Plex Media Serer times out after DSM 7.1 update 1

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Server Version#:DSM 7.1.1-42962 Update 1
Player Version#: 1.21.0-3744
Recently my Synology was updated to DSM 7.1.1-42962 Update 1.
Before the update, PMS would start with no problems.
Once updated when I tried to open the app (from my Synology home page) I would get a connection time out after about 30-40 seconds.
I tried uninstall and manually install but I got an incompatible error.

I checked the firewall and my router to make sure the port is open.

Any ideas on how I can troubleshoot this?
Thanks
Ray

Logs.zip (2.9 MB)

2

Which server are you running?

  • 1.21.0.3744 (from the obsolete beta)
    -or-
  • 1.29.0.6244 (from the logs you provided)

or did you somehow get both installed/confused?
(Accidentally downgrading to 1.21.0.3744 will make a mess such as this)

Oct 19, 2022 19:11:45.067 [0x7f8bed99b8] INFO - Plex Media Server v1.29.0.6244-819d3678c - Synology DS418 aarch64 - build: linux-aarch64 synology-dsm7 - GMT -05:00
Oct 19, 2022 19:11:45.067 [0x7f8bed99b8] INFO - Linux version: DSM 7.1.1.42962-1, language: en-US
Oct 19, 2022 19:11:45.068 [0x7f8bed99b8] INFO - Processor: 4-core AArch64
Oct 19, 2022 19:11:45.068 [0x7f8bed99b8] INFO - Compiler is - Clang 11.0.1 (https://plex.tv 9b997da8e5b47bdb4a9425b3a3b290be393b4b1f)
Oct 19, 2022 19:11:45.068 [0x7f8bed99b8] INFO - /volume1/@appstore/PlexMediaServer/Plex Media Server
Oct 19, 2022 19:11:44.149 [0x7f8fe74038] DEBUG - BPQ: [Idle] -> [Starting]
Oct 19, 2022 19:11:44.168 [0x7f8fe74038] DEBUG - FeatureManager: Using cached data for features list
3

This is a screen shot. I uninstalled and re-installed to see if I could solve the problem.
It appears the new install did not fully take.

Plex Media Info

4

Look carefully at it.

You accidentally reinstalled the beta version - 1.21.0-3744.

Unknown to you.

  1. This version is obsolete. It was only usable during the DSM 7.0 beta
  2. Synology will not update it. (Iwe have attempted several times)
  3. It is not compatible with any version of PMS after 1.24.2.4973

Your real server isn’t lost. What you have here is PMS 1.21.0-3744 doesn’t know where all your datafiles are.

To remedy this:

  1. Uninstall PMS 1.21.0-3744 with the ERASE option (YES, we want to destroy it)
  • Your real server data files are still sitting in the PlexMediaServer shared folder
  1. Download the ARMv8 64 bit package from Plex.tv/downloads

Direct link is here:

https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server-new/1.29.2.6334-817e19b35/synology-dsm7/PlexMediaServer-1.29.2.6334-817e19b35-aarch64_DSM7.spk

  1. Manual install this SPK on your Synology.

  2. Let it update your server from 1.29.0 to 1.29.2 (watch the CPU activity) and wait until all post-install activity is complete.

  3. Now open the server normally. Everything should be back as it was before

5

Hi,
I did the uninstall w/erase as you said.
I used the link that you provided.

After the install started, CPU peaked at about 90%.

I waited a couple of days to see if it would go back down but it has only gone down as much as 80-88%.

I went thru and stopped an app that was using a lot of CPU, stopped an app that I was not using but the Plex server uses about 48% of the CPU at idle.

And I still get timeouts when I try to access the Syn Plex.

Should I try to uninstall and start the process over?

Thank,
Ray

6

If you have a big Plex library, which it sounds like you do, it can take as long as 2 WEEKS ! (One customer had a 500 GB Plex shared folder – and needed over 2 weeks UNINTERRUPTED)

The tool never ‘hangs’. It gets the list of files in the shared folder and, one by one, processes each.

Some basic checks at this point.

In the Plex shared folder, Do you have?

  1. Library / Application Support / Plex Media Server
  2. Library / Application Support / Plex Media Server / Preferences. xml
  3. Library / Application Support / Plex Media Server / Plug-in Support / Databases / <A bunch of .db files>

Did you ever customize (upload) posters to the server or did you use / select from those provided ?

7

OK. Thanks for that info. I’ll just be more patient.

I did take a look at the plex media size and it was about 25G with 1100+ videos.
This does not take into account the photos.

I’ll check in a week to find out where it is at.
In the meantime, thanks for all your help.

Regards,
Ray

8

If you open a session to the Syno -

In the Plex shared folder, you’ll find “Migration.log”

This will tell you the status of how the migration is going.

The last step is “Clean /volumeX/Plex”

9

Hi Chuck,
Firstly, thanks for all your help.

Strangest thing. I re-read your reply and realized that I had not checked for the “Migration.log” in the Shared folder area (/PlexMediaServer, /home, /homes, ).

I did a search in all the folders and cannot find a “Migration.log” I even tried searching for the parts of the name “mig”, “Mig”, “log” etc. I cannot find a “Migration.log” file.

