Hi everyone, I have just gone over from a forever windows user to a brand new Mac. I have tried to install Plex so many times without success Im completely lost. I have read countless guides and toiled through these forums. Either Im completely stupid ( a real possibility ) or Im missing something.
No matter what I do Im stuck with the “looking for servers” text. I have tried deleting Plex as per various instructions and starting over but when I do, I never get the startup wizard screen. Im in a loop where I can’t seem to get past a fresh install, no setup wizard and back to looking for servers. What am I doing wrong ???
let’s start with what exactly you’ve already done as for setup and what you do to get to that dead end?
I have a brand new 27” 5k retina Mac running High Sierra os. I have a wireless sky router and a fast fibre 40mb internet connection. I went to Plex.tv and downloaded a 205mb file and added it to my applications folder. When I clicked this I got the Plex symbol in the top right corner. The very first time I clicked this I got a setup wizard. I setup my account, I subscribed to Plex Pass and was able to view my media files locally on my Mac. I then tried to stream to my PS4. I could see the server and browse my files but when I tried to view a film a got an error. I couldn’t resolve this so I started over. Deleted the Plex media files using Finder and reinstalled Plex. It’s from this point I have problems. Now when I do a clean install of Plex I no longer get the setup wizard. When I login it’s goes straight to “looking for servers”. I can’t add library’s or view locally stored files however I can link it to my cloud service. I’m stuck !
check out this support document which shows what files to delete from your Mac to completely uninstall Plex. It appears something about those files is causing the server to look for elements no longer available. By deleting them, you should be able to get this going again.
Before you re-install (next time), try to ask for support on how to resolve the error message. Your Mac should be able to serve the media just fine (even where transcoding is required if the PS4 might not support some elements/streams). WiFi can be tricky even with “regular” HD movies… the supposed and actual bandwidth can deviate significantly based on a lot of factors (distance between router/client, physical elements getting in the way…), sometimes resulting in bandwidth too low to smoothly play your media.
Playback experience w/ Plex could also be impacted by the type of media (container, codec for video/audio/subtitle, bitrates…).
Edit: forgot to include the link to the support document
Hi Tom,
Thats the exact guide I have previously followed to delete Plex. I have also tried registering a different account after a fresh install. Something somewhere is tying in my previous settings. Im stumped. I can’t understand how most people seem to have an almost click N play install yet Im stuck at the most basic of steps. I must admit I have never come across any piece of software before that is so stubborn when you need to start over fresh !
