Sources on the Server just set up are not available

[Jimmy-H]

Hi.

I have just deleted an old plex server from the Windows 10 machine it was running on, removed the registry entry as noted on the plex website, and also expunged the directory under %appdata% as noted on the plex website as well. I am including this information for completeness.

On downloading and reinstalling plex and walking through the setup, I have successfully added and pinned Films / TV shows / Other videos via the application’s browser interface (Firefox). At first these were returning a ‘Not found’ error but on logout and login, these three pins are present in the sidebar. Also included for completeness.

The problem appears to be when I attempt to log in to the iOS plex application on iPad, where, after entering account log in details to log in, the application displays a message reading:

We noticed you have more than one Plex server available to you. Please select your preferred server and we will set up your initial home screen for you.

But there is only one server available in the list following this, which is the correct server - the one I have just set up.

When I then select this server and click ‘Continue’, the only sources that appear thereafter are ‘podcasts’, ‘music’, and ‘web shows’. Which are not sources i have set up or have any content for.

Clicking ‘continue’, the plex loading indicator shows, and the application arrives at a home screen with what look like default categories (‘Film & TV’ and such) listed. These are not media sources I set up.

Also on the Home screen, if i select the hamburger menu to the left where account information and sources are listed and then select the ‘More’ link, the modal opened thereafter lists my server as ‘Offline’ in red. Screen capture below for reference.

Within the last ten minutes, after logging in to the application, the following screen appears and will not progress.

I do not know what other information to include in trying to provide an outline of this issue but i can update the post if more data is required.

Thanks in advance to any who can shed any light on this.

[tom80H]

Does this behavior persist if you sign-out the Plex for iOS client and subsequently sign in again? Are your devices on the same subnet inside your home network?

[Jimmy-H]

Unfortunately not - I have made many attempts since yesterday.

I’m afraid I do not know how to verify your second question?

[tom80H]

Subnet

Your network can be segmented. This can happen if you have multiple active network components inside your home network which establish their own network (e.g. a separate WLAN access point that’s configured to assign its own IP addresses to devices connecting to it). There’s also options where your main router will separate different connections as different subnets, e.g. for wired/wireless or guest/regular network connections.

A common home network is made up of 255 (IPv4) addresses which share the 1st 3 segments of their IP addresses while having a unique 4th segment, e.g. 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255.

TL;DR: if your devices have IPv4 addresses that don’t share the 1st 3 segments, this could be an indicator for them not being in the same subnet.

Plex will by default only look for devices inside the same subnet. Plex Pass members have an option to configure Plex to also treat other subnets to be part of their local network (Settings > [Server Name] > Network > LAN network) – otherwise you’ll need a working remote access setup for your server to be recognized by clients in a different network (even if it’s a different subnet inside your home network).

Are you able to see/access your server using a different app (e.g. one of the Plex desktop apps)?

[Jimmy-H]

I believe it would be on the same subnet in that case, unless there is setting that has changed either on the server or in the ios app. But i do not think that this is something which has been changed manually. I will try to find out.

Recently the router hardware in use has been swapped out for virgin media’s new hub device - a hub 5, as far as i know.

The other device connecting to the server is an LG 2020 model television - this reconnected immediately with no issues after the old server was expired and the new one deployed.

[tom80H]

Have you maybe hard-wired a local IP address on your windows instead of letting your router assign one? Does the Windows machine running your PMS have an IP reservation / static IP on this router?

[Jimmy-H]

I don’t think so, DCHP is showing as active. Unless this is not around a static IP, but i cannot recall every having implemented such.

For the server, i have not set anything specific up myself around a static IP address either.