Troubleshooting
Before starting troubleshooting it's always a good idea to enable Debug-Mode for Debug-Logging in XBMC.
This debug-mode provides more detailed info on what's going on, and it can be enabled like this.
Lost control
Why did my XBMC freeze? There is a new item on the rightside of the top of the screen and my controller isn't working
That is the volume control or seekbar popup menu. It is assigned to the right thumbstick on the controller (up and down for volume, left and right for seeking). Try recalibrating your analog sticks by moving them in full circles several times. If this does not fix the problem, your controller may simply be more sensitive than others. Increase the value of <controllerdeadzone> in advancedsettings.xml.
The volume level in XBMC is down really, really low – I can't hear anything!
The right thumb stick (push up or down) alters the volume level. Sometimes a second controller is tucked away and could be lowering the volume.
Help! My Music visualization doesn't change!
Milkdrop and Vortex support a locked mode where presets don't change automatically. This is toggled using controller by pressing the back button. You'll notice a little lock symbol appearing/disappearing in the info bar on top.
Why can't XBMC play music files purchased online-music stores like iTunes?
XBMC can currently not play any audio/video files protected/encrypted with DRM (Digital Right Management), such as music purchased from ITunes Music Store, MSN Music or Audible.com. Workaround: If possible removed that DRM protection/encryption with some third-party software before you try to play it, like: hymn (for iTunes DRM files), do not ask for help on how to do so or how to use such softwares.
XBMC is not displaying track data or cover art from ID3 tags
iTunes (and probably other applications that manipulate ID3 tag data) has a known [bug] where ID3v2.4 tags are not written correctly. If XBMC displays only the filename and no cover art or track data, but iTunes reads the tags fine (and reports them as v2.4 tags), you may be affected by this bug.
In iTunes, you can convert ID3v2.4 tags back to ID3v2.3 with no loss of data, and the ID3v2.3 tag handling does not suffer from this problem. Select the affected tracks and choose 'Convert ID3 Tags...' from the 'Advanced' menu. Tick 'ID3 tag version:' and set it to 'v2.3'. Depending on the size of your library, this may take some time to complete.
Video output issues / issues with video playback
I changed to another skin, and the screen went black. Now, whenever I boot XBMC it stays black and I can't do anything!
Hold down both thumbsticks (clicked) when launching or booting XBMC. This will cause a screen to pop up asking you if you want to reset your settings (including the active skin) to the defaults. The only settings not reset by this method is the Master lock code, and the advanced settings only accessible via manual edit of XML-files, (such as advancedsettings.xml, Keymap.xml, LCD.xml, RssFeeds.xml and PartyMode.xml).
I use XBMC in HDTV resolution (720p or 1080i) and when I try play a video or audio file/stream it fails, what can I do?
Most likely you are running out of available RAM (Random Access Memory). The Xbox hardware only comes equipped with 64MB of unified RAM, (which means that system and graphics memory are shared, unlike a standard PC where they are separate dedicated memory for both the system and the graphics, and usally both are much larger than 64MB by themself). 64MB of total RAM is not a lot, and is especially limiting at high-definition HDTV like 720p (1280x720) and 1080i (1920x1080) pixel-resolutions. This means that when you use 720p or 1080i you have to be mindful of things that can take up memory:
- Cache sizes (especially video cache, it should not have to be larger than 2MB, maybe max 4MB-8MB if wireless)
- Skin used (some skins use more memory than others, try to use XBMC default Project Mayhem 3 skin)
- Skinning animations (disable that from XBMC settings will also speed-up GUI navigation when are in 720p/1080i)
- Enabled servers/services (WebServer, FTP-server, Python)
- If you are having problems in 1080i then try if it works better in 720p (if your display supports 720p that is)
- If your TV/display do not support 720p then try if 480p (720x480 progressive) works better than 1080i
- Remember that 1080i uses much more memory (RAM) than 720p, and 720p uses much more memory (RAM) than 480p
- Try running video-playback at a lower resolution than the GUI, for example videos in 720p and GUI in 1080i
- Due to the shortage of RAM, it may be a wise idea to turn off all of the listed servers/services at first until you know what can be sustained. Also lowering the video/audio/stream cache size to 1MB, (which is more than enough for playback over a wired local network). If you use wireless, then you may need it slightly higher, (though expect other problems with streaming video over wireless, see Wireless Specific Tips for more information).
