Kodi crashes on Mint 21[Workaround Solution]

[OunceofCommonSense]

I installed Kodi stable version using the directions here https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Install_K ... installing
It installs and I am able to log into Kodi separately from my desktop (ie from the login page on startup) but if I try and open Kodi when on my desktop it crashes immediately with a black screen that flashes every 5 seconds or so. I am using Mint 21 cinnamon
I did ask about this on the Kodi forum and the answer was that the hardware is old and Mint has historically had trouble with Kodi. however it worked flawlessly on Mint 20.3 and as I said it works under a separate login on Mint 21 just not in the desktop. On a separate note that may or may not be related when I boot Mint a black recktangle appears very briefly on the upper left side of the screen and then disappears in a second or so. The installation is running well otherwise. If this post is in the wrong section feel free to move it and sorry if that is the case.

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inxi -Fxxxrz
System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-43-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.2.0
    Desktop: Cinnamon 5.4.9 tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: Mutter vt: 7 dm: LightDM 1.30.0
    Distro: Linux Mint 21 Vanessa base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: Z77 Extreme4-M
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: P1.90
    date: 03/13/2018
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M510
    serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
    status: Discharging
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-3770K bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    smt: enabled arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 9 cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB
    L3: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2940 high: 3501 min/max: 1600/3900 cores: 1: 3469
    2: 3453 3: 3501 4: 3496 5: 2315 6: 1600 7: 2491 8: 3202 bogomips: 56005
  Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel IvyBridge GT2 [HD Graphics 4000] vendor: ASRock
    driver: i915 v: kernel ports: active: HDMI-A-3
    empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2, VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0
    chip-ID: 8086:0162 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3072x1728 s-dpi: 120 s-size: 650x366mm (25.6x14.4")
    s-diag: 746mm (29.4")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-3 mapped: HDMI-A-3 model: BenQ EX2780Q serial: <filter>
    res: 3072x1728 hz: 60 dpi: 131 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.2")
    diag: 685mm (27") modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2)
    v: 4.2 Mesa 22.0.5 compat-v: 3.1 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio
    vendor: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
    chip-ID: 8086:1e20 class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-43-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: ASRock driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    port: e000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 12.96 TiB used: 3.56 TiB (27.4%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 250GB size: 232.89 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 1B6Q scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WUH721414ALE6L4
    size: 12.73 TiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter>
    rev: W240 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 52.57 GiB used: 17.59 GiB (33.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda4
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 246.1 MiB used: 7.2 MiB (2.9%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
  ID-3: /home size: 41.04 GiB used: 3.64 GiB (8.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 34.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: 2864 apt: 2859 flatpak: 5
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list
    1: deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ impish main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-earth-pro.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/linuxmint-packages vanessa main upstream import backport
    2: deb http://mirror.rcg.sfu.ca/mirror/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http://mirror.rcg.sfu.ca/mirror/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http://mirror.rcg.sfu.ca/mirror/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/phoerious-keepassxc-jammy.list
    1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/phoerious/keepassxc/ubuntu jammy main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/team-xbmc-ppa-jammy.list
    1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu jammy main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/winehq.gpg] http://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ vanessa main
Info:
  Processes: 293 Uptime: 7m wakeups: 2 Memory: 15.33 GiB
  used: 3.31 GiB (21.6%) Init: systemd v: 249 runlevel: 5 Compilers:
  gcc: 11.2.0 alt: 11 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: gnome-terminal
  inxi: 3.3.13

[OunceofCommonSense]

Just an added note. I was able to open Kodi with the command in TTY

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kodi stop

kind of counterintuitive but it worked
I thought perhaps X11 or cinnamon might have crashed. I get this out put(hand written notes, there may be mistakes) from screen after exiting Kodi\

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libva info: va-api version 1.14.0
libva info: trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/iHD_dri_video.so
libva info:found init function_vaDriverInit_1.14
libva error:/usr/libb/x86_64-linux_gnu/dri/iHD_drv_video.so init failed
libva info: va.opendriver ()returns 1
cannot connect to server socket err =no such file or directory
cannot connect to server request channel
jackserver is not running or cannot be started
jackshmreadwriteptr=:~jackshmreadwriteptr
-init not done for -1 skipping unlock

