My screen shows offline: how to find the cause and fix it
Quick answer: DigitalSignage.com marks a screen offline when SignStudio cannot reach the DigitalSignage.com SignPlayer, and in most cases the cause is the network path rather than the content: the player dropped off Wi-Fi, a DHCP lease or captive portal session expired, a firewall or proxy is blocking outbound HTTPS on port 443 to the signage.me service, or the device went to sleep or lost power. Check power and the HDMI input, confirm the device has internet access, allow TCP 443 outbound, turn off power saving, then restart the player. The screen usually keeps playing cached content while it shows offline, so offline is a reporting problem first and a playback problem second.
Key facts
- SignPlayer needs one outbound connection: TCP port 443 to
*.signage.me, plus DNS on port 53 and NTP on port 123, and no inbound ports at all. - A status change normally shows on the Screens dashboard within 1 to 2 minutes, because the player holds a real-time socket connection and falls back to HTTP polling behind a strict firewall.
- A player that shows offline keeps playing its cached scenes, images and video; only live zones such as web pages, feeds and streams stop.
- Restarting the player clears more than half of all reported faults, according to our troubleshooting guide.
- Wi-Fi at the screen should measure -65 dBm or better with Wi-Fi power saving off; wired Ethernet removes most overnight drops.
- The first 3 screens are free forever in 2026, and once an account has 4 or more screens every screen is billed from $3 per screen per month, so fixing an offline screen never costs more than the hardware.
Last updated October 23, 2026. Sources: SignStudio player management, network requirements, player connectivity, internet outage and troubleshooting pages on this site.
What does offline mean on the SignStudio dashboard?
Offline means SignStudio has not heard from the player recently, not that the screen is dark. Each DigitalSignage.com SignPlayer reports its status, last seen time, the content it is playing, its IP address and player version over an outbound connection. When that connection drops, the dashboard indicator changes from online to offline, while the player on the wall carries on with whatever it already downloaded.
A dark screen with an online status is a display, input or cable problem, covered by the black screen troubleshooting guide; an offline status with a screen that still plays is a network or power problem on the player side, which this page fixes.
| What you see together | What it tells you | Where to look first |
|---|---|---|
| DigitalSignage.com SignPlayer shows offline in SignStudio, screen plays normally | The player is alive but cannot reach SignStudio | Network path: Wi-Fi, DHCP, captive portal, proxy, port 443 |
| Offline in SignStudio, screen is dark | The player lost power, crashed or the device is asleep | Power supply, sleep and power-saving settings, then the HDMI input |
| Offline in SignStudio, screen shows the device home screen or desktop | The player app closed and nothing relaunched it | Watchdog on Android, start with Windows, Login Items on a Mac, SignService on a Raspberry Pi |
| Online in SignStudio, screen is dark | Display, input or cable fault | The black screen guide, not this page |
| Online and offline several times an hour | Weak Wi-Fi, power saving, heat or a weak power supply | Signal strength, power-saving settings, ventilation |
Bottom line: look at the screen and the dashboard together, because the pair tells you whether the fault is network, power or display before you touch anything.
Which cause is it?
Work down this table from the top, because the causes near the top are the most common and the quickest to rule out. A screen that has worked for weeks and goes offline for the first time is almost always network or power; a screen that has never shown online is almost always a firewall, proxy or captive portal.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Offline since a power cut or a storm | The player lost power or did not restart | Check the outlet and the power adapter, then power the player on; set the device to start the player on boot |
| Offline every night, back in the morning | Wi-Fi power saving, access point roaming or an expired DHCP lease | Turn off Wi-Fi power saving on the device, set a DHCP reservation for the player, or move it to Ethernet |
| Never shows online after a fresh install | A captive portal on guest Wi-Fi, blocked port 443 or failed DNS | Move the player to a wired VLAN or an SSID without a portal, allow outbound TCP 443 to *.signage.me, test DNS |
| Offline after an IT change | A new firewall rule, proxy or TLS inspection | Allow 443 outbound, enter proxy host, port and credentials, exempt the signage.me domains from TLS inspection |
| Offline for hours in the afternoon, fine otherwise | Heat, a weak power supply or the display putting the player to sleep | Improve ventilation, use the official power supply, turn off HDMI-CEC standby and auto power off on the display |
| Offline, screen shows the Android home screen | SignPlayer closed and the Watchdog app is not installed or was force stopped | Install the Watchdog APK from the Downloads page, open SignPlayer, reboot and confirm it relaunches |
| Offline, Windows shows a lock screen or update prompt | Auto-login is off, or Windows Update restarted the PC | Set the signage user to sign in automatically, let SignPlayer start with Windows, schedule updates outside opening hours |
| Offline, Raspberry Pi activity light is not blinking | A failed microSD card or undervoltage | Use the official supply, check vcgencmd get_throttled returns 0x0, replace the card with an A2 card or boot from an SSD |
| Offline and the player clock is wrong | NTP on UDP 123 blocked, or the wrong time zone | Allow NTP, turn on automatic time, set the device time zone to the screen's location |
| Offline only on one screen at a site where others are online | That player's cable, Wi-Fi link or power | Swap the cable or port, check its Wi-Fi signal, reboot it |
Bottom line: the most common fixes are a power-saving switch, a DHCP reservation and an outbound rule for port 443; a hardware replacement is rarely needed.
