Frequent Disconnection and Reboot Issues with Roon Nucleus (ref#C6JQD4)

[Alan_Meldrum]

Is Roon Server running?

· No, Roon Server is not running.

For Roon connectivity to work properly, both Roon Server and Roon Remote need to be turned on.

· I can't turn on Roon Server, I need help.

Describe the issue

I seem to be experiencing frequent disconnection with the Roon Server. If I reboot my Nucleus that sometimes fixes the problem, but at other times the Nucleus will not reboot, and I have to go and switch it off and on manually. I have gone from a situation where there have never been any connectivity issues, to one where go to Roon on my desktop and am confronted with the squid icon swimming ad infinitum, and I realise that it has become stuck again.

Describe your network setup

Asus RT-AC86U Router/Nucleus with ethernet connection/Mac OS Monterey 12.7.6

[Alan_Meldrum]

Further screenshots below:

Often confronted with this when I try and use Roon on my desktop:

Attempt to reboot Nucleus not successful:

Attempt to restart Roon Server not successful:

[Alan_Meldrum]

Hi

Some further information:

All of last night (a Saturday, when I would most want to listen to some music), Roon could not seem to connect to the Server Software. I constantly got the home page saying “Uh-oh, something’s not right” message, as shown above.

Once or twice I got the Nucleus to reboot, but even when the home page would appear at the end of that process, it would only appear normal for a few seconds, then it would show the circle outline filling up and a “Trying to locate your server” message, swiftly followed by “Uh-oh, something’s not right.”

Finally gave up and resigned myself to having no music, and left it alone overnight. When I checked this morning, the home page was as I’d expect, shown below.

When I looked at the System Status page, it was as it was last night, which was after the last attempt to reboot the Nucleus, shown below.

When I then refreshed the page the System Status page, there is an obvious discrepancy between the running times of the Roon Server Software and everything else, shown below.

My knowledge of IT is fairly limited, so if anyone has any advice please keep it simple, but it looks to me as if the Roon Server Software didn’t settle down and behave as expected until nearly nine hours after the Operating System and the Roon Labs Software had started running. I would be very interested to hear anyone views as to why this might be. I seem to be at the mercy of Roon at the moment - sometimes it is operating as normal, sometimes it seems stuck in a cycle where it doesn’t function - which is obviously frustrating. Hope someone out there can offer an explanation/solution.

Best regards

Alan

[vadim]

Hello @Alan_Meldrum,

Thank you for reaching Roon support.

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.

[Alan_Meldrum]

Hi Vadim

I am not quite sure how I can reproduce the issue when I did not initiate it in the first place. As I have said, The Roon app seemed to constantly disconnect from the Roon server, and it seems to have disconnected without me doing anything other than go to the Roon desktop app and attempt to use it, only to be faced with the swimming squid/“Uh-oh, something’s not right" message for so long that I gave up.

Today I rebooted the Nucleus at 14,45 GMT. At 14.55 it had completed scanning the library and I could use Roon as I would wish. As previously reported between approximately 18.00 and 20.00 GMT on Saturday 31st May I was attempting to get Roon to work, but I encountered the problem I described. Could you aim your diagnostic procedure at that time? The app is functioning normally at present, but I would obviously like to know why it did not on Saturday. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

Alan

[vadim]

Hi,

Thanks for the update. Could you please confirm that you are using one of the Chromecast/Google TV devices as an audio endpoint in Roon? Could you temporarily remove it from the device list and check their behavior again?

[Alan_Meldrum]

Hi Vadim

I do not use such a device as an endpoint in Roon. The router is downstairs with the Nucleus and the Linn Selekt DSM connected via ethernet. The Mac is upstairs, with a set of Sonos One speakers in the room there connected via Airplay. WiFi connectivity is good, with 350mbps max downstairs (usually averages 250-300Mbps), and upstairs its usually around 100 mbps. Hope this is of help.

Best regards

Alan

[Alan_Meldrum]

Hi

I should add that there have been no further interruptions to the performance of Roon since it recovered from the extended period last Saturday evening when it seemed unable to connect to the Roon server.

A

[vadim]

Hello @Alan_Meldrum,

We are actively investigating the issue with the R&D team and will keep you informed if we require anything further from your side.

[Alan_Meldrum]

Hi

OK, thanks for the update. I look forward to any further information you can share with me.

Best regards

Alan

[noris]

Hi @Alan_Meldrum ,

Thanks and will keep you posted. Should the issue re-occur, please let us know the exact local time + date when you next observe it.

[Alan_Meldrum]

Hi

The issue re-occurred at 10.00 GMT this morning. I have attached screenshots of the Roon desktop app and the System Status page as they currently appear.

I would be grateful for any information you can provide, as it has been a while since I’ve heard from you.

