PMS is Killing my Internet Connection

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Hi there,

First of all, sorry for my terrible English and my lack of knowledge in Computer Technical Terms - basically I’m a noob. I know that I probably supposed to ask the further question on a topic already open; although I saw about 6 related topics and, after checking all of them and proceed with the suggestions that I found, my problem still remains - which makes me believe that even the result of the problem being the same, the reason is different.

Yesterday I formatted my Dell Inspiron 15R 7520 SE, Core i73612QM processor (2.10 GHz), 8GB DDR, 256Gb SSD, with an integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 plus a discrete AMD Radeon HD 7730M GPU, proceeded with the installation of the Windows 10 Pro (fully updated), and then, installed Plex.

Occurs that, after installation, configuration, and all my movies and series add (with metadata of all library scanned and updated), from time to time, my internet connection was killed - Literally, none of my devices, smartphones, other notebooks remain online. Just to make it clear, that’s not occurred before and when I close PMS, my internet connection returns to normal.

On another topic, a user with apparently the same problem was succeeded to solve when he changes from wireless to wired. Unfortunately, I have others devices connected to my router and no free space.

I know that I have to paste the log from PMS for a more accurate analysis, nevertheless, after the log was downloaded, I found 84 files in there, and have no clue which one of then is the correct log.

Thanks for your time,

Best Regards

2

@MauroMassucatti said:
Occurs that, after installation, configuration, and all my movies and series add (with metadata of all library scanned and updated), from time to time, my internet connection was killed - Literally, none of my devices, smartphones, other notebooks remain online. Just to make it clear, that’s not occurred before and when I close PMS, my internet connection returns to normal.

Disable the DLNA portion of Plex
Settings - Server - DLNA

and / or

switch from using UPnP to a manual portforwarding
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200931138-troubleshooting-remote-access/

On another topic, a user with apparently the same problem was succeeded to solve when he changes from wireless to wired. Unfortunately, I have others devices connected to my router and no free space.

Get an ‘Ethernet switch’
smaller ‘unmanaged’ 5-port or 8-port models are not expensive.

Connecting the Plex server ‘wired’ is urgently recommended.

3

Yea, this is one of those you hope @OttoKerner shows up in… (he did - thank God)

B)

4

@OttoKerner said:
Disable the DLNA portion of Plex
Settings - Server - DLNA

Done!

and / or
switch from using UPnP to a manual portforwarding
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200931138-troubleshooting-remote-access/

My Remote Access is Disable by Default

Get an ‘Ethernet switch’
smaller ‘unmanaged’ 5-port or 8-port models are not expensive.
Connecting the Plex server ‘wired’ is urgently recommended.

Of course… but, is there another problem, my sister uses that notebook sometimes. If this configuration works, I’ll maintain until there’s no other way.

Since I disable DLNA, my Internet Connection go’s off one time only!!! However, I used Plex just one time… so, I’ll keep trying and, if continuous to drops, I return!!

Thank you very much!!!

5

@OttoKerner said:
Get an ‘Ethernet switch’
smaller ‘unmanaged’ 5-port or 8-port models are not expensive.

Connecting the Plex server ‘wired’ is urgently recommended.

About a year ago I picked up a 12 port gigabit switch for about $40.00 so you can get all the wired ports you need pretty cheap.

Servers should ALWAYS be connected wired. Wireless is just to unstable no matter how good the wireless signal seems to be.

In fact streaming is best if everything involved is connected wired.

6

My situation is different.

Finally discovered the issue;
Any streaming through plex while uploading or downloading files via GDRIVE/Sabnzb or Qbittorent kills the LAN connection to the point of all 4 LAN ports crashing & requiring a modem reboot

My original assessment; TLDR
I am with a local rural fiber internet provider in South Arkansas [www.arisark.us]. For the past two to three years I have struggled with the wired ethernet connection dropping in and out and sometimes crashing to the point that the calix 844g - 1 must be rebooted before all four ethernet ports are functional. The wifi never drops out during this process, except of course when it is rebooting.

It’s not really practical for me to put my desktop on WiFi but I did test that overnight and no it never lost internet connection but it did at some point stop all internet traffic going to both of my Amazon Fire cubes which are on 5ghz Wi-Fi. Yet the 5 GHz Wi-Fi connection was still working fine on the desktop and my cell phone. A reboot of the calix ont temporarily fixes the problem.

