I just bought a new PSU, an official RPI one as I seem to have mislaid the last one. Anyway, I have put the latest version of RoPieee onto the microSD card and the RPI seems to boot fine. In fact I can log in via http://ropieee.local/ and I can see the RPI under settings and ‘about’ in Roon (build 167). The RPI is connected to a local switch and also via usb to my Arcam IrDACII.
However I cannot see to select the RPI as an endpoint, it isnt there as an option in Roon, am I missing something?
Something weird is definitely going on. I took the memory card out to try dietpi and I couldn’t get that to work either, although the rpi does power up. I also managed to fire the memory card across the room followed by some choice words, and I can’t find it. Luckily I had a spare, so I put ropieee back on the new card. It installed and I could see it in Roon, also via the web browser there is no hat configured and audio usb is ticked. I could select the rpi as an endpoint and configure it. However when I try and play something Roon loses control and I can no longer see it as an endpoint to select. Although I can still access via the web browser.
This is a new ‘official’ rpi power supply which arrived today, could it be at fault? I have changed Ethernet cables as well.
I actually have a new IFI power supply arriving tomorrow as I was planning to add an digione hat to the rpi and use it in a headphone set-up, so i can try a new PSU tomorrow in theory.
Could the rpi itself be at fault? How could I check?
I installed volumio and then installed Roonbridge via the Roon LinuxInstall instruction page, I used putty and ssh. It all looked good. I restarted the RPI, the Core and I could see the endpoint in Roon. I could set it up and then select it but when I go to play a track the end point disappears from Roon. The same thing happen with Ropieee.
I am going to try and change all the cables again, just to be sure!
Is this symptomatic of a hardware error? Any thoughts?
Update: Retried all the cables, new PSU, new ethernet cable, no dice! However I had not changed the usb cable, so I swapped out my audioquest pearl for a generic cable and…it worked!! I just swapped it back and it worked too.
So, perhaps the issue was a loose cable?? Not sure as they all seemed well plugged in. Anyway, its running now, lets see how long it lasts. Thanks for your help.
I have an Allo digione on order, so I need to fiddle again in the next week or so. Should I start again with Volumio, a fresh install and reinstall Roon bridge?
Optional Volumio confguraiton
Set Player name so in your router DHCP leases the Rpi has a relevant name
Turn off Volumio serices: UPNP, Shairport, DLNA
Having said all this I would still like to get RoPieee working as it runs in memory and therefore immune to SD card faliures for the most part.
I know the network topolgy/devices play a big part in stability/reliabilty of the Roon system. Probably a different/new thread but would be intersting to understand the network parameters yield the best results.
ex: MTU, IGMP snooping, spanning tree, vlans ect.
I know Roon want to keep this simple and recommends a ‘flat’ network topology. Unfortunately in many modern home networks this is not possible as security requirements, broadcast traffic level, mutliple Wan, VOIP, QOS, bad cable runs etc require a more managed solution.
My measurement goal is turn on music and have it play continuously for a week. Right now my average is around 8 hours before music stops and has to be restarted.
I have a similar issue from time-to-time with my RPi endpoints and Ropieee. My workaround is to momentarily disable the firewall on my Core. My Core is on Ubuntu, what do you use?
I am not a network expert, or at least enough of one. I used to use managed switches at home, thinking that I knew enough of what everything needed and that my experience building data centres around the world would be sufficient, but I couldn’t find the exact right set of controls / firmware / blah blah to make it work well. Hubris is a master teacher.
The best thing I did at home recently was to rip out every piece of cable (I found a Cat5 from the late 90s!), replacing everything with new cat6a (a few cat7 for some longer runs runs). And, only use wifi for control devices (eg iPads, Surfaces etc). And, I went flat, dumb, name brand, new switches. And now everything is under a millisecond on average (yes, I use rrdtool to keep track).
So, I tend to agree with Roon on this one – networking is actually hard, and even if you understand what is happening on the wire that that doesn’t enable everyone to create a config that works well (YMMV – some people can, but alas not me).
To someone starting out, without deep networking skills, I would suggest something like:
Buy only name brand, un-managed switches. Buy twice the capacity that you think you need.
Buy a set of new cat6a cables from a reliable source for every connection (all the same, all new). Use Blue Jeans Cable if you want something tested for spec.
If you can’t run ethernet in the walls, run them on the wall (white cables in corners or low to the ground can work in many situations.)
Don’t use wifi for audio endpoints if at all possible, only for control devices.
Don’t use ethernet over power.
Test using ping from a wired device: everything should be within a millisecond or two within a normal home wired network most of the time. If not, resolve (remove a link at a time until you isolate the problem).