When I play videos, they display using the wrong aspect ratio, what can I do to fix this?
XBMC has built-in aspect ratio control, as well as zoom control. This can be changed by use of the "Y" button on the controller or the "Select" button on the DVD-Remote during video playback. When you press "Y" button on the controller or the "Select" button on the DVD-Remote you will also see which resolution it is using. If you find your 4x3 movies play on your 16x9 screen stretched out, instead of with black bars either side of the image, it may be that you have selected "Auto" as the video output resolution in the Video Player settings, and your TV does not auto-switch to it's 4x3 mode. Set it to 16x9 in this case. See Movie Playback and OSD for more information.
I can't seem to be able to select Widescreen/HDTV modes. How can I fix this?
You must enable Widescreen/HDTV Modes in the Microsoft original Xbox Dashboard. Once this is done, the options will appear in XBMC.
Note: For HDTV modes you need two things. The Xbox must be in NTSC mode and you also need a suitable AV cable. So if you have a PAL Xbox you need first to convert it to NTSC, you can do this with softwares like "Enigmah Video Selector".
XBMC will not start/load
I try to launch XBMC from a dashboard and it does not start (freeze or black screen), why?
If you have a very old BIOS in your modchip, make sure that XBMC's XBE (executable) is patched from DEBUG to RETAIL, as old BIOS's can't run DEBUG executeables. You can patch it with xbepatch or deXBE. If you get same problem again try another build of XBMC, if still same issue follow EvoX FAQ.
XBMC is set as my dashboard, and boots to a black screen when I turn on my XBOX. What can I do?
You can reset all XBMC settings to defaults, by holding down the two thumbsticks at startup. See more here.
If this is unsuccessful, you can force XBMC to start the Error Recovery Mode, which will give you FTP access, by holding down the White and Y button down during startup.
XBMC will not play a file
I got one or several AVI files that plays choppy and/or ends in the middle of playback, what could be the cause?
When playback of AVI files (containing a video format like XviD or DivX) is stuttering, it in 90% of the files is caused by a poorly or wrongly interleaved file. You check this by temporarly enabling "No Cache" in Video OSD Settings in XBMC to test if the file plays better then, (note that enabling "No Cache" is only a temporary workaround for testing only, you should not leave the "No Cache" setting enabled for permanent use). The issue can be permanently resolved by RE-MUXING the AVI video-files that have this problem by using a tool like VirtualDub or AVIMux-GUI. In 5% of the files stuttering and choppy playback is caused by a bad/corrupt container/video/audio header or a VBR MP3 Header, in these cases a simple RE-MUXING is not enough, instead you must decode the audio-stream to PCM during a first-pass RE-MUX and then do another second-pass RE-MUX from the new file to encode the audio-stream to MP3 but instead of MP3 VBR as the original probebly was, encode to MP3 CBR, (the AVI container was never designed to hold MP3 VBR which is why you should always use MP3 CBR in AVI files).
- To use VirtualDub on your Windows computer to re-mux, open the AVI file in VirtualDub then select "Direct-Stream" for both the video and audio which saves a new fixed file. Since VirtualDub creates a new header (internal-index), it usually also automaticly fixes any problems with bad/corrupt headers as well. If the problem is due to a bad/corrupt container/video/audio header or a VBR MP3 Header (which VirtualDub usually give a pop-up message stating when you open the file), then to fix that you must use VirtualDub to first fully uncompress the audio-stream to PCM (only process audio, Direct-Stream the video) saving to a new AVI file, then open that new file and do another RE-MUX to recompress the uncompressed PCM-audio to the MP3 CBR format with the bit-rate of your choise, (again just leave the video as Direct-Stream, to only process the audio), by first uncompressing the audio you will any A/V sync-problem caused by MP3 VBR (MP3 Verial Bit Rate). In the other 5% of the times the cause is a poorly encoding audio or video stream, there is no simple solution to this, we suggest you visit sites like doom9.net, videohelp.com or avsforum.com for information and support/help with such.
