Focus losing content and excessive ROCK activity

Support
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Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)

Up to date ROCK, 1.8 (build 764) stable and RoonOS 1.0 (build 227) stable
ROCK based on NUC8I7BEH with 8GB RAM, 128G M.2 drive for RoonOS and 1TB internal SSD for music

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
Failure occurs with both Rock and Remote wired to the same switch, a Cisco SG100-16 v2 unmanaged 1G switch and from there wired to an Orbi RBR50 Router etc

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)

Multiple including 2 Ropieee Bridges showing up as 1.7 (build 571) stable, latest version installed; connected to the same switch and running DACs over USB - Topping D50s and D90. Bluesound Node 2i over WiFi. Issue has nothing to do with playback, no issues there.

Description Of Issue

Two problems and I am listing both just in case they are related.

Primary Roon Remote is an iMac running Catalina 10.15.7 and Roon 1.8 (build 764) stable. It is connected to the same switch. I sometimes use an iPad remote but it isn’t necessary to show this issue.

When Roon is started and is running everything is fine but after the Mac has slept overnight, Focus no longer works properly. I tend to leave it in Album view and when the Mac comes up and I select Focus I just get the animated Roon busy signal. If I switch to Artist view Focus works, if I go back to Album Focus it is no longer busy but all of the columns derived from my content are empty.

This happens every day. Music playback is fine, but I have to restart the Remote to get Focus working.

Rebooting everything makes no difference to the outcome the following evening when the Remote sleeps.

The second issue is that every morning when I go into the office where the Mac and Rock are located the ROCK fan is running full speed. when I wake the Mac, the Remote works fine straight away, except for Focus of course. the fan stops within a few seconds of the Remote becoming active.

This was not a problem with 1.7, I only ever heard the Rock when it parsing new music or possibly performing a backup.

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I connected the iPad Roon Remote while the Mac was stuck in this state. iPad Focus works OK, no impact on Mac condition.

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Hey @Stephen_Gibbon,

Thanks so much for reporting this and testing the behavior in different situations, before even considering letting us know. Your effort is much appreciated.

I am sorry it has taken us this long to get back to you. We had hoped it was going to be much sooner.

Could you please confirm that both behaviors (excessive ROCK activity and Focus being stuck after your remote has been in sleep mode over night) only started after the update to Roon 1.8? Also, did build 778 help at all?

Thanks in advance for bearing with us while our technicians will get a chance to reply :bear:

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Hi Rebeka,
I upgraded yesterday and it was still a problem this morning. I only noticed the problem after the move to 1.8, before that I barely noticed the NUC.
Unfortunately now I notice it all the time as the fan bearings have worn out which I put down to the extra activity. I will delay trying to get a replacement/service from Intel until we have had a chance to collect logs etc or whatever is required.
I am tempted to get a fanless case for the NUC rather than having the fan repaired but I only feel comfortable doing that if the reason for it running so actively is solved so it doesn’t overheat.
A Nucleus is also interesting but I want to understand this problem first before running any kind of fanless Core.

I’ll add that it can start during the day as well if I put the Mac to sleep, not just overnight. The fan doesn’t start immediately, I don’t know if there is a gradual activity based temperature rise that takes some time to trigger the fans or if an event causes the problem.

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Hey @Stephen_Gibbon,

I appreciate the additional details (especially the last paragraph), as well as finding out more about your plans and perspective. I can see your point.

This thread is already in our technicians’ queue - they’ll be able to offer more insight and any applicable steps soon.

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Hi @Stephen_Gibbon

Can you share some screenshots of what you’re seeing here?

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Hi Dylan,
I have 1 screen cap. The issue occurs after a period with no connected remote, usually overnight but it has happened during the day. I’m equally if not more concerned that my ROCK fan goes into overdrive when there is no Remote connected, potentially all night. When this happens I have also lost the focus contents, although not always. The focus problem only seems to occur when Roon is left on the Album page with Focus inactive. Anecdotally it may happen less following the 2 firmware updates since my original report but it does still occur.
My ROCK just malfunctioned for the second time since the latest update as well. The first being glitchy streaming of local music (SSD within ROCK), the second just now, what appeared to be a reboot of the Rock while streaming from Qobuz

Screen Shot 2021-03-15 at 3.26.39 PM
Screen Shot 2021-03-15 at 3.26.39 PM4778Ă—3058 1.83 MB

Cheers,
Stephen

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This sounds and looks like the same problem I (and others) have reported here a few weeks ago. I never heard back from Roon:

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I think we are seeing different issues but both indicative of underlying problems with Focus. In my case the issue is entirely passive. I wake up, bring my Mac out of sleep, Roon Remote is running but focus no longer works (and ROCK was running hard before the Mac wakes up, at which point it returns to normal silent operation). I do use an iPad remote at times but haven’t noticed any problems with that.

1 Like
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Hi @dylan
The screenshot was shared 8 days ago. The issue is still happening.

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@Dylan , @beka this issue is not going away with the updated releases. Focus is still locked most mornings when I wake up my Mac (running the Roon Remote) and the NUC is busy doing something. If I look at the logs sometimes there is database activity or a backup running but most of the time there is no indication of any activity.

The screenshot I uploaded 16D ago is what I see if the issue has occurred and I switch to say artist view and then back to album. When it first connects it is just busy and this persists forever:

Screen Shot 2021-04-18 at 7.45.23 AM
Screen Shot 2021-04-18 at 7.45.23 AM4990Ă—2982 1.27 MB

I’ve rehoused my NUC in an Akasa Turing fanless case. The fan bearings were starting to fail which I put down to it running most of the night with this problem. Temperatures are manageable, case temp is close to 40C in the morning, dropping to about 25C in normal operation.

I appreciate this isn’t a blocking problem, Roon Remote still works if I restart it. But it has been over a month with no meaningful support.

Stephen

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Hi @Stephen_Gibbon

Apologies for the continued trouble here! This is something our team has been investigating. If possible, the next time this happens, can you please note the exact local time + date when this issue next occurs and the name of the track that was playing and upload your Roon Logs by using these instructions. The best way to get them over to me would be via Dropbox / Google Drive, but if you don’t have either service please let me know and I can provide alternate upload instructions.

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Hi @Dylan,
This problem does not involve a playing track. It is that Focus no longer works when in Album view when waking up the Mac running Roon Remote from sleep. Usually overnight but it has happened when sleeping the computer during the day. It does not happen every time, but certainly most of the time.
Cheers, Stephen

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