openHAB 5 startup problem

Setup, Configuration and Use Beginners
1

Since openHAB 5, I have repeatedly encountered the issue that when I reboot my system (Proxmox LXC, regardless of whether everything or just the openHAB container) or stop (systemctl stop openhab.service) and start (systemctl start openhab.serviceD) in the shell, I have to do this multiple times until the system eventually boots up completely.

I do not see anything in the logs. I also don’t see any difference between the logs when it runs through and when it doesn’t. The log always has the same entries when the system doesn’t start up.

Once openHAB has run through completely, everything is fine and I have no further problems.

Where can I look to find out what the problem is?

Log if Not okay

2026-02-15 16:02:25.721 [INFO ] [org.openhab.core.Activator          ] - Starting openHAB 5.1.2 (Release Build)
2026-02-15 16:02:26.466 [INFO ] [.core.internal.i18n.I18nProviderImpl] - Time zone set to ‘Europe/Berlin’.
2026-02-15 16:02:26.482 [INFO ] [.core.internal.i18n.I18nProviderImpl] - Locale set to ‘de_DE’.
2026-02-15 16:02:33.894 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘modbus_sungrow.items’
2026-02-15 16:02:34.429 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘weatherForecast.items’
2026-02-15 16:02:34.509 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘pihole.items’
2026-02-15 16:02:34.594 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘heatingControl.items’
2026-02-15 16:02:34.842 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘rollershutterControl.items’
2026-02-15 16:02:34.899 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘profile.items’
2026-02-15 16:02:35.419 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘stromampel.items’
2026-02-15 16:02:35.440 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘modbus_sungrow.things’
2026-02-15 16:02:40.267 [INFO ] [.core.model.lsp.internal.ModelServer] - Started Language Server Protocol (LSP) service on port 5007
2026-02-15 16:02:49.377 [INFO ] [ernal.JRubyScriptEngineConfiguration] - Checking for updated gems ‘openhab-scripting=~>5.0’
2026-02-15 16:03:12.228 [WARN ] [rg.openhab.core.io.net.exec.ExecUtil] - Failed to execute commandLine ‘[arping, --help]’
2026-02-15 16:03:12.779 [INFO ] [nternal.manager.ShellyManagerServlet] - Shelly Manager gestartet und erreichbar unter http(s)://192.168.10.68:8080/shelly/manager
2026-02-15 16:03:12.978 [INFO ] [inding.snmp.internal.SnmpServiceImpl] - Initialized SNMP service at 0.0.0.0/0
2026-02-15 16:03:15.244 [INFO ] [rt.modbus.internal.ModbusManagerImpl] - Modbus manager activated
2026-02-15 16:03:15.490 [WARN ] [ore.common.registry.AbstractRegistry] - Cannot add “BridgeImpl” with key “modbus:tcp:172fe96c32”. It exists already from provider “ManagedThingProvider”! Failed to add a second with the same UID from provider “GenericThingProvider”!
2026-02-15 16:03:16.827 [INFO ] [io.openhabcloud.internal.CloudClient] - Connected to the openHAB Cloud service (UUID = 89…70, base URL = http://localhost:8080)
2026-02-15 16:03:24.109 [INFO ] [.matter.internal.bridge.MatterBridge] - Matter Bridge State: Starting
2026-02-15 16:03:24.114 [INFO ] [.matter.internal.bridge.MatterBridge] - No devices found to register with bridge, not starting bridge
2026-02-15 16:03:24.118 [INFO ] [.matter.internal.bridge.MatterBridge] - Matter Bridge State: Stopped : No items found with matter metadata

