diff --git a/src/system/audio.py b/src/system/audio.py
index 65fe328..d91d567 100644
--- a/src/system/audio.py
+++ b/src/system/audio.py
@@ -882,7 +882,24 @@ class JackAudioClient:
             self._client = jack.Client(self._client_name)
         except jack.JackOpenError as exc:
             logger.error("Cannot open JACK client: %s", exc)
-            return
+            # Stale SHM from a previous client instance can cause
+            # server_error (0x21). Clean and retry once.
+            if "server_error" in str(exc) or "0x21" in str(exc):
+                try:
+                    from pathlib import Path
+                    import shutil
+                    for p in Path("/dev/shm").glob("jack*"):
+                        if p.is_dir():
+                            shutil.rmtree(p, ignore_errors=True)
+                        else:
+                            p.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+                    logger.info("Cleaned stale JACK SHM, retrying client creation...")
+                    self._client = jack.Client(self._client_name)
+                except Exception as retry_exc:
+                    logger.error("JACK client retry also failed: %s", retry_exc)
+                    return
+            else:
+                return
 
         # Register capture ports
         self._inports.clear()
diff --git a/src/web/server.py b/src/web/server.py
index b0a6e6e..a43115f 100644
--- a/src/web/server.py
+++ b/src/web/server.py
@@ -1748,6 +1748,20 @@ class WebServer:
                     target_profile["rate"],
                 )
 
+            # Clean stale client SHM before creating new JACK client.
+            # The old process's jack.Client __del__ can recreate the
+            # pi-multifx semaphore after stop_jack() cleaned it.
+            try:
+                from pathlib import Path
+                import shutil
+                for p in Path("/dev/shm").glob("jack*"):
+                    if p.is_dir():
+                        shutil.rmtree(p, ignore_errors=True)
+                    else:
+                        p.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+
             # Restart JACK audio client
             if jack_client:
                 try: