Crash when trying to launch OpenRGB

General Help
1

Hello,
I'm trying to get openRGB working but I can't and I need help.

First, I tried instaling it on Flatpak and manually installing the udev rules.
But like many others it didn't work.

So I asked ChatGPT and he advised me to dowload a package on the official website.
He advised me to take the AppImage file.
Then I followed his instructions on the terminal:

chmod +x OpenRGB*.AppImage

Then I executed the scipt for the udev rules.

Then:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

sudo usermod -aG i2c $USER
sudo usermod -aG plugdev $USER

Here I had to reboot

sudo modprobe i2c-dev

echo "i2c-dev" | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/i2c.conf

After that I double clicked on the icon of the AppImage file and my PC freezes during one minutes or two before showing me this:

IMG_20260201_223448
IMG_20260201_2234481920×1440 79.6 KB

(Hope the screen works)

So I cut my PC and restart.

This time I found on this forum someone running to the same problem of me.
He downloaded a .deb file from the official site, so I did the same.
I double clicked on the file, Zorin ask me if I can trust, I install the thing and click open and... Freeze again.

This time no black screen, just freezing during at least the time I'm writing this message.

Did I accidentaly broke something?
What can I do for avoiding this problem in the future?
And most of all: how do I make this bloody RGB thing working?
I'm desperate...
(I'm on liquorix kernel btw)

Sorry for bad english.

2

Did you UnDo these steps?

3

No I didn't.

Sorry to bother, can I ask how I can undo these steps?

4

sudo gpasswd -d $USER i2c

sudo gpasswd -d $USER plugdev

sudo rm /etc/modules-load.d/i2c.conf

If you need to revert the module:

sudo modprobe -r i2c-dev

5

Thank you!

I can now open the application.
Problem is: it tells me that it need the i2c-dev module to work properly, but when I load it the application make my PC crash...

I didn't found any solution yet.

6

Let's ignore what it is telling you for now...
When you launch OpenRGB and it successfully loads - do Not Scan your hardware.
Instead, let it rely on its fallback state.
Then test if you can control all of your lighting - change light color or pulse or turn off...
If you can, you are fine with the generic fallback on OpenRGB.

7

I tried but I can only disable RGB on my ventilation.
My GPU and RAM RGB aren't visible on OpenRGB.
I tried to see if there is an option on the BIOS but there is none.

So there is progress but still a spot of light in the dark that I really want to get rid off...

The source of the problem is the i2c-dev module.
Isn't there is a way to make it work?
With it I could scan all my devices and turn it off.

8

I would try loading it again, then try launching the appimage using the terminal and see what it displays.
It looks more like an AMD firmware bug than an i2c bug.

9

The ONLY way I got OpenRGB to work properly (read the udev rules, put the icon in the taskbar) was t completely remove all previous versions (Flat, Appimage etc) and grab the .deb package and install that. Now it works perfectly.

scroll down to Linux and grab whichever architecture you have (AMD or Intel)

Screenshot from 2026-02-04 17-29-25
Screenshot from 2026-02-04 17-29-25960×233 25.9 KB

10

Oh, I use the .deb. I shun appimages for a variety of reasons.

11

I tried to launch OpenRGB with the AppImage and the Debian Bookworm.deb version, I have the same problem on both.

When I add i2c-dev and launch OpenRGB my PC crash.

The application works properly when I launch from the terminal with the --nodetect option. Wich make me thing that it's not an application problem.
I checked in the "supported devices" parameters and I can see my RAM and my GPU so the recent hardware doesn't seems to be the cause.

The crash happen precisely when the application is trying to scan my hardware.

I have thought of 2 solutions:

When I launch the command

i2cdetect -l

I can see all adapter (from i2c-0 to i2c-17).
Perhaps there is a way to scan each files individually to see wich one is crashing, then asking OpenRGB to not scan this one?

Maybe it's a kernel problem?
Do you think it could resolve the problem if I go back from my liquorix kernel to the "basic" Zorin kernel?

What do you think?

12

I am not sure. If the .deb package is working but the AppImage does not, that implies pretty strongly that the AppImage is at fault, not the Kernel or i2c package.

13

no, I have the same problem on both AppImage and the .deb version.

Both are working if I force them to load whitout scanning with the --nodetect command.
But both are crashing when scanning my hardware whith the i2c-dev added.

14

Oh, I see what happened - I failed to notice who posted what:

Have you tried using the --log flag to note exactly where it fails during scanning?

15

Ok I tried using the --loglevel option and here what it saved before the freeze:

qt.qpa.plugin: Could not find the Qt platform plugin "wayland" in ""
Connection attempt failed
[i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
[i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
[i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
[i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
[i2c_smbus_linux] Failed to read i2c device PCI device ID
The X11 connection broke (error 1). Did the X11 server die?

16

Are you logging in on Wayland or Xorg (X11)?

17

When I write

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

It tells me Wayland

18

You can try to switch to Xorg. Logout and at login click on your username then a cog wheal appears at the bottom right corner. Click there and select the other option (Zorin Desktop on Xorg).