Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
Linksys Velop
Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
MacMini into a Aqua Formula DAC over USB
Description Of Issue
Sometimes my iPad and iPhone Xs are connected to the Roon core and everything is working fine and then the phone or iPad or both will no longer be able to connect to the core. I can find the core but it cycles to Connection Failed over and over again. Sometimes one of them will reconnect to the core.
Any idea why this is happening? It happens quite frequently.
Do you have multiple access points for your Velop setup? Does this issue occur only when you are physically moving the phones around the house (and possibly connecting to one of the other nodes)? Does it only occur when you exit the Roon app and re-launch it? How is your Mac Mini connected? If it’s on WiFi, is there any change in behavior if you connect it via Ethernet?
Yes, I have multiple access points with Velop. As a matter of fact, I have seven access points, including the parent. My understanding from talking to the Belkin/Linksys engineers is that the phone handles connecting to a node and it will not drop a node unless the signal is under a certain strength.
Sometimes I lose connection to the core when moving around the apartment with the phone but the iPad loses connection when it is on the couch and not moving around the apartment so I don’t think the problem is necessarily related to moving.
The MacMini is connected over WiFi. I would have to run thirty feet of ethernet cable to connect it physically to the parent node although I can run a short ethernet cable to get it connected to the closest node but I don’t know if that will help.
Yes, the problem persists if I kill the Roon app and relaunch. Sometimes, I get frustrated and just leave it and come back in fifteen minutes to find that it has managed to connect to the core and has a Green connection icon and is ready for me to connect. It’s all kind of random and inconsistent.
From what you have mentioned, it’s possible that you have a multicast issue on the router or the Core is unable to maintain a stable connection with the WiFi for various reason (DHCP lease expires, IP Address change, WiFi channel interference, iOS remote connecting to one of the other access points, ect.).
I would like to try to simplify things a bit here. Can you try connecting the Core via Ethernet to the closest node and see if the behavior is still the same? If the behavior is still the same, can you temporarily disconnect all of the additional nodes and leave just the parent node active and have the Core connected via WiFi to rule out the iOS devices possibly switching between the nodes?
I cannot connect wirelessly from the node near the stereo all the way back to the parent node, it is too far.
My understanding is that iOS does not switch between nodes if it has significant signal strength from one of the nodes. I can try to figure out if this is happening by looking in the LinkSys app and seeing which node the iOS device is connected to and walking around the apartment to see if it changes.
So, my iPhone is switching between different nodes as I walk around the apartment. I have Client Steering and Node Steering turned off in LinkSys Velop but I guess that doesn’t make any difference.
I guess this switching is causing the connection to the Roon core to drop.
Thanks for letting me know that info, it seems we have tracked down the cause of the issue. I have a follow-up question, you mentioned that force quitting the Roon app and restarting it does not solve the issue. If you go into Safari and refresh the last page you had open and open the Roon app again, does the Roon Remote then connect properly to the Core? I wonder if this is just your iOS needing to make a network request once it switches the node in use.
I don’t think that page reload trick works to fix the problem of connecting to the core when a device switches nodes. At least, it doesn’t seem to fix the problem for me. Would I have to make sure to reload a page right away before bringing up Roon?
Thanks for giving that a try, sorry the trick hasn’t helped. Yes, it would just have been reloading a web page before opening up the Roon app again.
I’m wondering if logs from your iOS device contain any additional info of this issue. Can you let me know the exact local time + date in your country when you next see this behavior? E.g. 3:05PM on 10/29/19?
I’m still having weird problems. Tonight, I struggled with getting anything to connect to the core. I rebooted multiple times and finally it worked. Then, three quarters of the way through a CD, streaming just cut out. Neither the iPad or iPhone could connect to the Mini anymore, I don’t know why. Since the Mini is running headless, it is difficult to see what went wrong. I think I’ll give up on headless operation, it is a big headache.
I wish I had noted the exact time the streaming stopped. It was around 8pm EST on Sunday night, 11/3.
So, if I have both the Ethernet and Wifi network connections enabled on the Mini, Roon will not log into Qobuz or Tidal. I need the Mini to be on WiFi because I’m running the Luna dongle to broadcast the screen to my iPad, don’t I?
I have enabled diagnostics mode for your account and what this action does it automatically upload a set of logs to our servers for analysis. I am looking through them now and I see some signs of network instability around 8PM on 11/3.
Can you share a screenshot of your WiFi and Ethernet Network Tab? Are the IP addresses on the same range?
Can you confirm if the connection failing behavior is the same with this dongle out of the way? I wonder if this dongle is interfering with your Mac Mini network settings since you mention it uses WiFi.
If you guys recommend upgrading to Catalina, I could stop using Luna and try the Sidecar feature and see if the Luna display dongle is causing problems. Actually, I can try running without Luna to see if it makes any difference, although I won’t have any display.
I would give this a try before performing any more extreme setup changes. Please try connecting the Core via Ethernet and let me know how the behavior is like with the dongle out of the equation (in case it is the one causing issues here). Thanks!
Ok, I unplugged the Luna dongle and am running with an Ethernet cable connected to the farthest node. I had my iPhone and iPad running the Roon app and the iPad kept disconnecting while the iPhone stayed connected. I turned WiFi on and off on the iPad and that seemed to help things.
It’s probably too early to tell if this solves my problems but I’ll use it and report my findings. I can hopefully move to Sidecar to support the headless Mini once I upgrade it to Catalina.