Log if okay



2026-02-15 16:07:54.064 [INFO ] [org.openhab.core.Activator          ] - Starting openHAB 5.1.2 (Release Build)
2026-02-15 16:07:54.695 [INFO ] [.core.internal.i18n.I18nProviderImpl] - Time zone set to ‘Europe/Berlin’.
2026-02-15 16:07:54.715 [INFO ] [.core.internal.i18n.I18nProviderImpl] - Locale set to ‘de_DE’.
2026-02-15 16:08:00.974 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘modbus_sungrow.items’
2026-02-15 16:08:01.388 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘weatherForecast.items’
2026-02-15 16:08:01.430 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘pihole.items’
2026-02-15 16:08:01.488 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘heatingControl.items’
2026-02-15 16:08:01.703 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘rollershutterControl.items’
2026-02-15 16:08:01.750 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘profile.items’
2026-02-15 16:08:02.152 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘stromampel.items’
2026-02-15 16:08:03.193 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading DSL model ‘modbus_sungrow.things’
2026-02-15 16:08:07.673 [INFO ] [.core.model.lsp.internal.ModelServer] - Started Language Server Protocol (LSP) service on port 5007
2026-02-15 16:08:16.644 [INFO ] [ernal.JRubyScriptEngineConfiguration] - Checking for updated gems ‘openhab-scripting=~>5.0’
2026-02-15 16:08:37.665 [WARN ] [rg.openhab.core.io.net.exec.ExecUtil] - Failed to execute commandLine ‘[arping, --help]’
2026-02-15 16:08:38.164 [INFO ] [nternal.manager.ShellyManagerServlet] - Shelly Manager gestartet und erreichbar unter http(s)://192.168.10.68:8080/shelly/manager
2026-02-15 16:08:38.279 [INFO ] [inding.snmp.internal.SnmpServiceImpl] - Initialized SNMP service at 0.0.0.0/0
2026-02-15 16:08:40.662 [INFO ] [rt.modbus.internal.ModbusManagerImpl] - Modbus manager activated
2026-02-15 16:08:40.928 [WARN ] [ore.common.registry.AbstractRegistry] - Cannot add “BridgeImpl” with key “modbus:tcp:172fe96c32”. It exists already from provider “ManagedThingProvider”! Failed to add a second with the same UID from provider “GenericThingProvider”!
2026-02-15 16:08:42.155 [INFO ] [io.openhabcloud.internal.CloudClient] - Connected to the openHAB Cloud service (UUID = 89…70, base URL = ``http://localhost:8080``)
2026-02-15 16:08:49.670 [INFO ] [.matter.internal.bridge.MatterBridge] - Matter Bridge State: Starting
2026-02-15 16:08:49.676 [INFO ] [.matter.internal.bridge.MatterBridge] - No devices found to register with bridge, not starting bridge
2026-02-15 16:08:49.681 [INFO ] [.matter.internal.bridge.MatterBridge] - Matter Bridge State: Stopped : No items found with matter metadata
2026-02-15 16:09:08.597 [INFO ] [ntsoe.internal.handler.EntsoeHandler] - Schedule cron with pattern 0 0 13 ? * * *
2026-02-15 16:09:10.691 [INFO ] [.transport.mqtt.MqttBrokerConnection] - Starting MQTT broker connection to ‘10.219.219.12’ with clientid 66968f5a-6c7d-4abe-99cf-bc25e580020c
2026-02-15 16:09:15.078 [INFO ] [ternal.dhcp.DHCPPacketListenerServer] - DHCP request packet listener online
2026-02-15 16:09:17.739 [INFO ] [o.internal.handler.AstroThingHandler] - Scheduled Positional job astro:sun:local every 300 seconds
2026-02-15 16:09:33.766 [INFO ] [omation.jsscripting.rule.rStartlevel] - System Start Level: 40 (Rules are loaded)
2026-02-15 16:09:33.840 [INFO ] [ion.jsscripting.rule.rInitialization] - Init Roller Shutter Contol time values
2026-02-15 16:09:33.922 [INFO ] [ion.jsscripting.rule.rInitialization] - nowMinusOneDay: 2026-02-14T16:09:33.857+01:00[Europe/Berlin]
2026-02-15 16:09:33.970 [INFO ] [ion.jsscripting.rule.rInitialization] - Init done
2

Change the log level for openhab.event.StartLevelEvent to INFO. This will add start level logs to be added to events.log.

What start level is it getting stuck on?

You are not clearing the cache at any time? You shouldn’t be and based on these logs I don’t think you are, but I want to make sure.

3

org.openhab.event.StartLevelEvent it is.
You could also set DEBUG on org.openhab and/or org.apache just to get an idea where it hangs.

4

Are you sure? The default log4j2.xml lists them without the org.

Did this change and the default log config not get updated?

I’m still seeing these logged under a logger without the “org.”

2026-02-18 12:10:11.717 [INFO ] [openhab.event.StartlevelEvent       ] - Startlevel '80' reached.                                                                                                          
2026-02-18 12:10:11.719 [INFO ] [openhab.event.StartlevelEvent       ] - Startlevel '100' reached.
5

No admittedly I’m not. Just thought you had a typo. @HolBaum5 try both of them.

6

I updated to 5.1.3 today, but the problem hasn’t occurred again.
If it happens again, I know what to do. Thank you.

7

When the problem appears and you type in the Karaf console (openhab-cli console with password habopen)

$ openhab-cli console

Logging in as openhab
Password:  

                           _   _     _     ____  
   ___   ___   ___   ___  | | | |   / \   | __ ) 
  / _ \ / _ \ / _ \ / _ \ | |_| |  / _ \  |  _ \ 
 | (_) | (_) |  __/| | | ||  _  | / ___ \ | |_) )
  \___/|  __/ \___/|_| |_||_| |_|/_/   \_\|____/ 
       |_|       5.1.3 - Release Build

Use '<tab>' for a list of available commands
and '[cmd] --help' for help on a specific command.
To exit, use '<ctrl-d>' or 'logout'.

openhab> bundle:list -t 0 |grep -v Active

do you see any bundles? I see only

openhab> bundle:list -t 0 |grep -v Active
START LEVEL 100 , List Threshold: 0
 ID │ State    │ Lvl │ Version  │ Name
────┼──────────┼─────┼──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  1 │ Resolved │   1 │ 4.4.8    │ Apache Karaf :: Features :: Extension, Hosts: 0
231 │ Resolved │  30 │ 8.0.33   │ OPS4J Pax Web - Servlet API 3.1 compatibility, Hosts: 55

but if in the problematic cases more bundles are listed, this could be the key.

8

Your logs do not include

10:57:46 [INFO ] [e.automation.internal.RuleEngineImpl] - Rule engine started.

even if the boot is successful. I described at When a JSR223 add-on cannot be initialized, `Rule engine started` is not logged · Issue #5399 · openhab/openhab-core · GitHub that exceptions thrown before Rule engine started. is logged, prevent the logging of both Rule engine started. and the exception itself.

9

I see this entry in the current log.

2026-02-24 09:15:30.079 [INFO ] [e.automation.internal.RuleEngineImpl] - Rule engine started.
2026-02-24 09:15:32.782 [INFO ] [omation.jsscripting.rule.rStartlevel] - System Start Level: 70 (UI is active)

I no longer have the old logs.

10

The question is if you see

[INFO ] [e.automation.internal.RuleEngineImpl] - Rule engine started.

when the system has not booted correctly and should be restarted.