[Malc54]

Well it did first time, and I was able to install some add-ons, but now it just hangs showing the Kodi startup screen. I'm running on a relatively old Dell Latitude E6500 laptop with decent enough specifications. I installed Ubuntu from scratch, and although I initially installed Kodi from the Ubuntu repository, I have also uninstalled and manually reinstalled from the command line as per several instructions I found on this site. Any assistance most welcome

[Klojum]

To receive meaningful assistance you will need to provide a full debug log.

The instructions are here... debug log (wiki)

If you are using the Basic Method, then ensure the following is applied...
1.Enable debugging in Settings>System Settings>Logging,
2.Restart Kodi
3.Replicate the problem.

If you are using the Advanced Method ensure you have correctly created and applied the advancedsettings.xml file.

In both instances, you should see the word DEBUG throughout the log.

Note: Full logs only. No partial or redacted logs
Do NOT post your logs directly into the forum. Always use a paste site like pastebin.com. Post the link to your pasted log in the forum

[DaVu]

Well it did first time, and I was able to install some add-ons, but now it just hangs showing the Kodi startup screen.

If Kodi hangs completely and might be caused by some dodgy add-ons, I would recommend to run the following command from command line:

mv ~/.kodi ~/kodi-backup

That will reset Kodi on the next run. All settings and installed add-ons will be gone but are stored in the "kodi-backup" folder with the command we executed above. If that works and Kodi will start up normally again, then I would be more careful which add-ons you install and which not. Kodi shouldn't behave that way if you install add-ons from the Kodi repository. If you have installed 3rd party repos (and probably banned ones), we are not responsible for the errors you are seeing.

That said, if you install the add-ons again and might have noted which add-on causes your problem and it might be something from a 3rd party repo, please report to that repository maintainer or the add-on author for getting any help.

If those add-ons are installed from our repository feel free to report here and we will take care and probably point you to the right direction.