ARC Port forwarding stopped working suddenly while driving (ref#OVJ8M5)

Support
1

Network Setup

· I use my ISP's router alongside a personal router.

ARC Status

· ARC is *Not Ready*

Roon Error Code

· “Did not find UPnP service with WANIPConnection on network”

Have you successfully located and enabled the UPnP or NAT-PMP settings in your router's web UI?

· I've turned UPnP/ NAT-PMP on and ARC won't connect

Select the Diagnostic Keyword or Text String

· Something else

Don't give up yet.

· I'm stuck. I'd like to create a post to ask Roon Community for help.

Describe the issue

ARC Port forwarding suddenly stopped working today while I was driving. No numeric error code. Able to surf the internet without problem. Reloaded Roon software and rebooted hardware, including router and Zenith server.

Describe your network setup

Xfinity/Comcast ISP and 1 GB router. Zenith is hardwired. Use Apple (iPhone, laptop) and Innuos software/hardware only. TP Link extender. Entire system working fine until today.

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Hi @Laurence_Landow.

Thanks for reaching out. Can you confirm - is Roon at home still working properly? Do you notice any errors in Roon Settings → ARC? What is the current status of ARC following your report, is ARC working properly on your home and mobile network at the present time? Let us know when you can, thanks!

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Hi Norris,

Thank you for getting back to me.

I’m a Lifetime Roon subscriber.

My Roon email address has been [obfuscated ] for some time. Recently my modem died. Unfortunately, I made a serious error when naming the ISP server for my replacement modem: I entered LouisXV_ext instead of LouisXV_EXT. Since LouisXV_EXT is now dead, I am unable to sign in to Roon when using my new ISP server, LouisXV_ext.

To be able to reach out to you, I opened a Trial Roon subscription using another email address that I own.

Are you able to help me resolve this issue? For example, can you change the NEW email address to the OLD email address so that I can delete this trial account.

Many thanks for you assistance.

Laurence Landow

PS: I will check whether there is an issue with Port Forwarding after I send this email.

4

@anon96884371 you are now using a different forum account, can you please use @Laurence_Landow which is the one associated with your Roon subscription.

PS If you wish to change user name that’s fine just post a request as @Laurence_Landow in …

8

For posterity, there are a few reasons that port forwarding can suddenly fail, even if you’ve made no changes to your router settings or network setup.

First off, the carrier can implement CG-NAT upstream of your account without announcement. Many carriers worldwide are in the process of rolling out CG-NAT to their residential-tier accounts as IPv4 addresses run out.

Backend router firmware updates will sometimes reset UPnP or erase port forwarding rules you’ve configured. They can also disable Bridge mode on your ISP-provided gateways.

Lastly, other software might have negotiated use of the ports that Roon had previously relied upon. You’ll see this as a port conflict in the diagnostic message in Roon Settings → ARC, although that UX is admittedly still quite clunky.

We’re going to close this thread at this time for housekeeping. You can reach out here to reactivate the topic.

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When Port forwarding on ARC suddenly stopped 8 days ago, my ISP suggested replacing my 4-year old modem. Naming my new modem (+ extender) “LouisXV_ext” as opposed to the handle I had been using since installing Roon over a decade ago, "LouisXV_EXT", was a serious mistake. Although I can surf the internet using _ext, I am unable to connect to the Roon core on my iMac or Macbook Air; in addition, I am unable to connect to the Roon core even after switching back to EXT.

Then just this afternoon I discovered something while using my iphone worth sharing with the Team.

  • Clicking on the Roon app and selecting the LouisXV_EXT server led the Zenith and iMac buttons to appear on the screen. When I clicked on the Zenith button, all my music albums suddenly self-populated and I was able to play the files from my music collection! Unfortunately, I still receive a never-ending error message when I try this on my iMac or Air — minus the Zenith and iMac buttons appearing on the screen: “Redirecting, please wait”.

  • Switching back to the LouisXV_ext server and clicking on a visible album brings up an error message: “Uh, oh, something’s not right”

This observation suggests that the culprit — at least in the case of the iphone belonging to this non-techie — could be the modem’s anomalous _ext address. IOW, since the device has not seen this address before, it blocks the Zenith from connecting to my Roon core. In contrast, _EXT is instantly recognized because it is the same ID I used the first time I connected to my Roon core over ten years ago.

I look forward to receiving input on how I can resolve this problem on my devices.

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Hello @Laurence_Landow

Thanks for the detail in your last post. That iPhone test is the most useful thing in the thread so far.