Additional information:
AVI stands for "Audio Video Interleaved" which means the audio and video files are mixted into the AVI file, (like 32Kb video, then 32Kb audio, then 32Kb video, then 32Kb audio, and so on). Bad interleaving means that a file has been improperly interleaved or not interleaved at all, meaning the file probebely has all the video-stream first inside the and then comes all of the audio-stream (or vice versa), this cuases the player to have to seek back and forth between the video-stream and the video-stream instead of just reading them in a kronological order. Microsoft's Windows Media Player in the Windows operating-system is much more lenient than MPlayer with corrupt/bad or poorly/incorrecly interleaved AVI-files, (aftyer all, Microsoft did invented the AVI format)
I got one or several AVI files that plays with the audio and video out-of-sync, what could be the cause?
When audio and video playback in AVI files are out-of-sync (like when an actor speaks and the lips do not synchronize with the sound), it in 90% of the files is caused by a poorly or wrongly interleaved file. You check this by temporarly enabling "No Cache" in Video OSD Settings in XBMC to test if the file plays better then, (note that enabling "No Cache" is only a temporary workaround for testing only, you should not leave the "No Cache" setting enabled for permanent use). The issue can be permanently resolved by RE-MUXING the AVI video-files that have this problem by using a tool like VirtualDub or AVIMux-GUI. In 5% of the files stuttering and choppy playback is caused by a bad/corrupt container/video/audio header or a VBR MP3 Header, in these cases a simple RE-MUXING is not enough, instead you must decode the audio-stream to PCM during a first-pass RE-MUX and then do another second-pass RE-MUX from the new file to encode the audio-stream to MP3 but instead of MP3 VBR as the original probebly was, encode to MP3 CBR, (the AVI container was never designed to hold MP3 VBR which is why you should always use MP3 CBR in AVI files). In the other 5% of the times the cause is a poorly encoding audio or video stream, there is no simple solution to this, we suggest you visit sites like doom9.net, videohelp.com or avsforum.com for information and support/help with such.
- To use VirtualDub on your Windows computer to re-mux, open the AVI file in VirtualDub then select "Direct-Stream" for both the video and audio which saves a new fixed file. Since VirtualDub creates a new header (internal-index), it usually also automaticly fixes any problems with bad/corrupt headers as well. If the problem is due to a bad/corrupt container/video/audio header or a VBR MP3 Header (which VirtualDub usually give a pop-up message stating when you open the file), then to fix that you must use VirtualDub to first fully uncompress the audio-stream to PCM (only process audio, Direct-Stream the video) saving to a new AVI file, then open that new file and do another RE-MUX to recompress the uncompressed PCM-audio to the MP3 CBR format with the bit-rate of your choise, (again just leave the video as Direct-Stream, to only process the audio), by first uncompressing the audio you will any A/V sync-problem caused by MP3 VBR (MP3 Variable Bit Rate).
Additional information: AVI stands for "Audio Video Interleaved" which means the audio and video files are mixted into the AVI file, (like 32Kb video, then 32Kb audio, then 32Kb video, then 32Kb audio, and so on). Bad interleaving means that a file has been improperly interleaved or not interleaved at all, meaning the file probebely has all the video-stream first inside the and then comes all of the audio-stream (or vice versa), this cuases the player to have to seek back and forth between the video-stream and the video-stream instead of just reading them in a kronological order. Microsoft's Windows Media Player in the Windows operating-system is much more lenient than MPlayer with corrupt/bad or poorly/incorrecly interleaved AVI-files, (aftyer all, Microsoft did invented the AVI format)
Why can't Xbox Media Center read/play files larger than 1GB from a UDF DVD-R/RW media?
This is due to a Xbox™ limitation reading UDF128 (this is not a XBMC failure or our fault).
Why can't Xbox Media Center read/play files larger than 4GB from the Xbox™ harddrive?
This is due to a Xbox™ limitation in the FAT-X format (not a XBMC issue that can be fixed).
Why can't XBMC read/play AVI video files after 2GB or play/read a 2GB+ AVI video file?
