# When a display does not show what it should

From the most common case to the rarest: what you see on the panel or in the portal, what it means, and where you fix it. Most cases are not a defect but a missing assignment, a draft, or a deliberately empty panel.

> **Type:** troubleshooting
> **For:** anyone who has a panel in front of them or sees a message in the portal and wants to know the cause
> **Prerequisite:** access to the portal, and for changes the permissions of the Manager or Owner role
> **Where in the portal:** **Displays** › display › **Overview** and **Playback** tabs

## First: the three lines of the display record

Open the display under **Displays**. The **Overview** tab separates three questions that are often confused: The **Status** says only whether the device reports in. The **Visibility** says which picture is on the display (**Showing content**, **Starting up**, **Showing a fault**, **Showing nothing**, **No cable**, **No report**). And the warning bands at the top name the incident in plain language. A device can be perfectly **Online** and still show nothing.

![The Overview tab of a display with a fault: the Device offline warning band with cause and next step (1), below it the status line with No connection and the time of the last report (2) and the visibility No report (3), next to it the Status and Connection cards, and the Now playing card with the placeholder screen (4)](/docs/displays/bilder/3fed1a39-display-record-overview-impaired.png)

*1 Warning band · 2 Status line · 3 Visibility · 4 Now playing card — Status, visibility, and warning band are independent of one another: Here the device is not reporting, so there is no report about the display.*

## The panel shows the wrong content or none at all

| Symptom | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| The panel shows the placeholder with your logo, and the fleet says **Nothing scheduled** | Nothing is assigned to the display. | Assign a program, a scene, a playlist, or a media item, see [Assign a program to a display](/docs/displays/assign-program). |
| The panel shows the placeholder although a program is assigned | No program entry applies at this time, and the base program is empty. | Check the weekly plan, see [Read the weekly plan](/docs/programs/read-weekly-plan). |
| The panel shows an old version of your scene | The new version is still a draft. | Publish the scene again, see [Save, publish, versions, and conflicts](/docs/content/save-and-publish). |
| The scene is published, but the panel still shows the old version | The version to be shown has not reached the device yet, or the device was offline. | On the **Remote** tab, send **Refresh content**, see [Remote maintenance: send commands to a display](/docs/displays/remote-maintenance). |
| Something other than planned is playing | An override is active or another program entry wins. | Open the **Playback** tab: the cards at the top say what is assigned, the timeline below says what follows from it. See [Show something else now (override)](/docs/programs/start-override). |
| A change is missing on the timeline | The resolved timeline is cached briefly. | Click **Refresh** below the timeline. On the device, **Refresh content** helps. |
| The picture has black bars or is cropped | Scene format and panel do not match, or orientation and content fit are set differently. | Check the format, see [Which format does a scene need for which display?](/docs/content/about-scene-formats). The orientation is on the **Screen** tab, see [Adjust a display’s picture and power](/docs/displays/adjust-picture). |
| A scene is missing in the selection for the display | The tab first shows only what fits the panel format (“… scene does not fit the panel”). | Switch on **Show all formats** — what does not fit then “would play with bars”. |
| Instead of the assignment card, it says **Part of a video wall** | The display belongs to a video wall, and the surface as a whole is played. | Follow the video wall and assign there, or dissolve it, see [Create a video wall, assign content, and dissolve it](/docs/displays/create-video-wall). |
| The button for the previous day on the playback timeline is disabled, and the tooltip says **Playback history starts with Pro** or **There is no recording further back — your package sets how far the window reaches.** | Your package records only so many days: Starter none, Pro seven, Premium thirty. | Choose a more recent day, see [Check what a display is showing now and will show today](/docs/displays/check-now-playing). |

## The panel is black or shows a notice

| Symptom | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| **Off air** with a time | A program entry or the base program deliberately plans nothing here. Not a defect. | Change it only if you want to, see [Schedule time off air](/docs/programs/schedule-off-air). |
| Completely black, no text, no message | Cable, input selection on the panel, or power supply. | Check cable and input, wait a minute, see [Troubleshooting on the device](/docs/devices/troubleshooting). |
| Small at the bottom right: “No connection — showing the last known content” | The stored version has expired, and the connection has been missing for at least a minute. The content keeps running. | Check network and Wi-Fi at the installation site, see [Troubleshooting on the device](/docs/devices/troubleshooting). |
| Error screen with a reason and countdown, after several attempts “Permanently offline” | The display software cannot reach its content. | Check internet access at the installation site, see [What a display can show](/docs/devices/what-display-shows). |
| “Connection closed” with a reason | A deliberate shutdown: expired session, revoked permission, suspended organization, blocked device, throttling, or an intervention by us. | Only the throttling resolves itself. You clear up everything else in the portal, not on the device, see [What a display can show](/docs/devices/what-display-shows). |
| A setup card with a QR code, again and again | The device has no network. The Wi-Fi password was probably wrong. | Scan the card again and enter the credentials anew, see [Connect to the network: cable, Wi-Fi, company network, time](/docs/devices/connect-network). |
| Six empty tiles instead of a pairing code | The device has no internet yet. | Check the network cable or Wi-Fi. |
| A narrow band with a tool symbol at the bottom | Announced work on the service. Playback continues underneath. | Do nothing. |
| A pulsing blue full-screen overlay | Someone has triggered **Identify**. It disappears after seconds. | Do nothing, see [Remote maintenance: send commands to a display](/docs/displays/remote-maintenance). |

