I am having a nasty problem with my Linux-based Plex server. The whole server shuts down (powers off) each time I upload a new movie. The shutdown always occurs 5-10 minutes after the upload completes and seems to happen every time. And that is the only time the server is shutting down unexpectedly. It has run for more than a month without any trouble, when I wasn’t putting new content on it. It has also shut down six times today, once after each new movie was uploaded.
I’ve been trying to figure out the problem and finally spotted a clue. Every time an upload completes a CPU-intensive new task is spawned by the Plex server that appears to be transcoding the new file. This is happening when there are no active users, so there is not anyone streaming when this happens. My Plex server is not set to optimize or pre-convert anything, so that does not explain it either.
So I have two questions:
What is plex doing with each new file?
Can anyone suggest how this might cause my whole server to power off?
I am stumped. Any hints or ideas about how to track this down would be much appreciated.
My first guess would be that you have “Generate Preview Thumbnails” enabled, and set to run whenever new media is added. You can disable that setting in the settings page of the web UI at Server >> Library
You can also disable the thumbnail generation for each library individually in the advanced settings for the library.
It seems odd that it would power down your server, unless it is a very low powered machine that can’t handle transcoding at all.
@leelynds said:
My first guess would be that you have “Generate Preview Thumbnails” enabled, and set to run whenever new media is added. You can disable that setting in the settings page of the web UI at Server >> Library
There is also another process being executed after adding a movie: chapter thumbnails.
If your movie has chapters (or chapter can be found online for that movie) PMS genrates still pictures to represent the chapters.
(currently only available in iOS clients - more to come)
It seems odd that it would power down your server, unless it is a very low powered machine that can’t handle transcoding at all.
I concur. Even if the CPU is under 100% load for hours, it should not lead to the machine switching itself off.
Whenever that happens, it is usually due to the CPU cooling not working (did you lift the cpu heat sink and put it back down without applying fresh thermal grease?!!!) or due to a wonky power source (aging capacitors).
I did not know about the thumbnail generation, which almost certainly explains the task I am seeing. Knowing that will at least allow me more control over when the problem occurs, which will help.
My server is running on an AMD FX 4300 (3.8 GHz, 4-cores) with 24 GB of RAM. I used a normal amount of thermal paste when I installed the CPU and it has not been removed since then. I have checked that the CPU fan is running.
The power supply is an 850-watt Antec that is less than a year old. It isn’t likely to have gone bad, but I will have to look into the possibility that it came that way.
The strangest thing is that the server doesn’t seem to have any trouble transcoding multiple streams in real-time. The only time I see the server shut down is when the thumbnail generation task is running. In fact, it looks like the shutdown may coincide with that task completing.
I will see if I can find a way to monitor and log the CPU temperatures. Maybe that will provide more clues.
Thank you again for the information and suggestions! Please let me know if you what I’ve said suggests anything further.
Is there a way to check if plex has processed a .mp4 file and added chapter information??
I am using the latest pms for plexpass 0.9.16.6 and have the latest RoKU version offering, but do not see any chapter toggles for my .mp4 file that has thumbnails when I fast forward through the movie.
@OttoKerner Sorry for the double post. After following the steps mentioned in the link you provided I do not see any chapter id information in the the xml of my file.
You mentioned that if you have thumbnail generation enabled that it will create a chapter thumbnail if the file has chapter information already in it or chapter information could be found on the internet. Where does pms look for chapter information. I noticed in the xml of my file the “chapter source” says “agent”. Does that mean it comes form one of the agents I have assigned in pms?? Or am I’m misunderstanding in that pms will not create chapters for movie files?
In the case of embedded chapters within your files, the ‘Local Media Assets’ agent is the right one.
So make sure it is at least active.
If you disabled it in the past because it gave you wrong movie titles or bad posters, just drag the line ‘Local Media Assets’ downwards, so it sits below the lines of the online metadata agents.
If Plex can determine which movie it is you have, then it will query an online service for chapters. Sorry, the name of this online service I’ve forgotten.
If your mediainfo doesn’t mention any chapters, then Plex doesn’t have them. Therefore no chapter images are generated as well.
thanks for the quick response. So is it just that the pms agents cannot find chapter information for my particular file?? If so do you know of personally a situation/file in which pms will find chapter information and embed it in the file?? I have done what you suggested, I have even enabled all agents.
Either the LMA agent does not support reading chapters out of mp4 files or it doesn’t support the file format version of your movie (there are several revisions of the mp4 file format)
Or there is a bug.
I definitely know for sure that the LMA agent reads chapters from MKV files.