All AVI files over 2GB in size are OpenDML AVI's and XBMC does not yet support OpenDML. PS! We know that XBMC also has other problems with OpenDML AVI's that are under 2GB in size. A couple of such problems are that XBMC cannot FF/RW in OpenDML, and/or video distortions. Note! Reason for this is that MPlayer which XBMC is based upon do not yet support OpenDML.
Why does my XBMC keep freezing when I try to play some movie/music files?
One possible cause of this is a corruption or misrepresentation in the databases used in XBMC for the menu system, if this is the case, (this symptom is usually accompanied by black screens when "My Videos", "My Programs", etc. are selected, also, it may be accompanied by the failure of XBMC to launch games/applications when pressing just the "A" button (so instead, one would have to push the white button, then "Launch in.." and select a display type). This problem can be corrected by Navigating to the XBMC location ../XBMC/UserData/Database. Once in this directory delete all the files in the directory (leave the folders there.) This will clear the databases and XBMC will automatically generate new ones.
I use EvoX (ie. EvolutionX) as my primary bootup dashboard and I'm experiencing crashes, hangs, freezes, slow playback/loading, performance issues and/or network problems in XBMC.
First of all make sure you are using the latest version of Evo-X. Also delete both "0face008" folders under E:\UDATA & E:\TDATA on your Xbox. Plus in Evo-X (evox.ini) disable both IGR (in game reset) and TSR (trainer), which both can cause problems. You also need to make sure date/time on Xbox is correct (correct it in Microsoft-Xbox-Dashboard). Try physically disconnect the network cable, if that helps then there's a EvoX to XBMC conflict, so make sure you then also use DHCP XBMC, same with static IP-address. In addition make sure that the video mode/standard option for XBMC is set to "Auto" in EvoX. If you still have problems in XBMC then try deleting: "E:\Cache\*.*", "Y:\*.*", "X:\*.*", "Z:\*.*". (Note! If use DHCP with EvoX make sure you then also use DHCP XBMC, same with static IP).
Network issues/problems
I use EvoX (ie. EvolutionX) as my primary bootup dashboard, why doesn't the network/internet work in XBMC?
First of all make sure you are using the latest version of Evo-X. Then in Evo-X (evox.ini) disable TSR (trainer) and test, if that doesn't work then also disable IGR (in game reset) in Evo-X (evox.ini) as well. Note! If use DHCP with EvoX make sure you then also use DHCP XBMC, same with static IP.
Why can I not get internet working (like streaming, IMDb lookups, etc.) when local network works fine?
Internet access requires that the correct "Gateway" and "DNS" (DNS = name-server) address is configured in XBMC, normaly both the "Gateway" and "DNS" need to be set to your routers IP-address, but in some cases the "DNS" is just pased along by your router and in that case you need to set the "DNS" address that your ISP (Internet Server Provider) assigns to you. If you have a Windows computer connected to the same router then you can type "ipconfig /all" into a command-promt to find out which "Gateway" and "DNS" it is using and then set the same in XBMC, (alternativly call your ISP to find out which "Gateway" and "DNS" you should be using).
Network performance issues (wired or wireless)
Do you experince slow throughput/load-times when streaming video or audio over a wired or wireless-network? Here are some hints and tips that can aid wired and wireless performance issues:
General (both wired and wireless) tips
- If your computers operating-system is windows based (like 95/98/ME/XP/2000/2003) then follow/perform this tweaks:
- Tweak the DNS errors caching in windows by following the first in this url (link) to speedup/fix failed dns lookups.
- Follow this tweakxp.com (link) register tweak to change the dir commad's buffer from 14000 to 65000 to raise the cache.
- Uninstalled or reconfigure the "qos packet scheduler" service from the tcp/ip stack under properties in local area connection;
- (Alernative 1: in windows => control panel => network connections => local area connection => properties => uninstall).
- (Alernative 2: lower or disable the amount of bandwith reserved for qos, do this by following the last article in this link).
- If your computers operating-system is unix based like linux or freebsd then follow/perform this tip to change transmission area window (link).
- In windows make you you 'unmount' (or disable) all virtual cd/dvd-rom drives (ex. from daemon-tools, alcohol 120%, clonedvd/clonecd, etc.).
