Plex Media Scanner.exe constantly crashing; points to swresample-4.dll in faulting module path

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.31.1.6733

Hello, I’m not sure how long this has been going on, since the information I have that I used to discover this issue is only kept for the most recent 2 weeks, but almost every morning starting sometime between 3:30am - 5:30am, Plex Media Scanner.exe crashes about 60 times. This morning between 4:17a - 4:36a it crashed 59 times. Here’s what all the entries in the Windows Event Log look like:

EventID 1000

Faulting application name: Plex Media Scanner.exe, version: 1.31.1.6733, time stamp: 0x63f36f68
Faulting module name: swresample-4.dll, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x63d08bc3
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00009390
Faulting process id: 0x0x52C4
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1D94767AA4FF802
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Media Scanner.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\swresample-4.dll
Report Id: 6fabf9a1-fe39-4a3f-aaf2-66f1d9a0fb34
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

It’s also followed with an informational event as well:

EventID 1001

Fault bucket 1557381348404496288, type 1
Event Name: APPCRASH
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: Plex Media Scanner.exe
P2: 1.31.1.6733
P3: 63f36f68
P4: swresample-4.dll
P5: 0.0.0.0
P6: 63d08bc3
P7: c0000005
P8: 00009390
P9:
P10:

Attached files:
\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER.41f275fb-53ae-4816-9273-edef743efbab.tmp.dmp
\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER.c21ad9f3-016c-4b77-94e6-6502e3977f62.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER.6a90fe85-0633-4ede-944a-ea7bd37ef873.tmp.csv
\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER.aaa0b747-ea98-4e89-bd2b-d251cbb8f9b0.tmp.txt
\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER.3082765c-c42b-4f10-83f8-eafc3baed916.tmp.xml

These files may be available here:
\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_Plex Media Scann_719881316c819754cd99952ea2165c2dd59c6eb_3d2e000d_4c5b987e-68db-4548-9652-f3bd87c0bbd3

Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: ad9bed11-e38b-4cca-8765-f3a60071b75f
Report Status: 268435456
Hashed bucket: 3e9b7d35ce7f52f8059cee15c37807a0
Cab Guid: 0

None of the files mentioned in that event exist, and only a report.wer file is in the archive folder that is mentioned. I’ve attached it to this report. It has a number of .dll’s as being loaded (including swresample-4.dll), which I cross referenced with this article.) (even though it’s regarding Plex Media Server.exe and not Scanner.exe) and none of those .dll’s are listed in the report.wer.

It also leaves about the same amount of suspended services in Task Manager as well until I either reboot or manually end process one by one.

The interesting thing is that I’m not sure that it’s effecting Plex’s operationality besides leaving the suspended services and Windows Event Errors. Anything I add or remove and then do a manual scan is added or taken away from my library as far as I can tell. But maybe Plex Media Scanner.exe does something different and I’m just misinterpreting what it does solely based on it’s name.

Either way, it’d be awesome if I could resolve this, as I don’t like seeing dozens of suspended services and errors filling up my Windows Events.

The only thing I’ve tried thus far is updating my PMS to the latest Plex Pass version, 1.31.1.6733, yesterday, which didn’t help, as the crashes happened again this morning. I was previously on the latest GA release, and usually keep up with new versions as they are released.

Attached are the Report.wer file mentioned in the EventID 1001 information, and my Plex Server Logs .zip that I download from Settings > Troubleshooting > Logs

Report.wer.zip (3.3 KB)
Plex Media Server Logs_2023-02-23_10-26-07.zip (432.4 KB)

2

Please turn on debug logging in your server settings. Without that, there isn’t enough info to know what’s going on. Typically this type of error is due to a file that the scanner can’t process. Your PMS logs should indicate what file it was working on when the crash happens. After a few crashes, if you see the same file, that is usually the culprit and deleting it will resolve the issue.

3

Hello, please find new logs attached. The errors that are causing the suspended processes in Task Manager seem to be from when Plex is running its daily “analysis” job on my music library.

There are errors in all the Plex Media Scanner Deep Analysis*.log files in the zip. the top of logs all have something like Feb 27, 2023 04:11:36.900 [32728] DEBUG - "C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Media Scanner.exe" --analyze-loudness --item 454960 --force --log-file-suffix " Deep Analysis" in them. And eventually have 1 or more errors in them such as:

Feb 27, 2023 04:13:00.561 [18096] ERROR - [FFMPEG] - invalid block type
Feb 27, 2023 04:13:00.561 [18096] ERROR - [FFMPEG] - Error while decoding MPEG audio frame.
Feb 27, 2023 04:13:00.561 [18096] ERROR - Analysis: Codec error 'Invalid data found when processing input'.
Feb 27, 2023 04:13:00.561 [18096] ERROR - [FFMPEG] - big_values too big
Feb 27, 2023 04:13:00.561 [18096] ERROR - [FFMPEG] - invalid new backstep -1
Feb 27, 2023 04:13:00.562 [18096] ERROR - [FFMPEG] - Header missing
Feb 27, 2023 04:13:00.562 [18096] ERROR - Analysis: Codec error 'Invalid data found when processing input'.

