Reading the Player Status Window and Logs

The status window is the single most useful troubleshooting tool in easyCMS, and most users never open it. It tells you, from the device’s own point of view, whether it can reach the CMS, what it has downloaded, what it considers valid, and what went wrong most recently. Ten seconds of reading it usually replaces an hour of guessing.

Opening the status window

Platform	How to open it
Android	Connect a mouse (or use the remote) and click the screen to reveal the action bar, then choose Status
Windows / Linux	Press the i key while the player is running
LG webOS	Press the assigned colour button on the remote (yellow by default) and choose Status
ChromeOS	Request a screenshot from the display’s row menu in easyCMS

If clicking or key presses do nothing, the player may be locked down in the display settings profile, some profiles password-protect the settings screen.

What it tells you

Connection state. Whether the last check-in with easyCMS succeeded, and when. If this is red or shows an old timestamp, you have a connectivity problem, not a content problem, go to Troubleshooting Offline Displays.

Push/instant-update state. Whether the player holds an open channel for instant commands. A player can be perfectly healthy with this disconnected, it just updates on its collection interval instead of instantly. See Network Requirements and Firewall Rules.

Download progress. How many files are required and how many are present. A layout stuck at less than 100% is your answer.

Layout lists. Layouts are grouped as all, scheduled, valid and invalid. A layout that is scheduled but not valid is being rejected, usually an incomplete download, an empty region or a blacklisted file.

Blacklist. Media the device tried and failed to render, by ID. Nearly always a video the hardware cannot decode: see Videos Will Not Play or Stutter.

Storage. Free space on the device. A nearly full device fails in confusing, intermittent ways.

Last log messages. The most recent entries, usually the plainest statement of the actual error you will find anywhere.

Turning on detailed logging

Routine logging is deliberately light so it does not slow the player down. When you are chasing something intermittent, raise it temporarily:

In easyCMS, open Displays, then the row menu for the display, then Display Settings.
Set elevate logging until to a time a few hours ahead, it switches itself off again automatically.
Reproduce the problem.
Open Reports → Logs (or the log view in your account) and filter to that display.

Set an end time you actually mean. Leaving verbose logging on permanently fills storage and costs performance on both the player and the CMS.

What to send us

If you are asking us for help, the status window is the evidence that gets a real answer on the first reply rather than the third.

The fastest way to send it is a photo. Take a picture of the status window with your phone and attach it, either to the assistant (the paperclip in the chat), which will read it back to you and tell you what it means, or to the support request form, which accepts up to four images. A legible photo of the status window beats any written description of it.

Send:

A photo or screenshot of the whole status window
The display name exactly as it appears in easyCMS
The player platform and version
The layout or campaign that should be playing
What you changed, and when
What you have already tried

See Getting Help and Support Options for where to send it and what happens next.