Conversion failed. The transcoder crashed or failed to start up.

Hi,

Since recent Plex updates from the August onward I’ve been receiving transcoder failed errors on all devices sporadically with any video type. I’ve tried using older Plex versions but now this error appears even for older versions from as far back as spring 2017 releases.

I’m currently still receiving the error even with latest Plex Pass version, 1.9.5.4339. I’m running Windows 10 x64. Can anyone explain what the error code “00000EE4” means and how to prevent these crashes from occurring? I’ve tried uninstalling/reinstalling and yesterday I even tried deleting all libraries and re-adding them. Most errors occur with .MKV files (usually no subtitles).

Oct 16, 2017 11:44:03.698 [6200] VERBOSE - JobManager: child process with handle 00000EE4 exited
Oct 16, 2017 11:44:03.698 [6200] DEBUG - Jobs: ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\PlexTranscoder.exe’ exit code for process 6352 is 1
Oct 16, 2017 11:44:03.698 [6200] DEBUG - Jobs: ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\PlexTranscoder.exe’ exit code for process 6352 is 1
Oct 16, 2017 11:44:03.698 [6200] DEBUG - Jobs: ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\PlexTranscoder.exe’ exit code for process 6352 is 1
Oct 16, 2017 11:44:03.698 [6200] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Terminated session 05755D70:xk38a5rpf89mag36b7d8goot with reason Conversion failed. The transcoder crashed or failed to start up.

Thanks

Having the same issue on my Lubuntu VM running as a dedicated Plex Pass Server 1.9.5.4339.

Most items are just auto-failing when I click play. Extremely aggravating since it was literally working all day and suddenly crashed without warning.

To resolve the Transcoder crash issues, I tried multiple things so here’s everything that was performed. Not sure if only a few of these items were the real solution but definitely not #7 by itself.

Windows 10 OS (latest updates)

  1. Uninstall Plex Media Server
  2. Delete Cache folder %LocalAppData%\Local\Plex Media Server\Cache
  3. Backup %LocalAppData%\Local\Plex Media Server\Codecs
  4. Delete Codecs folder %LocalAppData%\Local\Plex Media Server\Codecs
  5. Backup %LocalAppData%\Local\Plex Media Server\Plug-ins
  6. Delete Plug-ins folder %LocalAppData%\Local\Plex Media Server\Plug-ins
  7. Delete RSA folder %AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA
  8. Reboot
  9. Install Plex Media Server version 1.9.5.4339
  10. Reboot

Note: I tried #7 RSA fix from another thread but it did not help by itself. Only after removing the folders\files from some of the Plex appdata folders did I finally clear up the problem. I also tried deleting and readding my libraries which did not help and only add to your pain because syncs no longer work and need to be re-synced on devices due to updated media id’s.

It’s still early so I’m not assuming I’m out of the woods until this entire week goes by without failure. 2 days so far so good :). I suspect things got corrupted along the way of one of the September/October 2017 Plex updates…

Do you have full log files for the time when streaming was started and preferably covering the launch of Plex Media Server as well?

The RSA folder issue would be easy to spot because of the specific error text that would be in the log
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/227341367-Windows-Key-not-valid-for-use-in-specified-state-error-and-transcoding-analysis-issues

Yes, I saved the error logs from the last day of errors before taking the resolution steps I’ve outlined which still appear to be working without frequent error now. Can I send them to you without posting them publicly to the forum? I don’t recall the specific RSA error in my logs but I was trying everything I could to get back to using Plex without constant playback failure.

Hi sa2000,

I’ve attached three log dumps from before the final fixes that all contain the frequent transcoder errors. Let me know if those help.

-Brandon

@stalte said:
Hi sa2000,

I’ve attached three log dumps from before the final fixes that all contain the frequent transcoder errors. Let me know if those help.

-Brandon

Thank you. This is the same error as one reported by three other users and the development team have asked for some transcoder diagnostics

Oct 21, 2017 08:46:54.767 [11364] ERROR - [Transcoder] av_interleaved_write_frame(): Unknown error
Oct 21, 2017 08:46:54.842 [13756] ERROR - [Transcoder] Error writing trailer of media-%05d.ts: Invalid argument

Linking to one of the 3 other forum topics
http://forums.plex.tv/discussion/292780/conversion-failed-the-transcoder-crashed-or-failed-to-start

Please can you add this advanced setting in the registry

Using RegEdit
Locate HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server
Click on Plex Media Server in left side area
Right click on it and select New and type String Value
Add the new string item and give it name of TranscoderLogLevel and give it a value of verbose
Click OK and exit it RegEdit

Restart the Plex Media Server to get fresh logs created and recreate the error
And let me have the zipped logs on getting the failure

If possible to get the error with a 5-minute clip - please try it with that and make that available with the logs

Please confirm if this error is specific to certain Plex client apps

Okay, registry setting is now in place and I’ve also updated to current Plex Pass version 1.9.6.4385. If the transcoder error appears again, I’ll retrieve logs, try a 5 minute clip and see if it fails again. When failing I’ve witnessed the transcoder errors have occured in the Web client, Roku 2D, Roku 3, Android FireTV stick app and Android Phone app.

18 months down the track, we have recently discovered that these specific transcoder errors are currently due to Malwarebytes Premium blocking some localhost Plex Transcoder requests.

I do not know if you were using Malwarebytes on Windows - and if not, it could have been some other similar security software

A Support Article has now been published for this problem

The specific errors this relates to is this error together with other errors
ERROR - [Transcoder] av_interleaved_write_frame(): Unknown error
coupled by

Examples

ERROR - [Transcoder] [stream_segment,ssegment @ xxxxxxx] Failed to open segment list 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxxxx/seglist
ERROR - [Transcoder] av_interleaved_write_frame(): Unknown error
ERROR - [Transcoder] Error writing trailer of media-%05d.ts: Invalid argument

or

ERROR - [Transcoder] [dash @ 028ef3c0] Unable to open http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/manifest for writing
ERROR - [Transcoder] av_interleaved_write_frame(): Unknown error

The support article is
Windows: Transcoder failures during playback, live TV, or DVR recording