It’s always annoying when Kodi runs into a problem, especially as it can be difficult to find the root cause of an issue on your own. While the most common advice given is “check Kodi’s logs”, this isn’t always helpful since the logs are designed with experts in mind.
The good news is that most of Kodi’s problems can usually be fixed in just a few minutes. This guide will help you troubleshoot and resolve some of the most commonly encountered Kodi issues. With luck, your problem will be fixed and you can get back to watching your favorite TV shows and movies in peace.
The type of Kodi problems you may run into include:
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- Kodi crashes when it loads
- Addons won’t delete
- Issues with hardware acceleration
- Kodi buffering issues
- Video stuttering
- Black screen or blank screen
- Kodi freezes during playback
- Kodi search not working on addons
- HD and 4K streams stuttering
- …and more!
We’ll provide some guidance, direction, and insight into common problems you might face when using Kodi.
It’s important to note that third-party addons are less stable than official ones. They are notoriously unreliable and often come with their own problems. Additionally, third-party addons usually use unlicensed sources. For these reasons, we advise our readers to use only official addons and seek properly licensed content wherever possible.
Warning: Kodi should only be used for content to which you have the legal right to access. Neither the Kodi Foundation nor Comparitech advocates the use of Kodi for piracy.
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Why you should always use a VPN with Kodi
VPNs are often used to hide unlicensed streaming from a user’s internet service provider (ISP). Despite this, using a VPN can greatly benefit people who only use official streaming sources.
VPNs work by encrypting a user’s internet traffic. This prevents it from being accessed by any outside observer. This renders the majority of Man-in-the-Middle attacks useless and also prevents your ISP from throttling your connection based on your browsing habits.
Every VPN will slow your connection down to some degree so it’s important to find one that has minimal impact on your browsing speeds. Also, some VPN providers keep detailed logs of your activities. This greatly reduces the level of privacy you can expect your VPN to provide.
We recommend using IPVanish. It offers fast, consistently stable connections to servers across the world. Further, it’s one of the easiest VPNs to install on an Amazon Firestick or other mobile platform and keeps no logs of your network traffic. Best of all, this service has no connection limit, meaning you can protect all of your devices at once.
BEST VPN FOR KODI:IPVanish is our top choice. Has a large uncongested network of servers and achieves good speeds. Strong security and privacy features make IPVanish a favorite for Kodi and Amazon Fire TV Stick users. Try it risk-free with the 30-day money-back guarantee.
What are some of the most common Kodi problems?
Kodi is one of the most portable media center software packages and can be installed on a huge range of devices including Roku, Apple TV, and Nvidia Shield. However, while Kodi works in a similar way across platforms, each device has different system resources, user profile folders, and subroutines. This can make it difficult to troubleshoot Kodi.
For example, you may run issues while trying to fix Kodi on your Firestick that never occur on your Android version of the software. While the solutions below work in most cases, we can’t guarantee that they’ll address the root cause of a problem across all Kodi installations.
Kodi keeps crashing, freezing or pausing
Remove recently installed addons, updates, or builds
If Kodi is consistently crashing or freezing, it’s a sure sign that something has gone wrong. First, consider when this problem began and what your actions were just prior to the problem beginning.
If the issue started after you installed a particular addon, try uninstalling it and see if the problem persists. Likewise, if you just installed an addon update or customized Kodi build you might want to uninstall this to remove it as a potential cause. Note that certain some older addons may not have been updated to work with Kodi 18; if you haven’t used Kodi in a while, it may be better to start over instead of manually reinstalling every addon you’ve ever used,
Disable hardware acceleration
Hardware acceleration is one of the main causes of Kodi crashes, particularly on Android. You could try turning this option off to see if the issue goes away. Doing this is simple: from the Kodi home screen, click the gear icon to go to the settings menu.
Next, click Player settings. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find another gear icon with the word “Basic” beside it. Click this three times and it should turn to “Expert”. Now highlight the Video tab, scroll down to the bottom of the list on the right and disable the Allow hardware acceleration – DXVA2 option. Restart Kodi and see if the crashing persists.
Clear Kodi’s cache
When Kodi plays streaming videos, it downloads a few seconds at a time to the cache. This allows for faster access and smoother streaming. However, when the cache fills up entirely it can cause Kodi to behave erratically. Choppy video is a tell-tale sign that the cache is getting full and although the cache usually empties itself, sometimes it needs to be flushed manually.
Kodi doesn’t have any built-in tools that allow you to do this, so you’ll have to install the Indigo addon from the TVAddons repo. Once installed, click the Maintenance Tools tab, then the Clear Cache button on the right.
If you’re looking for a different maintenance option, TVAddons also provides an addon called Indigo that works similarly. You’ll find a cache-clearing tool there was well.
Reinstall Kodi
If the steps above haven’t solved your issue, you might want to consider a fresh Kodi installation. You can either do this manually by downloading your preferred version from https://kodi.tv/download or by using the Indigo tool’s Factory Restore option, found under the Maintenance Tools tab.
Kodi streams won’t play at all
There are three main reasons why a stream might not load. First, make sure you’re connected to the internet. This is simple enough: without internet access, you can’t watch videos hosted online.
The addon may no longer work. Unfortunately, development teams come and go all the time, often due to the threat of legal action. In cases like these, you won’t be able to install new addons from the repo in question, and addons you already have may become unstable or refuse to work.
Most commonly, this error occurs when you try to access a region-locked service from outside of its required country. For instance, if you’re attempting to use the iPlayer WWW addon from outside of the UK, the streams won’t load. You can bypass these restrictions by connecting to a VPN server in the appropriate region before starting the addon.
Kodi crashes and reboots continuously
There are a few reasons why Kodi might get stuck in a crash/reboot loop. If you’ve installed any custom builds recently, they might be the culprit and should be removed using the Indigo tool. If this doesn’t resolve your problem, try disconnecting your computer from the internet.
The reason we suggest this is because the URLResolver dependency often causes problems and if Kodi does not have internet access, it can’t do its job. If this stops your crashing issue, try updating it by clicking the gear icon on Kodi’s main screen, then System settings. Next, scroll down to the Add-ons tab and click Manage dependencies. Click URLResolver, then click Update. If this doesn’t work, you can either uninstall addons until you find the one responsible for the crashes or just reinstall Kodi to start again with a clean slate.
Kodi is unable to connect to a source
Kodi repositories are usually installed by providing a path to the source. Sometimes you might find that once the source has been added, you’ll see a popup telling you that it couldn’t be accessed.
This is usually because the source address is incorrect. Check it and make sure you’ve entered it correctly. Common mistakes include misspellings, not using the proper letter case (e.g., inserting upper or lowercase letters where they don’t belong), forgetting to include “http://” at the start, and in some cases, missing the repo’s file extension.
If the address has been entered correctly, more often than not, the repository has gone offline or been moved to a new address. You can test this by opening the source address in your browser; if the folder is empty or not found, that’s the root of your issue. Try researching the repo to see if it has been moved but bear in mind that alternative hosts are not always trustworthy.
Kodi can’t install an addon
If you’ve managed to install a repo, but an addon fails to install, there are several possible causes. The addon may be outdated or no longer supported by its developers. In this scenario there’s very little you can do. Older versions may still be hosted elsewhere, but these aren’t guaranteed to work and the older an addon gets, the more risk it poses to your system when installed.
Additionally, older addons may not work with newer versions of Kodi. New Kodi versions have changed the way the software reads and process addon code, making some older addons obsolete with newer versions of Kodi (for instance, many addons stopped working after Kodi 18 was released).
It’s also possible that the addon has uninstalled dependencies. These are additional addons that are required for the initial addon to work. That said, addons that have these dependencies are not official and pose a significant risk to your system’s security. For this reason, we’d advise against installing them in the first place.
Finally, it’s possible that this particular addon doesn’t work with your version of Kodi. For instance, until recently, LibreELEC users couldn’t install the Netflix addon due to its reliance on files that weren’t present in just-enough-OS platforms.
Can’t uninstall or delete Kodi addons
At times, you may find a build or a specific Kodi addon causes a conflict with your Kodi installation. If this occurs, you may try to load up Kodi, only to have it crash every time. Thankfully, Kodi addons can be deleted from outside of your Kodi interface.
If you need to delete a Kodi addon, you can do some from your %APPDATA%\Kodi\addons\ folder.
To find it on your system, do the following:
- Go to your C: drive
- Click on Users
- Find the name of the user account you use for your computer and select it
- Click on AppData
- Click on Roaming
- Select the Kodi folder
- Now find the specific plugin causing your issues, and delete it directly from this folder
If you’re unsure which plugin is causing the issue, try deleting your most recently installed addons or repositories and loading Kodi to see if it works. If worst comes to worst, you can delete as many addons or repositories as necessary without causing any harm to your base Kodi installation. You may, however, need to reinstall your addons again later.
Videos frequently stutter or load for a long time
The majority of the time, a weak network signal or slow internet speeds are the cause of streaming problems. This has been covered in more detail in our Kodi buffering article, so it might be a good idea to start there.
If you can’t find any problems with your network, there might be another cause. Certain content providers restrict access to their videos using a process known as geo-locking or region-locking. This checks the IP address of anyone attempting to view the content and rejects the connection if the IP address isn’t from a particular location.
The good news is that this is easily bypassed. Users can connect their virtual private network (VPN) to a server in the correct location and will be able to access the previously restricted media. The correct server to connect to is usually fairly obvious: the BBC blocks anyone that isn’t inside the UK, NBC blocks those outside the US, and so on.
Videos look strange or the colors are off
Color issues are far less common and are not necessarily unique to Kodi. If the colors are slightly off, the problem is likely due to incorrect monitor settings. This issue isn’t always immediately apparent and may only be obvious with select videos.
An example of incorrect video settings in Kodi
This is because every monitor’s color profile is different. Most will have a button on the front that grants access to a picture options menu. However, if your monitor is properly configured, there are other possible solutions.
If your video is too large or too small, you’ve likely zoomed in or out accidentally. While playing a video, click the gear icon. Next, click Video settings. Look for the Zoom amount option—if it’s anything other than 1.0, that’s the problem. Make sure that the View Mode is set to “Normal” too.
It’s also worth checking the Brightness and Contrast values. These should be at 50%, and if they aren’t, they’re likely what’s causing your video to look strange.
Kodi addon searches and streams not working
There is a little-known error that can cause your Kodi addons to not perform searches, updates or streams correctly. For example, you may find that some addons can’t pull any newer or older content, even if it normally should be available. If this is the case, try checking your device date and time.
Particularly if you’re using set-top box purchased through Amazon or eBay, there’s a chance the date and time are incorrect. Kodi and its addons utilize the system date and time to correctly pull data. If that information is wrong, you may in-addon searches may pull in bad results or limited results, and it may even impact your streaming or addon updates.
Kodi black screen or blank screen issues
There are a few issues that could be causing a black screen on startup, or creating a blank screen during regular Kodi operation.
One such problem arises when attempting to upgrade from Kodi 16 to version 17+. The change from the Confluence skin to the new Estuary skin may cause you to experience some errors related to the Addons.db file.
Consequently, the fix for this issue is to delete your Addons.db file, which just caches information on your addons. Don’t worry, deleting the file will not delete any of your addons.
You can find this file in the following locations, based on your operating system:
- Android: Android/data/orgkodi/files/.kodi/userdata/Database
- Windows: Click start and type %APPDATA%\kodi\userdata\Database
- Mac: /Users/[YOURUSERNAME]/Library/Application Support/Kodi/userdata/Database
- Linux: ~/.kodi/userdata/Database
- iOS: /private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/Kodi/userdata/Database
- OpenElec/LibreElec: /storage/kodi/userdata/Database
Alternatively, if you’re using an Android box or an Amazon Firestick, you may want to Force Stop Kodi, and then Clear Cache in the app settings. This should also help clear up the issue.
Kodi search not working on addons
If you’ve been using Kodi v.18 Leia, you may find that the search function in your addons is not working. This is because you may be using addons that have not been properly updated for Kodi 18.
When you use an addon search function, that addon caches information so that you can easily retrieve a result from the search. Kodi 18 changes some of the Python code requirements for the search function, making it so that any addon not properly updated to match will fail to have its built-in search function working.