- During smb streaming troubleshooting you should of course also (temporarly) try disabling any antivirus and firewall softwares on your computer.
Wired specific tips
- Force from "auto-detect/negotiate speed" to "100mbps/full-duplex" because it disables auto-negotiation which can cause slow network connections:
- in Windows XP → Control panel → Network connections → Local area connection properties → Configure... → Advanced → Link speed...
- in Mac OS X → System Preferences → Network → Show: Built-in Ethernet → Ethernet [tab] → Configure: Manually (Advanced) → Speed: 100baseTX → Duplex: full-duplex → Apply Now.
Note!If your network-switch on the other hand only support auto-negotiate then setting it to "100mbps/full-duplex" may cause problems, so if you already tried forcing "100mbps/full-duplex" and that cause more problems then having it set to "auto-detect/negotiate speed" then please configure it to be always set on "auto-detect/negotiate speed". A general networking rule is to always have all your networking equipment configures the same, so if you set one device to "100mbps/full-duplex" then set all devices to "100mbps/full-duplex", or if you have one device set to "auto-detect/negotiate speed" then set all devices to "auto-detect/negotiate speed".
Wireless specific tips
Wireless equipment very rarely runs at its advertised speed, often it runs significantly slower;
- If your wireless access-point/router/adapters are 802.11b then upgrade (buy!) all to [802.11g, 802.11g+, 802.11n or 802.11a equipment with MIMO support instead. Know that in practice the maximum 802.11b throughput that an application can achieve is about 5.9Mbit/s (for burst transmission) and the average throughput is usually bellow 1Mb/second which is too slow to stream video in real-time. The average throughput for 802.11g is 25Mbit/s, and 50Mbit/s for 802.11g+ with MIMO so even that might have problems streaming DVD-Video movies over wireless. 802.11n on the other hand (which all support MIMO as standard) has an average throughput of 200Mbit/s, and that is fast enough for all audio/video streams.
- Disable WEP/WPA encryption (as it increases overhead which lowers throughput), enable MAC-address filtering as security instead.
- Move your wireless router/access-point and network-adapters closer to each other as the data-rates decreases significantly the longer the signal have to travel, also remove all possible obsticals if possible (as the data-rates slows down significantly if the signal have to travel through thick walls, floors/ceelings or furnature, etc.). In addition try to place your wireless router/access-point at the same hight as your network-adapters, preferably on the middle of the wall instead of on the floor or close to the ceeling.
- Do not mix formats, the presence of an 802.11b participant significantly reduces the speed of an 802.11g/802.11g+ networks. Same with 802.11g and 802.11n. Also non-network wireless products, or other products that are operating in the 2.4GHz band (as 802.11b/802.11g/802.11g+ do), like microwave ovens, bluetooth devices, and cordless telephones
Note! If above don't help then test the alternative XBMSP/XBMS or UPnP protocols, instead of SMB/SAMBA/CIFS as they have much less overhead.
Annoyances
Where did the Record Button for SHOUTcast go?
It's in My Music OSD now
When I start the XBOX and XBMC there is a startup music that plays every restart or when I enter xbmc. How can I disable this music?
There is a script running on startup (scripts\autoexec.py) that is loading another script and causing playback to start. Remove the autoexec.py script (or rename it) to stop this. It was put there by whoever created your build. Furthermore, there is also a startup sound that can be played (a file named media\start.wav) which is normally played when the splash screen is displayed. Remove this file if you don't like it.
After I deleted some albums from my harddisk, they are still visible when in My Music Libary. How can I delete these empty albums?
Go to Settings->My Music and choose "Clean the music database".
It is scanning the media files for tag information, so that it can display artist, title, year, genre, album information, as well as any embedded thumbnails. This takes a while over a network connection. You can turn this off completely by disabling ID3 tag reading in Settings->My Music. A better thing to do is to perform a Scan on the folders from My Music. This will store the retreived tag information in the database, allowing you to take advantage of the database views (using the Switch View button). See My Music for more information.
I get an error message Error: Out of memory loading picture when running slideshows
Running slideshows uses a large amount of memory, in particularly when loading images. You could try freeing up memory by turning off any music you have running. See here under the section "How it works" for more information.
