Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sky King]

I am not sure when this started happening, i.e., on which update to MC or Windows 10, but for the last month or so MC's server stops responding at on a HTPC that is never powered down and does not "automagically" update.

Any idea where I can start to look for the cause?

Thanks!

[JimH]

Perhaps the connection is dropped.  Wi-Fi?

When it happens, if you go to the server, is MC running?

What are you doing when it happens?

[Sky King]

The server is running on a computer with an Ethernet connection.  I find the server inaccessible when I attempt to access the remote library from another Ethernet connected PC or via JRemote running on an iPhone.  It happens when I want to access and play music on another PC the remote library or play music on the iPhone.

MC is not running on the PC where the server is installed.  I reboot the HTPC to get things running again.

[JimH]

I assume you're using Media Server on the server.  It's a small footprint version of MC.  In the task tray, click on it to see if it's alive.  You can close it and run MC to restart it.  You wouldn't need to reboot to restart it.  If you must reboot, then something is going wrong outside MC.

[Sky King]

Yes Media Server is running on the HTPC with the little footprint and widget on the task bar.  I have closed and restarted Media Server without rebooting the PC and that corrects my issue as well.  I may try uninstalling MC and reinstalling.  Not a deal breaker just a nuisance for now.  Thanks for your thoughts!

[JimH]

Where is playback?  On a client PC?  Or on a DLNA device or similar?

[Sky King]

When I detect the server to be non-responsive, I am trying to access it from and play it on a client PC running Windows 10 or the iPhone for that matter.  The client PC attempts four attempts to connect to the correct IP address alternating with an IP that includes my ISP COMCAST's signature.  Then it bails to the "Error Loading Library" window that offers "Retry, Load the library  'Main Library, and load a different library.

Once the server is restarted all seems well for a day or possibly a bit longer and then it and I repeat the process.

Update:  This time when I went down to look at the HTPC where the Media Server is running, the little icon on the taskbar was missing.  When I hit the shortcut to MC 29, the program immediately began an update.  Possibly the impending update that was detected and ready to install stopped the server?  I changed the option in "Update Channels" from latest to stable per the recommended settings.

[macdonjh]

I've had a similar problem with Media Server and MC28/ Windows 11.  JimH has been helping me as well. 

I just checked, my Server computer does not display any "special" icon on that computer's task bar when my Client computer is connected via Media Server, even though MC is connected and my network Library is being used by my Client computer.  Is that normal?  From previous posts in this thread it sounds like it's not.

[Sky King]

My comment may have been misleading.  My server computer DOES NOT display anything special when a client computer is connected.   The indicator on the task bar that I was referring to was merely the one that is displayed when the server is running on the server computer.

[mwillems]

When I detect the server to be non-responsive, I am trying to access it from and play it on a client PC running Windows 10 or the iPhone for that matter.  The client PC attempts four attempts to connect to the correct IP address alternating with an IP that includes my ISP COMCAST's signature.  Then it bails to the "Error Loading Library" window that offers "Retry, Load the library  'Main Library, and load a different library.

Once the server is restarted all seems well for a day or possibly a bit longer and then it and I repeat the process.

Update:  This time when I went down to look at the HTPC where the Media Server is running, the little icon on the taskbar was missing.  When I hit the shortcut to MC 29, the program immediately began an update.  Possibly the impending update that was detected and ready to install stopped the server?  I changed the option in "Update Channels" from latest to stable per the recommended settings.

So I had an issue like this once a long time ago.  On Windows, JRiver MC requires UAC authorization to install an update (when MC updates, Windows pops up an authorization window saying "are you sure you want to install" and a person has to be there to click it).  So when a server system tries to run an auto-update, JRiver MC will close down and then try to install a new version, which will pop up the UAC prompt.  But because the server is unattended it just gets stuck waiting for permission to install.  It's been a few years, but I seem to recall that the prompts eventually time out leaving no evidence of what happened (other than MC not running on the server). 

Have you noticed that the server non-responsiveness coincides with a new version of MC being released?  Just as a troubleshooting test you could try disabling automatic updates altogether on the server for a few days and see if it stops your issue. 

[Sky King]

Yes, the more I think about it it does seem to coincide with an update.  I can disable updates to test or maybe even disable UAC which I thought I did but possibly not.

Thanks for the info!

[JimH]

I have seen network problems when Chrome was waiting to update.  After allowing it to update, the Internet worked again.

[Sky King]

I'll check that too.  Come to think of it, I don't even know what the default browser on that computer is.

[Sky King]

It appears that what was happening had to do with the update process causing the server to either stop responding or being terminated waiting for a human to acknowledge the update process.  I changed from "Latest" to "Stable" with respect to the update process and the server has been running continuously without issue.

Because my HTPC runs continuously without being monitored and reboots and restarts without needing a password from me, I would have no issues if MC automatically updated and restarted the computer without intervention but maybe it already allows for that.

Thanks for the help to everyone who offered suggestions!

[macdonjh]

Media Server has been fairly stable for me since I started developing the habit of shutting MC down when I'm done and restarting it when I want to listen/ watch.

[Sky King]

That makes perfect sense.  For me, however, it does not work out because I have Server running on a headless PC on the lowest level of a four-story townhome and I am too lazy to run down to turn it off and turn it on again when I want to listen again.  My needs and habits require it to be running 24/7/365 if at all possible.

I wonder if there is a way to remotely stop and start Server from a location other than the PC on which it was installed upon?

[DJLegba]

That makes perfect sense.  For me, however, it does not work out because I have Server running on a headless PC on the lowest level of a four-story townhome and I am too lazy to run down to turn it off and turn it on again when I want to listen again.  My needs and habits require it to be running 24/7/365 if at all possible.

I wonder if there is a way to remotely stop and start Server from a location other than the PC on which it was installed upon?

You can always do it with Remote Desktop, or if your version of Windows doesn't support Remote Desktop, then use VNC. However, ideally you don't need to do that. I run my MC server on a headless NUC 24/7 and for the most part it doesn't give me trouble. There have been versions of MC that seem to crash when a DLNA client has a bad WiFi connection, but after outfitting my house with a mesh system I don't have that problem anymore.

[JimH]

Media Server has been fairly stable for me since I started developing the habit of shutting MC down when I'm done and restarting it when I want to listen/ watch.

Shutting MC down doesn't stop Media Server.

[Sky King]

I decided to use Remote Desktop to log onto my HTPC should I need to work with MC and MS from a remote location and it seems to do what I want to do.  Thanks for the help everyone!