Cannot stop phantom plex new transcoder, using 300% CPU

General Discussions
1

I already posted here yesterday, but I haven't been able to get any help. Hopefully my plex pass credentials can get some urgent help from a "ninja." PMS is completely unusable right now because of this bug. I don't know if this is connected to a recent computer and hard drive upgrade plus yosemite upgrade.

 

Plex New Transcoder is using 300-400% of my CPU all day long, unless I keep PMS completely quit. I already saw this support page, but those issues do not apply here - nobody is syncing and not media indexing. I did some digging and found PMS was putting hundreds of transcoded media files in ~/Library/Caches/PlexMediaServer/Transcode/Sync/. They're all tv shows that I added to the server like yesterday, and I don't know why plex is transcoding them non-stop.

 

See the first link for some lines from my Plex Media Server.log. If I tell Plex to "stop all transcoding sessions" from the Plex menu bar, it doesn't look like it does anything, but by monitoring ~/Library/Caches/PlexMediaServer/Transcode/Sync/, you can see it stops on one file, then immediately starts transcoding another. It NEVER ends. I left it going all night long last night, and there were like 140 different mp4s transcoded, many of them repeats of the same episode. Restarting PMS or my computer doesn't do anything. It just continues.

 

These must be phantom syncs - nobody is syncing - I know that. My users don't even really know how to do that, plus the items being transcoded are always new content that has been recently added in the past day or so (items my users don't even know are on there or even care about).

 

Please someone help. This bug is killing my computer and plex.

2

I suspect you've turned on "generate media indexes". Go to your servers settings, turn on advanced then go to the library section. The checkbox is at the bottom on my system. This process can take a long time, lots of cpu and a lot of disk space.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
3

No I haven't. That is not checked, like I already said.

I've been trying to troublshoot this by myself all day long, nothing worked. Just now, I began by process of elimination removing any show that it's trying to transcode - if I force quit, I can see the mp4 file and open it in vlc to see what it is, but it got so out of hand that I practically was removing half my content - and it's always TV shows for some strange reason - and yet it would still transcode some episode somewhere... it will not stop.

Attached is my log file, probably with some sensitive info, but I'm willing to do anything to end this weird bug. Please someone who knows about this stuff, take a look this log (an example of what's going on).

Update: deleted .log file

4

No I haven't. That is not checked, like I already said.

Just to be sure, as I have had, at times, had an unchecked option behave as if it were checked, try this:

===========================

Check the "generate indexes" box.

Save and exit out of the web interface.

Stop the Plex server.

It might be a good idea to reboot the computer here but it "should" not be needed.

Restart the Plex server.

Go into the web interface and un-check the generate indexes" box 

Save and exit the web interface and watch to see if the problem reappears.

============================

That may not help but it can't hurt.

5

Okay, I did all that step by step. But the problem is still here.

I don't know really know much about "generate indexes," but I don't think this even describes my problem. My log shows it's trying to transcode for syncing, and it is placing tons of mp4s in the temporary syncing folder on my computer. What does generate indexes have to do with that?

Either way, it was never checked, i tried enabling it, quitting, and disabling it, but this problem still persists. 

6

In addition to my log above, I just recorded a video so you can see what I'm seeing. I started the video mid-progress, but you get the hang of it. Unlimited transcodes, 300%+ CPU usage... if I force stop a transcoding session, it just stops it and starts a new one. Endlessly. If I just let it go (like I did last night) I wake up with like 130+ mp4s in that folder with it STILL going. And I think they're always just TV episodes that were recently added. Ive tried removing them, but it just finds some other ones to transcode. I do recall seeing one movie in there, but that was last night. Just tv episodes from my television library right now. In the video, I try to open them in VLC. Sometimes they can load so that I can see exactly what episode it is, sometimes they won't (usually when I stop them pretty early).

See the video here.

7

And you are positive nothing is syncing to a device (even by someone on your friends list?)

Post a screen print of your Activity > Sync page for each device listed on the left

8

Files being generated in that Sync folder means a sync session is going on.  Do you share your server with any one?  It could be one of them that hit sync on an entire show.

9

And you are positive nothing is syncing to a device (even by someone on your friends list?)

