Nothing happens on start-up after update

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version ???:
Player Version N/A:

I recently went through the “apt update” instead of “apt-get update” process to upgrade plex. Since then, the server hasn’t been able to start-up at all. It was working fine before the upgrade so I’m really not sure what might have happened. The upgrade went through fine, no errors there. I’m also not sure what version I’m on now or if there’s a way to restore the old version?

When I try to run the start-up manually, I get this:

patrick@bessie:~$ sudo -s
[sudo] password for patrick: 
root@bessie:~# cd /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/
root@bessie:/usr/lib/plexmediaserver# su plex
plex@bessie:/usr/lib/plexmediaserver$ . /etc/default/plexmediaserver 
plex@bessie:/usr/lib/plexmediaserver$ ./Plex\ Media\ Server

In another terminal, I try this:

root@bessie:~# ps aux | grep -i plex
root      3034  0.0  0.0  61008  3788 pts/1    S    08:33   0:00 su plex
plex      3035  0.0  0.0  21472  3772 pts/1    S    08:33   0:00 bash
plex      3038  0.0  0.7 403016 28176 pts/1    Sl+  08:33   0:00 ./Plex Media Server
root      3046  0.0  0.0  14428  1036 pts/0    S+   08:37   0:00 grep --color=auto -i plex
root@bessie:~# strace -p 3038
strace: Process 3038 attached
futex(0x7feea11e08e4, FUTEX_WAIT_PRIVATE, 0, NULL

There are no other plex processes running and this one is stuck waiting for a futex.

I’m missing my recording of live TV – any chance anyone could help?

TIA!

2

Bump ^^ Any ideas?

3

Can ANYONE help me with this? I’m a plex pass subscriber and going to have to cancel my subscription as it’s been like two months now without being able to use my server because of this.

4

I’m sorry this somehow slipped by.

Please tell me:

  1. Which OS are you running on?
  2. Which distro & version?

Are you’re expecting a program window to open when you type ./Plex\ Media\ Server?

5

Hi Chuck, Thanks for responding!

I’m on Ubuntu:

patrick@bessie:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=18.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=bionic
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS"
patrick@bessie:~$ uname -a
Linux bessie 4.15.0-50-generic #54-Ubuntu SMP Mon May 6 18:46:08 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Are you’re expecting a program window to open when you type ./Plex\ Media\ Server ?

No, no program window of course. I’m expecting one of:

  1. The server to show up when I go to app.plex.tv (like it used to before the upgrade)
  2. The server to show up when I try to connect to it directly http://bessie:32400 or http://192.168.1.15:32400
  3. Connection to be made when I’m ssh’d into the computer itself and try to telnet localhost 32400
  4. Some logs to show up somewhere.

So far, I can’t get any of this to work. It’s like it’s just stuck starting up, and I don’t know how to help it.

6

why not start the server the normal way as I set it up?

sudo systemctl enable plexmediaserver   # Start at boot
sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver # manual start now

Now you go to http://127.0.0.1:32400/web and it will load the Plex/Web for you.
Are you getting the browser to load?

7

Nope, just tried this again and it does not load. No connection can be made (connection refused).

8

That means it’s not actually running.

let’s do a few things. (I’m going to give you a laundry list in hopes shooting blind gets it to start)

sudo chown -R plex:plex /var/lib/plexmediaserver
sudo tar cfz /tmp/Logs.tar.gz "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Logs"

The first sets ownership. you can try to start it after that
The second grabs the logs which exist.

9

Nice! Seems to be working! I think that chown -R plex:plex was what fixed it, and I kinda shudder to think what that might have done to my NAS, given that it took a long time to run, but it seems like that maybe fixed the problem (for now, anyway).

Thanks so much Chuck!

10

Something got in there and probably did a chown -R root:root /var/lib on you.

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