A captive portal is the sign-in page on guest Wi-Fi that a user must click through before the internet works. An unattended player cannot click it, and even when someone does it by hand the session expires after hours or days and the screen drops off again. A DHCP lease is the temporary address a router gives a device; when it expires and the renewal fails, the player loses its connection until it is rebooted.
How do I fix an offline screen step by step?
Follow the steps in order and stop when the dashboard shows the screen online again. Each step rules out one layer, so skipping ahead usually means coming back later.
- Open the Screens dashboard in SignStudio and read the last seen time. A time within the last few minutes means the status is recovering on its own; a time from hours ago means the connection is really down.
- Look at the screen. If it is playing, the fault is the network path and you can skip the power checks. If it is dark, check the player's power adapter and outlet, then the display input.
- If a keyboard, remote or screen is at hand, confirm the device itself has internet access by opening any website in a browser on the device. A sign-in page means a captive portal; no page at all means Wi-Fi, cable, DHCP or DNS.
- On Wi-Fi, check the signal at the player's position and turn off Wi-Fi power saving: on a Raspberry Pi it is a NetworkManager setting, on Windows it is the power management option of the network adapter, on Android it is under the Wi-Fi advanced settings on most devices.
- On a managed network, ask whoever runs the firewall to allow outbound TCP 443 to
*.signage.me, DNS on 53 and NTP on 123, and to exempt the signage.me domains from TLS inspection. If a proxy is in use, enter its host, port and credentials in the player or the operating system. HTTP, HTTPS and authenticated proxies are supported, SOCKS5 on Windows only. - From a laptop on the same network, run
curl -I https://galaxy.signage.me: any HTTP status code means the path is open, a timeout means it is blocked. - Restart the player app. On the dashboard, send Restart Player; if the player cannot receive commands because it is offline, restart it on the device or power cycle it: unplug for 30 seconds, plug back in, and wait 1 to 3 minutes for a full boot.
- Confirm the relauncher is in place so the player survives the next reboot: the Watchdog app on Android, start with Windows and auto-login on a PC, Login Items on a Mac, the SignService daemon on a Raspberry Pi, the kiosk auto-launch policy on Chrome OS.
- Turn off sleep, screen saver and power saving on the device, and auto power off, no-signal power down and HDMI-CEC standby on the display, so neither side puts the other to sleep.
- Set a DHCP reservation for the player on the router, or move it to Ethernet, and set the device time zone with automatic time on. Then take a screenshot from the dashboard to confirm the content.
If the screen is still offline after step 10, collect the screen name, the player version from the dashboard, the device model and what changed before it dropped, and ask support at support@digitalsignage.com, live chat at https://chat.digitalsignage.com/ or +1-877-344-7446.
Does the screen keep playing while it shows offline?
Yes, for everything stored on the player. SignPlayer downloads every scene, image and video assigned to the screen into its local cache and plays from there, and scheduled changes such as menu dayparts still happen on the player's own clock. What stops while offline is anything fetched live: the Web Page component, YouTube, RSS and weather feeds, social walls, Google Sheets data and live streams.
That is why the fix is rarely urgent for a lobby loop of images and video, and why it is urgent for a screen built around live data. The internet outage guide lists what plays and what stops, and how to give every live zone a cached fallback image so the screen is never blank.
When should I re-register the player instead?
Re-register only when the player is clearly online but does not appear in the account, after a device was replaced, or when support asks for it. An offline status by itself is never fixed by re-registering, because registration pairs the device with your account and has nothing to do with the network path.
A registration code is the short code the player shows on first launch, which you type into SignStudio under Register SignPlayer to pair the screen. Clearing the app data on Android, reinstalling the desktop player on Windows or Mac, or re-running the install script on a Raspberry Pi makes the player show a fresh code. The reset and re-register guide covers what each kind of reset keeps and loses.
How much does it cost to fix an offline screen?
