[laurencem]

Please be gentle with me, first post EVER!

Problem:
I can install XBMC using the instructions from the XBMCbuntu page, but if I either use the svn/ppa repo or upgrade to it, XBMC will no longer start at boot.

Hardware:
Acer Aspire 5670 (laptop) w/ATI Radeon Mobility X1600

Steps to Replicate:
1. Install Ubuntu 10.04 minimal with Base Server, OpenSSH and Samba packages.
2. System reboots to text login prompt.
3. Follow instructions in XBMCbuntu page (less video drivers) - Copied from .bash_history:

Code:

apt-get install python-software-properties pkg-config
add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc
apt-get update
apt-get install xbmc xinit x11-xserver-utils
adduser xbmc --gecos XBMC
usermod --group audio,video,fuse,cdrom,plugdev xbmc
apt-get install xbmc-live
reboot

4. System reboots to XBMC. Exited XBMC, logged in, sudo -i. Added svn/ppa repo and upgraded.

Code:

add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc-svn/ppa
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
reboot

5. System reboots to text login prompt (identical to step 2). Syslog shows:

Code:

Sep 15 00:15:53 xbmc-office init: xbmc-live pre-start process (808) terminated with status 2

6. Log in as xbmc
7. xinit xbmc-standalone starts XBMC.



What I've tried:
I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing at first ... installed XBMC from the current release, it worked OK except that I had some (unrelated hardware) issues hooking it up to the TV. But ... shiny and new ... had to try the latest and greatest. Then it stopped autostarting.

I had been messing with the ATI drivers (Radeon Mobility X1600) and thought that might have been the cause, so I started fresh and reinstalled Ubuntu. This time I tried going direct to the svn/ppa, changing ppa:team-xbmc to ppa:team-xbmc-svn/ppa. Nogo, same result, won't autostart, will start manually.

By now I was starting to wonder if I had ever gotten it to autostart on this machine. I was also thinking it might be a problem with the init scripts. So I started over again. (Thank you, squid, for caching all the packages for me!) This time, when I installed the release version, I copied the xbmc-live script from /etc/init.d.

I then upgraded to Dharma. Same result, no autostart. Logged in and found that the init scripts were TOTALLY different. Just for giggles, moved the new xbmc-live to xbmc-live.old and copied the old xbmc-live to /etc/init.d. Didn't work. Then decided to edumacate myself a bit (but only a bit) and moved xbmc-live.conf out of the /etc/init directory. Still doesn't work.

I'm not familiar with upstart (or init scripts generally), so I'm a little stuck here. I think my problem must be in there somewhere. XBMC still works, it just doesn't start automatically. I found some thread about similar issues but none that I saw were recent.

Also, I have XBMC on another system, a Dell Inspiron 531s, that upgraded to Dharma gracefully and still autostarts. So it isn't me personally

I have yet to try using the Live CD but will try that (Beta2) next.

-Laurence

*** UPDATE ***
Live CD Beta2 also fails, but more severely. Now when I attempt to run xinit xbmc-standalone the xterm window show "Segmentation fault (core dumped)" and XBMC wants me to install an "appropriate graphics driver".

A little more information (prolly shoulda read the "HOW-TO post..." post the first time)...
Ubuntu 10.04.1 loaded from minimal CD, current as of 9/15/2010
XBMC (release) - 9.11-lucid3 (9/15/2010 from PPA)
XBMC (dharma) - 10.00~svn33778-lucid1 (9/15/2010 from PPA)
i686
Installed from PPA and from LiveCD
Log file ... *facepalm* ... really shoulda read that post ... will replicate again tomorrow and post log file.

[vikjon0]

Don't know what the issue is, so please wait for better answer.
I have an old htpc with ATI that is nothing but problem. Live904 worked fine but 9.11 never worked. I just gave up and
sudo apt-get install gnome-core xbmc-standalone
(this will remove xbmc-live and install gdm)

xbmc-standalone will give you a new session type in gdm. Set that to default for you user and enable gdm autologin.
The performance difference will be close to none on a standard box.

Of course you can fix this without gdm in a more hacki hacki way, but if you just want to have it going this should do it.

[laurencem]

OK, replicated again and pulled log files. Also scripted what I was doing after the install.

lshw output

Setting up 9.11 from PPA - Works:
xbmc-install script.
Output from xbmc-install.
syslog after rebooting to new XBMC install and exiting XBMC.
xbmc.log from first run.

Upgrading to dharma - does not autostart:
xbmc-upgrade script.
Output from xbmc-upgrade. Also, while the -y option was passed to apt-get, you can see at lines 213-223 where I'm prompted to approve part of the process ... not a big deal, just something I saw.
syslog after rebooting to upgraded XBMC ... just a snippet from boot to when the webcam started filling the log. Note line 1077 - init: xbmc-live pre-start process (769) terminated with status 2.