Changed Wifi, now can't see localhost:32400

Plex Media Server
1

So I had an old macbook air and decided to use that as my plex media server with an external harddrive. I installed linux mint XFCE on it last night and had it all set up, but couldn’t get remote access working through my network. So I attached it directly to my modem. But now I can’t access plex media server at all on the localhost. I’ve tried stopping and starting it from terminal, but nothing.
On the terminal, when I enter systemctl status plexmediaserver.service, I see two failed messages.

…
Active: failed (Result: exit-code)
…
system[d]: Failed to start plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server

Not sure what to try next. I can’t seeem to find any posts about this here or on the mint forums. I’d love any helpful advice. Thanks!

2

You hooked it up directly to your modem? I’m assuming the problem is that you couldn’t get internet on this device that’s why you hooked it up to your modem? Is your modem just a modem or a modem/router?

Anyway the internet is not really your main problem so we can just ignore that. You installed Plex on an external drive? is the drive still mounted? Can you write to it? Can Plex write to it?

3

The problem was that when I tried to set up Remote Access, plex said it couldn’t do it because it had to go through a couple devices. So I figured I’d connect it to my modem/router to see if it would work with more direct access.

The full story: I did a clean install of linux mint XFCE, then plex media server on this old MacBook Air. I then plugged an external hard drive into it with all of my media on it. I pointed plex to the drive for my library, and initially had permissions issues. But I gave plex r/w permission to the drive and all subfolders, and that did the trick. But then I couldn’t get Remote Access going.

I deleted the wifi connection it had, turned on wifi on the router/modem, then connected to that. Since then, it’s just been “Not Found” when I point my browser on the MacBook Air running linux mint to localhost:32400.

The drive is still mounted, and I can r/w to it. Plex WAS able to r/w to it, but now I can’t access plex at all on the machine, so don’t know if anything has changed there.

Appreciate the questions, and any suggestions you might have!

4

I am going to add here:

  1. Linux Mint is not supported.
  2. We have found, time and time again, it’s not sufficiently stable enough for PMS.
  3. It’s a Ubuntu-derivative that has just enough changed to make it unviable.

I spent countless hours with many folks, only to find out that they were running Mint.

Therefore, I’m advising now, CHANGE to Ubuntu or Debian now with XFCE and be done with it.

5

I did actually try Debian before Mint. It crashed on the MacBook Air… I’ll give Ubuntu a run, but I’ve had problems with it as well on old Macs in the past.

6

You’ew usinf old Macs for this?

7

Yes. As I mentioned, I am using an old MacBook Air. I have now tried to put Ubuntu on it, and I have been unable to get the Wi-Fi card to work on it. I’ll try a couple more things, but at this point I’m anticipating having to go back to Mint.

8

When you’re running a PMS server, the best connection to use is the ethernet connector. With WiFi, you only get 1/2 the available bandwidth (how wifi works). With ethernet cables, you get the full bandwidth (it’s full duplex which allows the player to respond while the server is streaming to it)

Best of luck to you.
I’ve never seen old, repurposed, hardware work out well.