Hardware transcoding doesn't work on ubuntu 19.10 fresh installation

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Dear all, i’m in trouble with my fresh installation of ubuntu desktop 19.10.
I’ve a Intel i7-3770 cpu and a NVIDIA QUADRO P620 graphics card with 440.44 drivers loaded.

my vainfo shows:

libva info: VA-API version 1.5.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/nvidia_drv_video.so
libva info: va_openDriver() returns -1
vaInitialize failed with error code -1 (unknown libva error),exit

my only user is member of video

adm cdrom sudo dip video plugdev lpadmin lxd sambashare

my dri:

totale 0
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root        100 gen 14 17:30 .
drwxr-xr-x  20 root root       4,7K gen 14 17:30 ..
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root         80 gen 14 17:30 by-path
crw-rw----+  1 root video  226,   0 gen 14 17:30 card0
crw-rw----+  1 root render 226, 128 gen 14 17:30 renderD128

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP107GL [Quadro P620] (rev a1)

I’ve disabled internal video card from the mobo bios but when I start a transcoded video, nvidia-smi doesn’t shows anything related to PLEX MEDIA SERVER.

Any help will really appreciated because I can’t do anything more… Thanks in advance

2

By default, on Linux, Plex Media Server’s installation creates and runs under user ‘plex.’ So, ‘plex’ needs to have access to /dev/dri/renderD128. To ensure it does, add ‘plex’ to the group render (and video, too).

3

The splitting of the card’s group assignments isn’t as it should be.

Both should be in the same group.

Did you, or did something you install, setup the system to modify these at startup?

Upon installation, PMS will look at the group assignement for renderD128

As PhillipSW suggests, check that please.

If you did not install/modify anything which makes group changes, please let me know ASAP.

Is this PMS installation running in a Container ? PMS installs the udev rules to automatically configure itself & the system to align.

4

Seems I have something strange in my environment because I don’t have plex user in ubuntu installation…

cereale979@LHS3200:~$ cat /etc/passwd | grep /home | cut -d: -f1
syslog
cups-pk-helper
cereale979
5

No the installation running in the main system. I don’t use docker or similar.

6

Which Linux distribution is used ?
Where was the installation package downloaded from?
Lastly, which PMS version is installed?

PS: I think I know what’s happening here.

libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/nvidia_drv_video.so

The version of PMS installed will confirm

7

This is the distribution i’ve downloaded: ubuntu-19.10-desktop-amd64.iso downloaded from ubuntu site. https://www.ubuntu-it.org/download

the plex version is: Versione 1.18.4.2171

just an addition to avoid wasting time. Despite having a NVIDIA QUADRO I patched the drivers to unlock the transcodes. Is there the mistake made?

8

With my limited knowledge of nVidia cards, I believe the unlock is where the problem began. I have seen this behavior before and was related to patching the drivers incorrectly.

9

It will be a solution! I reinstall the NVIDIA driver again without patch. Thank you for your help. I’ll return after the new installation

10

I’ve tried to disinstall and reinstall the NVIDIA driver, but the behavior still the same…

If there’s no chances to fix this installation, maybe the only thing to do will be format and reinstall everything… :’(

11

Did you ensure that user plex exists and is a member of the render group:

user@host:/$ groups plex

It should show something similar to:

plex : plex video render

12

If I may augment Philip, comma separated groups. (the forum plays games with things sometimes.)

plex:plex,video,render

After manual changes, a restart will be required.

13

Ah, I could have been more clear; I was trying to show what the output of the above ‘groups’ command would be on a correctly configured system. To add the user to the groups I would use:
sudo usermod -a -G video,render plex

Though I’m sure there are other ways to do it as well.

14

I have the same install (Ubuntu 19.10 with latest Plex). And a old Quadro card, so far I haven’t had any problems…
When you installed the nVidia drivers did you also blacklisted the Nouveau driver as well!? NVidia install tryed to do it automatically but it wasn’t successful, I had to do it by hand in my case.

15

yes I’ve blacklisted the nouveau driver according to this guide:
How to install NVIDIA driver on UBUNTU

16

maybe that’s the problem…

usermod: user 'plex' does not exist
17

I’ve removed PMS installed with UBUNTU and reinstalled the one on the plex site.
Now i’ve the plex user and i’m waiting the library populate to try to view a transcoded film to check if now the QUADRO works…

18

It works flawless and without install the NVIDIA patch. 4 transcodings with (hw) suffix.
The problem was in the plex installation via UBUNTU software.
Thanks for your precious help!

19

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