How does a player keep itself running?

A player checks in every 30 seconds, plays its content from the offline stock on the device, and recovers by itself after a fault: The display software restarts, then the device, and a separate watchdog brings the Wi-Fi back. In most cases, nobody has to go there.

The check-in and what it does not say#

Every 30 seconds, the device sends a check-in. From it, the portal calculates its status: Online under 60 seconds, Delayed between 60 seconds and 5 minutes, Offline above that.

That is purely a time calculation: A device can check in and still show no picture, and the other way round. The Visibility tells you what the display is showing (Showing content, Starting up, Showing a fault, Showing nothing, No cable, No report). The Realtime channel row in the device record tells you whether the display software itself is connected.

Without a network, the display software keeps running#

Content, media, and apps are on the device, not on the wire: A state that is still valid survives a dropped connection.

Only beyond both deadlines and without a connection does “current” become “last state.”

Only when a state has hard-expired and there has been no network for 60 seconds continuously does a calm, dark notice appear at the bottom right: No connection — showing the last known content. The content keeps running underneath unchanged. When the network returns, the device catches up.

A device that has never loaded a state shows the error screen with a reason and countdown without a network. The operations log records every change with a timestamp.

The offline stock on the device#

The Offline stock tab shows how much is on the device. The device record explains its numbers. The offline stock is capped at 10 GiB. When space gets tight, the oldest files give way first, and media of the running rotation stay. How long a device holds out without a network depends on your content and on the available space.

When the display software crashes#

A watchdog checks on the display software every 30 seconds and restarts it within seconds after a crash. If the display software on the same display crashes three times within an hour, the watchdog restarts the whole device, even if the second display runs flawlessly. If the device does not respond at all for 60 seconds, a watchdog in the hardware steps in and forces a restart without involving the system.

In the operations log, these events appear in plain language, for example Display crashed and was restarted or Device started.

When the network stays away#

A second watchdog checks every minute whether the connection holds and steps in stage by stage. Each stage is stronger than the one before.

In the setup hotspot, the radio is deliberately left alone: There, the same interface carries the setup page. A failed attempt does not delete your Wi-Fi, and the setup card remains the emergency access.

What follows#

• For short outages, you do nothing. Delayed recovers by itself as soon as a check-in arrives again.
• After hours offline, you check the network on site. Router, repeater, cable: By then the device has tried everything it can do alone.
• A power outage needs no action from you. The player has no switch: When power returns, it starts and goes back to showing what it should, without asking.
• A black display is rarely a network problem. If the display shows text, the cause is the network or the device. If it is completely black with no text, the cause is the display software.

Related#

• What happens when the network goes down? — the same question from the portal’s point of view.
• Connect to the network: cable, Wi-Fi, company network, time — what the device needs for a reliable connection.
• Troubleshooting on the device — when self-healing is not enough.