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If the player suddenly goes into a reboot loop after publishing a new presentation, most likely something in the presentation is causing the crash:

• The player firmware may be incompatible with your BrightAuthor/BA:connected version. Upgrade the player to at least the minimum compatible firmware version:

  • In BrightAuthor:connected, see BrightSignOS Update in the Advanced tab of the DWS

  • In BrightAuthor, do this in Device Setup via Specify Firmware Update, or when publishing the presentation schedule via Specify Firmware Update.

• Make sure that the data feed is an actual RSS/MRSS or simple XML structure, not a HTML page, image, or some other kind of content

• Make sure that your plugin (.brs) is not corrupt or invalid (you've downloaded the plaintext BrightScript .brs and not the HTML page). For Github downloads, you should be clicking the Raw link on the fancy source code view page.

• Make sure your media conforms to the support supported video, audio, and image formats and types. Also pay attention to whether it's portrait or landscape resolution.

• Note that when BrightAuthor presentations change screen resolutions (e.g. from 1280x720x60p to 1024x768x60p), the player will reboot.

To fix:

• BrightSign Network or Simple File Networking/Web Folder: Publish a working presentation and either wait for the player to update or reboot it manually.

• Standalone:

  1. Retrieve the player's storage device

  2. Publish a working presentation to it

  3. Replace the storage device in the player

  4. Reboot the player.

• Local File Networking: Reapply player setup files to the player's storage to clear the player's presentation schedule so it won't run and crash the player again. If you cannot physically access the player, you can still recover as long as the Diagnostic Web Server is accessible.

  Keep trying to hit http://{{playerIPaddress}}/action.html?reboot=Reboot&disable=autorun (replace {{playerIPaddress}} with the player's LAN IP address) from a web browser until you get a response from the player. After you see the response, the player will reboot with the autorun disabled, then you can use the method described in the Publishing Setup Files via Diagnostic Web Server to create, package, and deliver a new set of player setup files. After the new setup is applied you should be able to publish to the player again.

If scheduling one presentation to play all the time works but setting multiple presentations to play at different times of the day fails, the problem is likely caused by the date, time, or timezone setting on your player. To support day parting, the player needs to be connected to a network with a time server or needs to have a manually configured time:

• See this How-to for details on changing the default time server. If the player still has the incorrect time when connected to the Internet, try the solutions outlined in this the “Why isn’t the player clock working?” FAQ.

• Make sure the player is set to the correct timezone. See this FAQHow-to for more details on setting the player time zone.

• If you can't connect the player to a network with a time server, you can manually configure the time on the player. See this FAQHow-to for more details.

If your Local File Networking publish fails, and the error indicates that the autoplay.xml file could not be published, this may be caused by a corrupted userpreferences.xml file. To fix this problem:

• Clear your BrightAuthor user preferences by deleting all the userpreferences.xml files contained in the %localappdata%\BrightSign\BrightAuthor subfolders, then reopen BrightAuthor. You'll find the user preferences file in %localappdata%\BrightSign\BrightAuthor (type the address into the location/address bar). You may need to set your computer to show hidden files and folders to find this folder.

  • Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 example:
    C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Local\BrightSign\BrightAuthor\2.0.0.44

  • Windows XP example:
    C:\Documents and Settings\myusername\Local Settings\Application Data\BrightSign\BrightAuthor\2.2.0.37

• Uninstall and re-install BrightAuthor.

• If this does not solve your issue, attempt to publish again and then exit BrightAuthor. Submit a support ticket with the BrightAuthor eventlog.txt file (see this the “Where is the BrightAuthor eventlog?” FAQ to find that file). Be sure to retrieve the log before relaunching, since the log is rewritten on each boot.

This is usually caused by permissions issues. Saving or publishing fails if BrightAuthor can’t write to one or more files. 

1. If you are publishing to an SD card, verify that it’s not write protected. For most SD cards, sliding the notched tab toward the top of the card will disabled copy protection.

2. Verify that your computer login has administrator access: Try logging in as administrator or as a different user.

3. Quit BrightAuthor and delete the UserPreferences.xml file. Then reopen BrightAuthor. See the note below to locate the file.

4. Email support@brightsign.biz and attach the eventlog.txt file. See the note below to locate the file.