Post a screen print of your Activity > Sync page for each device listed on the left

Friends never sync, and I find it highly unlikely that they hit sync for all of these shows, even ones that were never on there until late last night (ones they didn't even know about and I told them the server would be down, so why would they even check). Is there a way to see in the log for who is requesting the sync? My activity page only shows my devices:

http://i.imgur.com/SiQ84PN.png

http://i.imgur.com/yUv0sAp.png

Really appreciate the help guys. Thanks.

Update: I'm trying to read through my .log posted above, and I don't really get all of it, but this portion is really bizarre. Is it saying 4 different devices have sync lists of thousands of files?

Jan 22, 2015 21:34:26 [0x10bd39000] DEBUG - Sync: mapped sync list 2821875 to profile iOS; platform=iOS, platformVersion=8.1.2, device=iPhone, model=7,2
Jan 22, 2015 21:34:26 [0x10bd39000] DEBUG - Sync: sync list 2821875 contains sync item(s) 4194051
Jan 22, 2015 21:34:26 [0x10bd39000] DEBUG - Sync: mapped sync list 3183496 to profile iPhone 5 (GSM); platform=iOS, platformVersion=7.1.1, device=iPad, model=4,4
Jan 22, 2015 21:34:26 [0x10bd39000] DEBUG - Sync: sync list 3183496 contains sync item(s) 3865936, 3866116, 3866127
Jan 22, 2015 21:34:26 [0x10bd39000] DEBUG - Sync: mapped sync list 2945175 to profile iOS; platform=iOS, platformVersion=8.1.2, device=iPhone, model=7,1
Jan 22, 2015 21:34:26 [0x10bd39000] DEBUG - Sync: sync list 2945175 contains sync item(s) 4417410
Jan 22, 2015 21:34:26 [0x10bd39000] DEBUG - Sync: mapped sync list 3184044 to profile iPhone 4S (GSM); platform=iOS, platformVersion=8.1.2, device=iPad, model=3,1
Jan 22, 2015 21:34:26 [0x10bd39000] DEBUG - Sync: sync list 3184044 contains sync item(s) 3823806, 4336942
Jan 22, 2015 21:34:26 [0x10bd39000] DEBUG - Sync: downloaded 4 sync lists, analyzing now...
Jan 22, 2015 21:34:26 [0x10bd39000] DEBUG - Sync: get container for path /library/sections/2/recentlyAdded
10

Looks like it is user 2821875 with the following device profile.

profile iOS; platform=iOS, platformVersion=8.1.2, device=iPhone, model=7,2

They created a smart filter for recently added and synced the entire library.  PMS keeps the last 100 entries so it is trying to sync all 100 episodes.

You need to look into your database to see who that user ID is tied to.

11

AHHHHHH. Smart find... How did you know it was a smart filter for recently added? And how do I look into my database and tie that user # to a username?

And what about the other users listed in that log: aren't they syncing as well, and what? Looks like 5 other people.

I actually just disabled sync for every user, and that solved it... But that's a temporary fix. Finding out each of these users and what they synced is my next step.

Thank you MovieFan.

12

These lines in your log.

Sync: evaluating pending work for sync item 4194051
Sync: get container for path /library/sections/2/recentlyAdded

I did not you could sync the RecentlyAdded list.  Had to go to my phone and try it to see.  I knew you could sync an entire library, which I have seen before too.

I do not know what is easier method on a Mac is, but I use the sqlite command line tool for windows.  They offer it for Mac too.  http://www.sqlite.org/cli.html

Run the program and type in the following

SELECT * FROM accounts;

This will list all your users.

13

Typing sqlite3 in Terminal on my mac got me into the program I think, but pasting that command didn't work. What am I missing?

mini-2014:Volumes austin$ sqlite3
SQLite version 3.8.5 2014-08-15 22:37:57
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
Connected to a transient in-memory database.
Use ".open FILENAME" to reopen on a persistent database.
sqlite> SELECT * FROM accounts;
Error: no such table: accounts
sqlite>

Maybe I need the name of the database to open it? Thanks for the hand-holding here... 

Update: figured it out. did sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Plug-in\ Support/Databases/com.plexapp.plugins.library.db then your command, and it worked! Thank you!!

14

Details.   :D

Glad you got it figured out.  Now you know who to go yell at.

