Plex Suddenly Keeps Crashing Frequently

Plex Media Server
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1

I have been using Plex Media Server on a dedicated Windows machine for what feels like forever and it has always been bulletproof.

Suddenly, it crashes almost daily.

I will notice that it is offline when I try to access any media via Roku or my phone.

If I go on the Windows machine, there is no error message that I can see.

However, if I go to the task bar and mouse-over the Plex icon, it just disappears. Again, there is no error, it is just visible and then just disappears from the task bar.

If I re-open Plex Media Server then it starts up again perfectly and is fully accessible. However several hours or a day later, the exact same thing will happen.

I find I’m having to restart it daily, sometimes multiple times, which is so annoying.

I have updated to the latest version, and Windows updates are also current. Nothing else ever changed on this machine.

Any ideas or help is incredibly appreciated!

Happy to share any other info that may be useful or provide a clue.

Thanks in advance!

2

Same issue here. I’d love to hear if anyone has a fix.

3

Glad I’m not in this boat alone!

Hopefully someone can help and provide some wisdom. :grinning:

I can’t figure out why it keep crashing.

4

I believe it happens when it scans media files. I’m going to disable autoscan and see if that does it.

5

Also having the server crash. Running it in Fedora. Started happening to me right when I told it to record another show in the guide. It wasn’t completely dead, looks like it was trying to recover on its own:

ps -aux | grep Plex

plex 2086 24.0 0.1 100892 49896 ? Ssl 19:16 0:00 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
plex 2110 128 0.0 41576 27788 ? R 19:16 0:01 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-85f0adf5b/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.23.2.4656-85f0adf5b /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-85f0adf5b/System.bundle

After a few minutes it came back to life on its own then crashed again.

6

Downgraded to 1.23.1.4602, no more problems. 1.23.2.4656 is junk.

7

So is the move to downgrade as the current build has issues?

Do I just install the old version over top the new version…. Will it easily downgrade?

Where do you download the older versions?

Thanks!

8

There are two possible ways to get an older version. First way is to check your Plex folder. Supposedly it keeps old installers somewhere in there.

The other method is to copy the latest URL and then edit that with an older version name. The trick is knowing the full version.

So the current version is 1.23.2.4656-85f0adf5b
Windows URL:
https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server-new/1.23.2.4656-85f0adf5b/windows/PlexMediaServer-1.23.2.4656-85f0adf5b-x86.exe

Therefore a previous version like 1.23.1.4602-280ab6053 becomes:
https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server-new/1.23.1.4602-280ab6053/windows/PlexMediaServer-1.23.1.4602-280ab6053-x86.exe

Here are the recent versions I have archived.

1.23.2.4656-85f0adf5b — (latest 6/19/2021)
1.23.1.4602-280ab6053
1.23.1.4571-6119e8eed
1.22.3.4523-d0ce30438
1.22.3.4392-d7c624def
1.22.2.4282-a97b03fad
1.22.1.4275-48e10484b
1.22.1.4228-724c56e62
1.21.4.4079-1b7748a7b
1.21.3.4046-3c1c83ba4

9

Thanks for sharing those links.

Do I just download the older build (using your link) and then install it over top the existing version?

I just want to ensure that will force the downgrade and there’s nothing else I need to do (such s uninstalling the current build).

It’s a shame they’d release a new build that is so buggy. Plex is usually so bulletproof.

Once again, appreciate the help and I hope this downgrade approach helps everyone on this thread facing the same issue.

10

I have a very similar problem with Version 1.23.3.4706, all of a sudden i lose everything, no connection at all when checking the App has closed. This is very annoying as you are given no signs or warnings of the crash. I download my logs and hopefully, they can find something there. at present, it is almost unusable.
Plex Media Server Logs_2021-06-20_21-09-54.zip (4.8 MB)

11

I think in Windows you want to uninstall Plex from the standard Windows Applications page, but you don’t want to use 3rd party uninstallers that might remove the settings.

Then install Plex from the previous version installer.

12

It’s not just Windows… I migrated from a MacOS installation over to PMS running on Linux MInt/Ubuntu, and it was spinning like a top for at least 6 months.

Fast forward to today, and it was stuck in a crash dump loop. I downgraded to 1.23.1.4602, and it finally came back… I was dreading having to recreate my libraries.

apt install ./plexmediaserver_1.23.1.4602-280ab6053_amd64.deb

13

Hello Everyone,

I followed the suggestions (and links) and uninstalled the current (apparently very bad) build and re-installed the older one.

I am now on version 1.23.1.4602

Sadly, and much ti my epic frustration, Plex still crashes constantly.

At least twice a day it simply just closes.

There’s no error and no warning.

If I go into the Windows task bar and mouse-over the Plex icon, it just “disappears”.

I then have to relaunch Plex and then it load again…… and I basically wait for it to crash once more.

Plex has always been so reliable and I don’t understand how or why this is happening.

Could it be related to some sort of conflict with a Windows update? Is there another build I should be trying?

I am truly open to anything and everything because this has become some frustrating.

Many thanks in advance for any ideas!

14

I am having the same problem on a Qnap server. Logs don’t show any problems the server just goes offline and needs to be restarted

15

Does anyone have any ideas?

This is so annoying that it continually crashes.

Is there any way to setup a windows service so if it crashes it automatically restarts?

I don’t understand what could have caused this as both the latest and previous build are having the same problem. I haven’t changed anything on the computer (except for windows updates).

Thanks!

16

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