should be up and running at that point.

Does the system appear on the network at all (i.e. the SAMBA broadcast)?

Can you boot from (say) a live Ubuntu USB stick and then mount the Openelec partition - and then edit whatever you need to (maybe look at syslog if you can)?

[Living Legend]

The fact you can't get the OS running suggests to me that it's not a Kodi issue - that would cause Kodi to die, but the Syslinux underpinnings should be up and running at that point.

Does the system appear on the network at all (i.e. the SAMBA broadcast)?

Can you boot from (say) a live Ubuntu USB stick and then mount the Openelec partition - and then edit whatever you need to (maybe look at syslog if you can)?

I do not see the network on a SMB broadcast.

I will try to boot from an Ubuntu USB stick and mount the openelec partition.

[Living Legend]

Well I guess I'm failing at the mounting the openelec partition part.

I'm not sure what option I need to start with to get there. Any of the first two options "install lubuntu" or "try lubuntu" immediately make the system reboot.

All of the other options seem to have nothing to do with this.

I'm pretty new to this stuff. I guess I'll have to take the long route, clear the chromebox, run the script and just continually do this until it accepts an advancedsettings.xml file.

[Prof Yaffle]

The 'try lubunutu' option should boot you into a desktop environment, so something's not right - although whether it's chromebox-specific or not, I can't say.

When you try to boot OE natively, what happens? What do you see, what do you get, what errors/behaviour/random whatevers?

Given you've seen Kodi get to the splash screen - do you have anything odd about your video out? Has anything changed? Can you connect it to a monitor instead of TV, does that help?

I'm not aware of any hot key combination (e.g. 'press shift when booting') to prevent Kodi from starting, but that's what you need, I suspect...

[Living Legend]

The 'try lubunutu' option should boot you into a desktop environment, so something's not right - although whether it's chromebox-specific or not, I can't say.

When you try to boot OE natively, what happens? What do you see, what do you get, what errors/behaviour/random whatevers?

Given you've seen Kodi get to the splash screen - do you have anything odd about your video out? Has anything changed? Can you connect it to a monitor instead of TV, does that help?

I'm not aware of any hot key combination (e.g. 'press shift when booting') to prevent Kodi from starting, but that's what you need, I suspect...

I was just told on another sub forum that the reason I'm probably not getting it to load is beacuse I have a partitioned HDD for Chrome OS and Openelec.

I've booted into chrome, mounted the openelec and removed the advancedsettings.xml file.

Now it'll boot and I can see the log, but I'm not sure of the problem.

For some reason, (I don't think this happens on my other client devices) it's loading a default advancedsettings.xml file, and the simple one I've created.

Could this be the problem? And if so, how do I get rid of it?

[Living Legend]

Here is my pastebin link:

http://pastebin.com/nLaHWzcz

Again, after the reinstall, I added the basic advancedsettings.xml file to the .kodi/userdata folder on the chromebox.

I will get all the way to the point where it says Kodi with the logo, says version 14.2 Helix , and for a half a second will switch to the main screen before it blanks out and goes back to Kodi logo screen for a few seconds. The loop is infinite.

[Prof Yaffle]

From what I understand, what you're seeing is the default advancedsettings getting loaded, then being over-ridden by your personal one. So, one option is not to replace the default, but instead to edit it - cp /usr/share/xbmc/system/advancedsettings.xml /storage/.xbmc/userdata/ (or something) and then edit.

I suppose it's possible that you need one of those defaults for some reason...

Other thoughts...

So the log file above is from when it boots, yes?

Can you grab one from when it fails? If it's easier, mount the partition and create a file to stop Kodi from starting : touch /var/lock/xbmc.disabled - you'll just have the host Linux system (with ssh) then. Remove this file afterwards to get Kodi back. But you should be able to:

1. Boot it properly
2. Switch on debugging
3. Reboot from USB
4. Mount the OE partition
5. Add the new advancedsettings
6. Reboot into this boot loop
7. Power off the machine
8. Reboot from USB
9. Grab the debug log file

[Living Legend]

From what I understand, what you're seeing is the default advancedsettings getting loaded, then being over-ridden by your personal one. So, one option is not to replace the default, but instead to edit it - cp /usr/share/xbmc/system/advancedsettings.xml /storage/.xbmc/userdata/ (or something) and then edit.

I suppose it's possible that you need one of those defaults for some reason...

Other thoughts...

So the log file above is from when it boots, yes?

Can you grab one from when it fails? If it's easier, mount the partition and create a file to stop Kodi from starting : touch /var/lock/xbmc.disabled - you'll just have the host Linux system (with ssh) then. Remove this file afterwards to get Kodi back. But you should be able to:

1. Boot it properly
2. Switch on debugging
3. Reboot from USB
4. Mount the OE partition
5. Add the new advancedsettings
6. Reboot into this boot loop
7. Power off the machine
8. Reboot from USB
9. Grab the debug log file

After some trail and error, I completely erased mariaDB, reinstalled, and we were good to go. Apparently there were issues with the db. But now I have another random issue which I'll start a different thread on since the title doesn't explain appropriately.