So I looked for the following:

  • Library / Application Support / Plex Media Server -
    **could not find under /PlexMediaServer

  • Library / Application Support / Plex Media Server / Preferences. xml -
    **I found a Preferences.xml file BUT it is under /PlexMediaServer/AppData/PlexMediaServer

  • Library / Application Support / Plex Media Server / Plug-in Support / Databases / <A bunch
    **Found 10 .db files

One last item, I did change a few of the posters on my music albums, but a relatively small amount compared to the number of files I have.

With Regards,
Ray

10

@khizke

  1. Migration.log will only exist in the “Plex” shared folder. I use the Plex shared folder because that’s the only place I know will exist in DSM 7 when I start migration.

  2. Let’s look only at the “Plex” shared folder. What exists in PlexMediaServer does not matter right now.

  3. In the Plex shared folder, If migration ran
    – “Migration.log” will exist
    – “Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server” – will be gone
    – “Library/Application Support” – will be gone if you didn’t put anything in there.
    – “Library” will be gone – if you didn’t put anything in there.

  4. If you still have “Library / Application Support / Plex Media Server”
    –AND–

  5. these folders & file still exist

 Cache   'Crash Reports'   Drivers   Media      Plug-ins           Preferences.xml    
 Codecs   Diagnostics      Logs      Metadata  'Plug-in Support'
  1. THEN – Migration did not run. Your Plex server from DSM 6 is still there, waiting to be migrated over.

Please confirm what you have ?

11

Hi Chuck,
At this time I’m a bit confused.

  1. [“Plex” shared folder] - “Plex” does not exist. It may be that I’ve set my folders up too leniently as all my folders are considered shared by the Control Panel. That’s why I searched them all. Just was not sure.

This is what I have:
1a.) /home/Plex Media
1b) /PlexMediaServer
But a plain “Plex” folder does not exist.

I do not have a “Library / Application Support / Plex Media Server” folder
I have a /PlexMediaServer/AppData/Plex Media Server folder

Ok. I do have a “Crash Reports” folder AND a “Plug-in Support” folder.

Not sure if you realize this but I am not upgrading from DSM 6 (at least to my knowledge)
When I installed DSM back in March, it was DSM 7.
Since then DMS 7 has updated twice. With the most recent update, Plex stopped working.

Regards,
Ray

12

@khizke

If you installed the DSM 6 Plex app, you will have a Plex shared folder.

The only locations I support are the “Plex” share (DSM 6) or the “PlexMediaServer” shared folder (DSM 7)

When migrating from DSM 6 → DSM 7.

  1. I expect the PMS server to exist in the official “Plex” shared folder.
  2. I expect the structure “Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server”, with all the subfolders and files to exist under Plex Media Server per standard.

I am very confused at what you have

  1. There is no /home on DSM (6 or 7). Did you create a shared folder named “Home” ??

I can tell you the exact file system structures used if you wish.
It might be possible to move data around.

It also might just be best make other arrangements.

13

Hi Chuck,
What I gave you is the view from the File Station.
I will upload a screen shot that gives you an idea of what I have.

As I said, until the last software update (DSM 7.1 → DSM 7.1 update 1) things had been working well.

Plex Folder Layout
Plex Folder Layout1017×492 46.1 KB

14

Now I see it. Did you try moving things around yourself?

71583cbcec972db8764048a60bfd565459f63732
71583cbcec972db8764048a60bfd565459f637321017×492 88.2 KB

15

No. This is where things have been since I first installed back on March - April time frame.

Should I uninstall, delete, and restart?

16

There is nothing which the installer would have done to create
PlexMediaServer/Plex Media Server. The AppData directory is hard-coded into everything.

At this point.

  1. Delete PlexMediaServer/Plex Media Server

  2. KEEP PlexMediaServer/AppData and everything below it.

  3. Uninstall the package with the Uninstall Only - KEEP option

  4. Reinstall the same SPK file (Manual Install) –
    – Use the Plex Claim Token option (Lost or new servers)

  5. After it starts, Open by HTTP://LAN.IP.of.Syno:32400/web only

  6. if it struggles to look for the server / gets lost – Click Control+F5 to force reload the browser.

17

Hey thanks Chuck,
But I get a “connection has timed out” no matter how many times I try it.
Took a look at the logs and It does say successfully installed.
The crazy high CPU has stopped.

OK. I believe I found the problem.
I temporarily removed the deny all rule from the firewall and Plex started.

18

You had firewall enabled ?

For LAN operation –

https://support.plex.tv/articles/201543147-what-network-ports-do-i-need-to-allow-through-my-firewall/

For WAN (port forwarded) -

you only need to bring the WAN port (your choice / random) to LAN port 32400.

19

Thanks Chuck,
Two things.

  1. I created a custom firewall port on DSM to match the one on my router.
  2. I found a YT video on Plex that explains the setup in detail. Now I understand why you were asking me about the “Plex” directory.

Thanks for all your help,
Regards
Ray

20

Good.

Glad you found all that.

When I created the DSM 7 package, I wanted to make something that was more obvious than “Library/Application Support” and all that old baggage from the old DSM 6 package.

That’s how I came up with:

  1. Package name is “PlexMediaServer” (forced change)
  2. Make a “PlexMediaServer” shared folder (forced change there too so pick a good name)
  3. Fix the directory structure so folks don’t think “Library” means to put their media in there (which was almost always fatal to PMS)

Whose video did you find? There was a user who worked with me to make sure he understood how and why I did things this way on DSM 7/