Now back to the ethernet issue. Here are the things that I have tried and did not work;

1. Different ethernet cable or cat 7 cable

2. A different router. The reason why is I still had to feed Ethernet from their modem router to my own router and their router still loses internet access which in turn no longer provides internet to my own router

3. Ethernet switch

4. Getting a new modem router from them. Already gone through at least four

5. A different computer

6. Switch to wifi-only. Very poor solution and results.

I’m sure I’m probably missing something else in this list

Eventually, I did purchase a program called net uptime monitor which shows the response time of three different test targets. It will also alert me of any intermediate or total internet loss. One thing I can say for sure is if I am uploading something and if for any reason something starts downloading it is guaranteed to interrupt my internet connection.

Other times I can make sure that while uploading that there’s no chance of any download process happening and if the speed of the upload gets too close to my maximum connection it will trigger either random or a total ethernet connection loss.

Here is the most recent connection log:

=======================================
11/18/2019 7:59:05 PM Log Start

Failure Start Length
11/18/2019 8:26:41 PM 0:02:48
11/18/2019 8:29:42 PM 0:02:28
11/19/2019 6:26:16 AM 0:03:23
11/19/2019 3:50:08 PM 0:00:05
11/20/2019 4:22:15 PM 0:09:27
11/21/2019 11:47:11 AM 0:00:05
11/21/2019 6:13:57 PM 0:00:05
11/21/2019 7:46:58 PM 0:00:05
11/21/2019 8:53:28 PM 0:00:05
11/21/2019 9:07:54 PM 0:00:05
11/22/2019 2:05:12 AM 0:00:05
11/22/2019 9:35:31 AM 0:00:06
11/22/2019 4:27:56 PM 0:00:05
11/22/2019 6:37:56 PM 0:00:05
11/22/2019 6:38:34 PM 0:00:07
11/22/2019 6:39:09 PM 0:00:05
11/22/2019 6:39:54 PM 0:00:05
11/22/2019 6:40:19 PM 0:00:05
11/22/2019 6:40:32 PM 0:00:06
11/22/2019 6:41:10 PM 0:00:05
11/22/2019 11:32:06 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 11:02:25 AM 0:00:08
11/23/2019 11:02:58 AM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 11:03:11 AM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 12:43:26 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 12:47:57 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 2:13:08 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 2:13:21 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 2:13:40 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 2:13:58 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 2:14:33 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 4:19:11 PM 0:00:06
11/23/2019 4:19:43 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 4:21:12 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 4:51:30 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 4:51:52 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 4:52:13 PM 0:00:07
11/23/2019 6:33:51 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 6:35:43 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 6:36:04 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 6:36:16 PM 0:00:06
11/23/2019 8:41:10 PM 0:00:05
0:00:05
11/23/2019 8:41:58 PM 0:00:06
11/23/2019 8:42:27 PM 0:00:06
11/23/2019 10:40:10 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 10:40:25 PM 0:00:06
11/23/2019 10:41:20 PM 0:00:05
11/23/2019 10:41:34 PM 0:00:06
11/23/2019 10:42:12 PM 0:00:06
11/23/2019 11:59:27 PM 0:00:05
11/24/2019 10:15:42 AM 0:00:05
11/24/2019 10:16:01 AM 0:00:05
11/24/2019 10:16:22 AM 0:00:07
11/24/2019 10:16:37 AM 0:00:05
11/24/2019 10:16:50 AM 0:00:06

11/24/2019 10:42:17 AM Log End
Monitor Duration 134:43:11
Failure Summary:
Count 56
Total Downtime 0:23:11
% Downtime 0.29
Minimum Length 0:00:05
Maximum Length 0:09:27
Average Length 0:00:24

=======================================
11/24/2019 10:42:39 AM Log Start

Failure Start Length

If the response time hits 300 ms on 3 test targets it will be triggered as Internet connection failure.

The test targets are;
Google [8.8.8.8]
Level 3 [4.2.2.2]
OpenDNS [208.67.222.222]

They have replaced the calix ont at least four times. They have accused me of causing the issues because I had I port forward for FTP and Plex. I have uninstalled the FTP software and no longer using a port forward but do use UPnP for Plex. Of course, It did not make a difference which I already knew would not.

Here are a couple of other things I have noticed that may or may not have anything in common with my problem.

  1. Whichever program is doing the downloading or uploading will momentarily freeze when the internet connection is lost.

  2. My parents live next door and have the same service. I cannot connect via FTP from my home to theirs or vice versa. When connecting them with Plex to my server at home, it will only get an indirect connection and instead of it showing their external IP address it shows 127. 0. 0. 1

I am leaning toward there being a problem with the connections outside and possibly related to my connection and theirs. They are not down for me connecting my computer to their ethernet connection and testing uploads and downloads to see if I get the same disconnect issue.

I have spoken to hundreds of people online and have yet to get a solution to this. I have never had an internet service that I could not do uploading and downloading at the same time.

I just hope to God somebody somewhere in this world it’s smarter than me and my internet provider and the hundreds of people that I have spoken to.

7

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.