Usually nothing, because the fix is a setting, and the software side never adds a charge. The table below lists what the common remedies cost in 2026, from the free software fix to a replacement player, so you can decide whether to keep nursing an unreliable device.
| Remedy | Typical 2026 cost | When it is the answer |
|---|---|---|
| DigitalSignage.com software, remote restart, settings changes | $0 on every plan; the first 3 screens are free forever, then from $3 per screen per month | Every offline case starts here |
| Ethernet cable or a powerline adapter pair | $10 to $60 | Wi-Fi drops at night or roams between access points |
| Smart plug for remote power cycling | $15 to $25 | A player that locks up and cannot be reached on site |
| Official Raspberry Pi power supply and an A2 microSD card or small SSD | $25 to $60 | Undervoltage or a worn card on a Pi |
| Replacement Android TV stick or box | $40 to $100 | A no-name box on an old Android version that drops off repeatedly |
| Raspberry Pi 5 kit with case and cooler | $81 to $137 | A permanent replacement with a watchdog service |
| A technician visit | $150 to $400 per call | Only when nobody on site can plug and unplug a device |
Bottom line: a $10 cable or a $15 smart plug fixes most repeat offenders, and the software never charges for the repair.
How do I stop the screen from going offline again?
Design the installation so the player does not depend on anything that expires or sleeps: Wi-Fi power saving, a guest network with a captive portal, an unreserved DHCP lease and a display that sleeps the player over HDMI-CEC cause most repeat reports.
- Use wired Ethernet for every permanent screen, or a dedicated SSID with no captive portal.
- Reserve each player's IP address in the router so a lease renewal never changes it.
- Install the relauncher for the platform and test it by pulling the plug once before you leave the site.
- Turn on the offline alert in SignStudio so the person on site hears about a drop within minutes, and run the 20-point health check once a quarter.
Frequently asked questions
My screen shows offline: how to find the cause and fix it
Offline means SignStudio cannot reach the DigitalSignage.com SignPlayer, not that the screen is dark. Check power and the HDMI input, confirm the device has internet access, allow outbound TCP 443 to the signage.me service plus DNS 53 and NTP 123, turn off Wi-Fi and device power saving, enter any proxy details, then restart the player. The screen keeps playing cached content meanwhile.
Why does my digital signage player keep going offline at night?
The usual causes are Wi-Fi power saving on the device, roaming between access points, an expired DHCP lease, or a display that puts the player to sleep over HDMI-CEC when the shop closes. Turn off power saving, reserve the player's IP address, disable CEC standby and auto power off on the display, or move the player to Ethernet.
Does offline mean the screen is black?
No. SignPlayer plays from its local cache, so a screen can show offline on the Screens dashboard while playing normally, and a dark screen can show online when the fault is the display or the cable. Take a screenshot from the dashboard to tell the two apart, and use the black screen guide for a dark screen that is online.
What ports does a digital signage player need to be online?
DigitalSignage.com SignPlayer needs outbound TCP 443 to *.signage.me, DNS on port 53 and NTP on UDP 123. No inbound ports, static IP or port forwarding are required, because the player connects out over a real-time socket and falls back to HTTP polling behind a strict firewall. If your firewall needs exact hostnames, ask support for the current list.
How long before SignStudio shows a player as offline?
A status change normally appears within a minute or two, because the player holds a live connection and polls when it cannot. Our documentation does not publish the exact number of missed check-ins that flips the indicator, so read the last seen time next to the status: minutes means it is recovering, hours means the connection is really down.
Should I set a static IP for a digital signage player?
A DHCP reservation on the router is the better choice: the player keeps the same address without anyone editing network settings on the device, and a replacement device can take over the reservation. A static IP typed into the device works too, but it breaks silently when the network is renumbered.
Does the fix work on the TV I have?
Yes, because the fix is on the player, not the TV. Any TV with an HDMI input works with a SignPlayer device in front of it, and Android TV, Google TV and Android system-on-chip displays run the player directly. Samsung Tizen, LG webOS and Fire OS TVs have no SignPlayer app, so they need an external player on a spare HDMI port.
Related guides
- Digital signage network requirements: ports, hosts and bandwidth
- Connect a player to Wi-Fi, Ethernet or a proxy
- What happens to digital signage when the internet goes down
- Reset, re-register or move a SignPlayer screen
- SignPlayer status, screenshots and logs
- Why is my digital signage screen black
- Set the time zone and keep the clock right on signage players
Try it on your own screens, free
DigitalSignage.com, which publishes this guide, runs a permanent free plan: the first 3 screens are free forever (no credit card, no ads, no watermark, no time limit), then from $3 per screen per month on Plus+. Once an account has 4 or more screens, every screen is billed, so 10 screens cost $360 a year; Enterprise is priced per screen in the public price calculator. The free DigitalSignage.com SignPlayer runs on Windows, Mac, Android and Android TV, Chrome OS, Raspberry Pi, iPad or any modern web browser, so the hardware you already own usually works. Start free · 2026 pricing · How 11 vendors compare on price
Maintained by MediaSignage Inc., operator of DigitalSignage.com since 2006. Product behavior on this page comes from our own SignStudio and SignPlayer documentation; where we do not document a step, this page says so instead of guessing. Last reviewed October 23, 2026.