Error message: "Giving up on retrieving media sources. This issue will probably resolve itself eventually."

[natalie_hamilto]

Hi. Can somebody help me understand why a student is getting this error message: "Giving up on retrieving media sources. This issue will probably resolve itself eventually." when uploading videos please? The videos are under 500 MB, internet is stable and they have not used their quota of personal file space......

[chriscas]

Hi @natalie_hamilto,

I have never encountered that error, nor do I see any other references to it when searching the web.  I'm going to take an educated guess on what it's likely trying to indicate.  I believe it's saying the media file is taking too long to finish uploading, and the system is therefore giving up.  Even with a "stable" internet connection, upload speeds on cable/dsl are often MUCH slower than downloading.  Uploading a 500MB file on a somewhat typical home DSL connection in the USA, for example, may take 45 minutes (assuming no other activity on the internet connection for that entire time).  Systems sometimes do have a time limit for things to finish, and my guess here is that Canvas has a timer that's being exceeded.

My advice would be for the student to perhaps try the upload from a location with faster internet (especially on a school campus where upload and download are usually both fast).  if I am right, the upload would likely succeed, but if this doesn't work, please do reply back here!

Hope this helps!

-Chris