Why does Plex hang with message "Looking for servers..."?

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

I installed Plex 1.10.0.4523 (the latest version) on my Synology DS415play, created an account, but when I try to open Plex it hangs with a message “Looking for servers…”. Here are some of the things I’ve tried to get this working:

-Forwarded port 32400 to my Synology NAS
-Uninstalled/re-installed Plex.
-Deleted Plex files in /volume1/Plex, then re-installed.
-Tried using the IP address in the URL instead of the name.
-Rebooted the Synology NAS.
-Set the MTU of the Synology network interface to 2000.

Any ideas how I can resolve this issue?

2
  1. Get rid of MTU=2000 You will mess up everything and gain nothing but fragmented packets by doing it. LAN MTU = 1500 (this is the default)
  2. You must first initialize PMS http://ip.addr.of.syno:32400/web after you address the MTU issue above
3

@ChuckPA said:

  1. Get rid of MTU=2000 You will mess up everything and gain nothing but fragmented packets by doing it. LAN MTU = 1500 (this is the default)
  2. You must first initialize PMS http://ip.addr.of.syno:32400/web after you address the MTU issue above

Actually, the MTU reverts back to the default 1500 after making changes to it. How do you initialize the Plex media server?

-Thanks

4

Step 2.

  1. Start PMS on the Synology in Package Center
  2. Open http://ip.addr.of.Syno:32400/web in your local browser
  3. It will prompt you to sign in - Do so
  4. It will present you with the ‘Got It’ page
  5. The wizard will then walk you through setting up the server and creating your libraries.
5

@ChuckPA said:
Step 2.

  1. Start PMS on the Synology in Package Center
  2. Open http://ip.addr.of.Syno:32400/web in your local browser
  3. It will prompt you to sign in - Do so
  4. It will present you with the ‘Got It’ page
  5. The wizard will then walk you through setting up the server and creating your libraries.

Thank you! My problem was I did not have he /web in the URL. All this may be a moot point though, I just looked at the Plex NAS compatibility list, and my DS415play does NOT support 720p or 1080p videos. Bummer!

6

Careful how you say that. Yes it does. I run PMS on a DS1813+ (even older).

What are you trying to do with it? Transcode video? Audio only?
Please qualify / explain your intended use

7

I too am having this problem after updating and i have a 218+ it just says looking for server.

8

@ChuckPA said:
Careful how you say that. Yes it does. I run PMS on a DS1813+ (even older).

What are you trying to do with it? Transcode video? Audio only?
Please qualify / explain your intended use

Play home videos and Handbrake transcoded movies. I just read today that DS Video will reach end of life in December of 2018.

9

If you’re using HandBrake to prepare your videos for your TV / tablet / phone then you’re covered from the video perspective. I recommend H.264 encoding, 2-pass encoding (for best quality) and output container extension of either MKV or MP4

Be sure to clear the Title and other Metadata fields if you encode to MP4. PMS will read it from MP4 files and, if done incorrectly, make it difficult to match correctly. For that reason, I use MKV. PMS doesn’t read metadata from MKV files.

As for audio, AAC or AC-3 is most universal and the NAS will more than handle transcoding this to stereo as needed.

10

@joinedasone said:
I too am having this problem after updating and i have a 218+ it just says looking for server.

Please see above (the accepted answer). If this does not correct the issue, we will take the next step

11

@ChuckPA said:
If you’re using HandBrake to prepare your videos for your TV / tablet / phone then you’re covered from the video perspective. I recommend H.264 encoding, 2-pass encoding (for best quality) and output container extension of either MKV or MP4

Be sure to clear the Title and other Metadata fields if you encode to MP4. PMS will read it from MP4 files and, if done incorrectly, make it difficult to match correctly. For that reason, I use MKV. PMS doesn’t read metadata from MKV files.

As for audio, AAC or AC-3 is most universal and the NAS will more than handle transcoding this to stereo as needed.

Thanks for the transcoding tips. I just added a folder to Plex that contains 2 movies, one an .mp4, and the other a .mkv. But they are not being displayed when I click on movies in the home screen. I set the scan time to 15 minutes, and it’s been longer than 15 minutes. Any idea why Plex is not seeing these two videos?

12

Remember the Naming Guidelines (link in my signature)

FileBot is great and everyone will confirm worth the $5. It does the naming lookup for you in advance.

If you want the template, let me know. All you’ll need do is add the destination path part to the template

13

@ChuckPA didnt work still

14

@ChuckPA nope about to find another program