There is nothing users can do to fix this problem. You must wait until the addon developers update their code.
To date, most addons have not officially updated to work with Kodi version 18, so you may have to wait a bit longer, or keep using Kodi version 17.6 Krypton until more addons have been properly updated.
HD and 4K streams studdering
There are a number of issues related to streams stuttering. For example, your internet speed may not be fast enough to handle the 4K or HD stream, and this may result in more buffering. However, especially with 4K, there’s a good chance your device may not be able to handle the higher quality video.
Do a quick Google search of your specific device. Especially if you’re using Kodi on a Firestick, if you’re trying to process 4K streams you will get stuttering. This is also true if you have an older Firestick and you’re trying to get 1080p streams.
My YouTube addon doesn’t work anymore
Recently, YouTube changed the way its API works, which in turn, broke the YouTube Kodi addon, and any addons that relied on it. However, there is a relatively simple way to fix this armed with nothing more than a Google account.
Essentially, you have to create a personal API key. This sounds complicated but there’s a detailed, step-by-step guide to this on the Kodi forums that will get you back up and running in a matter of minutes.
I can’t get a certain Kodi build to work
We often receive questions from people who have a fresh Kodi installation yet who are having problems watching anything. After a little digging, they reveal that all they have installed is a build. There are several problems with this:
- Builds tend to include unofficial addons, which we can’t provide support for.
- In our experience, builds are rarely kept up to date, which means they often include several addons that have since been taken down.
- These builds tend to cause more problems than they solve.
Our advice is to uninstall your build and manually install each addon you want. This way, you won’t have dozens of addons you’ll never use, plus you’ll be able to pinpoint the exact addon that’s causing any problems should anything go wrong.
General performance issues
If you’re finding that Kodi runs slowly even with few addons installed, or if you’re having a problem that’s more difficult to pin down (for instance, if it only occurs sometimes, or if it’s more of an annoyance than anything else), the easiest solution is usually to reinstall Kodi.
This may be a good time to consider updating the latest version if you haven’t already. After all, Kodi 18 changed a lot under the hood and developers will be designing with the new architecture in mind moving forward. In other words, you’ll have less choice and will find it much more difficult to get help in the future if you stick with Kodi Jarvis or Krypton.
Conclusion
Considering Kodi can be installed across a wide range of different devices, it’s actually easier than you might expect to troubleshoot. In fact, the most commonly seen Kodi problems can be solved relatively quickly. By the way, if you’re running into issues with Kodi on a Fire TV Stick, we’ve got a troubleshooting article just for you. Hopefully, this guide has helped you resolve your issue and if there’s a quick fix you’ve found that we haven’t mentioned, feel free to let us know in the comments.
Hello Mr. Garland:
I have a Google Pixelbook 8Gb/256Gb. Kodi 18.6, has been stable, using Hardware Acceleration, no issues. Now v18.7 comes along and Kodi blows up again, after several videos. Your Section, dealing with the disabling, appears to be from the old SPMC [Koying era, circa 2018], not Kodi v18.7:
Disable hardware acceleration
Hardware acceleration is one of the main causes of Kodi crashes, particularly on Android. You could try turning this option off to see if the issue goes away. Doing this is simple: from the Kodi home screen, click the gear icon to go to the settings menu.
Disable Kodi hardware acceleration
Next, click Player settings. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find another gear icon with the word “Basic” beside it. Click this three times and it should turn to “Expert”. Now highlight the Video tab, scroll down to the bottom of the list on the right and disable the Allow hardware acceleration – DXVA2 option. Restart Kodi and see if the crashing persists.
__________
The Image alone, gives it away, also the [DXVA2], which is not an option in Kodi. I have been in IT for over 25 years and sense that nobody is catering to Google ChromeOS [Android], in Kodi Developement, all of the information I find is any OS except…
I have to use Google Play to install Kodi, the only option, was a 32bit version [Arm7]. I have an Intel i5 [64bit]. I can not side-load the 64bit Intel version, nor the Arm8 64bit, without wiping everything and putting the machine in Developer Mode.
On a side note, SPMC, could at lease see the Processors and report Usage. Koying, cared about coding for the Android environment, it stopped after he left the community, in 2018.
Will Kodi 19, start to offer stability, when installed in the ChromeOS [64bit] environment.
I use venom on Kodi and all of a sudden it restarted itself and all of a sudden instead of a regular like blue Kodi home screen color and set up it was all red? It was so weird.. has anyone else ran into a problem like that? The add on still works fine but that color change was super random
Hi Ian,
I am running 18.6 and everything is basically going fine. Latest updates on everything, latest Resolver updates. I am using Premiumize. Great DL speed via a 100mb provider. I use Exodus Redux. My issue is that on every show, be it tv or movie, the program will play for approx 48-55 mins then give a stutter and just stop and return to the provider screen. I can restart the show, FF and get back to where I was and it plays fine through to the end. If I watch a 2 hour movie it will often stop twice after the same times. It is not a buffering issue. I have reinstalled Exodus Redux again and still the problem. This is really the only problem I have with it.
I have been through every setting and I can’t work it out. I use PIA VPN. I have no buffering issues. I use LibreElec which is set to current firmware. Nuc hardware is set via Maintenance Wizard to play at optimum.
Regards Paul
Hi Paul – is this only an issue with Exodus Redux or does it affect your other addons too? Is hardware acceleration turned on? If so, I’d recommend turning it off to see if that fixes your problem. Assuming it doesn’t, I’d be happy to take a look at your error log to see if that gives us any clues. Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian and thanks for the reply. I only use Exodus Redux and nothing else. I like the KISS principle 🙂
I will turn off the Acceleration Hardware and let you know.
Regards Paul
Hi,
I’m using 18.6 on my fire stick and have added the MQ8 skin. After trying to familiarise myself with it, the screen has suddenly gone a blank grey and won’t let me navigate anywhere. I’ve pressed the home button and gone into settings and deleted the cache and forced stop in Kodi app. When I open Kodi again, it loads with the normal Kodi screen version and immediately reverts to the blank grey screen. Help!!
Hi Stephen, I’d recommend a fresh installation to see if Kodi works properly without the MQ8 skin. If not, I’d be happy to take a look at your log file. Thanks, Ian
Hi, Ian
I have kodi version 18. It was working good. Add ons I use are exodus redux, venom, the crew.These last couple of days every add on i use and every series i search for and every episode , the stream starts but the voice is faster than the video. After 1 minute and 30 seconds of streaming. The video freezes and the voice continues.it happens all the time. I deleted kodi and re installed it and i re installed the add ons as well. I dont know what is happening. Can you help me please.
Hi Anthea, can you try turning off hardware acceleration for me? To do this, go to Settings > Player > Videos > Enable Hardware Acceleration – DXVA2. If this doesn’t work, just let me know and I’ll try and come up with another solution. Ian
I did what you told me. But the problem is still there. Thank you for your help.
Hi Anthea, can you try playing it in standard definition instead of 720p or 1080p? If the show plays normally, it could be that your internet speeds are too slow. Additionally, you could check to see if this problem occurs on addons from the official Kodi repo. Thanks, Ian
I updated my old 16.2 Kodi app to the newest version on my M8S-II Android TV box. Then, I could watch my Kodi add-ons, YouTube, mobdro, cloud tv, and the rest of my apps but could get no sound on any of them. I tried resetting the box and many other things I read but the only way I’ve been able to get sound back on my M8S-II box is to delete the Kodi app and reset the box. Now, sound works again for all the other apps again. This happens every time I try it. Any thoughts?
Hi Layne, I’d start by double-checking that the volume wasn’t muted – I know this is basic but you’d be surprised how often we overlook the smallest things. Failing that, I’d move on to testing the audio output options in Kodi’s settings menu. Just try out each option to see which (if any) work. If you’re still having trouble, try playing a video and enabling passthrough via the gear icon in the bottom right. Hope this helps, Ian
Hey man, ny brother used to have kodi, he deleted it, and I just re downloaded it for him. His settings are still on. I’m in the kodi app, I select tv shows, select the three dots, select video add-ons, then I only get three dots as the only option, click on it and it takes me back. What do I do? There are no other options to move forward to the next stage.
Hi Scott, are you able to install addons? On the main page, click Addons, then click on the box icon in the top left and choose “Install from repository”. Once you have some addons installed, they should show up on the video addons page. Hope this helps, Ian
I’m trying to download exodus, I type it in and it just brings me back to the 3 dots to its usual page where it should be except it’s not there. I typed it in at the add ins page at the respiratory just like u said
Scott, Exodus isn’t actually in the official Kodi repo, which is why you’re not seeing any results when you search for it. You’d have to install whichever repo Exodus is currently in but as it’s a third-party addon, I’m afraid I can’t help with that. Ian
I have a rather long list of problems I’ve been having . To name a few.
I get the no stream available more often then not.
I also recieve a error message saying the some of my playback files arent working.
and to check the log file. Which doesnt tell me anything helpful.
When I click on a movie or TV show I want to watch no matter what addon I’m using nothing happens.
I’ve tried deleting kodi and reinstalling with a updated new kodi thinking all the bad stuff would go away and I could start new. But instead I’m still getting the error message . You tube still wont work and it takes forever for anything to even load. Same problems even with the fresh copy of kodi.
Hi Kathy, can you see if these problems occur with addons like Comedy Central or HGTV from the official Kodi addon repo? If so, I’d be happy to take a look at your error log for you. Also, YouTube recently changed the way that their API works, which has broken the YouTube Kodi addon and any other addons that pull directly from YouTube. The only real solution is to wait for developers to update their addons, I’m afraid. Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian
I upgraded to 18.4 and everything worked, my nephew messed around with my box while I was on holiday and now I can’t connect to the Internet. I don’t know what he did and neither does he, but can you please help me to reconnect as my passwords, etc are now not valid, how can I reconnect.
Hi Brian – first of all, don’t panic! Your login attempts are just being rejected due to a lack of internet connection, the passwords themselves are still valid.
I’d start by making sure Kodi isn’t trying to use a proxy server. To check, click the gear icon, then System. Now click the bottom-left option until it says “Expert”, scroll up to Internet Access and make sure that the “Use proxy server” option is unchecked.
Do any of your other apps on the box have internet access? If not, try setting up your wireless connection again (the option should be somewhere like Settings > Connections > WiFi). If you’ve already tried this and still can’t get online, try running an Ethernet cable directly from your router to the box.
Just let me know if these steps don’t fix your issue and I’ll be happy to think up a few more possible solutions. Hope this helps, Ian
Hi,
When I attempt to open Kodi a message comes up: “the last time you tried to open Kodi it quit unexpectedly- are you sure you want to reopen?” I updated the OS software it was all good for a bit and then this started happening. Cannot get it open at all.
Thanks
Hi Phil, it’s possible that one of your addons isn’t designed for use on your new operating system. I think the fastest way to get up and running again would be to completely reinstall Kodi and verify that each addon works, one at a time. Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian I’ve had intermittent issues since I up dated Kodi to 18.5 on my firestick I’ve followed your advice and carried out a full re installation to no avail. I’m using the official site to download and set up with the confluence skin. Im only trying to use Kodi to stream from my NAS and have no addons installed other than come preloaded with Kodi and the confluence skin. At least once a day Kodi freezes meaning the only way to carry on is to force stop the app and reload. Any suggestions welcom
Hi Tony, I’ve had a quick look and it seems like Kodi has had problems with NAS playback for quite some time. First of all, I’d try disabling hardware acceleration (assuming it’s not already off). If this doesn’t work, we’ll probably need to take a look at your debug logs since there are so many different reasons this could be happening. Thanks, Ian
Hi there. A question about the video playback zoom:
I run a 4-core Android Box (Xiaomi Mi Box S 4K) with Kodi 18.5 and cannot zoom in the playing video bigger than 1.0 factor (would be nice when watching 4:3 movie for example). When disabling hardware acceleration the zoom works – but H.264/HEVC playback is really stuttery.
Do I need special hardware for being able to zoom AND accelerate playback or did I miss a special kodi setting?
Thank you.
I just updated to Kodi v18.5 Leia and the title search for show, movies, etc. does not work??
