Local network lost, remote still fine. I've tried everything

[GMCarlson312]

i’m not sure if this is approripate, to message directly, but i’m at my wits end.
a week or more ago, after about 4-years of everything running fine, Plex stopped working on my local network for no reason whatsoever. (no changes made to setup)
remote streaming is fine.
i’ve spent about 20 hours trying to trouble shoot this, including a fatory reset of my ATT BGW320-505 router and one of my local streaming devices (Roku Ultra), but nothing has made it possible for my local devices to connect to the server (on the same network).
setup: Plex server V 1.40.4.8679 (should be current) on windows 10.
my ATT router does not allow for any DNS settings, but NAT/Gaming (Port forward 32400) and IP Passthrough configured to allow connections to the server. (hence no problem with remote streaming)
server and local devices (at least one for sure) are set to the same subnet 255.255.255.0
i’m signed in to both the server and web app with the same credntials used for all devices.
windows firewall settings allow for Plex DLNA Server, Plex Media Server, Plex Spript Host & Plex Tuner Service. I have even confirmed windows firewall Inbound rules allow for all Plex related services.
no proxy, ad-blocking software, or anti-virus software is installed, and no VPN.
weirdly, when i log into these devices, sometimes they seem to at least see the server because my libarary names are there to choose from, but can’t seem to load up the library content, or sometimes they seem to load the content, but won’t display posters, and for sure nothing will play. (when i try to play something, then it comes back with can’t connect to server)

ALL of the content we want to watch is on Plex (the standard streaming services suck in comparison) so this is driving us all crazy.

Please… HELP!

sincerly and with great respect (because i really do love Plex)
Grant Carlson (user GMCarlson312)
thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

[tom80H]

That certainly sounds weird.
The fact that libraries are working fine outside your home network but break halfway while navigating them or trying to play a file (which you seem to be able to get to in the first place) is quite inconsistent.

Any errors showing in your server logs?

[FordGuy61]

1. In Windows 10: Settings → Network & Internet
2. Is the interface Private or Public?
3. If Public, select Properties and change to Private.
4. Reboot server.

Also, how is the server connected to the router - Wi-Fi, wired Ethernet direct to the router, something else?

[GMCarlson312]

server logs attached. i don’t really know how to read these, but quickly looking them over i don’t see anything reading as “error”
Plex Media Server Logs_2024-07-18_12-14-08 (GMCarlson312).zip (2.7 MB)

[GMCarlson312]

The server firewall (windows 10) is set as private (always has been), and the setup has always been wifi, no ethernet connections. this is because the condo we live in. the router is in a small laundry closet and the only practical place to locate the server is in a back bedroom.
note that one of the first things i did when this issue arose was to run an ethernet cabel between the server and the router, which made no difference.
originally i was using a google mesh network, which gave some me some trouble setting up in the very beginning (mostly with remote access), but once i got that figured out it’s been fine ever since. however, since this problem arose, and i did the factory reset of my ATT router, i’ve disconnected the mesh, so evverything is running only on the ATT router.

some other troubleshooting i’ve done was to clear the local devices from my authorized list, then logged back into them. interestingly, when i log back into these devices, the do reappear in the authorized devices list, even though at the devices i’m getting the messaage that they can’t connect to the server.

following a troubleshooting guide i also previously tried removing some of the windows registry entries for PMS, which were then reestablished with reboot and re-sign-in at the server.

note that i’m logged into the server both as the local host and in the web app.
initially, windows (on the server) wouldn’t grant me access to the local host using either http://localhost:32400/web or http://127.0.0.1:32400/web (would just give an error message using either chrome or edge), but then at some point it worked. (no idea why)
however, even now, logged into the local host, i have no “server” setting option: Settings > Server > Network so maybe there’s something in there i could change, but have never been able to access it.

[GMCarlson312]

quick update, i did just connect the ethernet cable again, and now error messages are popping up in the console. This was not the case prior to my running the cable.
see the attached pic (filtered to error messages)
i’ve also attached updated logs, downloaded after these error messages began with the ethernet cable connection to the router.

Plex Media Server Logs_2024-07-18_12-43-46 (GMCarlson312).zip (2.8 MB)

[GMCarlson312]

one more pic of the consol errors, with orange and red lines. The console started lighting up like this immediately after pluggin in the ethernet.

[GMCarlson312]

sorry, one other detail is that i am able to directly ping my local streaming devices from the server machine (via cmd prompt using ping ) and in each case 4 packets sent and 4 received, so it seems that they can see each other across the local network… (super weird)
i’m no network engineer (in fact i’m in no way an IT guy) but as i have come to understand how local networks function over this past week through lots of googling, two devices on the same local network can communicate directly via a protocal that initially identifies the various devices as being on the same LAN and then shares their respective MAC address with each of them, enabling this direct communication, so the ping from my server, which came back in both cases (i tried my Roku and a Firestick) should mean that all these devices can “see” each other. right?

i had tried previously calling ATT tech support assuming this must be a router issue (this was before i tried to ping the local devices), but they don’t really know anything about local network stuff. all they could confirm was tha the line and router are working fine, and the remote access configuration is correct.

[GMCarlson312]

Any chance to look over the logs? Any other thoughts on this local network connection issue?

[GMCarlson312]

sorry, i’m not sure if my previous posts were seen by anyone. (i just noticed that neither you or FordGuy61 were connected to those posts)
we’re still without Plex in the house. No local notework devices will connect, but remote access still fine.
desperate for some help diagnosing (and ideally solving) this issue!