One thing to set aside first: LouisXV_EXT and LouisXV_ext are Wi-Fi network names, not servers, and the capitalization is not what is blocking anything. What the iPhone test shows is that these are two separate networks. On LouisXV_EXT the Zenith appears and plays. On LouisXV_ext it does not. Roon remotes and Roon Server have to be on the same network to find each other, which points at how the extender is set up rather than at the name. Deleting one of the networks will not fix this, so please hold off on that.

Three things to check:

1. The extender. Please open the TP-Link’s settings and confirm whether it is extending your main network or creating a second network of its own. If it is creating its own, your devices end up split across two networks depending on which one each of them joined, which is exactly the pattern you described.

2. Port forwarding. The forwarding rule lived on the modem you replaced. It went with the old hardware, so it has to be set up again on the new one. Steps are here: https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/arc-port-forwarding

3. Double NAT. You mentioned running the ISP router alongside a personal router. If both are performing NAT, port forwarding cannot work no matter how it is configured, and that also fits the original “Did not find UPnP service with WANIPConnection” message. Please open Settings > Roon ARC and paste the diagnostic text here. If actual_external_ip and router_external_ip show two different addresses, that confirms it, and the fix is putting the Xfinity gateway in bridge mode. The Multiple NAT section of the article above walks through it.

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Many thanks for a timely response. Here is my response to each of the points you raise.

  1. The TP-Link device, to which my ethernet cable is attached, is the RE 705X extender. The TP-link website explicitly states that the RE 705X is not a modem.
  2. The xfinity technician who came to my house the day after I received the new modem told me that contrary to what I was told over the phone by the xfinity technician, the original modem that I am currently using is not only working properly, it is superior to the new one sent to me by xfinity. He advised me to return it to xfinity to avoid a restocking fee, which I did last week.
  3. My understanding is that the xfinity modem I’m currently using acts as both modem and router. In any event, I’m unaware of the existence of any other internet-related device in my house besides the RE 705X.

Please advise.

Thank you

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Hey @Laurence_Landow,

Thanks for confirming the hardware!

Before going further on port forwarding, there are two things we’d like to rule out first, because they’d explain the errors on your iMac and MacBook Air better than the network would.

The account. When your modem was replaced you opened a second (trial) account, and we want to make sure your Zenith’s Roon Server is signed into your original Lifetime account and not that trial one. A server signed into a different account than the remotes produces exactly the “Redirecting, please wait” and “something’s not right” messages you described. On the Zenith, please check Roon → Settings → General and tell us which account email is shown (don’t paste the full email, just a portion of it.)

The number of servers. We’re seeing more than one Roon Server associated with your account, reporting from more than one IP address. That alone will break ARC, because ARC records connection details from whichever server checked in most recently, so it may be pointing at the wrong machine entirely, no matter how the router is configured. Do you have Roon Server running anywhere besides the Zenith, such as on the iMac or the MacBook Air? If so, please shut those down so the Zenith is the only server online.

On the network, two more things:

Please confirm what the Zenith’s Ethernet cable is plugged into. Based on your iPhone test, it looks like it may be connected to the RE705X rather than to the Xfinity gateway. If so, move it to a port on the Xfinity gateway directly, a range extender does not reliably pass along the UPnP requests Roon uses to set up port forwarding, which matches the “Did not find UPnP service with WANIPConnection” error you’re seeing.

Then, as a test, please unplug the RE705X entirely, restart the Xfinity gateway, and restart the Zenith. We’d like to see whether ARC comes up with the extender out of the picture. If it does, we can walk you through reconfiguring the extender afterward so it uses the same network name as your gateway instead of a second one.

Finally, in your first post you mentioned an ISP router plus a personal router, and more recently that the Xfinity gateway and RE705X are the only devices. Could you confirm there’s no other router, switch, or mesh unit in the chain? That would help us rule out double NAT.

Once you’ve done the above, please open Roon → Settings → Roon ARC and send us the full diagnostic text so we can check your external IP and port status.

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Hello Benjamin,

Here are my replies to your queries.

The account. I am confident I have signed into the lifetime account. First, the email address of my lifetime account (egbertsouse) is different from the trial account I created recently (jeannedarc). Second, my lifetime account has approximately 1700 files whereas the trial account has 2 files. Third, my lifetime account lists all the nuanced preferences I entered over the years, whereas the trial account has Roon’s features set to default.

The number of servers. When I click on the WiFi icon (fan), I see two servers with the same server name but with a slightly different suffix: LouisXV-ext and LouisXV-EXT. My first modem from xfinity 12 years ago was named LouisXV, but it changed to LouisXV-EXT after I connected an RE705X extender around 6 years ago. Rightly or wrongly, I named the new xfinity modem that xfinity sent me LouisXV-ext. However, I returned that router to xfinity a few days later after the xfinity technician who came to my house to troubleshoot my setup told me the old modem was superior to the new modem and that the old modem was functioning normally. Btw, from what I’ve read, xfinity modems are actually modem-router combination devices.