Hi Cindy, do you mean in an addon or across all of Kodi? Because Leia is so different from previous versions, certain addons might not work correctly until they’re updated. Hope this helps, Ian
Hi, Ian. This is what happened when I added The Crew to 18.4: and I thought it was The Crew, but it is actually TVDB going through some upgrading. So, in effect, you cannot make up a list to add to Favourites, because there is no data! You can, however, go to the addon, TV shows, TV calendar, and watch them from there until TVDB is back up.
Hi Ian,
I’m using Kodi Leia 18.4 installed on an Android Box. I’ve installed Exodus and connected it to Trakt and been using it with great success for quite some time. Very recently I’m having a problem, even after uninstalling Exodus and re-installing it. I’m having the same problem on Exodus forks like Exodus Redux and Alvin. My problem is: my links to my individual TV shows do not work (I click on the show and nothing at all happens – i.e. the link is just dead!). Movie links work fine, just not any TV shows. Just prior to this occurrence, the TV shows appeared with odd symbols (e.g. the show “Mom” was displayed as “”). This odd appearance was rectified when I cleared the cache. I have also cleared the Kodi cache. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated! Best Regards.
I have exactly the same problem, any solution for that?
Hi there, we’ve had a lot of reports about problems with Exodus and its forks recently. If possible, I’d recommend trying some out some of the addons in the official Kodi repo to see if this problem affects every addon or just Exodus. Thanks, Ian
Thanks very much Ian for your prompt reply, I greatly appreciate it. Would you have the best URL to make sure you get the official Kodi repo? Also, within the official Kodi repo, is there an add-on that you would recommend for watching TV shows (not live)?
Hi, the official repo actually comes preinstalled. All you have to do is click Add-ons on the home screen, then select the box icon in the top-left, then choose Install addon from repository. You should then see the official Kodi repo in the list on the next page. Ian
Hi Ian,
I uninstalled and reinstalled Kodi 17.6. Downloaded Exodus and Exodus Redux, both open up, I click on TV shows, Most Popular then the desired show , the two circles running for a second then nothing. It doesn’t go any further than that. No seasons…
I’m having the same issue buddy.
Hi Orshe, Exodus seems to be having problems lately – are you able to use any other addons? Ian
Hello Ian. We have been using Kodi 17.6 for quite some time now without any real problems. It had started slowing down a bit so we updated it to 18.4 Lea last night. Everything went smoothly. The movies loaded much faster and with many more streams. Problem is that when we went to load one of our much watched TV shows we get some crazy looking coded list next to the title and when clicked nothing happens. The movies play great, the TV shows will not play at all. We have uninstalled Kodi, losing all our favourites etc, and reloaded it along with trying new add ons. Same thing; great movie watching but absolutely no TV shows. Any ideas what the problem may be or what we may be able to do to correct it?
PS: we are not tech people…………………
Hi Thomas, it sounds like the addons you were using are the issue here. Can you try installing some from the official Kodi repository (this comes preinstalled) to check? Thanks, Ian
Ditto on not being able to get Exodus, Exodus Redux, or any other video addon to play or download anything. I started having problems in mid-October 2019, and they’ve just gotten worse.
I can’t seem to access TV shows, seeing the shows but won’t let me drill down to episodes. I’ve tried on Exodus Redux, Tempest and Poseidon, same results. Was working fine yesterday.
Hi Jeff, these addons are all forks of Exodus, which seems to be having some issues. I’d recommend trying out some of the addons from the official Kodi repo to see if the problem is on your end or not. Thanks, Ian
Hi there, Exodus and Exodus Redux are not working for me. A movie or show starts and tries to play, then immediately crashes. Have you heard this?
Hi Steve, I have had a few people saying the same thing lately – it looks like these addons have either moved or been taken down. Thanks, Ian
I added the Xanax build on Kodi through my firestick, and the majority of the movie streams are not working. What can I do to fix the problem?
Hi Rebecca, without having tried that build myself, it’s difficult to say why this is happening. It’s possible that the addons themselves are outdated, or perhaps they’ve been shut down entirely. I’d recommend doing a clean install of Kodi and seeing if any of the official addons work – this way, we’ll know if the build was to blame. Hope this helps, Ian
im trying to watch tv shows on exodus redux but it wont find a working stream
Hi Lee, we often hear about problems with Exodus and its many forks. I’d recommend trying out a few of the addons in the official Kodi repo to see if this problem affects every addon or just Exodus Redux. Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian,
I am having troubles with starting some live TV streams on my Android phone running Android 10. I am using Kodi 18.4 Leia on all my devices (phone, TV boxes and PC). When the stream trys to finalize to play Kodi will shut down.
One example is when trying to stream ESPN on Rising Tides addon. It happens on other streams as well while some streams will work just fine.
I thought that the links may be defective but they will work when using my Android TV box (Xiaomi Mi TV box) or a PC (Windows 10).
I have done a factory reset on my phone, uninstalled and reinstalled kodi and deleted all files on my phone associated with Kodi prior to reinstall.
I do not recall having these issues with my phone when I was on Android 9.
I can provide a copy of a Kodi log where I was able to successfully stream ESPN on the Limitless addon for 3 minutes then tried the Rising Tides addon with Kodi shutting down.
Hopefully I can get this resolved as it looks painful to downgrade to Android 9 on my phone.
Thanks,
Hi Don – does the stream crash Kodi on all of your devices or just on Android? It sounds like perhaps Rising Tides is causing the problem, especially since you’re able to use other addons without any issues. If you upload your log to pastebin.com, I’d be more than happy to take a closer look for you. Thanks, Ian
when i try and install an addon i get the message that it cannot continue as connect even though if i go into setting it says i am connected to the internet?
Hi there – you’re correct that a lot of the time, this error means you’re not connected to the internet. However, it can also mean that the server you’re trying to reach is currently offline. This happens a lot with older addons, since they either get taken down or move to a different address over time. Hope this helps, Ian
Hey. When I connect my WIFI it starts out great and after some time it goes into saved mode which screws everything up. The time on the front of the box is correct but nothing works. Any ideas. Thanks
Hey there, first of all, I’d recommend turning off all of the power-saving options in Kodi. You can find these at Settings > System > Power Saving.
If this doesn’t fix your problem, it could be that your Android box is going to sleep, not Kodi. In the settings, your sleep options could be under “Display”, “Power-saving” or “Battery”.
Finally, if nothing else works, you can disable sleep mode entirely. To do this, go to Settings > About and then click on your build number several times. This will unlock a new settings option called “Developer options”.
Go into Developer options and enable the Stay Awake settings.
Hope this helps, Ian
Hi Ian,
I updated my Fire TV from Jarvis 16.1, who had lost ability to access just about everything, to the latest version 18.4 Leia.
However, during start-up it will run through it’s paces as if it is opening, but ultimately ending at a black screen.
I did go to settings and device and did “clear cache” and “force stop” a couple of times, and also reset the box
but it still has the same issue.
Do you happen to have any insight as to how to fix ?
Your help is very much appreciated. Thanks
Hi Frank, it’s possible that one or more of your installed addons are incompatible with 18.4. If possible, I’d recommend a completely fresh install, just so we can rule this out. Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian
I just updated from 16.1 Jarvis to 18.4 Leia on Fire TV
During startup Kodi loads and then disappears
I went through Applications and did clear cache and force stop with no results.
I then restarted Fire TV and did the above again. Still loading and disappearing.
Any insight as to how I may be able to fix ?
Thanks
Hi there, it’s possible one of your addons is incompatible with Kodi 18. If at all possible, I’d recommend doing a fresh install to rule this out. Thanks, Ian
Dear Ian,
I have recently bought a very capable TV Streambox (or so I thought ,running Android 7.1) Kodi installed as 18.4 Leia and EVERY time even after adjusting settings via EXPERT mode following all threads etc etc every build I u e crashes and either blank screen or usually just telling me frustratingly that KODI has stopped reload app ( I do so) and eventually says KODI has stopped senned feedback! Sorry to be a pain but I feel I have done everything possible to use box without success can yu give me soe expert advice for me I would seriously like to use thiss box as I feel it could be very good for TV films sports etc. Finally a BIG Thank You! Mr P R COYSH Portslade
Hi, you mention that every build crashes – have you tried installing a completely fresh copy of Kodi? I don’t generally recommend builds as they tend to cause more problems than they solve. Hope this helps, Ian
I’ve been having the same problems as Mr P. I have reinstalled a fresh Kodi about 10 times and used 3 different builds (Misfits, No Limits, and Xanax) Every time after force closing and reopening Kodi it crashes within 2-4 seconds. I’m losing my mind 🙁 Could it be a bad box? It’s brand new MXQ Pro 4k. Any help would be greatly appreciated 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Tamra, if I’m honest, I think it’s more likely the builds are bad. However, without testing each of them myself, it’s difficult to say for sure. Just to confirm, do fresh versions of Kodi work properly before you install the builds? Can you trigger this error and then upload the log to pastebin so I can take a look? Thanks, Ian
How can you watch movies without the builds? Do you have a video or any way of someone like me actually being walked through the whole process?
Hi Darrell, builds are really just collections of Kodi addons. However, you can install addons yourself without much trouble. We’ve written a guide to installing the Crackle addon here:
https://www.comparitech.com/kodi/install-crackle-addon/
but really, the process is the same for anything you might want to install. Thanks, Ian
Ever ever since my boyfriend got a kodi box we have had issues loading movies and shows. It very frustrating cause we were told how great a product it is. We have tried troubleshooting and nothing seems to work every once and a while something does work but 95% it doesn’t.
Hi Charity, can I ask which addons you’re having trouble using? I’d recommend installing a few from the official Kodi addon repository to see if the problem persists. Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian, thank you for this very helpful article. It helped me understand more about Kodi which I’m finding amazing! However, I have an issue not covered here.
I have set up a Windows 10 HTPC and Kodi (18.3) set up with a few options that have worked on my test machine. Mostly a few IPTV channels and Plex. I use remote desktop to login to the HTPC so I can easily configure it and then switch to local HDMI TV to watch the TV/Movies etc. For the most part, all works well but a couple of times Kodi crashed when connected using remote desktop. I could open up again remotely and it was fine but not on the TV. When opening on the TV, a black window appears and then closes after a few seconds. I don’t get the Kodi splash screen or anything. I have tried removing the db files as mention and no change. I have tried removing plugins but no change. Last time I completely uninstalled then reinstalled Kodi and that worked but I don’t wan’t to do that each time and have to install/configure all the plugins again. When I check the log in the Kodi admin after logging in remotely it just says “Kodi started successfully”. I a have disabled hardware acceleration in the player settings. Plex and all my other apps work find on the TV HDMI display.
Do you have any idea what I can do to solve the issue?
Thanks in advance
Dennis
Hi Dennis, it definitely sounds like a graphics issue so turning off hardware acceleration was a smart decision. I’ve done a bit of reading and it seems like Kodi struggles to run in fullscreen over remote desktop connections for some reason. Can you try hitting the \ key to bring it into windowed mode and see if that solves your problem? Thanks, Ian
Thanks Ian for your prompt reply. Actually it was on windows mode. Perhaps I should have tried full screen mode. Something interesting happened though. I was on remote mucking around with it and had trouble connecting to the PC remotely so I logged in locally via the TV screen and to my surprise, Kodi was still running. I checked the functions and all was working but my add-ons had gone – maybe because I had deleted the db files as you suggested to someone else previously. I closed and re-started Kodi and it worked! I then copied back the original db files and restarted Kodi again and it worked! Now I’m watching my IPTV with no issues. Strange…
I have a feeling it is the graphics like you also mentioned but don’t know what to change to get some more stability. It’s a older AMD dual core Athlon @ 3.2GHz with 8GIG RAM. and WIn 10 Pro. The graphics is a Radeon HD 5450 1GIG but 4.8 available from the system ram. That kind of spec should be fine. The resolution is 1280×720 (older LDC TV) so perhaps that is the issue. As mentioned it works find over remote desktop and also with an external 1080 monitor.
Hopefully it will be fine for a while now but??
Hello,
I was in touch a few weeks ago but my replies kept getting rejected from being posted again.
I tried everything and cannot get kodi to work on my android box, as an alternative, is it safe to install kodi with exodus etc. on my xbox one or will it mess with everything?