[mcrommert]

I’ll take a stab trying to troubleshoot - please share your settings both network and remote access

Looks on first glance to be some issue resolving myPlex external ip which may be related to dns

For these screenshots are you going to the localhost:32400 or plex.tv/web?

[GMCarlson312]

thank you so much.
logged into localhost:32400 (same for the shared screenshots)
enable server support for IPv6 is checked. (note that i have tried unchecking this, no help)
secure connections “preferred”
i did also change a setting on either my Roku or Fire (can’t rememeber now which one) to allow for insecure conenctions, but didn’t help.
no custom certificate info
preferred network interface “Any”
strict TLS unchecked
enable local nnetwork discovery (GDM) checked
LAN networks, none specified, though i did try listing the IP addresses of a few of my local scteaming devices, did not help.
treat LAN IP as WAN unchecked
enable Relay unchecked
no custom server access URL’s or list of IP address allowed without auth (note that all my local devices are showing on my authorized decives page, and after killing those at the server they do reappear when i log back into those devices, even though they can’t seem to connect to the server…?)

Remote access is fully functional
green arrows from internet, to public to private
manually specified public port 32400 (has been from my initl setup years ago)
if it maters, internet uplod speed 80 Mbps (service typically supports 100-120)
limit remote stream bitrate set to 30 Mbps (4k)

i have come across “DNS rebinding” in several articles/posts, which i don’t fully understand, but i do know that my ATT router does not allow for any changes/setting with respect to this so if that’s ultimately the issue i guess i’ll need to work with ATT.
this has never been an issue before, but i so suppose it’s possible that some automatic router update changed something that impacted my setup.
that said, would DNS rebinding affect local network connections?

the last piece of this puzzle is that i’ve never been able to access the “server” settings on my media server, even when logged in as the local host. Maybe there’s somthing here, if we can find a way to access these settings.

[mcrommert]

What do you mean “server” settings

Even if dns rebinding was broken you would normally be able to access server internally - it would just think you were remote

You may want to turn on relay just to test if that fixes internal streaming

[GMCarlson312]

i’ve come across this a number of times while searching around for an answer to my issue, where “server” settings can be accessed via “Settings>Server>Network”, so i kept thinking that i was missing this “server” option, but now that i’m going back to this i think this may simply be an old version of how these settings were previously organized on PMS: https://support.plex.tv/articles/204604227-why-can-t-the-plex-app-find-or-connect-to-my-plex-media-server/
it looks like the settings that would have been found here are simply the settings now found under Network so i guess that’s just been a red herring.

regarding DNS, that’s the crazy thing. my remote streaming ability has never been interrupted (except when i was doing some troubleshooting at the server and with my router)

my whole issue is that no device that is on my local network (in our home, connected to our wifi) will connect to the server, at least well enough to stream content.
i’ve been using Plex in our home since 2020, on multiple devices with no issues. (90% of the content we watch is via Plex) but all the sudden, one day a couple weeks ago this just stopped. nothing in the house will conenct to the server.

if i disconnect with my wifi (like on my phone) and stream over the internet via cellular data, no problem.
only local network connections have been lost.

i’ve looked at relay a few times during my research, but i don’t really know how this works. wouldn’t i need to set something else up to act as the proxy relay?

that said, i did just try turning on enable relay, but still no go.
strangely, when i log in with a device (Rokku/Fire) it initially appears as though i’m connected, because my libraries are listed there, and when i try pulling up my movies library, it may even display our content, but with no posters, just blank boxes with titles, and when i try to play one, the loading wheel spins for a minute then i get a message showing no connection… So freakin’ weird.
this is the case across devices on multiple platforms (Roku/Fire/Sony Bravia smart TV, iOS, even vai web app on the laptop i’m writting this from) nothing connects.
just took this snip from this Windows 10 laptop on web app:

note that in my previous posts on this thread i did indicate that i am able to ping the local devices (Roku/Fire) from the windows 11 machine running PMS, doing so via the cmd prompt, so i’ve confirmed that the server can “see” these devices on the local network.
and, as i understand how local networks work, this should mean that these devices can “talk” to each other without any intervention at the router, as a standard protocal initially identifies connected devices and shares their respective MAC address with one another, enabling this “direct” communication.

[GMCarlson312]

The one thing i have not tried is uninstalling and reinstalling the PMS software on the Windows 10 desktop that i have hosting it. I was thinking about trying this, so i initiated a backup of my local app data (creating a zipped folder copy of it), but Windows estimated a 16-hour completion time for this, so i bailed out on that.
maybe that’s the next step i need to take. (was hoping to avoid this, assuming there is indeed something very specific that’s causing this issue that can be fixed)

[mcrommert]

Okay two theories - and i’m pretty sure the first is correct

I think its dns rebind - the fact that going to web app went to limited (which is relay) means that its a dns rebind issue - if you rebooted the app on your roku a few times i would assume it would also connect over relay

you need to look up your router online and see what is available to fix dns rebind protection - its always different

The only other thing i can think is you have some sort of device isolation going - but you said you can ping the server and you seem to have a flat network so i seriously doubt that

if all else fails you can uninstal and reinstall - there is a guide with plex to move to a new install which is what you would want to do - just would take the main database and let metadata redownload to really give yourself a clean install and chance it will work

But i think the issue is dns rebind - might have been an update to your router that broke it