Plex crashes on startup

General Discussions
1

Hi,

Plex has been running fine (for the most part) in the last few months, but today it decided it didn’t want to start anymore, here are the logs, any ideas of what happened ?

OS: Ubuntu 16.04

Thanks

PS: my mistake I had removed the .log extension
PPS: it took months to download all the subtitles, analyze the medias, etc. I’d like to avoid if at all possible to wipe the library.

2

Your logs didn’t attach. Try again. (they sometimes take a moment to finish uploading)

3

My mistake, fixed it.

4

in a root terminal window,

Please go to "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server"

Create a tar archive. tar cf /path/to/file/plexlogs.tar ./Logs

I need to see everything. What you provided is a fragment and shows no errors , nor does it show the previous clean shutdown.

Attach the .tar file here.

You final log entries:

Jan 30, 2017 19:43:08.258 [0x7f19ea3ff700] DEBUG - IVA: Downloaded 42 trailers for source 2.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:09.617 [0x7f19f91e4700] DEBUG - Device: ubuntu PC x86_64
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:11.675 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET https://plex.tv/services/pubsub/servers
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:11.802 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - HTTP 200 response from GET https://plex.tv/services/pubsub/servers
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.766 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Time to connect to 82.94.168.47 was 25 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.766 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Time to connect to 139.162.164.202 was 26 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.766 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Time to connect to 139.162.144.200 was 37 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.766 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Time to connect to 109.237.24.233 was 37 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.766 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Time to connect to 50.116.59.4 was 163 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.766 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Time to connect to 45.79.210.23 was 200 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.766 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Time to connect to 23.96.218.59 was 224 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.766 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Time to connect to 45.79.10.123 was 250 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.766 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Time to connect to 184.105.148.84 was 270 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.766 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Time to connect to 40.74.127.121 was 514 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.766 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Time to connect to 139.162.7.93 was 641 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:12.772 [0x7f19fa3fd700] DEBUG - PubSubManager: Updating best ping time for 139.162.164.202 to 26 ms.
Jan 30, 2017 19:43:15.766 [0x7f19fabfe700] DEBUG - EventSource: Got event [data] '<Message host="xx.xx.xx.xx" port="443" ...   (Relay starting)
5

The forum doesn’t allow .tar files either so I’m gonna rename it .log and you’ll have to change the extension back to .tar

6

Drats… Silly form misbehaving. It is supposed to allow tar, tar.gz, and ZIP in addition to screen shots and log files. I’ll alert that team.

7

Thank you for that. I wanted determine the state of your database as soon as possible. There is no evidence of damage at this point. I doubt there will be any but prudence is best.

Regarding the failure to start, we now proceed.

  1. What does sudo systemctl status plexmediaserver return?
  2. When you try to start it via the command line sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver it should return a basic error code if severe error
  3. Now to see what is in the system log regarding the error

sudo journalctl | grep -i plex

You will see lines like this:

Jan 14 11:58:49 lizum systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux... Jan 14 11:58:49 lizum systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server for Linux. Jan 14 11:58:49 lizum audit[1]: SERVICE_START pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 msg='unit=plexmediaserver comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'

Also, at the end, you’ll see what it’s complaining about now. Copy/paste here and we’ll get it fixed.

8

  1. (I stopped it when I posted the message earlier, I was worried about the state of db)

    plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server for Linux
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead) since Mon 2017-01-30 20:04:24 CET; 33min ago

    Process: 56223 ExecStart=/bin/sh -c LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ Media\ Server (code=killed, signal=TERM)
    Process: 56218 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d “${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}” || /bin/mkdir -p “${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}” (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Main PID: 56223 (code=killed, signal=TERM)

    Jan 30 19:43:05 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
    Jan 30 19:43:05 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server for Linux.
    Jan 30 20:04:24 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopping Plex Media Server for Linux…
    Jan 30 20:04:24 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.

