SD-card setup, and why players don't boot
On a BrightSign® player the SD card is the installation, which is also why it's the thing that breaks. Here's the card-to-first-frame process, and the five failure modes that cover nearly every player that won't start.
XiPlay ships as a single downloadable package: copy it onto the card, insert it, power on. There is nothing to install on the player, no OS to maintain, no app store, and no flashing or imaging tool; a plain file copy is the whole job. That simplicity is the point of solid-state signage hardware.
The corollary is that the card carries everything. Spend £4 more on it than you want to; it is the cheapest component in the deployment and the one most likely to cost you a site visit.
From a blank card to a live screen
- 1
Get a good card: this is the step people skip
Class-10 (or faster), 16 GB or more, from a brand you recognise. A worn or counterfeit card is the single most common cause of a BrightSign® player that won't boot reliably, and it fails intermittently rather than outright, which makes it maddening to diagnose.
- 2
Copy the files onto the card
Extract the downloaded XiPlay package (.zip) and copy its contents to the root of the card. No Balena Etcher, no image writer; any Windows, macOS or Linux machine with a card reader will do. Verify the package's SHA-256 first.
- 3
Insert and power on
Put the card in the BrightSign® player and power it up. There is nothing to install on the device itself: the card is the installation.
- 4
Read the MAC off the activation screen
On first boot the player resolves its real hardware NIC MAC and shows it on screen (with a QR code). That MAC is the device's identity for licensing, and you'll claim the player by it.
- 5
Point it at your Xibo® CMS and claim it
Enter your Xibo® CMS address (and CMS key if your server requires one), then claim the device by its MAC in the XiPlay portal. Every new device starts a 14-day full-feature trial automatically, with no card and no license needed.
Full walkthrough with screenshots: Getting started docs · Get the package: Downloads
The five failures that cover nearly everything
In practice, a BrightSign® player that misbehaves is failing in one of five ways, and only the first is really about the hardware.
| Symptom | Usual cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Player won't boot, or boots intermittently | Almost always the SD card. | Re-format a known-good, branded class-10+ card and copy the verified package onto it again. Cheap, worn or counterfeit cards are the number-one cause. If a card has been rewritten many times, retire it. |
| Stuck on the activation screen | Network or configuration, not hardware. | Confirm the player can reach both your Xibo® CMS and the licensing endpoint. Re-check the CMS address and key on the configuration screen. Confirm the MAC shown on screen is the one claimed in the portal; it's easy to claim a typo. |
| Player is up but shows no content | The CMS side, usually authorization. | The display registers in Xibo® but must be authorized there before content is sent. Check the display exists and is authorized in your Xibo® CMS, and that a layout is actually scheduled to it. |
| Content plays at the wrong time | Timezone on the display, not the player. | The player takes its clock and timezone from the CMS. Check the timezone configured for that display in Xibo®, since scheduling is evaluated in the display's local time. |
| Screen kept playing old content after a change | Working as designed. | XiPlay is offline-first: it plays its cached content and picks up changes on the next successful collect. If it never updates, the player can't reach the CMS, so check the network before suspecting the schedule. |
Still stuck? The troubleshooting docs go deeper, or ask us. We reply within one business day.
SD-card & boot questions
How do I flash a BrightSign® SD card?
For XiPlay you don't flash anything: extract the downloaded package and copy its contents onto a class-10 (or faster) SD card of 16 GB or more, eject it, insert it into the BrightSign® player, and power on. That is the entire installation: no imaging tool is used, and nothing is installed on the device itself.
What SD card should I use for a BrightSign® player?
A branded class-10 or faster card, 16 GB or larger. Do not economise here: cheap, worn or counterfeit cards are the most common cause of players that boot unreliably, and they fail intermittently rather than cleanly, which turns a five-minute job into a site visit.
My BrightSign® player won't boot. What's wrong?
Start with the card. Re-format a known-good, branded class-10+ card, copy the verified package onto it, and try again. That resolves the large majority of no-boot cases. If a freshly prepared good card still won't boot, then look at power and the player itself.
Does wiping or re-copying the card reset my trial?
No. Trial dates are anchored server-side, once per device, against the player's real hardware MAC. Wiping or re-preparing the card does not reset the 14-day trial, and equally a licensed player survives a card wipe or replacement without losing its license.
Where do I find the player's MAC address?
On first boot the activation screen displays the player's real hardware MAC, along with a QR code of it. That MAC is the device's identity for licensing, and you claim the player by it in the XiPlay portal.
Do I need to verify a checksum?
When we publish packages with a SHA-256, verify it before copying; it confirms the download wasn't corrupted or tampered with. A corrupted package is indistinguishable from a bad card at boot, so it's worth the thirty seconds.
Next: which model to buy · choosing a CMS
Card in hand?
Grab the package, copy it onto the card, and point the player at your Xibo® CMS. 14 days free on every new device.