Thanks Phoebe
Hi again Phoebe, you should be able to install Kodi on the Xbox without any problems although we can’t recommend installing addons like Exodus as they use unlicensed sources. If you run into any trouble during installation, feel free to leave a reply (or a new comment, if there’s no reply option) and I’ll get back to you ASAP. Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian,
Thankyou I’ll give it a try tonight and let you know how it goes incase it was my box afterall 🙂
Hey our RVEAL box used kodi which gave us access to Apollo and Exodus and now after an update we cannot even access either of those two servers. Are they gone forever from access? Other people we know with them are still able to have access to everything. How can we get them again, if possible?
Hi Chris, while I can’t give specific instructions for installing either of these addons, it’s possible that they’ve moved to a new address. This would explain why your friends can still use them but you can’t. Thanks, Ian
My kodi, no matter what addon i was using, would stream for 30 seconds at a time, then stop, I’d press play and it’d work again, but it kept stopping every 30 seconds.
Today i completely uninstalled all addons, kodi etc. off my android box.
I have just now downloaded exodus redux and exodus, now it either will not stream at all, or it will stream for around 20 seconds and just kick me out.
I’ve purchased a VPN, triple checked my wifi, restarted everything many times, cleared cache’s, and nothing is working.
Any help would be massively appreciated.
Hi Phoebe, I’d recommending removing both of those addons and installing some from the official Kodi repo. If the official addons work without any issues, you’ll know for sure whether Exodus was causing the problem. If you’re still having trouble, just leave another comment and I’ll come up with some other possible fixes. Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian! So i got rid of everything, downloaded cartoon network, hopefully this is an official one, and still no luck.
I’ve heard through workpals it may be because kodi has been updated and my android box is now too old for it?
It says it’s a version 5.1.1 on model MXII-G if that helps at all?
Sorry im clueless!
Hi Phoebe, you need to rename the .kodi folder, which can be found at Android/data/orgkodi/files/.kodi/
Depending on which apps came with your Android box, you might have to install a file manager in order to do so – ES File Explorer is free and good enough for small problems like this. Let me know if you need more help and I’ll walk you through it. Thanks, Ian
You are having the exact same issues as me. 30 second play of a film then pause. This kept continuing then I cleared everything and started again to find that exodus plays a film for 17 seconds then goes back to the stream links. I also using 5.1 etc android box
Hi Phoebe, don’t worry about it! Most Android boxes should be able to run Kodi without any issues, assuming your internet connection is fast enough. Can you try clearing Kodi’s data in your box’s settings menu? Failing that, upgrading to Kodi 18 might help (unless you’re already using this). Does the video stop (so you can keep watching if you hit the play button) or does it kick you back to the previous screen?
If your stream crashes entirely, I’d like you to install the Indigo tool from the TVAddons repository (http://fusion.tvaddons.co). Now, try playing something and when it crashes, open Indigo, click “Log Uploader”, and leave a reply with the Pastebin link. This might give us an idea as to why you’re experiencing this problem. Hope this helps, Ian
Hi ian,
I dont think my last reply actually posted. I did all steps 1-3. Could you let me know how to do the 4th one though as I’m unsure where to rename the folder etc.
Hi ian, sorry it wouldnt let me reply to your latest comment, so i’ve done the indigo factory reset.
reopened kodi and went onto youtube which i believe is an official addon, played a random video and it played, then paused after 20 or so seconds (but didnt kick me out)
I downloaded abc family as i wasn’t sure if youtube really counted AND turned off the hardware exceleration – all attempts to play just said ‘video not available at this time’
Tried another, Comedy central, played for 5 seconds, chucked me out of kodi entirely. Then restarted kodi, tried again played for 27 seconds then took me back to the previous menu again. Tried again, and the same thing. Sorry!
Hey again Phoebe, certain addons only work if you’re in a specific country, which might be why you couldn’t use the ABC one. Obviously, though, this isn’t the entire cause of your problem.
To be honest, since none of the common solutions have worked, we’re at the stage where we just have to try lots of different things and see what sticks.
1. Check that your InputStream addon is installed and up-to-date. To do this, go to Addons > My Addons > VideoPlayer InputStream. If it’s installed, right-click it and select “Update”
2. Change the “Enable HQ scalers for scaling above” setting in Kodi’s video options to 0%. This should hypothetically help if, as you thought, your device wasn’t powerful enough.
3. Try connecting your Android box to your router via Ethernet, if possible. This way, we can rule out your internet speeds as a possible cause.
4. Use a file explorer to navigate to Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/ (this folder is hidden, so you might have to enable the “show hidden folders” option). Now, rename the folder to something else (anything will do). Reinstall Kodi, install the YouTube addon, and see if the problem has been fixed.
5. If none of the above help, perhaps it is your device after all. If this problem occurs on multiple devices, I’d recommend asking for further help on the official Kodi forum (https://forum.kodi.tv) because barring very slow internet speeds, I can’t think of another solution that we haven’t already tried.
Hopefully, one of the above tips will finally fix your problem. If they don’t, and you ever find a solution, please leave a reply letting me know – I’m intrigued! Ian
Ah okay great, my version of kodi is 18.3 leia.
With this version and exodus redux it was playing for 10 seconds then kicking me back, on exodus it just doesnt play at all. Beforeee i updated it all, it was playing for 30 seconds, pausing, 30 seconds etc.etc.
So I’ve done all of the above (except the android box data clearing as it just didn’t want to cooperate)
this is the link I’ve got: https://pastebin.com/tQYB35h4
Okay, there’s an interesting line in the debug log: “CRenderManager::WaitForBuffer – timeout waiting for buffer”. This doesn’t actually tell us very much, however, some users have found that renaming the .kodi folder fixes the issue. This is because Kodi looks for this folder and if it can’t find it (because you’ve renamed it, for instance), it creates a new copy.
The problem is that file navigation is usually a bit of a nuisance on Android boxes. Luckily, the Indigo addon has a factory restore option that should just reset everything anyway – hopefully this fixes your problem. I know it’s frustrating sometimes since Kodi never really tells you what the problem is, but we’re definitely making progress. You might also want to try turning off hardware acceleration in the settings menu (you’ll have to be viewing “Expert” options to see this). Thanks, Ian
Hi, exodus redux was working fine, until last night, when all TV shows started showing up as no stream available. Movies appear to be there, but nothing plays. Any ideas as to what could be causing the problem? I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled both exodus and kodi
Hi Sue, if this issue only affects Exodus Redux, it’s likely that the addon itself is the problem. I’d recommend trying a few others to see if they’re affected as well. Hope this helps, Ian
Hello, my Kodi apps like Exodus are working fine finding the shows and movies but upon opening up the window for playing it fails to open a new player window and embeds the player into the background of the search menu, if you try to go fullscreen it glitches until you close it. This is only on my computer version of kodi lately for my mac desktop and not the one on my firestick on my tv is working fine. It’s a few apps not just exodus basically all playback unless it’s a livestream – any help would be appreciated as I want to watch stuff on the comp too not just on the tv thanks mate
Hi there, this is a really strange issue – would you mind uploading a screenshot somewhere and replying with a link? Thanks, Ian
Here is a dropbox link to a folder I created with several screenshots of the issue in motion. I click on the show or movie and it says finding link, finds it and then starts playing the movie/show right there in the search window sort of .. a play button appears at the top of the search bar to the right , music rolls and I can hear it but I just cant see it and if I try to take it fullscreen I get the crazy multiplying cursor thing. I can stop it by pressing the stop button- thanks for any help on this
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/n94lh20s2t5lzhv/AADf3jwuW3HKvXnOnAgvr5ssa?dl=0
Well, it’s certainly an interesting problem. Because of the multiplying cursor, I’d imagine this has something to do with your graphics settings. Under Settings > Player, can you try disabling hardware acceleration and changing the render method to “Auto detect” if it isn’t already? You might also want to want to compare the Kodi settings with one of your working devices to see if there are any major differences between the two. Hope this helps, Ian
Exodus opened and froze
I can not close the screen
If I get out and go back it is still frozen
I can do nothing.
Is there a solution beyond reinstall?
Thanks
Hi Andy, if this problem only started after installing Exodus, it’s likely the addon itself is the problem. A reinstall would be the fastest way to get back up and running but if you’re on Android, clearing Kodi’s cache might help. Thanks, Ian
All of my addons aren’t working
When I click people watching or in theatres the next page is 2 dots (..)
No movies too be selected
This is happening for all my addons
I have the same problem
Hi Mike, sounds like the addons have been moved or taken offline. I’d recommend seeing if the same problem affects addons from the official Kodi repo. Thanks, Ian
So I’m running 17.6 and just today my system started crashing when it first starts up. I do have library auto-update set, so it does start to update my library, but as soon as this begins it freezes and closes. I have removed the profiles and guisettings separately from one another and it does seem as though it is an issue with the guisetting file, as the system opens up “fine” then. I say “fine” because it defaults back to the old Estuary skin and so none of my custom skin settings (Titan Skin) are there. I have spent a ton of time tweaking this and creating smart playlists and custom home screen buttons for these smart playlists and really do not want to have to start over.
A few things to point out:
1. I have auto updates for apps and the system turned off, so there really shouldn’t have been anything changed in my Kodi.
2. I do not have apps loaded, other than things required for the Titan Skin.
3. I happen to have an old copy of my entire Kodi folder on my network from just a couple weeks ago, so if I replace the file with the old file, it still doesn’t work.
4. I have the same build on 4 different PCs and have everything tied together through my QNAP server so everything is synced up across all the PCs using mysql, and the three systems that I have checked are all crashing the same way (2 desktops and one surface pro).
5. The crash logs were blank for today, so no help there.
5. I was able to restore an older Titan skin backup and that seemed to work fine, but when I try to update my library, it crashes. Auto library update is not currently setup with the backed up Titan skin, so I can open and close the system and play video files from all of my different data sources, but whenever I try to update the library it is crashing.
Is there a particular code segment within the guisetting file that I could tweak or delete that might allow the system to boot and still keep most of my settings, or something to look for that might fix this library updating issue? I luckily just started backing up my library, so I won’t loose all of my watched markings and fanart, and do have that old Titan skin backup from March.
Hi! It sounds like you have a pretty advanced setup – that’s impressive but it does make finding the root cause more difficult. The Titan skin doesn’t seem to be the problem, though, since your backup is working. By any chance are you using the TVDB scraper? I ask because according to a thread on the official Kodi forum (https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=345919), TVDB recently made some changes to its API which is causing Kodi to crash. If so, I’d recommend using a different scraper in the meantime. Thanks, Ian
It was indeed the issue with the TVDB scraper, so thank you very much for that tip. I had to kill my internet connection to my machine to bypass the autoupdate on start, and then change the setting and close Kodi before reactivating my internet. After that, I had to go into my tv show video sources and change the content and change my scraper from TVDB to themoviedb, which then caused a refresh to occur. Everything seemed to scrape good except for two shows that I’ll have to tweak a little to get them to scrape correctly. I will need to make some changes to my filebot renaming scripts to use themoviedb instead of TVDB. I have already noticed some issues that I’m going to run into, probably only with anime though. For instance, Dragon Ball Super was scraped with TVDB as 5 seasons, whereas themoviedb scrapes into 1 whole season. So any new episodes are going to be grouped into season 1, while everything else is still broken into the 5 seasons, unless I somehow rename everything to match themoviedb, losing all watched markers, etc. So if you have any thoughts on this, I’d be glad to hear them, but the main key is that I was able to circumvent my main issue and my build is still intact. So thank you once again for the info.
Dear Support
Kodi 18.3, Leia, is currently always crashing after a few minutes using it on my MacMini Yosemite.
It scans my NAS, I can even start a movie or TV show, but after a few minutes I am back to desktop.
I tried locating cache and preferences files, but no success
I used disk utility to clean paths etc.
I also used CleanmyMac, free version
I also downloaded it again and installed it by dragging to Applications, overwriting the older version
Nothing helped…
Thanks for your input!!
