Almost every signage fault we hear about is one of twelve things, and most are fixed in ten minutes without a site visit. Find your symptom below, try the quick fix, and open the guide if it is not enough.
Check the cheap things first. A loose HDMI lead or a screen on the wrong input costs nothing to fix; replacing a player that was fine costs a lot.
Symptom, quick fix, guide
| What you see | Try this first | Full guide |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Black screen or “no signal” | Check the screen is on and on the right input, the player has power, and the HDMI lead is firmly in at both ends. Try another lead. | Black screens and crashes |
| 2. Only the easyCMS logo | The player works but has nothing to play. In Studio, play a design on that screen with Always. | Screen stuck on logo |
| 3. A change does not show | Wait a few minutes. On My screens, wait for “Has all its content”, then tap Take a new picture to see what it really shows. | Online but not updating |
| 4. The wrong design is playing | Open Schedule: check the dates, times and screens. Check an Urgent notice is not still on. | Scheduled content not playing |
| 5. Screen shows offline | Check power and internet at the site, then restart the player. Offline does not mean dark: the screen keeps playing what it has. | Display shows as offline |
| 6. A new screen never appears | Claim it from Add a screen in Studio or Add a display, on the same internet connection as the screen. | New display not showing up |
| 7. Plays old content, takes nothing new | Usually the player licence check on Android, LG or Samsung. Look at the player’s status window. | Player licence problems |
| 8. Video stutters or freezes | Re-save the video as an MP4 (H.264) at the screen’s size, 1080p for most screens. Avoid several videos at once. | Videos will not play or stutter |
| 9. Blurry or pixelated | Use a bigger photo, and turn off the screen’s own sharpness and overscan settings. | Resolution and orientation |
| 10. No sound | Check the screen’s volume and mute, then the player’s own volume. On Windows, make HDMI the sound output. | No sound or wrong volume |
| 11. Will not turn portrait | Choose Portrait above the preview in Studio, and rotate the picture on the screen itself, not in two places. | Resolution and orientation |
| 12. On or off at the wrong time | Use one timer: the screen’s own or easyCMS’s, not both. An hour out is usually daylight saving or the time zone. | Timezones and schedules |
Two more that are not about the screen:
| What you see | Try this first | Full guide |
|---|---|---|
| An upload fails | Check your storage in Library, make the file smaller, and rename it with plain letters, numbers and hyphens. | Storage and uploads |
| Cannot sign in | Go to app.myeasycms.com/studio, type the password by hand, or try a private window. Lost it? Use Forgot Password? on the sign-in page. | Getting started |
If the screen shows an error message, common easyCMS errors lists each one and the guide that fixes it.
A few notes
Restarts by itself, or slows down over months. Most often it is a cheap power supply or heat. Use the supply that came with the player, leave a gap behind the screen for air, keep it out of direct sun and clean out the dust. Replace a worn power supply or memory card before the player itself.
Portrait in two places. A portrait design on a landscape output is squeezed into a strip; rotating both the player and the screen leaves it upside down. Rotate once, preferably on the screen. On Android and LG the player’s rotation is set from our side, so ask us.
Blurry text. Type text in the design rather than putting a picture of text on the screen. An 800-pixel photo stretched across a 1920-pixel screen will always look soft.
Big videos. A 4K video at a very high bitrate can stutter on a player that plays a well-made 1080p file perfectly, and it fills your storage. Smaller files also upload faster.
Things only we can change
Some fixes sit in the screen’s own settings, which customers cannot open. Send a support request with the screen’s name as My screens shows it, and we do it from our side:
Clear the cached files
When a screen holds on to the wrong files, we tell it to throw them away and download everything again.
Rotation and opening hours
Orientation, operating hours and how often screens check in, for Android and LG players, set once for all your screens.
Rename or remove a screen
Give a screen a clearer name, or take one off your account when it is retired, sold or stolen.
Account time zone
If every schedule is out by the same amount, your account’s time zone may need changing.
Offline alerts
An email when a screen goes quiet: tell us which address gets it and how long a screen may be silent first.
When to contact support, and what to send
Contact us when you have tried the quick fix and the guide. The guides and the assistant are free; if you want someone on your own setup, an expert hour is 25€.
Send these in the first message and we can usually answer in one reply:
- The screen’s name, as My screens shows it.
- The player: Android, Windows, LG webOS or Samsung Tizen.
- A photo of the screen. Even a black screen helps: it shows whether the backlight is on.
- What the player’s status window says. Reading the status window shows how to open it.
- What changed recently: a new design, a new router, a power cut, an update. A screen that worked for a year and broke on Tuesday broke because something changed on Tuesday.
Use the support request form, email info@myeasycms.com or call +48 509 937 137. Watching your screens from Home and My screens catches most problems before a customer does; see display monitoring.