I’ve been using plex server for a number of years and recently (a few weeks ago) I started getting an “Unable to access content server” error when trying to watch through my Samsung Smart TV app, PC web app or android app. I’m also getting reports from family that I share my server with, that they are getting the same error.
When I get the error I log onto my server machine and confirm I can access the remote drive that contains the media without issue. I then close the plex server but notice that Plex Media Server.exe process is still running. I kill the process manually and then restart the server. Once I’ve done that I can access the content via Plex apps no problem.
This is a re-occuring problem and usually requires me to perform my above work around every night, which is super annoying. I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Plex server but that has not stopped this from happening. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what might be the problem?
i’m currently running v1.9.7.4460 on a Windows 7 64 bit machine.
What do you mean by “remote drives”? Is your PMS accessing files outside of your local network?
By “remote drives” I mean a mapped drive to a Network hard drive. Within the local network.
Is the network drive another computer, a NAS, a usb-attached drive on a router, etc? It’s possible that your Windows host machine lost the connection to these drives. When you check on the machine itself, it wakes them up so it would appear everything is fine. Have you tried using Plex after checking on the computer but without restarting PMS?
It’s a WD MyBookLive network drive. I don’t believe it’s a drive connection issue as when I check on the Plex server machine, the first thing I do is try and connect to the mapped drive and it connects without issue. If i try to run content on Plex after that, I still get the “Unable to Access Content Server” error. The only thing that seems to resolve it is if I close the Plex Server and restart. Although, closing the server does not actually close it. The system tray icon disappears but it is still running as a process. If I try to start up the Server again, it won’t start. I first have to kill the Plex Media Server.exe manually and then restart the server. Then Plex works as expected (until it happens all over again)
Ok. That sounds more like PMS is crashing. Next time this happens, before restarting PMS, manually get the PMS logs. Then restart PMS, wait 3 minutes, and get the logs again, manually or through Plex Web is fine. Upload both sets of logs here for me to review.
Thanks. Which log file(s) do you want me to upload?
It’s easier if you just zip the entire log folder and send that.
Here are the logs from before restarting when Plex server stops working and After.
what is going on with plex ?, last night worked fine and this morning plex is not available “Plex is not reachable”
MovieFan.Plex, have you had a chance to look at the logs I uploaded? Any thoughts on possible cause?
I can’t find anything in your logs to indicate why your clients can’t reach your server. The only thing I can think is an issue with your router. I see you have the Plex DLNA server enabled. I’ve seen this cause issues with some routers when a bad DLNA client starts spamming the router causing it to stop responding to some commands. I would first turn that off.
I also see you are using UPnP for your port forwarding. I know it’s not a remote access issue, but I’ve also seen UPnP fail and cause local network issues. i would suggest switching to a fixed port forward.
Ok, thanks for the suggestions. I will give those a try and let you know.