Cheers
Sheerkhan
Hi, can you try turning off hardware acceleration in the Kodi settings? I’m fairly confident that’s what is causing this problem. Let me know if this doesn’t help and I’ll be happy to come up with some other suggestions. Thanks, Ian
Hello,
the problem i have is when i play a film,TV series etc after 10-15 secs i get returned to Kodi,the only way to eventually get it too function is to go into Settings-Apps-Kodi,then delete Cache,here it is alway 48.01 Mbs when cleared it drops to 1200 KB.
I then go into Kodi and it works,though if i go back and repeat the steps as above it will have returned to 48.01 MB,this is getting very frustrating,i’ve deleted the old build,i now run Kodi 19.3 only,i’ve cleared files etc in ES File Explorer
i run a Zidoo Android X5 box and it says i have 2gb free storage,so where do i go from here?
Thank You.
Hi there, this seems to be quite a common issue! Some people have reported that changing their audio output device and disabling DXVA2 fixed the problem. You might also want to try disabling hardware acceleration just in case. Hope this helps, Ian
Ian,how do i go about doing that?
Thank You.
From Kodi’s home screen, click the gear icon in the top-left. Now, click on “Player”. At the bottom-left, you’ll see another gear icon: click it until it says “Expert”.
Now, to disable hardware acceleration, hover over “Videos”, move across to the right, and turn off the option labeled “Allow hardware acceleration – DXVA2”.
If this doesn’t help, it’s time to try changing audio devices. Just like before, click the gear icon on Kodi’s home screen, but this time choose “System” on the following screen. The first option under the “Audio” tab should be “Audio Output device”. I’d recommend trying out a few different devices until you find one which works. Hope this helps, Ian
Ian thank you i will try a factory reset,,i only run 3 addons and this problem occurred before i got them.
Many Thanks for you help.
Ian.
Ian i’ve done all the above,however to get it working you have to go into settings on the Zidoo home page and delete that 48.01 MG that always seems to be there.
Once deleted it drops to 1200KB,however if you leave settings and go back to Kodi and say 10 mins later return to Settings Apps Delete Cache it’s back on 48.01 Mg.
Would returning the Zidoo X5 to factory default then re D/L Kodi 18.3 solve this issue,the system has only given me this issue of late.
Thank You.
It’s hard to say why this is happening, but it seems like something is automatically storing data. I think a fresh install would probably help but I’d ask that you only install addons from the official Kodi repo, at least until we’ve confirmed whether the issue is gone or not. This way, we’ll be able to tell if one of the addons you have at the moment is causing the problem. Thanks, Ian
I can’t get any subtitles to list no matter what I search for. I looked for OJ: Made in America. No subtitles found. I looked for One Bad Choice. No subtitles found. Frustrated, I looked for Harry Potter. No subtitles found. Now I know something is wrong. When I do a manual search, no results.
I have installed and configured OpenSubtitles.org. I logged into the site and then entered my credentials in the player.
I set both TV shows and Movies default choice to OpenSubtitles.org. I set my language to English.
I think installed Podnapisi, SubScene, BS Player. None of them work.
What’s wrong?
Hi Rodney, I’ve just tested a couple of different TV shows and like you, I wasn’t able to find subtitles with Podnapisi. However, OpenSubtitles worked just fine for me once I’d logged in (tested with Shadows of Liberty, available in the BigStar Movies addon from the official Kodi repo). It sounds like you’re using unofficial addons – can you see if the problem persists when using addons from the Kodi repository? It’s possible that certain unofficial streams have a naming scheme that confuses subtitle addons. Hope this helps, Ian
I’m having an issue with Kodi 18.3 on my fairly new Asus Laptop running Windows 10, installed from the Microsoft Store, and i currently have the Xanax build on it. I am unable to open it all, When i try to i get the hourglass loading thing for maybe 5 seconds and then nothing, so i cant even try to update/fix things from within. I’ve checked my DirectX and it is up to date and all drivers seem to be fine, and im not sure what to look into otherwise so im just wondering if you know what the problem may be or should i just go ahead and uninstall/reinstall and hopefully that will fix it?
Hi Aydrian, if I had to guess, I’d say that the build has broken something – perhaps the skin or some of the included addons aren’t compatible with Kodi 18. The quickest and easiest solution is to completely reinstall a fresh version of Kodi. Hope this helps, Ian
Hi I was wondering if some could help with my problem
I keep getting this message when trying to log on to Kodi ‘The last time you opened Kodi, it unexpectedly quit while reopening windows. Do you want to try to reopen its windows again?’ and every time I go to reopen I get the same message….. please could someone help me?
Hi Darren, can I ask what operating system you’re using, and whether you have any builds installed? Thanks, Ian
You say it’s simple to disable hardware acceleration but I can’t find ‘Player Settings’. I am finding this everytime I try to follow instructions to do something the instructions and what is showing on the screen are different. I’m sure I have srewed up my android because I get halfway and then I can’t go any further.
Hi Eve, in the bottom-left of the screen, you can see what level of settings you’re viewing. The hardware acceleration option only shows up at Expert level, so just click the word in the bottom-left until it says “Expert” and you should be able to find hardware acceleration in the list on the right. Hope this helps, Ian
hey i hope if you could help with a problem i have i could watch my kodi programming well till yesterday it started crashing it made the tv go black and i would have to reboot it it worked well for a while but then it crashed and the screen went black again and again i had to reboot i use indigo to clear cache it worked for longer but the problem persisted so i could do factory reset but i dont wanna lose my configuration if you could please tell me what i could do to fix it
Hi there, can I ask what device you’re using Kodi on? I’d be happy to take a look at your debug log but if the fix isn’t immediately obvious, a factory reset would probably be the best way to get things back to normal. Thanks, Ian
hello,
i have kodi v 17.3 on my firestick. just the other night i was watching something on Exodus & the movie just stopped & buffered then kicked me out. when i tried to play the movie again, it loaded for a long long time until it worked again & i accidentally clicked the home button instead of the pause button on my firestick remote so i went back on the app. after this, my “add ons” option in kodi’s home menu doesn’t work at all. everything else is fine but when i click on the add ons option on the left menu, the app freezes & kicks me out. is there any way i could fix this?
Hi Penelope, I’d recommend clearing Kodi’s cache. You can do this by going to Settings > Manage Installed Applications > Kodi > Clear cache. Hopefully this will resolve the problem but if not, a clean reinstall might be the easiest way to get back on track. Thanks, Ian
We’ used Kodi for two years without issue, until about six months ago when all kinds of problems began. We’re currently using Exodus, Exodus Redux and Tempest. Ninety percent of links will not load, and 1080s buffer, stutter and crash, although 1080s loaded and played fine in the past. I’ve reinstalled Kodi twice on the Firestick, and reinstalled the addons numerous times. Tried upgrading Kodi to Leia. Hardware acceleration is off; updates are current. No hardware changes. Network speed shows as excellent on Firestick. Any ideas?
Hey I’ve been using kodi for a few years without any trouble until recently when it kicks me out of the app as soon as I get to the “add-ons” section, won’t even let me click on it, it just kicks me out. I’ve tried updating the app to the latest version but it just won’t work.
Hey Stewart were you able to fix problem with add-on taking you back to home screen? I am having the same problem, every time I scroll down to add-ones on my firestick it freezes for like 2 sec. & goes to home page. I have cleared my cache several times but still hasnt resolved the issue. I am using Krypton 17.6.
Hi Stewart, Were you able to fix your problem ? Thanks
Hi Stewart, are you using a build by any chance? If so, I’d recommend removing it since they often cause strange issues like this. Thanks, Ian
Hi, I am hoping you can help me I don’t know much about Cody and this is the first issue I’ve ever had with it, when I click on the app from the fire stick everything is fine but when I click on the Cody app it won’t let me do anything and it only stays on a few seconds before completely kicking me out back to the home screen on the fire stick it won’t even stay in the Cody app at all and I don’t know what to do
Hi Lauri, there are a couple of things we can do that might fix this issue. First of all, we’ll try clearing any stored data: go to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications. Scroll down until you find Kodi, then click on “Clear Cache”. Now try using Kodi again – with a bit of luck, the problem will be gone. If not, I’d recommend a clean install of Kodi. Hope this helps, Ian
Hi Annie, can you try playing video on a few official addons? If the official streams load properly, the problem likely lies with the addons you’ve been using. Hope this helps, Ian
Hi,
We’ve had exodus for couple months now everything was working fine.. then couple days ago it started freezing when preparing sources. I tried to uninstall and reinstall Kodi as well as exodus and still no luck.. any idea how to fix this?
Thanks!
Hi Geoff, if this problem only happens with Exodus, it’s likely the addon is the problem. Perhaps it needs updating or has been taken offline. Thanks, Ian
Hello Ian,
I’m hoping you can help me get my Kodi working again. Normally, I’m pretty tech savy but, when it comes to Kodi I’m more lost. Here’s what I’ve got.
XBMC T95M box Android version 5.1.1
Connected to Comcast Cable via Ethernet (can also connect the box to the internet via Wi-fi)
Kodi v16.0 – Jarvis
Storage 8 GB / 373 MB free – 419 MB Ram (I believe those are correct. Got them from main menu Settings > Storage.)
Also have a 16 GB SD card in the unit shows 14.72 GB free. No idea what could be taking up 1+ GB of space on it.
This is what’s happening:
About a week ago, the box booted up just fine. At the main screen, clicked the Kodi icon and got the “starting first run” screen. Selected to include add-ons. Everything went fine and Kodi started. Went to Exodus and it seemed to hang up. When nothing happened after 90 seconds, I clicked the remote’s back button. When nothing happened after that, I clicked the Home buton on the remote. When the home screen did not load, I clicked the Off button on the remote. Waited about 5 minutes and tried again. This time, XBMC box booted fine. Clicked Kodi icon, got the “first run” screen, selected to include add-ons and after that process completed I got a blank screen. 5 seconds later the home screen displayed. I’ve tried this multiple times and get the same results, meaning Kodi never starts and I’m always taken back to the home screen.
A couple things I’ve noticed:
> When the T95m box was on, there was a blue light that would flicker whenever the box was just started and when Kodi was started and when watching content on Kodi. I figured this was to indicated the box was connected to an communicating via the internet. Now, I only see that blue light flicker for about 2 seconds and only when I first turn on the box. Don’t see it flicking anymore even though I can see the ethernet connection icon in the top left corner and see that it is connected to the ethernet in the Settings menu.
> Sometimes when going through the “first run” process, when I get returned to the home screen, the box shows no longer connected to the internet. The ethernet icon is gone. When I go to settings, it doesn’t find any available network. I have to reboot the box to get it connected back to the internet.
I’ve tried doing the Kodi Force Stop and that had no effect. I’ve tried downloading the Kodi Log Viewer app from the official http://www.kodi.tv site. It appeared to download but I cannot find it anywhere to install it. The log viewer is the only app I’ve installed in years.
Is my box shot? Do I need a newer one with a more up to date version of Android. Should I download and reinstall Kodi? Really hoping you might have some idea of what I can do.
Thanks so much for your time. If you need more information just let me know and where to find it and I’ll do my best to get it to you.
Best,
Gene
Hi Gene, thanks for including a step-by-step explanation of what went wrong – it really helps! It’s interesting that you’re getting the first run screen every time you start Kodi. I’d say that this shows something is wrong with your Kodi installation, rather than the box itself. It’s possible that when Exodus crashed, it corrupted an important file or failed to shut down properly, which then caused the issue you’re having.
The first thing I would do is clear Kodi’s data. You should be able to find this option in your box’s Settings menu. If this doesn’t fix the problem, I’d recommend reinstalling Kodi. Hope this helps, Ian
Hello Ian,
My apologies for not getting some sort of reply back to you sooner. And I thank you for your comments. I also wanted to let you know where I was at now and get your thoughts.
Your suggestion to “clear Kodi’s data” sounded straightforward enough. But before doing it I looked it up to see what was involved and it said that using the “clear data” option would remove all of Kodi and that I’d have to a reinstall. That kinda terrified me as I’m not the most technical when it comes to these things. So instead of doing that, I just kept trying to get it to start.
Once the box booted to the main menu, I’d click the Kodi icon and get the “first run” screen where I’d select “include addons”. After the status bar made it across the screen, the screen would go black for a few seconds and then display the main menu.
Click the Kodi icon again and instead of the “first run” screen, the screen would just be black and then I’d be back at the main menu.
