Black, frozen, stuck on a message, or showing something you did not schedule. Work
down this page in order — it is arranged from most common to least.
Read the screen first
A ScreenRoll player almost never shows a blank. When it has nothing to play it says so, in words, on the glass. Walk over and read it — that sentence is the diagnosis, and it saves an hour of guessing from the dashboard.
What it meansThe screen is on, connected and healthy. No schedule targets it.
What to doCreate a schedule that includes this screen, or add the screen to a group an existing schedule already targets. It starts within a minute — no restart. Schedules.
“Its schedules are set for other days or hours”
What it meansA schedule exists but its window does not include this moment — or the screen's own operating hours have ended for the day.
What to doCheck both. The schedule's time window and days are on the schedule; the screen's working day is on the screen itself, and the two are separate settings.
“Waiting for the other screens — 3 of 4 connected”
What it meansA video wall does not start until every panel checks in, so that the panels start on the same frame instead of a second apart.
What to doFind the panel that is missing: off, unplugged, on a different network, or its app has not been opened. If the wall genuinely has fewer panels than the screen is configured for, correct the monitor count on the screen.
A pairing code, on a screen that was working
What it meansThe player lost the note of which screen it is. Usually a browser whose site data was cleared, a fresh install, or a private-mode window.
What to doPair it again with the code shown. Nothing is lost — the screen record, its history and its schedules are all still there waiting.
What it meansNot the player. A black panel with no words is the television, the input, the cable or the power — the player would be telling you something.
What to doCheck the panel is on the right input and awake. If a computer drives it, check it has not gone to sleep: a signage machine should have its power saving disabled.
Frozen on one image
What it meansUsually a video whose duration was set longer than the video itself, so the panel holds the last frame. Occasionally a creative that crashed.
What to doCheck the item's duration in the Media Library against the file's real length. If it is an HTML5 creative, preview it in the gallery — what you see there is what the screen shows.
An HTML5 creative is white
What it meansThe bundle has no page the player can open, or it fetches something from the network that is not inside the zip.
What to doPreview it in the Media Library. A white preview means the bundle, not the screen. Ask the agency for a self-contained export. Media Library.
What it meansTwo schedules whose windows overlap on the same screen. Nothing prevents this, and it is by far the most common cause of surprising content.
What to doFilter Schedules by that screen and compare the windows. Narrow one of them.
Your own content where an advert should be
What it meansThe ad slot did not fill — no bid, nothing approved, a category refused, or the screen was offline. Falling through to your own content is what a slot is supposed to do.
A screen can play perfectly all day on a network that blocks its reporting connection, and read as offline the whole time. The Cached column and the diagnostics panel tell you what it is really doing — Reading the diagnostics panel.