BSN, BSNEE & BSN.cloud Troubleshooting FAQs

USERNAME

Your BSN.cloud and BrightSign Network username is your email address. If you are using plus-addressing to create a different email address that goes to the same inbox, be aware that each username is different to the system. Check your email for messages from BSN.cloud (the sender will be noreply-brightsign@brightsign.biz) and check the To: field for the correct username.

PASSWORD (BSN.cloud)

1. In BrightAuthor:connected or bsn.cloud, click Connect to BSN.cloud on the upper right

2. In the Sign In window, select Forgot Password.

3. Enter your email address and Submit. An email should arrive shortly from noreply-brightsign@brightsign.biz with a link to reset your password, so be sure to add that email address to your whitelist or contact list to ensure it does not go into spam/junk/quarantine.

PASSWORD (BrightSign Network)

As long as you have your username and network (account) name, you can use Forgot Password to get a new password. If you are a user on multiple networks, any of those network names will do - your password is the same for all BrightSign Network networks. The email will come from noreply-brightsign@brightsignnetwork.com so be sure to add it to your whitelist or contact list to ensure it does not go into spam/junk/quarantine. Do not include the trailing period from the new password, and make sure there are no leading or trailing spaces.

If you cannot access the email address associated with the account and you do not have any other administrators on the account that can set up a new user login, see this article.

If you move a player from one group to another in the BSN Web UI and either or both groups do not have a presentation scheduled, the move will fail to apply. The player will look like it moved, then shortly thereafter will pop back up in the original group.

Make sure presentations are scheduled on both the source and destination groups before trying to move the player.

This error occurs when the player cannot reach the BrightSign Network servers during the setup process. The initial setup process instructs the player to download a setup file (also known as a "recovery" file) from the BSN servers. If the player cannot download this setup file, it will flash the Err and Pwr LEDs and reboot after a few moments. This process will repeat until the player can establish a connection to the BSN servers and download the setup file.

To troubleshoot this problem, you will need to resolve the connectivity issue between the player and the BSN servers. These are common connectivity issues:

No Internet access

You can perform Network Diagnostic tests to determine if the player has general Internet connectivity. There are two ways to perform these tests:

• Create the setup files again in BrightAuthor or the WebUI and enable Network Diagnostics: Click the Advanced Network Setup button, navigate to the Diagnostics tab, and check Enable network diagnostics. Make sure to check the Test Internet Connection box, as well as the Test Ethernet and/or Test Wireless boxes, as well.

• If you enabled the Diagnostic Web Server as part of the initial setup process, you can use it to perform Network Diagnostics. Navigate to the Diagnostics tab and click Run under Network Diagnostics.

The DNS servers cannot resolve the BSN servers

The BrightSign Network servers are located on an Amazon S3 instance. If your provider cannot resolve these addresses, try configuring your network to use the Google Public DNS by setting the DNS addresses to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Proxy or firewall issue

A network proxy or firewall may be blocking calls to the BrightSign Network servers on Amazon S3. See this FAQ for a list of ports and IP addresses that should be allowed.

SSL or HTTPS issue

The initial setup step requires a secure call to the BSN servers. This call will fail if there's a certificate issue on the network or if a proxy server on the network is rejecting secure calls.

The player cannot reach the default time server

The player uses a BSN-based time server to set its time and date. Even if you set a different Time Server during the player setup process, the player must use the default time server the first time it checks in with BSN. This issue is caused by a firewall blocking HTTP time (HTP) calls or, if the player has been configured to use NTP, calls on UDP port 123.

Error Reasons

This can happen for either of the following reasons:

• Your BrightSign player doesn't have a valid subscription. To see the subscription status of the player, go to the Manage > Status window in BrightAuthor or go to the Groups page in the BrightSign Network WebUI and click the properties of the player.

• A 403 error can also indicate an inability to communicate with the AWS servers that host the BrightSign Network. A proxy server, firewall, or some other kind of network filter can intercept outbound traffic, blocking a BrightSign player that is attempting to contact BSN. See this FAQ for a list of URLs and ports that need to be open on a local network for a player to communicate with the BrightSign Network.

Using the DWS to Test Connectivity

Run the following test to determine if a player is having problems downloading the files from the BSN server. If the Diagnostic Web Server (DWS) is enabled on the player, you should be able to access the player from a web browser using the player IP address (to determine the local IP address of your player, see this page). Your computer must be located on the same local network as the player.

In BrightAuthor:connected:

1. Open the DWS in a web browser and select the Diagnostics tab.

2. Click the Run button under Network Diagnostics to run a network test and verify that the player can connect to the Internet.

In BrightAuthor:

1. Open the DWS in a web browser and select the SD tab. 

2. Find the current-sync.xml file and click the magnifying glass icon to view the current-sync.xml file. You will see the names of the files that are included in the presentation and the http:// links to those files. 

3. Copy one of the http:// links and paste it to a web browser. Verify if you can download the file using a web browser on your computer.

4. Select the Diagnostics tab. 

5. Copy the http:// URL into the Download Speed Test field and Press the Speed Test button. If the test fails, it will normally return details about the failure. That would provide more info about where the player might be failing trying to grab the files.

6. Click the Run button under Network Diagnostics to run a network test on the player and verify that it can connect to the Internet.

Testing the DNS Server

You can test the player using different DNS servers. You will need to manually set the IP address of the player and set the DNS to the Google public DNS values 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4:

1. Reset the player to factory defaults.

2. Open BrightAuthor.

3. Go to Tools > Setup BrightSign unit.

4. Select BrightSign Networking and assign the unit to a desired group.

5. Enable the Diagnostic Web Server.

6. Click Advanced Network Setup.

7. Select the Wired or Wireless tab depending on how the unit is connected to the network.

8. Assign the IP-address settings manually.

9. Save the setup files onto a blank SD card, insert it into the player, and power it up.

10. Repeat the Diagnostic Web Server steps (five to nine) outlined above.