Troubleshoot a LAN Backbone

Last updated: 2026-10-27

Start with the exact client message and the appliance's safe sync or health status. Discovery, local trust, Cloud pairing, provider sync, metadata, guide, and playback are different paths. Avoid repeating destructive setup steps before you know which path failed.

Appliance is not discovered or is unreachable

1. Confirm the client and Backbone are on the intended trusted LAN.
2. Confirm the container is running and the appliance service responds on port 8745 at the appliance's own hostname or address.
3. Check host firewall and LAN multicast rules. mDNS discovery can fail even when the service itself is reachable.
4. Use the client's manual LAN Backbone connection flow with the appliance hostname or address and port 8745.
5. Verify that the selected appliance identity is the one you intended.

Do not expose the service to the internet to work around a LAN discovery problem. A Backbone-managed provider does not silently fall back to a local provider copy; repair the appliance connection or explicitly choose a different setup.

Local trust or pairing fails

Local LAN trust and WyreDeck Cloud pairing are not interchangeable.

• For local trust, start a fresh claim on the client, compare its request code with wyredeck-backbone trust pending, and approve that exact code on the appliance. Expired or denied claims require a fresh claim.
• If the client reports an invalid or revoked token, revoke the stale device entry if necessary and pair that client again. Other clients keep their own credentials.
• On an upgraded appliance in migration_open, pair all expected clients before running the explicit trust enforce command.
• For anonymous account pairing, use the canonical WyreDeck pairing page and current account-service guidance. An account device limit is service-reported, not a permanent number promised by this guide.

Sync is slow, incomplete, or empty

1. Check whether the latest sync request is still queued or running; queued means accepted into the sync queue, not finished.
2. Read the provider's sync status, error indicator, last sync timestamp, and sync summary. Let an active large-catalog or episode import finish.
3. Distinguish a retryable provider/network failure from authentication or configuration errors. Retry only after addressing the reported cause.
4. Confirm the provider subscription is active and whether the provider limits connections or source networks.
5. Check available appliance storage and memory before starting another import.

A failed refresh can retain the last good catalog. Empty results, incomplete imports, and outages differ; do not delete the provider, database, keyfile, or trusted devices as a default remedy.

For provider HTTPS or certificate errors, confirm the correct secure endpoint with the provider. Do not downgrade to HTTP or disable validation merely to bypass the error. M3U private-network access is a separate explicit source setting, not a certificate bypass.

Provider descriptions or artwork are missing

First determine whether the provider supplied the field. Standard serves ordinary provider catalog data, synopsis, artwork, and episodes without a Premium grant, but it cannot invent data absent from the source.

Standard physically omits Backbone-managed TMDB matching and enrichment. Setting a TMDB key on Standard does not add that implementation. Full's managed TMDB presentation is a planned Premium capability, not a generally active feature.

A client's separate direct TMDB own-key path is planned on supported clients for both account tiers. It does not repair Standard Backbone enrichment or enable managed Discovery. Record whether the missing value was provider-supplied or expected from managed metadata before changing account or source settings.

Titles are stale or were removed upstream

Run one explicit sync after checking the previous status, then refresh the client's catalog view. A provider can change or withdraw a stream while an older local snapshot still shows the title. Failed imports intentionally preserve the last good snapshot rather than treating an outage as an empty provider.

The Backbone exposes catalog-removal feeds for channels, movies, and series, but installed clients do not all necessarily consume the same feed behavior yet. A client without the relevant adoption can need its own fresh snapshot or later client update. Do not assume every client already handles removals identically.

After a database restore, saved removal cursors must be discarded and the active catalog rebuilt before incremental polling resumes. Do not keep an old cursor or erase the appliance database to force a different result.

Guide listings are missing or wrong

1. Check whether the channel itself still plays; guide and playback are separate.
2. Confirm the configured Xtream guide or M3U XMLTV source still publishes data.
3. Allow the guide refresh to finish and inspect guide status separately from provider catalog status.
4. Compare the channel label and source type across the provider and guide. Ambiguous matches can remain unbound rather than being guessed.
5. Record the affected channel label and approximate programme time without sharing a playlist, guide URL, credentials, or stream URL.

A missing or failed guide does not by itself make playable channels unavailable. WyreDeck cannot supply listings the configured source does not publish.

Playback fails or resumes in the wrong place

Try another item from the same provider, confirm the subscription and provider stream limits, and check the client's codec and network support. The Backbone resolves provider sources; it does not transcode media or pool provider streams. Catalog availability does not prove every client can play every format.

Cross-provider progress is limited by identity and timeline evidence. Matching titles alone do not prove two sources are the same cut or have the same timeline. Full's saved-position and LAN state features are planned Premium capabilities, and client adoption of portable identity varies. Do not copy a resume offset between different providers or assume that Standard supplies household playback state.

If the problem remains, collect a manually redacted report as described on the Diagnostics page. The Backbone overview explains the trust and account boundaries to check before contacting support.