Hi @support & Eric, I too am having this problem of losing my connection to the core.
I don’t think I have a firewall, I’m not sure how to check that.
I have Verizon Fios through a Verizon supplied Actiontec router (2 years old), a brand new iPad running Roon controller with Roon Core on the Brand New Salk Stream III to a Brand New Benchmark DAC3. The streamer is connected directly via Ethernet from my router… Even one foot away from the router, the iPad will lose it’s connection after a short time
Last night I installed the remote on my iPhone and after awhile, it too lost connection to the core. I’ve only had this running since Friday and after about 4 periods of playing time over the weekend, it’s happened at least a half a dozen times. I’ve been told that it may be the router, but want to confirm that before I pay for an upgrade or purchase my own. Twice I lost connection just as I was pressing play to start a new track (if that’s a clue).
Hi @John_Doyle ----- Thank you for the report and chiming in to share your feedback with us. The insight is appreciated and sorry to hear of the troubles.
Moving forward, may I very kindly ask you to provide the following information:
Besides the mentioned router are there any other networking device in your network configuration?
Since making note of this behavior have you tried rebooting not only your core machine but any relevant networking devices as well?
I you have the ability to host a Roon remote on say a laptop that can make use of both a wired LAN connection and Wifi connection I would like to hear what the experience is like when the device is accessing the core via WiFi and with a hardwired connection directly to the router.
What observations are made when the following tests are performed:
TEST #1:
Shut down your Core
Open Roon on your Remote
(Tip: If you are using a iphone, make sure you keep it awake)
Roon should be on the “Searching For Core” screen
Start up the Core
TEST #2:
Start up your Core
Open Roon on your Remote
(Tip: If you are using a iphone, make sure you keep it awake)
Kill the Roon app
(Tip: If you are using Android please go to Settings > Apps > Roon > Force Stop)
Hi Eric, I tried to install Roon on my Win 7 laptop, but I could not run it due to my laptop not having some video card thing that was missing. I will try to attempt connecting a different laptop again.
So on to the tests… #1
Waiting for the core, it flashed quickly to open, the it briefly flashed “lost connection”, then it opened.
I tried running #1 again and it just opened.
#2 loaded normally and after I killed the app, it restarted fine. I did notice on my second trial of number 2 that the music still plays after I kill the app.
Oh, and the router is connected from the Verizon ONT via RF cable from a splitter that also connects with my TV set top box. The Router has two Ethernet cables out, one to the TV, the other to the Salk Streamer. Everything else (phones & laptops, etc.), are connected via wi-fi. That’s pretty much it.
Thank you for touching base with me @John_Doyle, the follow up is very appreciated!
Continuing forward, I wanted to touch base and see if you had the chance to run the proposed test and what observations were made when a Wifi and hardwired connection were both used.
Additionally, I would also be curious to hear what the experience was like if you temporarily hosted your Roon core on a different device. Is the remote able to connect?
Hi Eric, I’m going to have to upgrade my MacBook in order to install Roon on it to test a hardwired connection and I will do that… but before I try that, I have a question.
I have the Roon core installed on my Salk streamer, it came pre-installed from the factory. I just signed up for Roon and I got the controller app for my iPhone and iPad. I can operate it controlling it to play on either iOS device or directly to my Dac. My question is that when I kill the app on either device, it continues to play. It continues to play even if I shut down either device. Is this Normal?
I would think that it would stop playing…
Also, when I wake up my iPad, I can see what’s playing, but then the screen flashed for a second showing it to reconnect. Is that normal too?
Before you ask me to reinstall the apps, is there a preferred method to reinstall?
I attempted to try this and it warned me that I would lose my settings, etc. I’m happy to try this, I just want to be sure.
Do I need to reinstall the core as well?
If you’d rather me try the hard wired connection first, I’ll do that, I just need a little more time.
“I have the Roon core installed on my Salk streamer, it came pre-installed from the factory. I just signed up for Roon and I got the controller app for my iPhone and iPad. I can operate it controlling it to play on either iOS device or directly to my DAC. My question is that when I kill the app on either device, it continues to play. It continues to play even if I shut down either device. Is this Normal?”
This behavior is indeed normal and here is why. Your Roon remote is ultimately just controlling your Roon core, which in turn allows you to control the endpoint via the remote device. Unless an endpoint is paused or disabled via a Roon remote it will continue to play because the stream is still be fed to the device from the core. If the core machine for example is powered down, then ALL playback and remote connections will stop.
“Also, when I wake up my iPad, I can see what’s playing, but then the screen flashed for a second showing it to reconnect. Is that normal too?”
Does this happen often or was this just a passing observation? Depending on the frequency of this behavior, I would consider rebooting the device OR if you felt inclined perhaps try reinstalling.
“Before you ask me to reinstall the apps, is there a preferred method to reinstall? I attempted to try this and it warned me that I would lose my settings, etc. I’m happy to try this, I just want to be sure.”
I am a touch confused by this comment, so my apologies. I am assuming this in regard to setting up another remote device, correct? When you received the warning message what task were you trying to perform and on what device?
“Do I need to reinstall the core as well?”
“If you’d rather me try the hard wired connection first, I’ll do that, I just need a little more time.”
No need to reinstall the core.
Let’s test with a hardwired connection first and then we can go about testing on another core.
Hi Eric, so I had my Mac Book proupdated to OS 10.11, and I’m now not sure what to download… Roon Remote, or Roon Bridge? Let me know which one I need to download to run the hard wired test.
Thanks,
Never mind, I installed the core and remote got my Mac and I saw that I could just choose it as a remote, so I’m all set. I will do the test with a hard wired connection and report back.
