.zim files not showing up in app

[JeffyJoBob]

I am using a raspberry pi 5 with raspberry pi OS and KDE Plasma desktop, all the latest versions. I use the sudo apt install kiwix command to install it and download .zim files from the website and it seems to be somewhat functioning but nothing shows up in the kiwix app display panel. I can see tabs pop up when I click on the actual .zim files but the display panel below the tabs is totally blank including Title, size, date, etc. filter tabs that appear in this window. Has anyone had this problem or found a solution to it? Thanks.

[kelson42]

@JeffyJoBob This is the first time I hear about such a bug. What is your version of Kiwix (kiwix-desktop --version)?

[JeffyJoBob]

Version 2.3.1 I might add that I have a NVME hat on my raspberry pi and that I am booting from and have Kiwix installed on that drive. Not sure if that would make any difference or not.

[kelson42]

@JeffyJoBob Might that be that some of the filters is not set properly?

[JeffyJoBob]

If I put Ubuntu on the same hardware setup instead of the raspberry pi os / KDE Plasma it works fine.

[kelson42]

@JeffyJoBob If this is the same version of the software, then there seems to be something wrong with the packaging

[Obscure-river]

Hello, i am having the same problem but on the mobile app for android devices, i downloaded the cheatography.com_en_all_2024-06.zim file from the kiwix library on my computer and copied it in to my phone external storage (exfat) in the org.kiwix.kiwixmobile file, i opened it in the app and it loaded in the reader but it was blank, it also didn't show any articles when i tried to find some in the search bar and when i tried to get to a random article the app just crashed.

[Obscure-river]

As per my last comment it looks like it was just a faulty sd card in my case.

[kelson42]

Closing then.

[JeffyJoBob]

My original problem is still here. Nothing has been solved. I I have run this on different SD cards and tried a lot of configurations but I still have the same exact problem

[JeffyJoBob]

[kelson42]

@JeffyJoBob Have you tried with an other content, maybe a small ZIM file from wikipedia?

[JeffyJoBob]

Yes I have tried the smallest .zim I could find because I have tried to get this to work so many ways. I quit trying to do it on a nvme and have tried multiple brands of micro SD card with the OS on it. I switched to just raspberry pi os 64, fresh images that have not been modified in anyway. I’ve unplugged everything from the pi except the essentials, power, HDMI, ethernet, mouse and keyboard. as I said earlier it is a raspberry pi 5 and is brand new. I have moved the .zim files around to different folders, I have tried the folders listed in the settings. I have done just about everything I can think of. I’ve even made OS images on different computers and on the pi. I’m running out of things I know to try. I am no computer guru. Had no problem with it on Ubuntu.

[kelson42]

Honestly, I have no clue what is going on there, but pretty sure this is fixed in dev version. So probably better to just wait next release 2.4.0.

[JeffyJoBob]

Yeah I was starting to think the same thing. Thanks for your help.

[JeffyJoBob]

But I have to wonder why no one else is reporting this problem. 🤔🤔🤔

[kelson42]

But I have to wonder why no one else is reporting this problem. 🤔🤔🤔

I guess no one else uses this with pios OR there something special about your setup.

[BridgetteMurray]

I actually have the same problem with kiwix on my Pi5 as well, I have an external ssd and when I try and open a zim file it looks like its starting to load and then just stops and the same blank screen as you have, did you find a solution ?, all my pios has been updated and the pi restarted as running the ssd on usb3, hope you can help, thanks

[w1ld0n3]

I also have the same problem on Pi5, all running on Pi micro sd card. When I try and open a zim file it looks like its starting to load and then just stops and the same blank screen as you have

[pranaysy]

I have the same problem as well, I am unable to view any zim file and the kiwix interface is just blank. This is kiwix-desktop 2.3.0 running on an update 64-bit Raspbian OS on Raspberry Pi 5. I also tried running the flatpak which is on 2.3.1, and ran into same issue.

If I open a zim file and start typing text in the search box then I do get auto-complete suggestions, but I can't open anything and the interface remains blank.

---

EDIT:
I decided to run kiwix-desktop from the command line in case it dumps anything on stderr, and I caught this:

FATAL:page_allocator_internals_posix.h(169)] Check failed: . : Invalid argument (22)

From my brief survey on the internet, it seems this issue is due to the combination of Qt5 and Raspbian. More specifically, Raspbian uses 16KB page sizes which is not compatible with Qt.

Key references:

1. RPI5 with Qt5 Webengine Webview Failure agherzan/meta-raspberrypi#1364
2. Pi5 16K PageSize Kernel Incompatible Software raspberrypi/bookworm-feedback#107

A suggested fix is to set kernel=kernel8.img in config.txt on the Raspbian SD card. I am yet to try this and will update once I do.

[pranaysy]

Quick followup:

A suggested fix is to set kernel=kernel8.img in config.txt on the Raspbian SD card. I am yet to try this and will update once I do.

This change worked! The issue was likely indeed with the page size incompatibility due to the newer RPi5 kernel. After setting the flag like above, I tried both the flatpak and the deb install (via apt) and I was able to run kiwix-desktop just like it was designed to :)

Keen to see if this works for @JeffyJoBob @w1ld0n3 and @BridgetteMurray

[w1ld0n3]

Quick followup:

A suggested fix is to set kernel=kernel8.img in config.txt on the Raspbian SD card. I am yet to try this and will update once I do.

This change worked! The issue was likely indeed with the page size incompatibility due to the newer RPi5 kernel. After setting the flag like above, I tried both the flatpak and the deb install (via apt) and I was able to run kiwix-desktop just like it was designed to :)

Keen to see if this works for @JeffyJoBob @w1ld0n3 and @BridgetteMurray

Thank you @pranaysy this change fixed the problem!

[kelson42]

@pranaysy Thx a lot!

[Webserv]

I didn’t report the problem because I thought that’s the way it worked. I use a browser to access the zim files by running the local kiwix web server option. I normally don’t use Kiwix on the raspberry pie, I use it on all my devices through a browser. So it never seemed like a problem.

[kelson42]

I will close the issue because the problem is outside Kiwix and therefore there is nothing more we can do here. Thank you very much to @pranaysy for explaining the issue and proposing a fix.