SonicTransporter 2.5 running Roon Server 1.6 build 416 (has been fully powered down/up, software restart of Roon Server and also cleared Roon cache, no help)
Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
One of three remotes (MacBook Pro, iPhone 8, iPad, all running latest Roon 1.6 416) connect wirelessly to Google Wifi (everything fine there), then ethernet connection from Google wifi to SonicTransporter and Meridian MS600.
Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
Meridian MS600 DAC to Macintosh integrated amp via RCA cables, no issues here.
Description Of Issue
Roon will not hold connection to core, no matter which remote I use and even after full restart, cache clear, etc. of Sonic Transporter. No connectivity issues, all units can be seen. But when I start Roon on a remote, I get a brief glimpse of a normal start screen (and perhaps a few seconds of music playback), then says “lost connection,” then freezes on dancing Roon logo. This is repeatable after every restart of the system. I have been a Roon user for years and this just started after update to 416. Please advise, thanks.
When Roon is in this state are you able to see the SonicTransporter over the network outside of Roon, via an app like Fing or by pinging it on the network?
Hi Dylan, yes, I am able to see the SonicTransporter over the network outside of Roon – I can access it directly via my Chrome browser and control it via the MySonicOrbiter web page. I actually just triggered and copied a Roon Server Diagnostic via this page. Is there a way for me to send it to you? Thanks.
I’d like to propose a test that should give us a little more information here. If you use the MacBook Pro temporarily as your Core machine, do you see the same behavior?
Hi Dylan, thanks for the idea. When I use my MacBook Pro as the core (with MacBook connected via Wifi to Google Home router, then ethernet connection to Meridian MS600 endpoint), the behavior is slightly different, but music still stops after a few minutes. This is true even though (a) importing has completed and (b) I show a purple music path all the way through. But otherwise, even though I can toggle between pause and play, and even though I can navigate among albums and even load one (album art, song list, etc.), I am not able to actually restart playing the music. Hope this helps, thanks.
Based on this info, it seems like there may be some networking issues at play here that is causing the behavior you’re seeing. To help confirm this, let’s try the following with the MacBook Pro Core:
If you don’t already have media stored locally on the MacBook Pro, move an album to the MacBook Pro and add a local watched folder containing this album
Play this local content to System Output of the MacBook
When playing in this configuration (all local) does the same behavior occur?
Thanks for your note and suggestion. No, the same behavior does not occur when playing in the all-MacBook configuration you describe. Please let me know your thoughts when you can, thanks.
Since we’ve now determined that things function properly in an entirely local configuration, that confirms that there is something about the network that is causing this behavior to occur. Moving forward, I’d like to focus in on the network and start adding in components piece by piece until we discover where the issue is stemming from.
Can you confirm how the SonicTransporter is connected to the network? I know you mentioned it’s connected via Ethernet, but is it connected to the satellite device or the primary Google WiFi router? If it’s connected to a satellite device, let’s try connecting it to the primary router and see if there is any change in behavior here when the remotes try to connect to it.
Thanks, Dylan. I think you are asking me to hardwire my audio system to the Google wifi unit that is hard-wired to my incoming internet connection, as opposed to the current Google wifi unit that is part of the mesh network. That’s not possible due to the configuration of my house, sorry. I understand where you are going with this but, respectfully, my network is not the issue. All of this started with B416, the Google Wifi mesh network has been in place with no issues for any use (including 4k TV) since October 2018 and I’ve been using Roon successfully for years with my same current setup of audio hardware and incoming FIOS connection. I’m sorry to be snippy, and I do truly understand why you are going back to basics, but I’m at the point now that this is a waste of time for a product that I’ve used and liked for years and now no longer works . . . and where I see others on the message boards having the same problems. Pretty soon it is no longer worth it. Please huddle with your people and see what the issue is.
I think the next step here is to enable some diagnostics on your account so our technical staff can get some more insight into what’s going on here.
However, before I enable this feature, I’d like to ask for your help ensuring we gather the right information.
First, can you please reproduce the issue once more and note the time at which the error occurs. Then respond here with that time, and I’ll make sure we review the diagnostics related to that timestamp.
Thanks, Dylan, I appreciate your flexibility on this (and hope I’m right). I restarted Roon at 9:20 am New York time and have left it running in the background of my MacBook Pro. Just to confirm, I am now using the MacBook Pro as my remote, it is connected wirelessly to my Google Wifi satellite router, and the SonicOrbiter i5 is now my core and is connected to the Google Wifi by ethernet cable. Also, my SonicOrbiter is at the reserved IP address 192.168.86.28. Hope this helps and thanks as always.
Now that I have the timestamps, diagnostics have been enabled on your account. The next time your Core is active a diagnostics report will automatically be generated and uploaded directly to our servers
Once that’s been received, I’ll be sure to update this thread and pass the diagnostics over to the team for further analysis.
Update 5/8/2019 — The diagnostics report has been received and passed along to the team for analysis.
Thanks, Dylan. The core is cycling now, will be interesting to know if you are getting the reports. I would send you the report from the Roon server on the i5 but it’s apparently too long to paste into this message board. Happy to send to you another way if helpful. Thanks.
Dylan, partly in response to a post on another thread, which suggested that my Google WiFi equipment might be a problem, I tried the following:
I connected my MacBook Pro and my SonicTransporter via ethernet cables to my FIOS-supplied router, thereby removing all wifi signals and all Google Wifi equipment from the connection between my remote and my core. I still have the same problem of my remote not holding the connection to the core. All of this occurred roughly 4:02 pm New York time and the subsequent few minutes as I changed ethernet cables to make certain they were not the issue. I hope this helps. Thanks.
I spoke with the team regarding their analysis of the diagnostics report. In the logs they’re seeing that RoonServer seems to be restarting every 2 minutes on the SonicTransporter.
They found errors related to the following drive:
BIPRA 250GB, WDC WD2500LPVX-00V0TT0
Is this drive connected externally? If so, does disconnecting this drive yield any different results?
Thanks for this. The drive is a USB drive on which I store my ripped CDs. I removed it from my SonicTransporter and restarted my ST from power-off and then launched Roon on my MacBook Pro. Because I was not yet logged in to Tidal, the Roon screen showed an empty library. Once I logged in to Tidal, I started to get a normal Roon screen (showing library count, album covers, etc.) but then it went to the Lost Connection/dancing Roon logo/Lost Connection cycle again. In other words, unlike when I first started this thread with you, now I can’t even get to the point where I can play music. I am coming to think that I have multiple problems. I wonder if starting Tidal is causing a problem. And I wonder if, generally, there is somehow a problem with my core even though I can fully manage it via the web interface, run diagnostics, etc. Unless this Tidal issue rings a bell for you, why don’t you put this aside while I get another conversation started with Small Green Computer. Thanks.
This is a sonicTransporter i5 not some random DIY Linux box. I have a huge user base using Roon on these.
I connected to the customers computer using teamviewer . Roon was in a constant state of crashing and restarting. I have seen this problem a few times after a Roon software upgrades. I think the db get’s corrupt or something. It’s easy to fix I just reinstalled Roon from scratch.
Thats what I did here and it’s working fine now.