Troubleshooting Offline Displays | easyCMS Digital Signage

A display shows as offline in the CMS when it has stopped checking in, or never managed to check in at all. The good news: the cause is almost always one of a handful of things. Work through this checklist in order; most offline displays are fixed by step 3.

First, read the symptoms

Open the Displays page and look at the display’s last accessed time:

Never checked in: the player has not reached the CMS even once: suspect the CMS address, key or authorisation (steps 3–4).
Was fine until recently: it worked, then stopped: suspect power, network or a wedged player at the site (steps 1–2 and 6).

Remember that players cache content locally, so a screen can be playing happily while offline to the CMS, “offline” means it cannot receive updates, not necessarily that it is dark.

The checklist

1. Power and basics

Is the device on, and is the screen on the right input? Trivial, but after a cleaning crew or a power cut this is the answer surprisingly often. Check that the device’s date and time are correct, a badly wrong clock can break secure connections and scheduling.

2. Network

Confirm the device actually has internet access: try opening a website in the device’s browser, or ping from another machine on the same network. Common culprits:

Wi-Fi credentials changed or signal degraded (wired Ethernet avoids this class of problem entirely).
A firewall or captive portal blocking outbound HTTPS, the player needs to reach your CMS address on the standard web port.
DNS issues on the local network.

3. CMS address and key

On the player’s settings screen, check the CMS address character by character: it must be the full URL including https://, with no typos or trailing spaces. Then verify the CMS key matches the one shown in your CMS settings. A wrong key is the classic “installed fine, never appears in the CMS” cause. Save the settings again, many players re-test the connection on save and tell you immediately whether it succeeded.

4. Authorisation and licence

In the CMS Displays page: is the display authorised? A registered-but-unauthorised display sits waiting forever. Also confirm it holds a valid licence, a display whose trial licence lapsed without a licence being assigned stops receiving scheduled content. Your account includes one licence; additional displays each need their own.

5. Storage

Check that the player’s local storage is not full. A player that cannot download new files may fail in confusing ways, content stuck at old versions, repeated failed check-ins in the logs. Clear space (or clear the player’s cached library and let it re-download) and check the size of recently added media; an oversized video can jam a small device’s cache.

6. Restart the player

Restart the player app, and if that does not help, reboot the device. On site you can open the player’s status window first (connect a mouse and choose Status on Android, press the assigned colour button on a webOS remote, or press i on a Windows player), it shows the connection state and recent errors, which usually names the problem outright.

7. Re-register as a last resort

If all else fails, clear the player’s configuration and connect it to the CMS again as a fresh display, then authorise it. Re-assign its display settings profile and default layout afterwards.

Still stuck?

Email info@myeasycms.com (or call +48 509 937 137) with the player platform and version, the display name, what the status window shows, and what you have already tried, that detail lets us diagnose in one round trip instead of three.