RT-AC68U - too much unstable mediaserver

[luka_w]

okay i made 4 EXT4 partitions all primary..

but in the router admin page it shows as:

View attachment 1746

and i cant see any of these partitions while selecting the media folder etc.. also nothing in the network share..

any idea what to do?

If 5-10 seconds after connection disk doesn't work (there's no sign of reading - no light blinking in my case, 1 TB drive), power it off, disconnect and try again. That's what happens to me few times before router catches drive.
Also, it takes 5-10 minutes at the first time to install everything and being available in the network.

 

[kishork]

tried many on and offs and wps resets and attaching and detaching usb medias..

the only way out was restoring factory defaults ! then my EXT4s are recognised..

loaded my media in the newly created EXT4 partition, and i let the media server scan the media..

now..

back to the same problem !!!!!!!!..

only one client can find and play on the media server.. no other client can find the media server if any one has found it !!! stop the first and the other finds it.. ASUS.. this is great

 

[leosar]

Mediaserver

I also have lots of trouble with the media server. It is neither stable nor functioning well.

Problem 1:
HD does not always get detected, just like the other posts mentioned. Very often I have to unplug the hd and plug it in again. It will work mostly after doing that. This happens after a reboot and also just in the middle of the day. It will just not show any more on any client.

Problem 2:
After plugging the hd or after booting the router, it takes about 10 to 15 minutes until the media will be available for any client. How can that be? In the menu it will say "scanning media" or something similar. When i plug the hd into my tv or my blu-ray player I can use it immediately. Every time you go into a folder the client will load the contents. Why does the asus router need to scan all the media? That does not make sense. And even if it does, then it should cache the data and make it available right away and run in the background accomodate changes.

I am switching the router off at night, therefore every time I switch it on I will have problem 1 and 2.

It is a pity, as for me, it would be the perfect media server. I have the files centrally available and can also stream them to any client. Before I always plugged the hd to the pc, then to the TV for playing...forth and back.

Any ideas about said problems?

 

[luka_w]

the same here ...if switching off I think you can't avoid your problems...at least with this FW (454)

I also can add, DLNA server sometimes doesn't see new files.

edit:
I've got this in minidlna.log:

[2013/12/21 17:38:06] metadata.c:759: warn: Opening /tmp/mnt/MEDIA/SERWER_DLNA/Bluray_Classic/Kingdom.Of.Heaven.2005.DC.1080p.BluRay.x264-DON/Kingdom.of.Hea
ven.2005.Director's.Cut.1080p.BluRay.DTS.x264-DON.mkv failed! [Cannot allocate memory]
[2013/12/21 17:38:06] scanner.c:488: warn: Unsuccessful getting details for /tmp/mnt/MEDIA/SERWER_DLNA/Bluray_Classic/Kingdom.Of.Heaven.2005.DC.1080p.BluRay
.x264-DON/Kingdom.of.Heaven.2005.Director's.Cut.1080p.BluRay.DTS.x264-DON.mkv!

 

[luka_w]

the same here ...if switching off I think you can't avoid your problems...at least with this FW (454)

I also can add, DLNA server sometimes doesn't see new files.

edit:
I've got this in minidlna.log:

[2013/12/21 17:38:06] metadata.c:759: warn: Opening /tmp/mnt/MEDIA/SERWER_DLNA/Bluray_Classic/Kingdom.Of.Heaven.2005.DC.1080p.BluRay.x264-DON/Kingdom.of.Hea
ven.2005.Director's.Cut.1080p.BluRay.DTS.x264-DON.mkv failed! [Cannot allocate memory]
[2013/12/21 17:38:06] scanner.c:488: warn: Unsuccessful getting details for /tmp/mnt/MEDIA/SERWER_DLNA/Bluray_Classic/Kingdom.Of.Heaven.2005.DC.1080p.BluRay
.x264-DON/Kingdom.of.Heaven.2005.Director's.Cut.1080p.BluRay.DTS.x264-DON.mkv!

I sniffed around, and it looks like it's a minidlna problem, that it doesn't read every media format

 

[RMerlin]

I sniffed around, and it looks like it's a minidlna problem, that it doesn't read every media format

minidlna's scanner has always been a tad fragile. The author has improved it quite a bit in the past few years, but I suspect it might not be properly tested against corrupted/invalid files yet.

 

[luka_w]

minidlna's scanner has always been a tad fragile. The author has improved it quite a bit in the past few years, but I suspect it might not be properly tested against corrupted/invalid files yet.

this file is not corrupted, I can read/play from samba share.

I copied file to PC, converted with video converter to another video codec,puted new file back and it's available in DLNA server

like I said, I found somewhere on the net related issue concerning video codec or sth.

 

[ikoul]

I think it's uncommon for DLNA servers to support the MKV container. The ones I've seen that do require transcoding the file rather than just serving it, even if the video stream inside the MKV file is standard Mpeg4 (Xvid or H264). I don't think a router would be able to handle that kind of transcoding on a sub-1ghz ARM chip, so I wouldn't hold my breath for MKV support. But it sure would be nice.

 

[luka_w]

I think it's uncommon for DLNA servers to support the MKV container. The ones I've seen that do require transcoding the file rather than just serving it, even if the video stream inside the MKV file is standard Mpeg4 (Xvid or H264). I don't think a router would be able to handle that kind of transcoding on a sub-1ghz ARM chip, so I wouldn't hold my breath for MKV support. But it sure would be nice.

it does support, I have more mkv files and generally there is no problem with them, the new one I transcoded also to mkv and is playing through DLNA nicely

 

[kevpuk]

New owner/user/forum member here....

Just bought an AC68U and am loving it on the whole, but I simply cannot get the Media Server function to work properly. Seems no matter where I store video files on an external HDD, the media server only manages to report the first 10 files

I have tried re-formatting the HDD, resetting the AC68U back to factory default and various other things....but cannot get the media server functionality to work as I would like. The HDD has around 150 video files on, but only the first 10 ever show via network connection.......

Any ideas?

 

[kishork]

Few possibilities that come to my understanding :

1. Media server might still be scanning ? - do you see media server status as idle or scanning in usb applications?

2. May be minidlna media server doesn't identify remaining as it's valid media ? Add some more certain media type and see it gets listed ( like mp3 ) ?

3. Where is the other media located that you don't see? Sure it is in the same path as the others which are getting recognised?

May be that gives some hints? Not sure. .

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

 

[kevpuk]

Few possibilities that come to my understanding :

1. Media server might still be scanning ? - do you see media server status as idle or scanning in usb applications?

2. May be minidlna media server doesn't identify remaining as it's valid media ? Add some more certain media type and see it gets listed ( like mp3 ) ?

3. Where is the other media located that you don't see? Sure it is in the same path as the others which are getting recognised?

May be that gives some hints? Not sure. .

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the reply....

Happily shows Scanning for some time......but never gets past the first 10 files!
Looks like it actually stops, but still reports a Scanning in the router screen....

Seems to stop when it reaches an MP4 file - the 11th file, alphabetically, is MP4. So, I have removed all MP4 files from the directory and am trying again now - is MP4 an unsupported file format?

 

[kevpuk]

Update - so it seems that a single MP4 file was causing the issue!
Removed all MP4 files and all 'other' files were fond, then added all but the one immediately after the last file of 10 that were being found.......and they all worked I haven't yet tried the 'awkward' one, as I now have a fully functioning media video library, as well as pictures and music - not that keen to rock the boat.....
Now just need to get Acronis sync sorted to my laptop, and all is done!

 

[joltdude]

tried many on and offs and wps resets and attaching and detaching usb medias..

the only way out was restoring factory defaults ! then my EXT4s are recognised..

loaded my media in the newly created EXT4 partition, and i let the media server scan the media..

now..

back to the same problem !!!!!!!!..

only one client can find and play on the media server.. no other client can find the media server if any one has found it !!! stop the first and the other finds it.. ASUS.. this is great

Is there anything you Like about this router... If these are issues you should contact Asus support. Merlin tries but is limited by the Broadcomm binary blob which he cannot compile or modify. You'll have similar problems with the Netgear BTW. From all your negative and demanding comments, perhaps you should return it.

Sent from my Venue 7 3730

 

[mtrains]

Is there anything you Like about this router... If these are issues you should contact Asus support. Merlin tries but is limited by the Broadcomm binary blob which he cannot compile or modify. You'll have similar problems with the Netgear BTW. From all your negative and demanding comments, perhaps you should return it.

Sent from my Venue 7 3730

This seems to be related to the network discovery issue I ran into in 454 and 501. With those firmwares access to the media server and accessing the router as a network computer are very spotty. I ran into the same issues you mentioned. Switched to Merlin's 36 beta1 release and all the network discovery problems went away. I can see and access the media server all the time.

 

[NettoX]

Hope that helps...

I'm using the latest firmware (4561) from the first day.

I started connecting 2 HDD's (1 TB + 320 MB , both in NTFS). After a few hours everything was connected and the router came on all devices
as a media server. I was very happy to use my files.

The problem started when I tried to configure the QoS (traffic manager) function. The router restarted and never got the media server available
again. Only "scaning..." discs all the time. I tried reseting the router several times, always turning on or off any function related to the media server and also restore to factory defaults, but nothing worked.

I had already downloaded the Merlin firmware and had decided to try it when the media server turned on again:

Simply connect the HDD on a PC and delete all the files generated by the router (some are at the root and others in a folder called "minidlna"). After that I connected the HDD back on the router again (reseting it before), he began to scan the files again and after a few minutes the media server was back online!

So, do not ever try to use the QoS. This is probably the most "buggy" feature of all! And any problem with media server, delete files and let the router do it all again.

NOTE: So far no "rebooting issue" with the latest firmware.

 

[nofencesfacing]

scanning stops - same place, every time

At least I am not the only one perplexed by this bizarre issue. I'm using a DSL-N55U-C1 and having frustrating issues with the media server - for which i bought the damn thing in the first place.

Status shows as SCANNING indefinitely, and it always stops at File number 868, which happens to be in the middle of a directory. Whether i check after 15 minutes or 24 hours, it makes no difference.
The only formats are mp3. there is one flac file which shows up as 'unknown', but from a different directory, not the one where the scanning stops.

Any clues, any help, anyone?

 

[RMerlin]

A corrupted file can cause the service to crash. Try removing the directory where the scan gets stuck to see if it goes further next time it scans.

 

[nofencesfacing]

A corrupted file can cause the service to crash. Try removing the directory where the scan gets stuck to see if it goes further next time it scans.

thanks for the super quick reply
i will try this and report back, though there are no corrupted files in the folder.

 

[nofencesfacing]

flac

yes, it worked. at least partially
The error was because it wasnt picking up flac files - the moment it came across one, scanning would stop.

so now it scans all the media, but there is still some missing folders. as far as i can see it may have something to do with the length of the foldername - if its a long name it is not getting indexed. i think. will check back later once more.