15

Okay? 2821875 isn't even listed there? I'm really confused. (i'll redact the usernames on a public forum)

1|Administrator|||2010-11-12 00:07:53|2014-09-25 01:55:35|en|en|1|0
3249137|redactedusername|||2014-09-25 22:31:35|2014-09-25 22:31:35|en|en|0|0
3249279|redactedusername|||2014-09-25 23:11:29|2014-09-25 23:11:29|en|en|0|0
3259186|redactedusername|||2014-09-28 01:17:32|2014-09-28 01:17:32|en|en|0|0
3281434|redactedusername|||2014-11-25 01:28:50|2014-11-25 01:28:50|en|en|0|0
3318608|redactedusername|||2014-10-09 16:18:15|2014-10-09 16:18:15|en|en|0|0
3436674|redactedusername|||2014-10-31 13:46:54|2014-10-31 13:46:54|en|en|0|0
3509723|redactedusername|||2014-11-10 01:13:33|2014-11-10 01:13:33|en|en|0|0
3511306|redactedusername|||2014-11-25 12:44:09|2014-11-25 12:44:09|en|en|0|0
3569576|redactedusername|||2014-11-21 19:32:46|2014-11-21 19:32:46|en|en|0|0
3578614|redactedusername|||2014-11-22 14:07:28|2014-11-22 14:07:28|en|en|0|0
3643631|redactedusername|||2014-11-29 22:26:18|2014-11-29 22:26:18|en|en|0|0
3753888|redactedusername|||2014-12-15 19:18:05|2014-12-15 19:18:05|en|en|0|0
3807622|redactedusername|||2014-12-21 15:36:17|2014-12-21 15:36:17|en|en|0|0
3807730|redactedusername|||2014-12-21 15:46:44|2014-12-21 15:46:44|en|en|0|0
 
In fact, the only other folder in my Sync folder was 3183496 and they're not listed in this list either? 
 
But I notice I'm not listed in this list... could I be 3183496 or 2821875? The 318 one seems plausible, since it looks like these numbers go according to when someone signs up for plex. e.g. maybe is 2821875 is the 2.8 millionth user? I'm really confused right now.
 
Then again, I disabled sync for every one of my users to solve this problem. (Which it did I can see) But if 2821875 was the culprit, and 2821875 is not in my user list, then how did disabling sync for all these other users solve the problem?
16

I guess I was reading the log wrong.  I thought that was the user ID but it appears it is just some identifier for what is being synced.  Let me see what I can find out.  Sorry for the bad info.

17

Ok try this.  Log into plex.tv.  Once logged in go to this address.  https://plex.tv/devices.xml

That will list the devices that have connected to your server.  See if you can match the device profile to the one from the log.

profile iOS; platform=iOS, platformVersion=8.1.2, device=iPhone, model=7,2

That xml might also provide some information on the synced status.  Since you turned off syncing I am not sure what happens to that list, but if it is there, it should indicate how much data has been synced.  That device might have a large amount of data synced so look for a big number.

It should also list the last public ip address for that device.  Try entering that ip into this website http://www.iplocation.net/ andsee if it can identify the city, then maybe you can identify the friend.

18

The only issue is that https://plex.tv/devices.xml seems to only list MY devices, not any of my friends' devices. Much like http://plex.tv/web/app#!/settings/devices only displays MY devices. It's only information about me. E.g. model=7,2 is not found anywhere in that xml.

19

The only issue is that https://plex.tv/devices.xml seems to only list MY devices, not any of my friends' devices. Much like http://plex.tv/web/app#!/settings/devices only displays MY devices. It's only information about me. E.g. model=7,2 is not found anywhere in that xml.

Step 1: Go here: https://plex.tv/pms/servers.xml. Look for the machineIdentifier for your server.

Step 2: Go to: https://plex.tv/servers/machineIdentifier/sync_listsand put your machineIdentifier in there.

You will see an XML list of all synced items from that server.

Or you can use my latest dev build of PlexWatchWeb, which presents it all in a nice table layout: https://forums.plex.tv/topic/82819-plexwatchweb-a-web-front-end-for-plexwatch/page-58#entry831035

20

The easiest way i found to identify who is syncing a specific synclist is to enable logging of tokens and then see which token is being authenticated and then look at the token lists and usernames