I seem to get this issue a lot. Most of the time I just flip a table, come back later & it’s fine. Sometimes, re-launching Plex Media Server fixes it. Today it isn’t. I’m going away later & I really don’t want to find myself without music for another long drive.
So what do we think might be causing it?
I’ve read the help files but a) I’m not techy enough to understand most of it. (I’ve no idea what “claiming” a server is all about, for example.) but more importantly b) it normally sorts itself out without me dicking around under the hood (plus I’m more likely to break something than I am to fix it) so I feel that whatever’s in the help files is not what’s causing the problem.
I used to have some settings where I’d previously set up a port forwarding number, only to discover that the IP address changed every time I turned my VPN of & on again, so that was no good. I did however, manage to get the remote settings to show a green tick. But I can’t even find those settings right now. It’s like half the functionality has disappeared.
Can anyone help an idiot to get things working again?
By way of an update, I just logged out & back in again (for the third time this morning) & suddenly everything is normal again.
I did nothing to affect the settings. It wasn’t working & now it is.
I really would like to know what was causing it because this has happened numerous times when I’ve been away & I just can’t access my music (or do anything to manipulate my computer remotely to try & fix it) until I get home. Then I do something stupidly simple like refresh a page & it’s suddenly all normal again.
The short answer is no, I didn’t, but as you’ll see from the second post, it just sorted itself out without me having to do anything. Like it usually does. So basically, all of the things in the help files are not the issue as I never have to implement any of them. The frustrating thing is that when I’m away from home there’s literally nothing I can do about it until I return home & I’m just wondering what is the most likely reason is?
My favourite theory is Dropbox syncing. I’ve gone in & reduced the bandwidth that Dropbox uses, to leave room for Plex to do its thing but I’m wondering whether that’s a likely issue? (I mean, it’s not like I’m going to leave Dropbox syncing while I’m away but maybe when I take photos on my phone, they’ll sync with Dropbox & then sync with my computer, so it’s a possibility. Maybe this time I’ll just disable Dropbox syncing, just to rule it out.)
I dunno. It’s just a bit bonkers that sometimes, when I go to Plex, I just have no connection to my libraries & then it suddenly just comes back.
Do you (or does anyone else) know whether Plex is particularly greedy with bandwidth?
To be fair, I have been doing a lot of really heavy duty syncing lately, putting several TB of data into Dropbox, all day & night. I paused Dropbox syncing earlier & the Plex connection didn’t come back immediately but maybe Dropbox takes a while to release the bandwidth its been using?
I understand what you’re saying. I am behind a CGNAT with my ISP. And similarly - I can intermittently I can remotely access my library.
So, randomly yeah, ports line up with the NATS & remote access works.
I switched off the VPN at home, closed any apps that use the broadband (including the browser logged in to Plex, because I gather I only need Plex Media Server for remote access) & paused Dropbox syncing. We had a perfect drive both ways without any interruptions to the music. I think I’ll just take these precautions in future & see if it continues to behave itself.