$> echo $?
127

Jan 30 17:54:31 sd-105759 systemd[1]: [/etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service:11] Invalid escape sequences in line, correcting: “/bin/sh -c ‘LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ Media\ Server’”
Jan 30 17:54:36 sd-105759 kernel: igb 0000:01:00.0 eno3: igb: eno3 NIC Link is Up 1000 Mbps Full Duplex, Flow Control: RX
Jan 30 17:54:41 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 17:54:41 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 17:55:27 sd-105759 ureadahead[357]: ureadahead:crontabs/plex: Ignored relative path
Jan 30 18:03:42 sd-105759 sudo[3178]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver stop
Jan 30 18:03:42 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopping Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 18:03:42 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 18:14:38 sd-105759 sudo[9342]: azx : TTY=pts/1 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver start
Jan 30 18:14:39 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 18:14:39 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 19:17:36 sd-105759 sudo[51425]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver stop
Jan 30 19:17:36 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopping Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 19:17:36 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 19:17:55 sd-105759 sudo[51497]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver start
Jan 30 19:17:55 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 19:17:55 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 19:23:53 sd-105759 sudo[52916]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver stop
Jan 30 19:23:54 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopping Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 19:23:54 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 19:24:20 sd-105759 sudo[53006]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver start
Jan 30 19:24:20 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 19:24:20 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 19:25:37 sd-105759 sudo[53365]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver stop
Jan 30 19:25:37 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopping Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 19:25:37 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 19:25:51 sd-105759 sudo[53424]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver start
Jan 30 19:25:51 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 19:25:51 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 19:31:56 sd-105759 sudo[54417]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver stop
Jan 30 19:31:56 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopping Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 19:31:56 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 19:32:44 sd-105759 sudo[54549]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver start
Jan 30 19:32:44 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 19:32:44 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 19:42:53 sd-105759 sudo[56129]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver stop
Jan 30 19:42:53 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopping Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 19:42:53 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 19:43:04 sd-105759 sudo[56194]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver start
Jan 30 19:43:05 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 19:43:05 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 20:04:24 sd-105759 sudo[59518]: azx : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/service plexmediaserver stop
Jan 30 20:04:24 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopping Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 20:04:24 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
Jan 30 20:38:08 sd-105759 sudo[64047]: azx : TTY=pts/9 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/systemctl status plexmediaserver
Jan 30 20:41:17 sd-105759 sudo[64471]: azx : TTY=pts/9 ; PWD=/home/azx ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/systemctl start plexmediaserver
Jan 30 20:41:17 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
Jan 30 20:41:17 sd-105759 systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server for Linux.

PS: sorry about the formatting

9

It’s not really complaining about anything, it just hangs while starting and never reaches the part where I can access it :confused:

10

Thank you for clarifying. Your OP asserts crashing.

I would like you do to the following. This is harmless to the DB.

  1. With PMS not attempting to start
  2. open a terminal window and cd "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server"
  3. rename Preferences.xml to Preferences.xml-save
  4. Start Plex
  5. Open the browser to 127.0.0.1:32400/web and be greeted with the signin/startup wizard
  6. Do not create any library sections… “SKIP” over all that to arrive at the dashboard.
  7. Go to Settings - Server - Network . I suspect you had Secure Connections “Required” but were not connecting to it with https or the LAN IP as not allowed to connect.

Presuming you reach this point as easily as described here, you can ignore the old Preferences file or delete at your choosing.
Sign your server into your account again and make the appropriate minor tweaks which were kept in Preferences.XML (allowed networks, secure, etc)

Please report back. We will go further if needed.

11

7 - I doubt that’s the case because literraly I was watching a stream and it shutdown suddenly.

In any case, I did rename the preferences and went through the wizard again and as you expected it now works fine again! I’ll suppose I’ll just have to update the settings again.

But other than that perfect! Thanks so much for your extremely quick and helpful assistance.

12

You’re very welcome. Whatever did happen, it went sideways.

When the Preferences file (very basic configuration) gets broken, anything can happen. That’s why we move it out and see where we really stand.