There is a different album mentioned in all 5 logs that are in the logs directory, so I removed them from my library, and the next time the analysis job runs, there’s 5 different albums in the logs, so it seems like a wider ranging problem than just a few files the scanner can’t process.

If I go to any of the albums mentioned in the logs before I remove them from my library folder, Plex can play all of the songs in those album just fine as well.

I just added my music to my PMS a few weeks ago so it makes more sense why I haven’t experienced this issue before as it only seems to be happening specifically while doing the Plex Media Scanner.exe --analyze-loudness process on my music library. My Movies, TV Shows, and Music libraries are all on the same NAS but different folders on my local network if that is helpful to know. Appreciate any suggestions for getting this to stop. I have 265 suspended Plex Media Scanner.exe processes in my Task Manager at the moment.

Plex Media Server Logs_2023-02-27_09-09-21.zip (5.0 MB)

4

It looks like the scanner is failing for any music analysis, it’s not just a single track causing this.

Have you tried restarting PMS?

  • shut down PMS
  • make sure all Plex processes are closed, force close (end task) them if needed
  • restart PMS

I see you are running the 32-bit version of PMS for Windows. Have you tried the 64-bit version? This could be a memory issue and the 64-bit version is better at handling those.

5

I’ve restarted PMS and my computer several times since I’ve noticed this issue, neither has helped anything.

And no I didn’t realize I was using the 32-bit version… Aside from the initial install I always just update from within the web app and it never says what the bitness is… must’ve not realized I downloaded 32-bit installer initially. I just switched over to the 64-bit version though. Is there a way to force the deep analysis from the web app? I tried to go to my Music Library > 3 dots > Manage Library > Analyze but that didn’t seem to do anything.

I guess if it’s part of the server’s scheduled tasks I can change them to start at the top of the next hour and see if they kick off and set them back later…

Either way, I’ll see if switching to 64-bit resolves, if not, I still have debug logs enabled and will upload a new bundle if there’s new errors.

6

The deep analysis only runs during the scheduled task. You can set that sooner.

7

New log bundle attached. I have 51 suspended Plex Media Scanner.exe processes in Task Manager which pretty much matches the amount of errors in Plex Media Server.2.log for ERROR - LoudnessJobManager: job for item [xxxxxx] failed (-1073741819)

There’s no errors in any of the Plex Media Scanner Deep Analysis logs this time so it does seem like switching over the 64-bit did help somewhat, but not quite completely. Hopefully it got narrowed down a bit more?

Plex Media Server Logs_2023-02-27_17-25-41.zip (6.2 MB)

8

Still seeing the failed analysis. I wonder if your server is missing codecs.

Can you check in your Plex app data folder. There should be a codec folder “7e8dc7a-4467-windows-x86_64”. Can you provide me a screenshot of the contents of that folder? Use the detailed view so I can see the full names, dates, and file size.

9

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image807×260 6.72 KB

10

New logs attached. Back to the same errors that were happening (at least in the Plex Media Scanner Deep Analysis logs) on the 32-bit version as well.

Plex Media Server Logs_2023-02-28_08-55-35.zip (5.0 MB)

11

Thanks. There goes my theory of it being a codec issue. I’m passing this up the chain. Hopefully the dev team can identify the cause of these scanner failures.

1 Like
12

Is there an estimated turnaround time on a reply from the devs/someone else or any other information I can supply to help troubleshoot further?

13

Hi, just wondering again what the turnaround time is to hear back from someone on the dev team as it’s been a week from the last response? Thank you.

14

Sorry, I don’t have an ETA. I’ll update here when I hear anything back.

15

Still having 50+ crashes daily, would love to be able to help the devs solve this…

16

Sorry, I don’t have any update for you.

17

Updated to latest beta - 1.32.1.6999, Plex Media Scanner.exe still crashing constantly. Anyone available to help?

18

Updated to newest Plex Beta, Plex Media Scanner.exe still crashes 50+ times every day. Can anyone assist?

19

Sorry, I did file this internally for our devs to look at. I haven’t received any updates.

20

Anyone available to assist in troubleshooting this issue? Still happening every day.