Click the Kodi icon again and get the “first run” screen again. This time I selected “not include addons”. After the status bar mad it across the screen, the screen went black and then the TVAddons screen display and then Kodi displayed. I let it sit there and watched as the different addons would display their “updated” message. After about 10 minutes, I tried to go into a menu but it seemed to be frozen, even though there was a marquee scrolling across the bottom. To get out of the frozen screen, I took the “home” button and that took me back to the main menu.
If I keep doing this back and forth with the include/not include addons, I can eventually get Kodi to work. But only partially. Meaning Exodus will have streams only from a single Reddit source, when it used to find 30-40+ sources. Other addons won’t play at all.
Another odd thing is, when I can get System to work I’ll go in and delete a dozen or so Addons that I’ve never used and they show removed from the list. But shut down the box, the next time I go through all this and can check the System > Addons, those addons I deleted are right back where they were.
So, with all that, does it help to think of a different diagnosis and treatment?
Since I’m running Kodi v16.0 – Jarvis, I’d really like to upgrade it to one of the Krypton versions. But checking the official Kodi site, they seem to only offer the latest Leia version and from everything I’ve read, it seems to be very problematic.
What would you recommend? If Krypton, would you have a URL for a reliable source? And as I mentioned, I’m not the best at this. So when I upgrade my Javis to another version, do I lose everything and have to reinstall all the different repositories and addons?
I should stop there before I wear out my welcome. Thank you again for your help. Any suggestions or recommendations are greatly appreciated!
Have a great weekend!
Gene
Hi again Gene – that’s no problem! I still think a broken addon is the most likely culprit but it’s very strange that they keep coming back after being deleted – did you by any chance install a Kodi build (which comes with addons pre-installed)?
You shouldn’t lose any of your addons when you upgrade to a newer version of Kodi. However, given that one of them is causing major issues (and some appear to be broken), I think a fresh start might be best. Kodi doesn’t actually provide links to Krypton builds anymore, and I’d advise against downloading an older version from anywhere else since there’s no telling if it’s legitimate or not. For what it’s worth, I personally haven’t had any issue with Kodi 18.
Hopefully, after clearing your data, uninstalling Kodi Jarvis, and installing Leia, you’ll have a completely clean slate. If your addons are still there, that’s fine too, it just means there’s an additional step involved. The important thing is that you install new addons slowly, making sure each works before adding another. This way, if any cause problems, we’ll know exactly which one it is. I’d also recommend staying away from addons like Exodus, since they frequently break or are taken offline.
If you’re comfortable installing addons manually, you might be interested in this guide to the best working addons: https://www.comparitech.com/kodi/best-kodi-addons/
If you’re not comfortable installing addons, I’d recommend using the Indigo tool instead. This will allow you to install new addons directly instead of messing around with sources and repositories. We have a step-by-step guide to using Indigo here: https://www.comparitech.com/kodi/install-indigo-kodi-addon/
Hopefully this helps you but if you’re still having difficulty, feel free to leave another message. Ian
Hello Ian,
Hope your Labor Day weekend was a good one. It’s been a while, but I’m back and with quite a bit of happenings.
To answer your question, “did i install a Kodi build (which comes with addons pre-installed)?” I am guessing yes. I got the XBMC box from a friend. During a visit, I noticed he was watching a movie that had just been released. I asked how he was doing that and he pointed to the box. I asked if he could get me one. When I started the box for the first time, it brought up the main XBMC screen, I clicked the Kodi menu and the next thing on the screen was something called Merlin. Going into the different menus, there was like a ton of addons, at least 140+ just in the Video section alone, and for about 2 years, I may have used 10 of them. So the box was working fine from 2016 to 2019.
I started encountering the issue of Kodi giving me the “first time run with/without addons” screen around January/February of this year. To try and identify what may have started the issue, I went into the box’s File Manager, located the repository files and sorted by date.
– The skin changed from Merlin to TVAddons sometime in December 2018. I vaguely remember seeing a message on the screen that the change was required and I had to accept it.
– In January 2019, I installed the SportsDevil addon.
– There was something called Plexus that has the same January date as SportsDevil. I’m guessing it is related to SportsDevil.
– In February 2019, I installed the Indigo program. I don’t know why, but it might have been in response to seeing something about the Git browser.
– In May 2019, something happened with the Git browser. I think I may have deleted it due to having it constantly popup when using Kodi.
Those are the files with dates around the time I started having the issue.
Now here is the weird part.
You recommended doing any kind of upgrade to Krypton and instead suggested I remove my current Jarvis version and install the latest Leia version. Since I’m terrified of deleting something, before making that move I continued to play around with starting Kodi selecting “with addons” then “without addons” over and over, until one day Kodi was started and nothing was frozen.
Being able to navigate the different menus, I went to System > Settings > Addons and just started deleting addons that I’d never used or had no interest in using. I deleted about 25 and must have picked a good one because after shutting Kodi down, upon clicking the Kodi icon from the man menu, it started right up. No “first time run with/without addons” screen. This time it went right to the TVAddons screen. And all the addons I had deleted were still deleted! And the scrolling marquee message changed from a 2017 message to August 2019 !! But even though Kodi was up, very few addons were actually working like you’d expect. For movies, none of the addons provided any streams. For anime like DBZ, I’d get a selection of seasons but nothing would ever work.
I’d also get the “updated” messages in the lower right. Most addons would show a successful update message, but I’d also get a number of “unmet dependencies” messages. I’d also get popups saying an addon was broken or the dependencies message asking if I wanted to disable the addon and sometimes I’d go yes and sometimes no. Didn’t matter either way. And eventually Kodi would revert back to the “first run” and I’d work my way around it and if I got it to start, all the addons that I had deleted would be back.
Even with all that, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get Kodi to work no matter what addons I delete. So, I think it’s time to take the drastic step I’ve been avoiding. Before doing that a question. Can my current version of Kodi (Jarvis 16) be updated to the newest version (Leia 18.4) without first having to clear the data and uninstalling??
On the kodi.tv website, there are 2 buttons for downloading Kodi Leia 18.4: ARMV7A (32BIT) and ARMV8A (64BIT). How can I identify which version I should download to my box?
And after Leia is installed, I’ll need to download and install the addons I want, correct? Or does Leia come with addons already installed?
Sorry for the long reply. Was really hoping to get this fixed without the deleting process. But need to move forward. Thank you so much for your patience and time with me. It is greatly appreciated.
I look forward to your reply. Have a great day !
Best
Gene
Hi Gene, it’s good to hear from you again! If you’re using an Android box (and downloading Kodi directly from the website, not the Google Play Store), you can actually just install Kodi Leia without uninstalling Kodi Jarvis – I don’t usually recommend this since (as you’ve noticed) fixing Kodi problems is complicated enough as is. That said, if you’re a little nervous about making the switch, this method should provide you some peace of mind. If everything works as intended, you can just uninstall Jarvis afterward anyway.
Leia doesn’t include any addons, so you’ll have to install them yourself. If you’re looking for suggestions, we have a list of some of the best here: https://www.comparitech.com/kodi/best-kodi-addons/
In most cases, the 32-bit version of Kodi is all you need, although if you leave a reply with your box’s make and model, I’d be happy to see if it can run 64-bit apps.
Thanks,
Ian
I have been using Kodi for a few years now. I have just upgraded to 18.2. In the past, I would always use Ares Wizard to make a complete back up for my firestick. Save the zip file from using ES File Explorer to the cloud and then copy the zip file to all of the firesticks in my home. I learn that Ares Wizard will no longer allow you to back up your configuration once you install kodi 18 and higher. Ares Wizard will not allow you to select a destination folder path. Once you select the destination path and select ok, it will revert back to no location selected. Any recommendations on a backup solution similar to Ares Wizard? Or another way I can easily back up my configuration on one firestick and transfer it to another firestick?
Hi Frank, there’s actually an addon in the official Kodi repo called “Backup”. You should be able to transfer the files to and from your PC in exactly the same way as before. Let me know if this works and if not, I’d be happy to find a different workaround. Thanks, Ian
i have kodi 18.2 installed every time i try to watch a film or a tv show i get no picture all i get is sound i can hear it but their’s no picture is their anything i can do to fix this
Hi Ryan, can you try going to Settings > Player > Videos and disabling hardware acceleration? Hopefully this should fix the issue. Thanks, Ian
yeah i’ve tried that it doesn’t do anything
Ok, no problem. Try changing your render method (just above hardware acceleration) to “Software”. If this doesn’t work, try “DXVA”. If this still doesn’t work, upload your debug log to pastebin and I’d be happy to take a look. Thanks, Ian
Great, can you leave a reply with a link? Ian
Hi Ian, I have the same problem with Kodi 18.2 … audio fine / no video. 18.1 worked fine on the same computer.
You suggest changing the ‘Render method’ but it is greyed out and I can’t change it.
Hi Mike, that’s a strange issue. The only other posts I can find with the same problem all relate to low-powered devices like Fire Sticks or Raspberry Pis. Are your graphics drivers up to date? Also, did you reboot Kodi after turning off hardware acceleration? If you’d like, I can take a look at your debug log – just upload it to pastebin.com and leave a reply with a link. Thanks, Ian.
i’ve already tried that but i’ve uploaded the log file to pastebin
kodi just shuts down within 5 seconds of starting. i can’t do anything and poof it’s gone. i uploaded my log file. thanks in advance. https://pastebin.com/mMfe9Pxc
Hi Robert, although you’re using the Estuary skin, Kodi is crashing because it can’t find the original Confluence skin (“RuntimeError: Unknown addon id ‘skin.confluence.1080’.”)
There are a few reasons this might be happening: first, one of your installed addons might rely on this to work. Perhaps it’s old and hasn’t been updated to work with newer versions of Kodi?
You might also have installed a build of some kind – in my experience, these are more trouble than they’re worth, particularly as they make Kodi more difficult to debug.
I’d recommend doing a clean install of Kodi, then installing your addons one by one to see which is causing the problem. Hope this helps, Ian
here’s the link to my log file i had to upload it to a different pastebin the other pastebin wont work for me https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/CJXrwV8phr/
Hi Ryan, there’s a lot going on here but it’s not clear exactly what’s causing your problem. Given that the usual solutions didn’t work, I’d recommend downloading a clean version of Kodi and seeing if the issue persists. If not, great, but if it affects both versions, the issue is likely your hardware. This doesn’t mean that you need a new monitor etc, only that we need to change a setting somewhere. Thanks, Ian
I’ve tried that but that don’t work either i don’t what to do now
Hi, so i have Kodi 17.4 pre-loaded on a mygica andriod device only recently when streaming tv it works for a couple of minutes and then it kicks me out. I also cant update to 17.6 through the playstore as it is no longer there, any ideas on what i can do
Hi Lee-Anne, does this happen with every addon you use? Firstly, try clearing Kodi’s cache in the box’s settings menu. Then, in Kodi, check the settings to see if hardware acceleration is enabled. If so, turning it off might fix the problem. If you’d like, I’d be happy to take a look at your log file and see if there are any clues there. Hope this helps, Ian
Dear Ian,
I have tried so many times to find the answer and can not find the answer and anyone to help me. I have a Kodi 15.2. It is a little small black box…on the Home screen I click on the Kodi. It worked find when I purchased it and installed it. I used it for about a year…then changed televisions and did not reconnect. Not until today (March 30, 2019) did I reconnect it to my T.V. Everything comes up fine. I am connected to the internet and when I click on Kodi…it will open up just fine. HOWEVER, when I go Videos and click on a anything (such as a movie channel) it goes to a screen where it list several items, I click on any one of them and then the screen comes up with nothing listed on it..at the bottom right it show 0 items of Page (1/1). An error..w/check log comes up everytime. Pls help! ty
Hi Susan, this is actually quite a common issue. It often means that the addon you’re trying to use has been moved or taken offline. Can you try installing some addons from the official Kodi repository and see if they have the same problem? Thanks, Ian
I am a natural troubleshooter and know my way around pretty well with KODI as I have used it since before the name change…..so with that said…..lol I am having some issues with 18.1 that I can’t seem to resolve so I hope maybe you can help, if not I am sure like always it will work itself out over time but these few are constantly disrupting our viewing and my husband is getting bitchy about it so HELP…..