Best regards

Alan

[Alan_Meldrum]

Hi

Further screenshots below. As you can see, the homepage briefly kicks in as you’d expect, then you get the message in Pic 1, followed by Pic 2, which indicates that connection with the Roon server has been lost again. Pic 3 shows that the Roon server has restarted, and the cycle of malfunction begins again.

Any thoughts?

Best regards

Alan

[Alan_Meldrum]

Hi

Same occurrence a few minutes later, as shown below.

A

[Alan_Meldrum]

A couple of hours later, Roon Server Software still not connecting/restarting:

[Alan_Meldrum]

This has gone on all day now. The home page briefly kicks in, the connection with the server gets lost, and it keeps going through that cycle ad infinitum.

I briefly managed in the little window when the home page is established, but before connection with the server was lost, to update to the new software for Nucleus and Mac, but this did not change anything. Still unable to get a functioning Roon.

In the end I have quit out of Roon on my Mac because the fan was going full bore all of the time that Roon was trying to connect, ie all the time, and when I quit Roon the fan died down, so I am worried about the effect the demands of the app is having on my computer.

Screenshot below shows everything synced after I had managed to reboot the Nucleus. A short time later you can see that the Roon Server is disconnecting, trying to connect again, then disconnecting once more, on and on and on.

Some help would be really appreciated.

Best regards

Alan

[Alan_Meldrum]

Checked again at 19.49 GMT to find that the app seems to be stable, but that is nearly nine hours after I noticed it was malfunctioning. I obviously do not want Roon to be inactive for long periods such as this, so I would appreciate some guidance here.

A

[benjamin]

Hey @Alan_Meldrum,

Thanks for the updates! At this time, it is clear that we’re seeing errors in relation to a lack of RAM on your Nucleus, causing your machine to crash. Here’s a log trace of the Nucleus running out of memory:

(none) user.err kernel: [ 3524.623790] Out of memory: Killed process 17146 (RoonAppliance) total-vm:10314888kB,

Can you share more details around your library size? It’s interesting seeing 30,938 albums, but only 47,733 tracks.

Ultimately, increasing the RAM on the machine will likely help, but our team is actively investigating potential OOM causes with a library size that fits within the limits of the Nucleus itself.

[Alan_Meldrum]

Hi

Thanks for the info. As far as the library goes, I have approximately 18,000 iTunes tracks in my local library, which are on an SSD connected to the Nucleus. The rest of the library is made up of tracks I’ve added to the library in Qobuz.

I listen to music from playlists, and tend to cherry pick tracks from albums to add to the library, saving them in genre-specific playlists. Hope this is of help.

Best regards

Alan

[Alan_Meldrum]

Hi @benjamin, @noris , @vadim

There is a response in this thread - Scheduled Backups Failing To Complete (ref#AQQCOD) - #14 by jb76 - that I would like to return to, as it has a bearing on the current problem. Namely:

connorRoon Staff: Technical Support

Dec 2024

Hi @Alan_Meldrum,

According to the most recent diagnostics, this Nucleus is beyond its hardware performance capabilities and reporting out-of-memory. Unusually high database validation times - triggered by track corruption that is detected in the iTunes library - are causing this Nucleus to overconsume resources. This is likely a downstream result of the large number of albums and playlists in this library - although you’re below the 100k track limit recommended for a Nucleus of this RAM, the object and metadata volume is on the order of magnitude of a much more massive library.

What is the specific number of playlists you have saved in Roon (before they began to disappear recently, per your other thread)?

In the long term, you’ll inevitably need to upgrade the RAM of your RoonServer machine as this library - and your curation thereof - expands.

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Since you relayed that information to me, I went through my local library, and separated the wheat from the chaff, reducing the number of tracks in my local library from 27,000+ to 18,721. I also removed all of the corrupted files from the local library,

Roon Focus currently shows my storage locations as containing the following tracks - Qobuz Library (31,402) and iTunes Music Library (16,522). I have 31 iTunes Playlists created, and 242 Qobuz playlists created, and the Qobuz playlists only contain tracks that have been added to my library. I am unsure as to why Roon only seems to be able to detect 16,522 of the 18,721 tracks in my local library, could you explain that to me at all?

I feel that I have done all that I can to make my library as lean as possible, but you seem to be telling me that there is not enough RAM in the Nucleus to allow it to cope with the demands of my library. Is there anything I can do to reduce the burden on the Nucleus? If I reduced the number of playlists would it help?

I had obviously thought that when I purchased the Nucleus it would be able to deal with the demands of my listening requirements, but it now seems to be struggling. Is there an option to add more RAM to my Nucleus, or is my Nucleus effectively becoming redundant?

If you could advise I would be very grateful, and please explain any technical aspects of this matter as if you were explaining it to a five year old child - my IT knowledge is very limited. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

Alan