Xibo isn't responding / Stuck on home launcher selection after updating

Get Help Xibo Player for Android
1

After putting a new Android version in the CMS, some of the DSCS9X players display one of the following problems right after the update, or at random some time later. I’ve had this issue with upgrading to R406, R407, R408, and now R409.

  1. Xibo isn’t responding
    image
    image639×138 31.8 KB
  2. Stuck on home launcher selector (usually resolves after a minute, but not all the time)
    image
    image706×381 36 KB

Is there a solution that can automatically detect if the player is in such a state, and resolve it automatically without having to use TeamViewer, SSHelper, or any other remote software?

My own thought is to create a script that would run on the device itself, once it detects one of the two scenarios, it would simply stop the Xibo app and start it again. If someone had already made something like this, I’d love to hear about it!

2

I’ve created a potential solution, but I haven’t been able to fully test it yet.

  • The “Xibo is not responding” pop‑up couldn’t be reproduced during testing. To test the script, the search function in the settings app was used instead, which eventually triggers a crash pop‑up for the Settings app.
  • For the home launcher, I simulated the behavior by long‑pressing the home button, (closing Xibo), and switching to different apps.

The script I’ve written is as follows:

#!/system/bin/sh

# Startup delay
# Sleep 600

PACKAGE="uk.org.xibo.client"
ACTIVITY="uk.org.xibo.player.Player"
COMPONENT="$PACKAGE/$ACTIVITY"

while true; do
    echo "Monitor loop running"

    # Detect crash in system window manager
    if dumpsys window windows | grep -Ei "Error"; then
        echo "Crash detected — rebooting"
        reboot
    fi

    # Check if Xibo process is running
    if ! pgrep -f "$PACKAGE" >/dev/null; then
        echo "Xibo not running — starting"
        am start -n "$COMPONENT"
    else
        echo "Xibo running - bringing to foreground"
        am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN \
                 -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER \
                 -n "$COMPONENT"
    fi

    sleep 300
done

As of now I haven’t yet found a way to run this script at boot, and if I do, I want the solution to be something that can be set up using commands sent directly from the CMS.

4

I finally figured it out, there’s a way to push the solution straight from the Xibo CMS and have the script run right when the device starts up!

Important

My solution has only been tested on exclusively the DSDevices DSCS9X. This player runs on Android 9 with the firmware provided by DSDevices. This solution may or may not work on other devices or Android versions.

Create the required files on your machine

Use your own device and any code editor of choice; Visual Studio Code was used in this instance. Then proceed to create the following two files.

As Xibo does not accept all file types, we will be temporary working with a .html file.

XiboHelperRC.html

service xibohelper /system/bin/sh /system/bin/xibohelper.sh
    class late_start
    user root
    group root
    oneshot
    seclabel u:r:su:s0

XiboHelperSH.html

#!/system/bin/sh

PACKAGE="uk.org.xibo.client"
ACTIVITY="uk.org.xibo.player.Player"
COMPONENT="$PACKAGE/$ACTIVITY"

while true; do
    echo "Monitor loop running"
    # Detect crash in system window manager
    if dumpsys window windows | grep -Ei "Error"; then
        echo "Crash detected — rebooting"
        reboot
    fi
    # Check if Xibo process is running
    if ! pgrep -f "$PACKAGE" >/dev/null; then
        echo "Xibo not running — starting"
        am start -n "$COMPONENT"
    else
        echo "Xibo running - bringing to foreground"
        am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN \
                 -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER \
                 -n "$COMPONENT"
    fi
    sleep 300
done

Upload the files to the CMS

Upload both files to your CMS, and note down the ID given to them.

  1. Head to the Media page
  2. Top right select Add Media
  3. Click on Add files
  4. Select both XiboHelperSH.html and XiboHelperRC.html
  5. Click on Start upload
  6. Note down the ID’s

Assign the files to each display

If you have a lot of displays, there’s no bulk action. You’ll have to do it display by display.

  1. Click on the [v] at the right of the display, select Assign Files
  2. Search for XiboHelper
  3. Click on the + icon for both XiboHelperRC.html and XiboHelperSH.html

Wait for these files to be downloaded on the displays.

Create the command

You will only need to replace ID_SH and ID_RC to the ID of the correct file.

su -c "mount -o remount,rw / && cp /data/data/uk.org.xibo.client/files/ID_SH.html /system/bin/xibohelper.sh && cp /data/data/uk.org.xibo.client/files/ID_RC.html /system/etc/init/xibohelper.rc && sed -i 's/\r//' /system/bin/xibohelper.sh && sed -i 's/\r//' /system/etc/init/xibohelper.rc && chmod 755 /system/bin/xibohelper.sh && chown root:root /system/bin/xibohelper.sh && chmod 644 /system/etc/init/xibohelper.rc && chown root:root /system/etc/init/xibohelper.rc && mount -o remount,ro /"
  1. Head to the Commands page
  2. Click on >_Add Command
  3. Give it a name, such as Install Xibo Helper
  4. Code is XiboHelper
  5. Command type should be Free text
  6. Paste in the code from the box above with the IDs added

Execute the command

There are multiple ways to execute the command.

For the commands to execute on the displays page, XMR must be working!
Otherwise use the calendar to schedule the command.

A: Displays page

  1. Open the Displays page
  2. Click on the [v] at the right of the display, select Send Command
  3. Search for Install Xibo Helper and select it
  4. Hit Save

B: Calendar

  1. Open the Schedule page
  2. On the top right, click +Add Event
  3. Set the type to Command
  4. Search for Install Xibo Helper and select it
  5. Click Next
  6. Select the desired displays
  7. Click Next
  8. Set the start time around 5 minutes in the future
  9. Click Finish

Conclusion

That’s it. With these steps you have now configured your device to resolve the following:

  • When the script detects any crash, it will give the system a reboot.
  • The script will ensure Xibo is always on the foreground.

This script will run once every 5 minutes.

5

One thing I forgot to mention is that the device needs to be rebooted after running the command. The script only starts when the device boots up.

Unfortunately, I don’t have permission to edit my post above. So there is a chance people may miss this crucial step.