BrightAuthor Troubleshooting (Publishing) FAQs

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 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 you copy a presentation project from one computer to another, or move or rename files used in a project, BrightAuthor cannot find the files and will error when you try to publish. To resolve the error, you must remove the files from each zone’s playlist in the presentation and then add them again.

Try the following:

1. Publish to a local folder instead of an SD card or network location.

2. Try a different SD card to verify that the card isn’t write protected.

3. Confirm that the files in the media library are still present and haven’t been moved or renamed.

4. Erase all files from your flash card and publish again.

If the problem still exists, try to duplicate it and then exit BrightAuthor if it’s open. Locate the eventlog.txt file and forward it to support@brightsign.biz, along with a description of the problem.