[OunceofCommonSense]

Solution (partial)
I have noticed for some time my screen capture program(Shutter) also crashes if I try and select a large area on the screen to capture manually(window capture works though). I didn't worry too much about this and one day thought perhaps it has something to do with fractional scaling which I have set to 125%. Sure enough when I set it to 100% both Shutter and Kodi worked without crashing.
I guess I can reset scaling when I need to use scaling but perhaps I should report this as a Mint bug


It should be noted that this was not a problem in Mint 20.3 when scaling was set to 125%

[kaval]

I also get repetitive crashes on kodi with Mint 21 with some initial screens, and then a segmentation fault. Kodi worked fine on MInt 20. This is on 2 separate systems. When I used timeshift to revert back to Mint 20.3 everything was fine again. I do need Mint 21 on one of my systems because it looks like the newer kernel have drivers for the ethernet port on my Thinkpad dock which now works.

It would certainly be nice to get it working.

[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libthread_db.so.1".
Core was generated by `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/kodi/kodi.bin'.
Program terminated with signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
#0 0x00007f574a958aa0 in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython3.10.so.1.0
[Current thread is 1 (Thread 0x7f56d5ffb640 (LWP 120383

[oldgranola]

Bumping this because I also had this problem on a fresh install of LM21.1 on my Dad's big Dell laptop (that became useless after win11 forced upgrade). Installed from the stable LM sources kodi 19.4, Installed 19.5 from the team kodi PPA, from the flathub version, installed unstable newest from the 'unstable' PPA. All had this problem of cycling through crashing screen. Only way out was rebooot. Yes prior to installing kodi I had set it to fractional scaling 125% for old dudes like us.

Fix:
1. Take the screen it back to 100% scaling from system settings >monitor. Then open kodi each version works!!
2. Put kodi interface (from system tab) to 'windowed'. Default is full screen. I bet thats the issue with fractional scaling
3. Go back to system settings >monitor>set scaling back to 125%

All versions of kodi worked. Thus I uninstalled all except for the team xbmc PPA 19.5 version to keep it simple for dear old Dad.

btw, have to mention that I did not have this problem on Monjaro with flatpak kodi. But Monjaro isn't the right OS for Dad it turns out, LM cinnamon is much better suited for folks who just want to get on the puter and get to work/play without having to maintain or futz with the OS.

[OunceofCommonSense]

Bumping this because I also had this problem on a fresh install of LM21.1 on my Dad's big Dell laptop (that became useless after win11 forced upgrade). Installed from the stable LM sources kodi 19.4, Installed 19.5 from the team kodi PPA, from the flathub version, installed unstable newest from the 'unstable' PPA. All had this problem of cycling through crashing screen. Only way out was rebooot. Yes prior to installing kodi I had set it to fractional scaling 125% for old dudes like us.

Fix:
1. Take the screen it back to 100% scaling from system settings >monitor. Then open kodi each version works!!
2. Put kodi interface (from system tab) to 'windowed'. Default is full screen. I bet thats the issue with fractional scaling
3. Go back to system settings >monitor>set scaling back to 125%

All versions of kodi worked. Thus I uninstalled all except for the team xbmc PPA 19.5 version to keep it simple for dear old Dad.

Thanks I will give it a try

[oldgranola]

Bumping this because I also had this problem on a fresh install of LM21.1 on my Dad's big Dell laptop (that became useless after win11 forced upgrade). Installed from the stable LM sources kodi 19.4, Installed 19.5 from the team kodi PPA, from the flathub version, installed unstable newest from the 'unstable' PPA. All had this problem of cycling through crashing screen. Only way out was rebooot. Yes prior to installing kodi I had set it to fractional scaling 125% for old dudes like us.

Fix:
1. Take the screen it back to 100% scaling from system settings >monitor. Then open kodi each version works!!
2. Put kodi interface (from system tab) to 'windowed'. Default is full screen. I bet thats the issue with fractional scaling
3. Go back to system settings >monitor>set scaling back to 125%

All versions of kodi worked. Thus I uninstalled all except for the team xbmc PPA 19.5 version to keep it simple for dear old Dad.

Thanks I will give it a try

Actually THANK YOU for the clue on fractional scaling. I think that is a source of problems I've had in the past as well as stupid python versions