TROUBLESHOOTING AUDIO & VIDEO PROBLEMS

We recommend using Firefox as your browser for viewing media files, though other browsers may also work.

However, if you see nothing but a churning progress indicator when you try to play an online media file, it means that your computer is having trouble accessing the audio or video file over the Internet. In technical terms, the port through which the media travels is being blocked on the computer you are using.

Follow the instructions below for your operating system to open the required port and allow the media files to play.

Windows users
Macintosh users
Other issues

---

Windows Users

1. Go to Start/ Settings/ Control Panel and open Windows Firewall.
   
   
2. Click on the Exceptions tab, then scroll through the list of exceptions.
   
   
   1. If QuickTime Player appears in the list, make sure that the little box next to it is checked, then click OK.
      
      
   2. If QuickTime Player does not appear, click on Add Program.
      
      
   3. In the Add a Program window, select QuickTime Player and click OK.
      
      
   4. If QuickTime is not on the list, click Browse to navigate to QuickTimePlayer.exe, then click Open. (If necessary, use Start/ Search to find out where it is.)
      
      
   5. Click OK to close the Add a Program window.
      
      
3. Back on the Exceptions tab of the Windows Firewall window, click on Add Port.
   
   
4. Set the name as QuickTime and the number as 554, select UDP, then click OK.
   
   
5. Go to Start/ Programs/ QuickTime/ QuickTime Player, or search for QuickTime Player.
   
   
6. In the QuickTime window, go to Edit/ Preferences/ QuickTime Preferences and click on the Advanced tab.
   
   
7. In the Streaming area, for Transport Setup, select Custom from the drop-down menu.
   
   
8. When the Streaming Transport window pops up, confirm that Transport Protocol is set to UDP and Port ID is set to 554.
   
   
9. Click OK, then OK again to close all QuickTime windows.

Back to top>

---

Macintosh Users

1. Open the QuickTime player. Click on QuickTime, then QuickTime Preferences.
   
   
2. In Transport Setup, click on Custom and make sure Protocol reads UDP and Port 554.
   
   
3. To add UDP port 554 to your firewall exceptions:
   
   
   1. Go to System Preferences.
      
      
   2. Click Sharing, then click Firewall.
      
      
   3. Click the New button to add this port.

Back to top>

---

Other Issues

Sometimes your browser has been set to block port 554. Adding Firefox to your Firewall's allowed applications usually fixes this problem. You can also add QuickTime for good measure.

Please remember that the port problem is not a Moodle issue. We are simply using Moodle as an access point to these files. The port would need to be opened even if we accessed the files directly.

If you continue to have difficulty, call the User Support Center at x4487.

Back to top>