## The display does not report or reports only irregularly

| Symptom | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Status **Delayed** | No check-in for 60 seconds to 5 minutes, often a short network dropout. | Wait briefly. If it persists, check the Wi-Fi at the installation site. To read the values, see [Read status, visibility, and incidents](/docs/displays/read-status). |
| Status **Offline**, warning band **Device offline** | No check-in for more than 5 minutes. | Check power and network on site — or whether someone switched the device off. |
| Warning band **Device reporting irregularly** | The last report is older than usual. | The most common cause is unstable Wi-Fi at the installation site. |
| A command that was sent is never carried out | The device is not reporting. The command waits and expires if the wait gets too long. | First bring the device back online, then send the command again, see [Remote maintenance: send commands to a display](/docs/displays/remote-maintenance). |
| Status **Not connected** | The web display is created, but no browser has opened its address yet. | Open the address on the target device, see [Create a web display in the browser](/docs/displays/create-web-display). |
| Status **Frozen** | More displays are paired than booked. | Remove a display or book another seat, see [Remove a display](/docs/displays/remove-display). |
| Status **Suspended** | Your organization is suspended, and the display does not play. | Clear up billing, see [Payment reminders, overdue notices, freezing, suspension](/docs/billing/overdue-payments). |

## Warning bands on the display record

| Warning band | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| **Display output hung** | The display software no longer delivers pictures. | Restart through the device record, see [Maintain a device remotely: restart, log, update](/docs/devices/maintain-device-remotely). |
| **This display shows no picture** | Either the display software is not running, or the panel is in standby, or it was signed off. | The warning band names the case. For standby, switch on in the **Screen** tab, otherwise restart through the device record. |
| **No cable** | No panel is detected at the connector of this display. | Check the cable and the input selection on the panel. |
| **Display is starting up** | The display software is starting. | Wait about a minute. If there is still no picture, restart through the device record. |
| **This display shows a fault** | The device is running, and the display software cannot reach its content. | Check the network connection of the device. |
| **Weak Wi-Fi signal** | The measured value is close to the limit at which the connection drops. | Move the router or set up a repeater. |
| **Power supply throttling** | Undervoltage, mostly from a power supply that is too weak or a cable that is too long. The picture stutters without any error being reported. | Use the original power supply and a short cable. |
| **Storage low** | The next larger content sync may fail. | Remove unused content. |
| **Clock out of sync** | The device clock runs without synchronization. Schedules switch at the wrong moment. | Allow time synchronization in the network, see [Connect to the network: cable, Wi-Fi, company network, time](/docs/devices/connect-network). |

## While pairing

| Message | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| **We do not know this code. Check the six characters on the display.** | Mistyped or a character mixed up. Zero and O as well as one and I do not occur in the code at all. | Read the code again, see [Pair a display](/docs/displays/pair-display). |
| **The code has expired — please enter the one currently displayed.** | The code was past the five-minute grace period. | Use the code that is currently on the panel. |
| **This device has already been paired.** | The device already belongs to an organization. | If it is yours, it is under **Devices**. If it should start over, choose **Re-pair …** there, see [Device lifecycle](/docs/devices/device-lifecycle). Otherwise it belongs to another organization. |
| **Every booked display is paired.** or **Your contract does not cover more displays.** | No booked seat is free. | Book another seat in the dialog, see [Change your contract: displays, package, add-ons](/docs/billing/change-contract) — or free up a seat, see [Remove a display](/docs/displays/remove-display). |
| **Web displays are not enabled for your contract.** | The **Web browser** connection type is not booked. | Pair through a device of your own or book the connection type. |
| **The device reports no monitor on this connector.** | Nothing is connected to the chosen connector yet. | Check the cable. The report follows within a few minutes. |

## Video walls and missing permissions

| Symptom | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| On a video wall, one display stays dark (“At least one display shows no picture”) | A member of the video wall has a fault of its own. | Open the affected display individually and go through the sections above, see [Create a video wall, assign content, and dissolve it](/docs/displays/create-video-wall). |
| When creating a video wall, a display is missing in the selection | It already belongs to another video wall. | Rebuild or dissolve the other video wall. |
| A button is visible but grayed out | You lack the required permission. A note names the reason. | See [Permissions by role and by area](/docs/organization/permissions-by-role). |

## Related

- [Read status, visibility, and incidents](/docs/displays/read-status) — all values with meaning and next step.
- [Troubleshooting on the device](/docs/devices/troubleshooting) — when the cause is on site.
- [When something goes wrong](/docs/help/troubleshooting) — troubleshooting across all areas.