I upgraded XBMC and now I can no longer access my F partition?
You possibly upgraded from a build prior to 19th of March 2005, to a build made after this date. You also use an old BIOS. A possible fix to this issue is to disable <AutodetectFG> (set to no) in advancedsettings.xml.
Why can't I access X, Y or Z partition using eg. My Files or by FTP?
Early on a decision was made to make it a little 'harder' for new unknowing users to access X, Y or Z due to the fact that these are "cache partitions" and no data put there stays there. You can make them a source yourself in Filemanager or edit Filezilla Server.xml and add these.
When I push "A" it does not launch my apps or emulators. I must push "Launch In.." then select NTSC-M, NTSC-J or PAL for it to run properly!
A possible cause of this is a corruption or misrepresentation in the Databases used in XBMC for the menu system. If this is the case, this symptom is usually accompanied by black screens when "My Videos", "My Programs", etc. are selected. Also, it may be accompanied by the failure of XBMC to launch media files without locking up. This problem can be corrected by Navigating to the XBMC location ../XBMC/UserData/Database. Once in this directory delete all the files in the directory (leave the folders there.) This will clear the databases and XBMC will automatically generate new ones.
This is by design. All dialogs show on top: If we didn't blank the screen, the screensaver would run with the dialogs on top of it. Blanking was the best solution.
Limitations
XBMC and the Xbox hardware has a few limitations, please read this for more information
- XBMC can currently not play any audio/video files protected/encrypted with Digital Rights Management (DRM), such as music purchased from ITunes Music Store, MSN Music or Audible.com. Workaround: Removed that DRM protection/encryption with some third-party software before you try to play it, like: hymn (for iTunes DRM files).
- XBMC only support Universal Disk Format (UDF CD/DVD file-system) version 1.02 (which was designed for [1] media), and that early version has a maximum file of 1GB (meaning if you burn a DVD-media in a newer UDF version with a video that is larger than 1GB then XBMC will not be able to play that file), same goes for UDF/ISO hybrid formats (a.k.a. UDF Bridge format). Workaround: Burn all your CD/DVD-media in ISO 9660 format which is the largest is standard anyway, (though ISO9660 has a 2GB file-size limitation that there is no workaround for).
- The Xbox built-in harddrive is formated in FATX which has a 4GB file-size limitation, and only supports file/folder-names up to 42 characters, a maximum of 255 in total file-structure character-deept and a maximum number of 4096 files/folders in a single subfolder, plus in the root of each partition the maximum number of files/folders is 256. FATX does not either support all ACSII characters in file/folder names (like for example < > = ? : ; " * + , / \ | ¤ &). XBMC will automaticly rename any files/folders you transfer to the Xbox by these limitations. (None of these are XBMC issues that can be fixed as the limitation is in the Xbox itself). Workaround: Store your files/folders on your computer or a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device/box and share them over a local-area-network instead.
- With its 733Mhz Intel Pentium III and 64MB shared memory, the Xbox game-console does not have enough hardware-resources (not fast enough CPU nor large enough RAM-memory) to play 720p/1080i resolution-native HDTV video (at 1280x720 and 1920x1080 pixels), (like 720p/1080i WMV HD or MPEG-2). Workaround: XBMC can however upconvert all 480p/576p standard-resolution movies and output them to 720p or 1080i HDTV resolutions in better quality than most (if not all) HDTV's native function to upconvert video.
- Again with its 733Mhz Intel Pentium III and 64MB shared memory, the Xbox does not have enough hardware-resources (not fast enough CPU nor large enough RAM-memory) to play MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) encododed videos with Cabac and Deblocking if the video-resolution is higher than 352x288 pixels. Workaround: If you encode your MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) videos without Cabac and Deblocking then the Xbox hardware can handle up to 480x576 pixels video-resolution. Though best is to encode your videos to MPEG-4 ASP (like DivX or XviD) instead, then the videos native-resolution can be up to 960x540 pixels (a.k.a. HRHD resolution). MPEG-4 ASP at 1280x720p(544 resolution lines at 2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio) can be played back if Plugh's "xvidvfw.dll" was used when encoding.