I have a 10GB cable connection all devices currently are wifi connected on the 5g through our tplink c7000 router with no problems on 17.6…we, (only my husband and I in household), use basically 3 addons all the time…..I use MagicDragon & ReleaseBB for catchup tv episodes everyday….My Husband uses yoda for just about everything and is his goto and only knows how to turn it on and watch what he wants. I am the HoneyFixer.
My Problem:
OK, I have KODI on two devices Mi-3 box streamer and my Windows 10-PC…KODI was installed on both devices with Apps not the program itself like awhile back…Mi-3 installed with Google Play and Windows Store on the PC…..since upgrading to 18.1 recently for both devices BOTH are randomly crashing without any type of warning, (example: you usually have some sort of thing happen like the video stopping then it crashes), since updating to 18.1, it will just simply shut down or turn KODI off. Most of the time on the Mi-3 it is while watching something….on the PC-I have several problems in addition to the crash…MS defender is picking it up as a virus threats when i start up and it also completely blocks some streams and they show to be coinhive’s trojans etc.
I don’t have a VPN, My ISP I think is throddling the network on the weekends only as we constantly loose our DHCP every few hours Fri-Sun….I used to have Real-Debrid service and never had issues with throddling but since our ISP upgraded I stopped using it because i no longer have buffering issues
Well thats most of my history I think…..I canno’t even begin to understand the logs to narrow the problem down. Thank you in advance for your help if you can and no hurries or gripes if you can’t because trust me I DO understand enough to get by.
I realize, just by my own research, the mountains of people out there who are simply clueless that there will be someone out there that has already solved your stupid irritating tech problem and your just too lazy or busy to spend hours finding the solution…..
Have a blessed day and I hope this at least made you smile for a minute too.
Vickie (grandma down in Texas)
Hi there Vickie, there’s a lot to unpack here but it’s certainly an interesting problem! I think the reason Windows Defender is detecting viruses is because some addons include code that effectively allows the creator to use your computer to mine cryptocurrencies. This is partly why we don’t recommend using unofficial addons, but I don’t think this is what’s causing Kodi to crash. We can also rule out your internet connection as a cause, since if your speeds dropped too far, you’d simply be returned to the previous screen, not kicked out of Kodi entirely.
If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the problem IS one of your addons, though, especially since the issue is affecting two different systems. Can you find the log file (located at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\XBMCFoundation.Kodi_4n2hpmxwrvr6p\LocalCache\Roaming\Kodi\kodi.log on Windows), copy and paste the contents of the file into http://www.pastebin.com, then reply with a link? Hopefully your logs will contain some clues that point us in the right direction. Thanks very much, Ian
Ian, You seem to be the most knowledgeable and I am hoping you can help.
My problem is similar to Vickie’s.
The problem started when Kodi updated from 17.6 to 18.1 automatically.
Kodi stops and no matter what button I push on my remote, It doesn’t react. After several minutes of pushing every button under the sun, it pops up with “Kodi not responding” — then gives three options, the first being–close Kodi. I push “close Kodi” and it works fine for a while, but an hour or two later it stops again.
I have a Matricom Q 3 box.
I uninstalled Kodi and reinstalled Kodi from the play store. I also went to Kodi and cleared Data.
I only have one addon– yoda which came from the supremacy repository. I only have the supremacy repository and the Kodi Add-on repository.
Under zip files I have
-external storage
Network file system NFS
Root file system
Supremacy
Windows Network SMB
Zeroconf browser– don’t know what this is???
All this is probably pretty simple to you, but not to me. I watch TV shows. Between every tv show, I clear providers and “clear all cache” which are tools in Yoda. I close kodi – exit kodi.
Every second tv show, I do all of the above Plus I go to apps and clear the kodi cache. Never hit clear data– did that once and had to start all over. I then hit the off button on my remote and it says “no signal” I then hit the remote on button and then open Kodi.
I have uninstalled Kodi and reinstalled Kodi 4 times. Got rid of everything except Yoda. No maintenance program addons– nothing. No log viewer no ares maintenance– I loved that app.
Any suggestions for this inept kodi user.
Hi! When we break this problem down, there are only a few possible causes: either it’s an issue with Kodi 18 (which seems unlikely), something’s wrong with Yoda, or something isn’t configured properly.
To begin with, go to Settings > Player and enable “Allow hardware acceleration” and “Sync playback to display”. Hopefully, everything should work properly now. If not, install Log Viewer for Kodi from the official Kodi repository, wait until it freezes, then copy and paste the contents of the log file into http://www.pastebin.com. This should give us a clue as to what’s happening right before Kodi stops working. Thanks, Ian
kodi won’t install on xbox one x from app store , keep pushing install and nothing happens.
Hi Clive, we’ve had numerous reports of problems with the Xbox version of Kodi, so you’re not alone. You might still be able to install it if you have a PC running Windows 10, though: the Microsoft store should give you the option to install Kodi directly on your Xbox. Hope this helps, Ian
Just updated from 17.6 to 18.1 RC4, there were no issues and everything went smoothly, but I have just noticed that when playing a video file or a music file I can no longer move the button along the progress bar to skip to the part of the file I want to see or hear.
Hi Ron, this seems to be quite a common problem but there’s no concrete solution at the moment. Does this happen with locally-stored files too, or just when streaming? Can you try skipping forward with the arrow keys (assuming you’re using a desktop version of Kodi)? You might also want to try disabling hardware acceleration if it’s active. If none of these steps help, I’d be happy to look into the issue further. Thanks, Ian
This is a question for Ian. I use an android box for kodi. Everything was working great until last week. I noticed that the box ungraded a new kodi version. Now, although there is still plenty of streams from Exodus, nothing is working. Any advice.
I am unable to open Kodi from the initial screen just get a repeated message ‘open error’
Hi Alan, I’d recommend clearing Kodi’s cache, and if that doesn’t work, reinstalling it entirely. If you’re still having issues, just leave a reply and I’ll take a look at your debug logs. Thanks, Ian
Hi Paul, whenever Kodi updates and breaks one of your addons, I’d recommend checking if the addon itself has any available updates. It may also be worthwhile reinstalling the addon entirely just in case. Hope this helps, Ian
Hi Ian, I have the same problem, and it won’t let me add anything as the error message reads unable to connect to server. Internet is working through the box as I have confirmed that much.
Hi Fred, have you confirmed that whatever you’re trying to add is still available? Most likely, you’re trying to use a repo that’s been taken down or moved. You can check by trying to visit the source’s address in your web browser – if the page loads, then this wasn’t the issue and we’ll have to try something different. Ian
I reinstall kodi with xenon build every thing is fine , problem is when i usually play video kodi progress bar keep continued even i pause the video just like YouTube but now at certain point let say it stop progressing after 1 minutes video completion and when i play after few second it started again, pause of video always getting me time for progress bar to buffer long but now it won’t, i have net speed meter which told me it’s downloading and when it stop. I want it’s progress bar wont stop at any point like it was previously working Kindly help
Hi Nazim – do you mean that the video keeps playing even when paused or that you want Kodi to buffer the video when paused? How fast are your internet speeds? Also, are you using Kodi on a PC? Ian
hey Ian,
I recently bought this android box (2gb, 16gb) called x96 mini. Everything is working fine but whenever i try to install any build (that works for other people), the build downloads but when the files are being copied after downloading, kodi simply crashes and the box restarts. When i open kodi then, nothing has changed. What do I do? Can i never install a build?
Hi Wasif, that’s a weird issue. Can I ask that you paste a link to your log file by following the steps here: https://kodi.wiki/view/Log_file/Easy
Hopefully this will give us some kind of clue as to what’s going on. Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian, thank you for helping everyone! I am running 17.6 with RD on Windows 10 – everything is running well but can only play one episode of a TV show at a time. When I go back to click on the following episode the link tries to open but it stops.
If I restart Kodi that link will open no problem (but only once again…). I turned off antivirus, VPN, nothing changes.
I do have a build but don’t think that is the problem. It’s the same with Exodus, Gen-X, Movie Theatre butter etc.
Alldebrid and other links do the same…it’s driving me mad!
Hey Sammie, this is a really strange issue. As this affects all of your addons, it’s a little more complicated to troubleshoot. It might be your build (unlikely, as you said), a corrupted file somewhere, or perhaps even that Kodi is dropping connection every now and then.
There are a few things we can try:
1. The next time this happens, open the log viewer, paste the results into pastebin.com, and leave a link here – I’ll have a look and see if there are any clues.
2. See if you can watch multiple episodes of shorter shows – this will let us know if, for instance, Kodi loses internet access after a specific amount of time.
3. Run Kodi in administrator mode – might not help but you never know.
4. If you’re using a wireless internet dongle, make sure it’s not set to power-saving mode
Hope this helps, Ian
Thank you so much for the quick response Ian, it’s very late here so I will look into it tomorrow…..Ethernet connection….
It’s just that as soon as I restart Kodi the next episode plays flawlessly, no buffering. Hopefully you’ll be able to figure it out with the log.
I have a digixstream box and it quit receiving my wifi signal. About two weeks before it quit when I was clearing cashe there was a message that I was not connected to the internet and to check my wifi. I ignored it because I was able to access and watch the movies. Now I got nothing.
Hi Jeri, what happens when you try to connect to wifi now? Does it just not connect or can you not see any available networks? Ian
I have a question I been using incursion and it stopped working so I uninstalled it and reinstalled it then it was giving me a message saying it s not connecting to repository when I would do install from repository after installing from zip, so I cleared all my add-ons off my Kodi box raspberry pi v 17.3, and tried reinstalling incursion all over again and it is still doing the same thing saying not connecting to repository after I install from zip file, is incursion down or is there a better add-on to use now.. please give me some feedback I know a descent amount of stuff about Kodi so I may be able to find a solution. Thanks.ps I also checked my internet connection it’s all good so idk
Hi Tara, generally when you get that error it means you’ve either entered the repo address incorrectly or the repo is no longer available. I’m afraid I can’t give any specific advice for using Incursion but if you’re able to install other addons, it’s likely been taken down. Thanks, Ian
There has been a recent Amazon Fire software update that seems to have broken video player options: such as skip, Fast-forward, and bookmark resume. If attempting to use some of these options the player will freeze and home is the only way to get a response. This is affecting multiple players. I have attempted a refresh or 17.6 and a new install of 18 rc2 with no affect. Is this a known is?
Hi David, that certainly sounds like a strange issue. If you let me know which players you’ve tried, I can test them myself and see if it’s a quirk with your system or not. If it is a broken Amazon Fire update, though, there’s very little we can do without rooting the device. Ian
Hi, i just installed Kodi on my Xbox One S. The app runs, I can index media off an NFS share but nothing will play. I’ve tried .iso, .avi, .mp4, .m4a. They just don’t start. Any suggestions?
Hi Robert, I’ve heard lots of problems about the Xbox app. As far as I’m aware, it’s been broken for a few months now and there’s no word on a patch as yet. I know it’s not exactly what you wanted, but the Xbox Media Player app does allow you to access files from other computers on your HomeGroup. Hope this helps, Ian
Hi so Kodi isn’t working. Sometimes I get black screens, no addons show streams, I can’t add sources, I can’t access video addons. I’ve tried to force stop and clear cache but it just says computing. I can’t delete addons either. Every time I switch Kodi back on it says preparing for first run. Any suggestions on what I should try to do? Thanks
Hi Nomi. This might be happening because you’re running out of storage space – if so, just delete some files and it should be fine. Unfortunately if this doesn’t work, the easiest solution might be a fresh reinstallation. Thanks, Ian
Hi,
I have a problem with getting the source to play.
I use mt VPN, IP Vanish, before I access Kodi.
I have a Trakt Account and can find all my collection.
However, when I ask for sources to playback, it find lots but when I choose one it tries to get the source, then it spends then next few minutes going through all of the sources after the one I chose and never playing one.
I would be grateful if you could help me sort this problem.
Mike.
