On-screen messages explained

A STQRY Signage display tells you why it isn't playing content. This article lists every message you might see, what it means, and what to do about it.

The messages at a glance

Most messages appear as plain grey text on a black background, so they stay legible whatever your theme is, including before the theme has loaded. The "waiting for content" screen is the exception, because it's the branded STQRY page.

"This display is connected — waiting for content"

What it means. The display is adopted and talking to us, but it hasn't been put in a project yet.

This is about the project, not the content. A display that has a project but nothing assigned shows "Display has no running playlists" instead.

What to do. In Builder, open the display record and set its Project. Then assign a playlist, schedule, media item or location program under Display content.

A display in this state checks every 30 seconds for the first ten minutes, so newly assigned content appears almost immediately.

See Assign content to a display.

"Display has no running playlists"

What it means. The display is in a project but has nothing to play right now. Three different situations produce it:

• A schedule is assigned and no time block is active. Outside your scheduled hours this is normal. It's what a screen shows at 3am if you only scheduled 9 to 5.

• Nothing is assigned at all. The display's content is set to None.
• The assigned content was deleted.

What to do. Check the Content column on the display in Builder first. It tells you which of the three you have.

If a schedule is assigned and this is unexpected:

• Check the display's timezone on its record in Builder. Schedules resolve in the display's own timezone, so a wrong one shifts every block. New display records start on America/New_York, so check it even if you never touched the field.

• Check the block's date range covers today, and its time window covers now.
• Check the block's priority. If two blocks overlap, only the one with the lowest number plays.

If you'd rather the screen always had something on it, add a low-priority, all-day block with a holding playlist. See Build a schedule: time blocks, priority and recurrence.

"Playlist has no items"

What it means. The assigned playlist is empty.

What to do. Open the playlist in Builder and add media. See Create a playlist.

"Unsupported media item"

What it means. Something reached the display that it can't render.

A Signage display plays images, video and audio. Your Content Library can hold other kinds of media that other STQRY products use, like maps, web packages, AR, 3D and data files. One of those has ended up in a playlist, schedule or location program.

What to do. Check what's in the assigned content, and replace the offending item with an image or a video.

"Could not load media item"

What it means. The display knows about an item but couldn't fetch the file.

What to do.

• Check the display's network connection.

• Check the file uploaded properly in your Content Library, and re-upload it if it looks wrong.
• If the file is very large and the connection is slow, give it longer. The display caches everything before playing.

"Content not available on this display"

What it means. A trigger or a manual cue named a piece of content that this display hasn't downloaded. It's usually content added to the location program since the display last refreshed.

What to do. Reload the display from the settings overlay, or wait for its next content check. See Open the on-device settings overlay.

"Waiting for a location fix"

What it means. A location program is assigned and the display is waiting for its first position. It's shown with a satellite icon.

What to do. Work through the common causes below. See Set a display's location source.

• Mode is set to None. In that case the screen stays blank rather than showing this.

• Device GPS with no signal, indoors, in a garage, or inside a steel hull. Move it somewhere with sky view.
• Server URL unreachable. Check the address, the port and the network. Try loading it in a browser on the same network.
• A long poll interval. The first fix can take up to one full interval.

A blank screen, with a location program assigned

What it means. The display is outside every zone in its location program. That's by design rather than an error.

What to do. If it should be showing something, draw a large zone covering the whole operating area, put it at the bottom of the zone list, and give it a general playlist. Everything else sits above it. See Location programs: zones and live maps.

"Display with activation key … does not exist"

What it means. The key and region combination doesn't resolve to a display. The message names the key it tried.

What to do.

• Check the key against the display record in Builder. It's six characters, and it's easy to mistype.

• Check the region, which is the usual cause. A key from a US account won't resolve against the EU region.
• Check the display record hasn't been deleted in Builder. A display whose record is gone shows this message rather than carrying on with cached content, so a decommissioned screen stops.

See Regions and activation keys.

"Display details are required"

What it means. The app was opened without a usable region and key at all, usually from a hand-typed or truncated URL.

What to do. Check the URL, or connect the display from the provisioning screen. See Connect a display to your account.

"Another window detected"

What it means. Another STQRY Signage window is open in the same browser, showing a different display.

What to do. Close the other tab or window. Two displays running side by side in one browser interfere with each other's stored credentials.

"Incorrect PIN"

What it means. The PIN entered at the settings prompt was wrong. The field clears so you can try again.

What to do. If you don't know the PIN, contact your CSM or the STQRY support team. The prompt closes itself after 60 seconds of no keypress, and the timer restarts each time you press a digit.

See Open the on-device settings overlay.

The loading sequence

These four lines are what a display shows while it's getting ready, and none of them is an error:

1. Fetching display details: reading the content assignment.

2. Downloading media items: fetching and caching every file. This is the long one on a big playlist or a slow connection.
3. Downloading offline map: only when a location program is assigned.
4. Calculating server time offset: only when Sync display is on. See Synchronized playback across multiple displays.

If a display sits on one of these indefinitely, the network is the place to look.

Nothing at all, a black screen with no text

A black screen with no text isn't one of our messages. Check these four things in order:

1. Is the screen on, and on the right input?

2. Is the device powered? A Fire TV Stick powered from a TV's USB port loses power when the TV does.
3. Did the device boot into the app, or into its launcher?
4. Is it a location program display outside every zone? (See above.)

See Troubleshooting a display.

Next steps

• Troubleshooting a display

• Display status: what the badges mean
• Assign content to a display