Server Version#: 1.13.5.5332-21ab172de
Player Version#: 3.67.1
Been using Plex for about a month, month and a half now. Initially have had no problems but this week the server has been unresponsive. I’ve tried rebuilding the media server multiple times (with media hosted both on my Mac Mini & media hosted on an external hard drive), and basically keep getting the same message that the Plex app cannot find the server.
I am running the latest version of everything - MacOS, Chrome, Plex Server, etc. I’ve also made sure to disable all energy saving settings with regards to putting hard drives to sleep. This is beyond obnoxious, and makes absolutely no sense why all of the sudden, the server just stopped working.
I wish I could help. While this is an Apple household, I have never used OS X. Other than what I read in our own support pages, I know nothing else about it.
I was having a similar issue since the server update, usually rebooting plex resolves these issues, I would suggest trying this first.
This time however it didn’t work for me, so I went into server settings and discovered “Remote Access” was not available, clicking the “Retry” button resolved this for most of my apps but for firestick it still wasn’t working, so I decided to reboot the firestick before coming on here for help and the firestick is now working, although with the new player updates I have other issues to deal with.
In conclusion try the following.
Reboot Server (close it down and open it again)
Check Remote Access.
If the player still does not work then reboot the device/application
The firestick in my situation was not on the same network as my server, the OP on the other hand does not mention whether or not all devices experiencing this issue are on the same network as the plex server, however I would assume in the OP’s situations that all devices are local and if that’s the case then based on my own experience rebooting the server can usually fix this issue if it was caused after updating, however in my situation my firestick which is not on my network was not working, which is why I checked remote access, but despite fixing this the firestick still did not work and rebooting it resolved that issue.
In short, after the update rebooting the server resolved the issue for all the devices on my local network, any devices not on the network, despite fixing remote access, needed a reboot in order to get them working again.
Everything is on the same local network in my case. And as with the OP, I got to the point of completely reinstalling the server only to find the same issue.
Turning on remote access has meant I can’t browse the web whilst watching anything via Plex as all traffic is being routed via my internet connection instead of over the local network.
Did you follow the uninstall guide to make sure everything was removed? That way we can rule out any issues with the install.
Can you connect to the plex web app on both the server and on a different device? (if you don’t have another computer you can use a smart phone/tablet or another device with a browser)
If you can connect locally via http://localhost:32400/web or http://127.0.0.1:32400/web but cannot connect to the web app through another device, then it could be a firewall issue, try disabling that and see if you can connect, if you can, then you need to give plex safe passage through the firewall.
I used app cleaner to delete the server and any related files/ logs then restarted so there shouldn’t have been anything left.
It’s not a firewall issue - I can’t access the server after turning off remote access and my firewall (I’ve allowed all connections for plex anyway). My vpn is disabled too.
Still need to test this out at work, but I followed this and—at least internally—it’s working. Now if Plex could only figure out gapless playback we’d be set.
@82.liam Even if you allowed plex through your firewall previously, the update my have caused your firewall to block something, this my not be the case for you but simply disabling your firewall and testing rules it out.
You could also try Deleting the System Preference .plist file, there is an article on the apple forum by a user who had the same issue, unfortunatley this didn’t resolve it for them but it will again rule it out.
@notes_skwiotsmith_com I’m glad it helped and gapless playback would be awesome, I’m still waiting on a cross-fading option similar to spotify lol.
Tried turning off the firewall and deleting The preferences files but still the only way my apps seem to be able to connect to the server is via remote access.
Well, here I am again. After Plex working for about a week and a half, the server is once again unavailable for remote streaming. I tried @Skullzy’s recommendations again this morning—even going so far as to reboot my machine, but we’re back to square one and I can’t connect to my server.
I’d happily pay for this service if it worked (and included gapless playback) but thanks to my lack of USB access at work, I’m just not totally sure what to do here. Especially given that my music collection is about 95% lossless.
Sorry for the late response, if remote access is the only way you’re able to access your plex locally, then something is causing plex to mistaken your local devices as remote.
When you setup each device to connect to plex, did you enter the ip:port? or did you just login and let it discover the server? if you entered the ip:port make sure the ip is the local ip (mentioned below) and not your external ip address.
If that doesn’t resolve this problem, then I would try to connect to your plex via the ip:port using another device, sometimes I connect to my plex via my mobile/tablets browser when I’m not at my main computer, but any device connected to the same network as your plex will work as long as it has a browser.
I would however suggest that you test this on multiple devices, preferably one that can’t connect using the plex client, for example I would test this on my Tv, firestick, mobile and main computer, this would allow me to narrow down the problem.
I assume you’re familiar with your plex’s local ip:port, but just in case, usually it will be one of the following: 192.168.0.1:32400 or 192.168.1.1:32400 the ip depends on your modem/router and port depends on whether or not you’re using the default port.
If you can’t connect to your servers web page, then plex may not be on the same network as your device(s), for example your device (or plex) could be using a guest network.
if you’re able to connect through a web browser but a device wont connect, then check the devices configuration, try signing out of the device then back in.
Normally if you can’t connect locally through any device via the webpage then it’s possible that the port is being blocked or another service is using the same port causing them to conflict with one another, but since you’re able to access this remotely, the only explanation is that your server and the device is not on the same network or plex is mistaking your device as a remote device.
Again?? This is strange, when I first started working with plex this was an issue I had every few updates but was never so constant, usually my local devices were fine but my remote devices wouldn’t connect, over time I kind of figured out my own steps (mentioned prior) to resolve it, but ever since I moved to windows server 2012 about 6 months ago I’ve not had any of these issues with plex, previously I had it running on windows 7, so it doesn’t seem to matter what OS it’s running on, but does look like this issue has something to do with plex running on a non-server OS.
The only thing I can think off from the top of my head…
Make sure you’re using the default ports - to prevent conflicting with other ports.
Try connecting to your plex’s webpage (as I mentioned to 82.liam)
Try disabling secure connections (refer to source in comment above)
Try removing the devices from “Authorized devices”
Try signing out of your devices and back in
Make sure your devices are running the latest client version.
If your mac is on wifi, try wired
Depending on your modem/router you might have to enable/disable firewall options within, I found that my ISP(virgin media) their firewall was causing issues with remote connections, it only started happening with one of their firmware updates, sometimes it would connect without issues other times it would just drop.
Out of curiousity, is your plex server constantly on? or do you shut it down? my reason for asking is that you could be incorrectly shutting it down, causing plex to not start properly, I honestly don’t know if it’s possible to incorrectly exit plex, other than terminating it, but perhaps if you’re shutting down your mac, it could be failing to close plex…
I would try exiting plex (right click plex icon > exit) then reboot your mac, if it works then we’ve found the problem.
One other thing to check, although I should have said this at the start, but make sure plex is writing to the log file, if it is then read it, that could give you a hint as to whats causing the problem.
Thanks for all your help @Skullzy - all of a sudden, everything has started working again even with remote access turned off. No changes, nothing. Just started working
and gapless playback would be awesome, I’m still waiting on a cross-fading option similar to spotify lol.