Hi Mike, does this happen with every addon or just Trakt? Ian
Hi, I’m having issues with kodi and some other apk’s. When trying to load a movie or tv show it’s very slow and then it says can’t find a stream. I’ve emptied the cashe, force closed all apps and still having problems. I am currently using a durex build with some add ons like tv zion, cinema, terrarium, all are having same issue. Can you advise on fixing the problem…thanks
Hey Gina, it could be your internet connection but I think more likely it’s a problem with the durex build. We’ve had a lot of questions about it recently – I’d advise installing regular Kodi to see if the problem is resolved. If not, I can take a look at your debug log to see if that gives us any clues. Thanks, Ian
Hello, I’m having an issue with every kodi build I’ve installed on both my Galaxy Note 9, and my Firestick, I’ve even downloaded SPMC and tried loading builds on there to have the same issue. The issue is I’ll go to an addon to watch a movie, I’ll find a movie, it will start to play, then within a few minutes it kicks me out of the movie back to the screen where you choose to stream the movie from. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled kodi several times, used a number of different builds, and tried turning off the hardware acceleration to no avail. Is this a known issue or isolated to just me for some reason? It’s been going on for about 2 weeks now I believe. Please help!
Hi Dan, roughly how many builds have you tried? Kodi builds are notoriously unreliable, which is part of the reason why we recommend avoiding them. That said, if you’re having this problem with even official addons, the cause is likely just a setting that needs changed somewhere. I’d be happy to take a look at your debug log if you’d like. Ian
Sorry to piggyback on your comment but i couldnt find a way to comment myself. I have been having a problem with kodi for almost a week now. It opens up fine I click on an addon and the the circle just keeps spinning spinning and nothing happens. I even tried loading kodi 18 and still having the same issue. Please help if you can.
Steve
Hi Steve, I’d suggest updating your addons, checking your internet connection, and seeing if this happens with any of the addons in the official Kodi repo. Thanks, Ian
Ah, don’t worry! This is actually quite a common problem 🙂
if you go into the Firestick’s settings menu, find your list of apps, click Kodi, and clear the cache, it should work as normal. Hope this helps!
Thanks Ian for the fast response. I found that the issue was the internet box I had to reset it a few times and got it going. Now onto a whole new issue I was watching a movie and then all of a sudden my firestick reset. When it came back on Kodi wouldnt load anymore. I tried reinstalling 18 and it just goes to the open page and then either goes black or just jumps me back to the home page.
Thanks for the speedy response! I’ve tried roughly 4 or 5 different builds, not sure the names but I know no limits was one of them, last night I tried deleting the build and adding just exodus, and I have the same problem, will play for a few minutes then just kicks me back out. Could you talk me through how to send you my debug log? I was thinking maybe a setting myself but I haven’t changed anything since before I started having the problem, and it’s happening across platforms (both note 9 and firestick)I’d really appreciate any help you can give! Thank you so much!
Ah, I see. In that case, it gets a little more complex but still nothing to worry about.
Can you trigger the error again, close Kodi, and open up a file manager and check these locations for a file named “kodi.log”?
/data/org.xbmc.kodi/cache/temp/kodi.log
/sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/temp/kodi.log
/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/temp/kodi.log
Once you find it, you can either paste the contents into pastebin, or upload the whole file to Dropbox, Google Drive, or a similar service. One thing, though: this is a public forum so make sure the link only provides access to this one file, not a folder or anything like that. Hope this helps, Ian
It’s on my t9 I just got it my old m8 box works ok
It’s the t9 android box iv only just got it I don’t have a problem with the old m8s box
Sorry for jumping on the post I’m having the same problem I’ll be watching a movie and it stops playing
Hi Mark, have you tried clearing the cache? What device are you using Kodi on? Ian
Hi Dan, no problem! As far as I know, Exodus has been out of action for a while, although forks do pop up from time to time.
So first, install the Log Viewer for Kodi addon from the official repo, if you haven’t already. Then, trigger the error: in this case, by playing a video. Open up Log Viewer for Kodi, copy all the text and paste it into http://www.pastebin.com. Finally, grab the pastebin link and leave it in a reply for me.
I’ll take a look and get back to you asap, hopefully with answers. Ian
Oh, I should note as well, I’ve added Yoda and supremacy instead of exodus, and all of them do the same thing
I installed the log viewer for kodi addon, I cannot open newer movies at all. I’ll click on them and it acts like its going to open then it just does nothing, so I tried an older movie, it opened, played for about 2 minutes then closed, I went to log viewer, there’s 3 options, view logs, view old logs and settings, so I clicked view logs, a log list came up but I cannot copy it, I long pressed on the screen as you would do to copy/paste and nothing happens
Hi Ian,
I have stumbled across your article in an attempt to solve an issue I am having with my Exodus and Exodus Redux addons on Kodi 17.6 for Windows 10. It’s as if the movie starts to load but then just doesn’t want to open. I have tried clearing cache, deleting and reinstalling Kodi as well as deleting/reinstalling the addons.
Thanks!
Elisha
Hi Elisha, Exodus and its many newer variations go down or change address all the time. This could be causing the issue you’re experiencing – unfortunately the only advice we can give is to try out some other addon. Thanks, Ian
Hi, I am running KODI 17.6 on a brand new droidbox, just loaded no limits magic and got UK PLAY and BBS I player add ons, downloaded fine NUT, When I go to either of these and search for an episode of a program, Strictly or Tsskmast it comes up blank. I acyually bought a new box to cure this, any ideas on how I can access the totally legal UK PLAY and BBC I player using No Limits ?
Hi Chris, we’ve had a lot of questions about No Limits lately. We actually recommend avoiding builds entirely since they often cause more truble than they’re worth. If you’re only looking to use official addons, you can just install those on vanilla Kodi and everything should work properly. Thanks, Ian
Hi Ian,
I am brand new to Kodi, but I think installed and configured everything correctly. I can search and find the movies that I searched. I can also save them to favorites and they show up in favorities. Here is the problem: when I hit play, nothing happens. I am running Kodi from a Fire TV stick thing.
Can you help please? Thank you so much!
Hey Brooks, this could be happening for a number of reasons. First, does this happen with one specific addon or several? Have you tried testing some from the official Kodi repo? Second, if you’re using official addons, are you in the required location (in the UK to watch iPlayer, for example)? If not, a VPN can help. You may also want to consider a reinstallation – sometimes things just go wrong, and this helps resolve problems pretty frequently. Hope this helps, Ian.
Hi Ian,
Thank you so much for your response. Is there a Kodi tutorial or user guide that you can recommend? It is clear that I don’t know what I’m doing!
I think I installed addons from the official Kodi repo and they work. But I am not sure how to get a movie addon from the Kodi repo. When I click on ‘Movies,’ it says my library is currently empty. When I go to addons, all the ones I installed show up. Yoda and Indigo were the only addons I had until I added some per your suggestion. I don’t recall installing either. I assumed they were installed when I installed Kodi. In any event, Yoda is the one I used to search for new movies. Is that correct or should I be using another movie addon?
Also, are there addons for live tv? The ones I installed contain episodes in folders, but don’t seem to offer live tv.
Before finding you, I reinstalled and that didn’t help.
Thank you again for your help Ian. I really appreciate it!
No problem! So whenever you install an addon, whether it’s for movies, TV shows, or whatever, it appears in the addons menu. The movie/TV tabs on the left are for files that you actually have stored on your computer so you can ignore those for the most part.
Whenever you want to watch something, you have to go into your chosen addon and search for it. If it’s not available in one, just search another since each addon has a different selection of content.
While I can’t comment on Yoda, the official repo has a few apps that let you watch movies. I believe all of the suggestions in this article still work:
https://www.comparitech.com/kodi/best-kodi-addons-legal-free-movies/
As for live TV, there are a few recommendations here:
https://www.comparitech.com/kodi/watch-kodi-movies-best-addons/
We’re all beginners at some point so if there’s anything else you’re unsure about, just ask! Ian
Super, thank you again Ian. I really appreciate your help.
I will give these a try.
I recently completed the recommended update that came available on October 16th for my xbmx media box. Since the completion of the update it has left the box unable to be used, it still shows all the sub headings along the bottom (favourites, live tv, music, catch up tv, settings and so on) however on d you click any one of these I’m left with a complete blank screen. This has never happened with any recommended update before, any ideas.
Hi Tony, I’d recommend clearing the cache if at all possible. If this doesn’t work, you might want to reinstall an earlier version. Thanks, Ian
cache on the xobx or inside kodi?
Xbox version is loading up but there is no writing can scroll through but nothing to see
Hi, the Xbox version hasn’t worked for a while now thanks to a broken update. I’ll try installing it later today and see if I can find some sort of workaround. Ian
not leaving a reply but I have an issue I cant sort out , I am trying to download movies on my android box and have followed all the instructions on how to etc , but when I reach the fianl step and press download i get a message ” unknown file size unable to download ” ive tried on Movies and TV shows with no luck , any suggestions please
Hi David, can you go into Kodi’s log viewer, then copy and paste the log into pastebin.com and post the link here? I’d be happy to take a look for you. Ian
I am using Kodi on windows laptop. Kodi stop working after couple of minutes every time. At the same time it works perfect for live streaming. Any help is highly appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Sid, can you look in Kodi’s settings menu and turn off hardware acceleration? That should fix this issue. Thanks, Ian
I recently tried to watch the BBC iplayer livestream and it did not work. The message that pops up says” Playback Failed- One or more items failed to play. Check the log for more information about this message.”
I used iplayer on Kodi a while ago without any issues. I also use a VPN. I run Kodi 17.6
Hi Juliana, can I ask which VPN you used? Quite a few have difficulty unblocking the iPlayer. Also, can you check and see if the addon has any available updates? Thanks, Ian
Is there about way for me to install an older Kodi version on my NVIDIA Shield? It worked before I did the suggested update.. Mostly.
Just go to settings>apps and uninstall Kodi like you would any other app. Ian
Well, if you’re using Kodi 18 you can go back to 17.6 without much difficulty. Just uninstall and download the correct version here:
https://kodi.tv/download
If you’re using 17.6 and still having trouble, a reinstallation still couldn’t hurt. These little frustrating issues often disappear with a clean install – it’s just one of the quirks of the software. Ian
Hi Kate, we generally don’t recommend installing builds, so we can’t help you source no limits. That said, reinstalling Kodi might help solve your problem, even if you’re just installing the same version again. Ian
Trying to install no limits, but I have no idea what the deal is. I Aldi don’t know what ballets version of the app the Play store installed. I’ve used every url I can find for it and Kodi won’t recognize them.
Yikes! How do iv uninstall?
using kodi krypton 17.6
I have downloaded kodi no limits and installed it. Did a fresh install. After it installs and i put kodi on nothing happens. it just kodi opening up but there is no build at all. I go to install from zip file again but there is nothing there. Its like it never downloaded it. i tried all the different URL’s for no limits but same thing.
Any ideas
i have a himedia h8.
Sorry, I couldn’t start a new thread. I have the newest version of Kodi on my Nvidia shield. It’s stuck at the spot where it’s telling me I have no TV files and go to Files. I have downloaded 1 million repositories but I cannot get them into my files to where Kodi realizes it has anything in it. So I can turn Kodi on, jack with repositories and files for as long as I decide to, then turn it off. That is all that I can do. Help.
Hi Kate, I can see why you might get a little confused: Kodi’s actually talking about adding locally stored files (like movies downloaded to your computer). To add a repository, you just go to Add-ons, then click the box icon in the top left, then hit Install from zip file and browse to wherever you saved the repo. Hope this helps, Ian
Can’t navigate to root. I can see it, can’t access.
I don’t have a download file.
So if you go into Settings> File Manager and add your repo address, for instance: http://fusion.tvaddons.co
You can then go back to the Kodi home screen, go to Add-ons, click the box icon, and find the source you just added under “Install from zip file”. Any other repo installation should work the exact same way. Can you see if this works? Ian
That’s where I’ve been trying to install from.
Okay, let’s change tack. Can you install repos from Settings>File Manager instead? That way, we don’t need to access the downloads folder. Ian
I don’t know where it saved. Some flashed up an icon like the no limits wizard did. They were all repos I was able to find within Kodi.
Can’t navigate to root. I can see it, can’t access.
Can you click on root filesystem and see if you can navigate your way to the downloads folder from there? Ian
I don’t find a downloads folder. Just external storage, fusion add-on, network file system, root file sys, zeroconf browser