Hang on Kodi logo from USB boot ; AMD/Linux issues

    I overwrote my HTPC SSD with 10.0.2 and found multiple issues. Now trying to solve them booting from USB. Was previously running Lea 18.2 solid for the last few years.

    Processor is an AMD A10-7800 with 4 cores. First issue is the Linux "watchdog: BUG - soft lockup CPU2 stuck for 22 seconds".

    In syslinux.cfg under LABEL run I added

    SLEEP 30

    in hopes that that would allow time for the network to start. Also removed the "quiet" parameter to see what is happening.

    With the addition of the KERNEL parameter rcu_nocbs=0-3 processor.max_cstate=1, most lockups have disappeared, and the system is usually able to get to the Kodi 19.4 logo at which point it appears to be unresponsive although the LED in the USB stick continues to flash..

    From a network perspective, the system connects and does a time set. Ping works OK.

    Despite the addition of KERNEL parameter SSH, Putty gets "connection refused". Filezilla SFTP cannot connect to server. Consequently I am left with just being able to change syslinux.cfg, and I have no access to any logs. When the USB stick is again mounted on my Windows PC, the data partition on the stick does not seem to be accessible.

    Sometimes the soft lockup issue reappears after "Starting Xorg Server", and we never get to the Kodi logo. When that happens, there are multiple soft lockup messages appearing one after another.

    I tried adding the KERNEL parameter ACPI=off, but it did not improve the situation.

    UEFI setting "Power Supply Idle Control" = "Typical Idle Current" does not appear to be available for my motherboard, but "Core C6 Mode" is. It did not seem to help when set to disabled but perhaps will in conjunction with the rcu_nocbs KERNEL parameter. There is a lengthy discussion about the soft lockup issue with various Linux systems and AMD Ryzen CPUs, with "Typical Idle Current" as the best solution.

    The system is connected by HDMI to a Samsung QN65Q8FN 4K TV. I have not added anything to syslinux.cfg to address the TV's resolution nor have I tried a different display device.

    I am beginning to think that the soft lockup issue is unrelated to the freeze at the Kodi 19.4 logo.

    Any suggestions on how I can get past the Kodi logo freeze or how I can get SSH / SFTP to work would be much appreciated.


    * ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ Socket FM2+ AMD A88X Chipset motherboard

    Forcing the SSH daemon to start requires "ssh" in boot params not "SSH" .. the other one that's useful is "textmode" which will boot direct to a text console on-screen instead of Kodi allowing you to poke around in networking, dmesg, etc.

    Many thanks, chewitt!

    I browsed the Kodi log and all looked good. Used systemctl to check on system status but could not find why SSH / SFTP not working.

    Despite changing UEFI "Core C6 Mode" to disabled, many softlock error messages occurred while systemctl was waiting for my response.

    My HTPC AMD A10-7800 build is 7+ years old and is not playing nice with 10.0.2. However, I expect some AMD Ryzen builds could experience the same softlock issue.

    I will wait for early winter (when I have more time) to see if anything has changed with the latest LibreELEC but I expect the problem will persist. Looks to me that to go forward I will need a new Intel build that is known to run well with LibreELEC.

    Just a note for anyone going forward to Kodi 19 from 18 and thinking they can fall back easily using Backup / Restore, I found that after re-installing LibreELEC 9.0.2 that Backup /Restore would not install properly from the Team Kodi repo.

    My solution was to unzip the backup file on my Windows PC, and FTP over to my HTPC the following: script.xbmcbackup, it's addon data, and the eleven script.module.xxxx files that are prerequisite for Backup / Restore. After a reboot I was able to use Restore to recover my previous system with the exception of a few settings.