Android AFT Gen 3 OS v5.0.5 Has Stopped Working
#1
I misspoke in the title. This thread is about the Gen 1 Amazon Fire TV.

Hello,

I've been running an Amazon Fire TV (AFTV) in the livingroom and the bedroom for almost a year. Both have worked fine running Kodi 15.2 with the kodi data on a USB drive.

The AFTV in the livingroom is about a year and a half old and the bedroom is about 8 months old.

I've setup a "xbmc_env.properties" file at /mnt/sdcard with these contents:

xbmc.data=/storage/extUsb/kodi_data

I have just enough data that it won't fit on the internal storage so using the USB is the only install that works.

About 3 days ago, the bedroom AFTV quit working with Kodi when the data is on the USB drive.. The AFTV seems to work in every way with the built in software, but Kodi now refuses to run as long as the data is on the external USB card.

I modified the "xbmc_env.properties" file to point to:

xbmc.data=/storage/usbdisk/kodi_data

This did not fix the problem. When I launch Kodi there is a very long pause and it either just stays on a black screen or quits.

The bedroom AFTV is mostly used by my girlfriend so I've unplugged the USB drive and renamed the "xbmc_env.properties" file.

Kodi works fine, but as you can imagine I'd like to get the full system working again.

Is anyone else experiencing this same problem? I don't think there is anything wrong with the USB drive. If I plug it into the livingroom AFTV, it launches Kodi just fine with that DB/Library.

Thanks, Scott
Reply
#2
So, about at the same time that the AFTV software update came out?
Reply
#3
Yes, which is why I wanted to see if anyone else is having a problem after the update.

I'm imagining that the set of people with an AFTV, Kodi, and the library on a USB drive is pretty small.

Scott
Reply
#4
Most probably the lollipop permission shit.
Unlimited write access is now limited to some subdirectory on an external drive.

From memory, move your kodi_data to "<drive_root>/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/", and update xbmc_env.properties accordingly.
Reply
#5
You may be right. Thank you. I will try that. Given the behavior that does sound right.

I'm off to work at the time of reading but I will try that tonight and report back. It was obviously something to do with the USB drive, but it never occurred to me that there might be a location-specific workaround.

Thanks
Reply
#6
(2016-02-05, 09:08)Koying Wrote: Most probably the lollipop permission shit.
Unlimited write access is now limited to some subdirectory on an external drive.

From memory, move your kodi_data to "<drive_root>/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/", and update xbmc_env.properties accordingly.

I came home and gave this a try. In these notes I'm referring to the sdcard as usbdisk because that is now how Android on the AFTV now refers to the USB jump drive I have plugged into it's USB port.

I modified the xbmc_env.properties file to read:

xbmc.data=/usbdisk/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files

And I copied the folders on the usbdisk/old_kodi_data_folder to /usbdisk/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files. These are the two folders that begin with "." so:

.kodi
.smb

So the location of the .kodi folder became /usbdisk/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi

I want to be really exact about that so that others can do the same.

Then pushed it to the Fire TV with these commands:

adb connect xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
adb push "xbmc_env.properties" "mnt/sdcard/xbmc_env.properties"
adb disconnect

I fired up Kodi and IT WORKED! All my settings were back too. As far as I can tell, I'm good to go.

Thank you for responding and suggesting this fix. Needless to say, I don't like that I have to be explicit about where I place files that I've chosen to move to a custom location, but I'm very happy to have the kodi in the bedroom back.

Scott
Reply
#7
Yeah, sorry about that, not our fault, really.
I've started digging into the Android api, but it really, really does not fit a native, cross-platform, app as Kodi.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. If you make a new thread with a "howto" (basically the post above with a bit of context), I'll stick it.
Reply
#8
Let me know if you'd like any edits. Scott
Reply
#9
Not contributing to this thread's value, but.... 3rd generation Fire TV ? Did I miss something ?
Reply
#10
(2016-02-07, 02:38)SandmanCL Wrote: Not contributing to this thread's value, but.... 3rd generation Fire TV ? Did I miss something ?

Thanks for pointing that out. After I read your comment I went and checked closer and I had named my AFTVs based on the generation of my own library configuration: Apple TV Gen1, Livingroom, Gen 2, Bedroom, Gen 3 When I had this problem I had forgotten I did that and misnamed this thread.

I believe all my AFTVs are the same model. (It does appear from googling that there is a gen 1 and a gen 2. I think mine are gen 2.)

However, that having been said, the one in the bedroom updated itself and the one in the livingroom has yet to do so. I've restarted them both several times trying to fix this problem.

But most importantly I wanted this thread to be clear and accurate so cleaning this up is important. Thank you.

Scott
Reply
#11
Nice work. I'll be sure to add this to the wiki page (I put a link to this thread for now). Well written and easy to follow instructions are very valuable to us :)
Reply
#12
Short Question: Doesn't moving all kodi-data from internal storage to sd card or USB drive result in massive interface lag?
(Source:)
Quote:May result in noticeable Kodi interface lag depending on the size of your Kodi database.
Reply
#13
Split the nice Howto to http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=259327
Reply
#14
(2016-02-09, 17:01)ovarus Wrote: Short Question: Doesn't moving all kodi-data from internal storage to sd card or USB drive result in massive interface lag?
(Source:)
Quote:May result in noticeable Kodi interface lag depending on the size of your Kodi database.

Noticeable, perhaps. Prohibitive, absolutely not.

When I first got the AFTV and moved everything to the USB drive I just grabbed whatever USB jump drive I had laying around. That was an 8gb card that I had bought for tossing in my backpack in-case I needed to bring something home or take something to work.

When it was all setup and working Kodi was very slow. I went on Amazon and searched for "fastest usb drive" and got pointed to the SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 drive. I got a 32gig one and moved my data over to it. That did the trick.

Using the best USB drive I could find, the AFTV performed very well. For all practical purposes, it's as fast as having the library on internal storage. Is it AS FAST? No. But is it entirely tolerable? Yes. If you never tried the performance with everything internal you would not know there was a speed difference. Because we are fans and obsess about these things, yes I can tell the difference. It is not a problem.

With the original drive that I had just laying around it was agonizing. So, I would encourage you to at least play around a bit before deciding if it's too slow or not.

Also, rumor has it that the AFTV will even power some spindle based hard drives. I have a few laying around but have never tried them. You might be able to get a performance BOOST with a good USB 3.0 external hard drive. I think you'd have to use a drive that had it's own power.

Once I got the SanDisk drives and they were fast enough, I dropped the idea of exploring an external drive because why add more moving parts to a system that was now adequate. My thinking was that since this is fast enough, future generations (of hardware) will get faster, not slower, so I'm golden.

Good luck, Scott
Reply
#15
Thank you for this very well written answer!

I'll definetly try to test this out. Best I'll use my SPMC Installation, since i'm running Kodi Jarvis atm and SPMC is not "needed" right now. If it performs well, both installations will move to external and I'm also out of any space restrictions.

Since i'm running my AFTV 2 with SD Card, I'll try this method. No big deal I hope, cuz it's a 64gb microSDXC Class 10 Card with 80 MB/s transfer rate.
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
AFT Gen 3 OS v5.0.5 Has Stopped Working0