Although both Zenith and iMac icons pop up when I log in to Roon, I always choose Zenith as my online server.

On the network. A coaxial cable coming from a wall outlet connects to the back of the Zenith. An Ethernet cable connects from the back of the Zenith to the RE705X. Until one week ago, I was able to stream my music collection at home (DAC + floor standing speakers) for over 12 years and stream my music collection in my car (Apply Play + port forward on ARC) for the last 18 months.

  • Disconnecting from the RE705X. LouisXV-EXT no longer appears in my drop down list of available servers, so I switch to LouisXV-ext. After signing in to Roon, the sign in window freezes. Since I cannot log in to Roon, I cannot test whether ARC port forwarding is working as expected.
  • After reconnecting to the RE705. After waiting 2-3 minutes, LouisXV-EXT returns in the drop down list. Selecting that server instead of LouisXV-ext and then clicking on the Roon icon brings up the Zenith icon (but minus the iMac icon). Clicking on the Zenith icon launches Roon and displays my music files, but the ARC tab still shows the “Not ready” error message.
  • I can confirm there is only one (modem-)router and that there’s no other router, switch or mesh in the chain.

Many thanks for your assistance.

Laurence Landow

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Hey @Laurence_Landow,

Thanks for the detail!

First, one clarification that matters for everything below: what appears when you click the Wi-Fi fan icon are Wi-Fi network names, not servers. You have one Roon Server, the Zenith. “LouisXV-EXT” and “LouisXV-ext” are two wireless networks, almost certainly your gateway’s network and a second one the RE705X is broadcasting on its own.

Now the important part. You wrote that an Ethernet cable runs from the Zenith to the RE705X. That means your Roon Server’s only connection to your network is through the extender’s wireless link back to the gateway, it is not wired to your router at all. That explains what you’re seeing:

  • When you unplug the extender, the Zenith loses its only network path. That’s why it vanishes and sign-in hangs, it isn’t an account problem or a capitalization problem.
  • Range extenders frequently fail to pass the multicast traffic that UPnP relies on. That’s exactly the “Did not find UPnP service with WANIPConnection on network” error, and it’s why ARC can’t open a port even though everything else works.

So the first thing to try is to get the Zenith off the extender:

  1. Connect the Zenith directly to the Xfinity gateway with an Ethernet cable, even temporarily, a long cable run across the floor for ten minutes is enough to test. Then reboot the Zenith and check Settings → Roon ARC.
  2. If the Zenith can’t reach the gateway by cable, and there’s a live coax outlet at the Zenith’s location, a MoCA adapter pair will give you a proper wired connection over that coax. That is the permanent fix if the two rooms are far apart.

Separately, it may be worth a call to Xfinity to check if they may have moved your account behind carrier-grade NAT, which would break port forwarding overnight with no changes on your end and no notice to you.

One last thing to check when you have a moment: open the TP-Link Tether app and confirm which network the RE705X is currently extending. If it’s still bound to the network name from the modem you returned, that alone would explain the two entries you’re seeing.

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@Benjamin,

Thank you for the terminology clarification.

  1. For our purposes, here is a description of my current home network setup.
  • Living room (Zenith, RE705X) and 2nd bedroom-office (modem) separated by around 25 feet
  • One port on the modem connects to a 1-foot coaxial cable. The other end of this cable is connected to a 1"- long metal “collar” that is slightly larger in diameter than the coaxial cable connector itself (I’m guessing it’s an MoCA adapter pair). The distal end of the “collar” connects to a much longer coaxial cable that emerges from behind my living room wall. This coaxial cable connects directly into the Zenith.

Question: Given this description, do I still need to disconnect the Zenith, place it next to my modem, and connect a short Ethernet cable from the modem directly into the Zenith?

  1. Regarding the RE705X, the TP-link iphone App indicates the following.
  • With LouisXV_ext selected: No internet connection
  • With Louis XV_EXE selected:
    • Network status: “No internet”
    • Clients: 2
    • Main Network: no connection
    • Extended Network: 2G, 5G

Looking forward to your comments

24

Good morning @Benjamin,

Regarding your question about whether my account could have been moved behind a carrier-grade NAT without notifying me of the change,

  • The xfinity support individual to whom I spoke this morning claimed her support tier level was too low to address this question. She also did not know whether an xfinity technician making a returning house-call would be able to address it, although she was quite sure I would be charged $100 for the visit, regardless of outcome.
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@benjamin,

I just received a link from xfinity following this morning’s call: