Getting this message when loading home page and getting this error from Tom AI Couldn't send — the connection to the SparkBox server dropped. Trying to reconnect… refresh the page if this sticks for more than 30 seconds.
11 replies
Chris wrote:
Hi wildwill — thanks for the report. That error comes from the dashboard losing its session, which happens when the dashboard's session store can't write to disk. This was a known issue in earlier versions on certain filesystems (like UGREEN overlay FS), where the write operation would fail and session persistence would break. The good news is this was fixed in v1.6.203. A couple of quick checks: 1. What version are you running? Check Settings → About to see your installed version. 2. Does a page refresh help? Sometimes a single transient write failure is enough to trigger the error — try refreshing the page. If it's green within a few seconds, it was a one-time hiccup. If you're on an older version, upgrading to the latest release should resolve it. If you're already on v1.6.203 or newer and this keeps happening, let me know your version and I can dig deeper.
wildwill wrote:
Thanks for the reply. Currently running version 1.6.678. I just did a clean install after switching to Windows 11.
wildwill wrote:
Yes, the page has loaded, but I am encountering errors related to failing to load services and modules.
Chris wrote:
Thanks for that update — the dashboard loading is a good sign. When it says 'failing to load services and modules,' that's usually telling us something on the SparkBox stack didn't start correctly or isn't answering health checks. A couple of quick checks will narrow this down: 1. In the dashboard home, look at the colored ring at the top. Is it green (all healthy), or are there red/yellow segments? If there's color, click on it — it should list which apps are down. 2. Separately, open Settings → Tools → System Status. Scroll down to the Containers section and tell me which containers show as "Up" but "Unhealthy" (or completely "Exited"). On a fresh Windows 11 install, the most common reason is that Docker or WSL2 took a moment to fully settle. Once I see which containers are stuck, I can give you the exact next step.
wildwill wrote:
Bazarr stuck on starting vpn connection stuck on starting prowlarr is still starting
Chris wrote:
Thanks for that detail. Three containers stuck in 'starting' state on a fresh install usually means they're waiting on a network dependency. Here's what will narrow it down: 1. How long has your box been running? A fresh install sometimes takes 2–3 minutes for all containers to settle, especially on Windows 11 with WSL2. If it's been less than 5 minutes, let it run for another 2 minutes and check again. 2. Once it's had time, open a terminal and run: docker logs sb-gluetun (that's the VPN container). Paste the last 20–30 lines here — that will tell us if the VPN is trying to connect or stuck waiting. 3. Separately, in the dashboard, open Settings → Tools → System Status and scroll to the Containers section. For each of those three containers, tell me the full status line (e.g., "Up 2 minutes (unhealthy)" vs "Exited (code 1)"). The VPN container is the critical dependency — if it's not healthy, Bazarr and Prowlarr can't start because they route through it. Once I see those logs, I can tell you the exact next step.
wildwill wrote:
installed over an hour ago i believe its something to do with my vpn setup could not get response from TomAI at the time
wildwill wrote:
docker : The term 'docker' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again. At line:1 char:1 + docker logs sb-gluetun + ~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (docker:String) [], CommandNotFoundException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
Chris wrote:
Ah, that's the issue — you're running the docker command from Windows PowerShell, but it's only available in the WSL2 terminal. Here's the fix: 1. Open WSL2 terminal. In Windows, press Win+X and select Windows Terminal or open a new tab in the one you have, then switch to Ubuntu or whichever WSL2 distro you are using. 2. In that WSL2 terminal, run: docker logs sb-gluetun and paste the last 20-30 lines here. That will show us what the VPN container is doing. Since it has been over an hour and it is still in starting state, the logs should tell us if it is actually connecting or stuck waiting. Once I see those logs, I can give you the exact next step to get the VPN healthy again.
wildwill wrote:
prowlarr is red where it says created seerr up healthy vpn connection starting byparr red where it says created bazarr up healthy proxy manager up healthy homepage healthy dashboard healthy
Chris wrote:
Thanks for that detail. The 'created' state means those containers were set up but never started. This happens on fresh installs with startup races on Windows 11 WSL2. Here's what will fix this: 1. Open your WSL2 terminal. 2. Run: sudo sparkbox restart Wait for it to finish completely. 3. Then run: docker ps Paste the output - I'm looking for all containers to show either "Up" or "Exited", with none stuck in 'created'. Once the restart finishes, wait 2-3 minutes and check the dashboard. The colored ring should go fully green. Let me know what docker ps shows.