Hi Eric, I ran into a snag trying to set up my Mac Book Pro to Control Roon via a hardwired Ethernet Connection to my router. I can still plow ahead and eventually test it this way, but there will be some difficulty to set this test up… so before I continue the process to be able to perform the Hard Wired Test to my Controller, I wanted to report some findings and ask a question.
In regards to Roon still operating when I kill the controller app, you said:
“This behavior is indeed normal and here is why. Your Roon remote is ultimately just controlling your Roon core, which in turn allows you to control the endpoint via the remote device. Unless an endpoint is paused or disabled via a Roon remote it will continue to play because the stream is still be fed to the device from the core.”
This explanation now makes total sense. However, it must mean that it’s not a WiFi issue to my iPad controller (or iPhone) that’s loosing the connection, it must be happening via the Ethernet Connection to my Salk Streamer. Am I correct to assume that?
My thinking is that the Lost Connection issue I’m having may be due to my (not so great) Actiontec Router. I’m also using Tidal and I tested streaming Tidal direct to my Salk Stream Player… I got the same issue (twice over a few hours) with a drop out/lost connection.
This leads me to think that my problem may not be Roon, but a hardware issue.
So if I am able to eventually run that Hardwired test and hypothetically, I still loose the connection, can you tell me what that would mean?
I’m hopeful that your experience with these issues will give me the best advice to resolve this problem.
Hi @John_Doyle ----- Thank you for getting in touch and sharing these observations you have made. Very appreciated.
“My thinking is that the Lost Connection issue I’m having may be due to my (not so great) Actiontec Router. I’m also using Tidal and I tested streaming Tidal direct to my Salk Stream Player… I got the same issue (twice over a few hours) with a drop out/lost connection.”
The above is interesting because it leads me to believe that there is either a potential issue occurring with the Salk Stream III OR with the router. Being as you are noticing a similar experience outside of Roon, this strongly suggest that one of these two variables could be the culprit here.
Moving forward, I want to hold off on the “hardwired test” and the “new core” test, for now, and have you test the following:
Turn off the Salk Stream III (this is only temporary)
Bring up the TIDAL desktop application or web interface on the MacBook.
If you play TIDAL content directly from the MacBook what is the experience like?
Hi Eric, So yes, I did this a few times and a few different ways over the weekend and this is what I’ve found:
Streaming Tidal direct and connecting via my Airplay device will work fine, it plays for hours.
Streaming Tidal direct to the Salk streamer (to reiterate, is connected via an Ethernet cable to my Router and a USB to my DAC) will still loose it’s connection.
Using the Roon Core from the Salk Streamer, but controlling on my Mac Book and connecting to my receiver via my Airplay device, will still replicate the lost connection problem.
The lost connection problem once it happens, can be immediately corrected if I reboot the Salk Streamer, the remote will find it as soon as the reboot is completed.
Also worth noting, I did swap out to a second Ethernet cable at the very beginning of my troubleshooting process and it did not correct my issue (unless it’s due to using a Cat 5e cable).
While it’s become clear that this is not a Roon issue, I would still appreciate any experience you may have had with an issue like this.
I can’t see any info on the SSiii website as to the processor speed or model used…but I am assuming that its in a pretty robust chassis for fanless cooling and its an i7 that they have this indeed well spec’d for Roon.
In my experience, dropped connections to remotes are often seen when the core is on an under powered core setup like a NAS and when the processor is tied up doing other things like library analysis or importing music - or for that matter doing DSP upsampling and other features.
Im not familiar with the SSiii interface to be able to say where to look for what else is going on in there, but perhaps the support guys have some more insight as to the SSiii internals.
Thanks for the follow up and the feedback @John_Doyle, very appreciated!
Continuing forward, based on your most recent observation, I would like to have you verify (if possible) what the experience is like under the following conditions:
#1 - Different core machine:
Please Try running you Roon core on the mentioned Mac Book, accessing your network via both a WiFi connection and a hardwired one. What the was experience like when playing TIDAL content back in both scenarios?
#2 - Different Router:
If there is concern with the reliability with mentioned Verizon supplied router I would recommend testing with another one temporarily in place, to confirm what the experience is like. I have seen issues in the past with ISP provided gear and almost always recommend using a well known/well reviewed name brand router.
Thanks for weighing in Mr. Fix it… yes, the Salk Streamer III (while not advertised as such), appears to be a re-branded Small Green Computer i7 with Linux and Roon pre-installed. I chose the 1tb ssd hard drive as well. While nothing is ever 100% fool proof, I’m betting that it is my router.
I will report back soon
Lots of routers out there…but most consumer ones are really quite everage performers especially ones given away with isp signups.
Unfortunately some isp’s customise the routers settings up so much that replacing it with something much better can be an issue…just a heads up to double check local forums for using other routers/ brands with your provider.
We have a provider here in Singapore that sets internet traffic to run on a VLAN and so replacing the router will be much harder unless you know what you are doing.
Hi Eric, I solved my problem… To re-cap, after a period of time, my Roon Core located on a Salk Stream III, would loose it’s connection. I then discovered that Tidal Direct (not through Roon) to the streamer would do the same thing. Tidal direct connected via an airplay device did not loose it’s connection. Multiple tests and trials with Cables and Router upgrades were performed as well.
I then contacted Salk for advice, Jim installed an update to Linux (which was fairly up to date to begin with) and added Intel microcode to the mix.
To quote Jim: "I think it was probably the latter that addressed the issue. My guess (and it was just a guess) was that the issue was related to a problem with the ATA bus that prevented the drive from operating properly on a consistent basis. The microcode helps Linux communicate better with the Intel chips on the motherboard."
After the install, I have not lost connection and am enjoying Roon!
Thanks for your help on trying to locate the problem! You can close this thread.