Intermittent loss of connectivity to Roon Server and music stops

Support
1

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

Roon Server installed 1.7 (Roon Version 1.7 (build 667) stable) on Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS.
Roon Server installed on hardware with i5 -9500T with 16GiB DDR4 SODIMM and Western Digital SN720 NVMe SSD.
76000+ tracks stored on external USB 3.0 (connected to core) Western Digital EasyStore HDD formatted as EXT4 (10TiB).

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

Core and endpoint are hardwired to the network (and are on the same subnet), both devices are plugged into a Netgear Nighthawk S8000 (flow control is enabled for both the core and endpoint).
Router is a pfSense device.

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

Raspberry Pi 4B with RoPieee 2.596 STABLE installed. (Roon Version 1.7 (Build 571) stable)
Chord Qutest connected to RoPieee via USB.

Remote Devices

iPhone 11 ProMax with iOS 14.2 (Roon Version 1.7 (Build 610) stable)
MacBook Pro i7 16-inch 2019 with macOS Catalina 10.15.7 (Roon Version 1.7 (Build 667) stable)

Log Files
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqztMrfIXCFcjGlu_UrCKaRIu2TP?e=KpuEfE

Description Of Issue

I have started experiencing an intermittent but regular occurrence of Roon Remote (on both iOS and macOS) and Roon Bridge (on RoPieee) losing connectivity to the core. I suspect that this started occurring as I upgraded the core OS to Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS but it may be coincidence, prior to the OS upgrade Roon had been extremely stable for many months. The remote app will stop responding and at the same time the music will stop playing. To get the music to start playing I have to wait for a reconnect of the remote app and press play again (this normally reconnects without intervention within a few seconds). I retain connectivity to the core using other methods, for example I can have a remote ssh session and can actively watch a ‘tail’ of the log files (although I can’t decipher them) while the connectivity is lost within the Roon system. The last occurrence of this was at 21:09 – 21:10 PST on Nov 30th (today) and this might happen about 3 or 4 times in an evening. This happens both when playing locally stored FLAC files or streaming from Qobuz.

Troubleshooting Performed So Far

Everything has been rebooted.
Checked that all devices are fully patched and up to date.
Disabled services (like Tidal) and storage devices have now been removed.

2

Paul, that’s interesting. My setup is near identical to yours, and I lately have been experiencing the exact same disconnects you describe. Suddenly music reproduction stops, the remote loses connection to the core, and after some seconds reconnects and all is well again. In my case I see this at most once a day, and not every day. I apply once or twice a week the available updates to the Ubuntu core and suspect that a recent update may have caused this behavior.

3

Actually, something declared in my original post may not be totally accurate. I was under the impression that the album I was most recently playing was streaming from Qobuz, that is not the case it was a local album so I am no longer 100% convinced that this happens on both local files and when streaming from Qobuz. I will try and get a more certain answer to this.

5

This seems similar to the troubles I’ve been having with a Sonic Transporter and I also suspect some change in the Linux that was partially fixed in an update. Both endless scanning and network drops began at same time (about 6-8 weeks ago ?) but recent update only fixed the endless scanning problem. However my drops are more frequent at least 4-5 times a day and probably more if I ran Roon continuously…no other obvious problems eg Sonos can run a non stop playlist off same music server with no problem

6

Yes, it has only been in the past 6-8 weeks. I have otherwise been a stable user since 2017, these symptoms are something new while the hardware remains recently unchanged.

7

Well… I have gone through all configurations with a fine tooth comb and found that IGMP snooping was enabled on NightHawk S8000 and even though it hasn’t caused any issues for more than a year now I went ahead and disabled it.

This evening I have listened to 5 albums (1 Qobuz and 4 local) and I haven’t seen a single disconnect. That is not usual based upon recent experience so I am hoping that I might have found the root cause.

I will continue to test and update again here as appropriate.

2 Likes
8

Hi @Robem,

Thanks for letting us know that the IGMP Snooping setting helped here!

There was recently an issue with endless rescanning of shares on Linux that would cause some strange behavior in Roon. If the IGMP Snooping setting doesn’t fully resolve the issue, I would also ensure you have the latest Ubuntu Kernel installed.

9

We had another couple of hours listening last night without a disconnect. My wife was playing the role of DJ and she tends to add individual tracks to the queue instead of albums so the sources were all over the place but it would have been a good mix of Qobuz and local files. I am becoming more confident that IGMP snooping was the culprit with my disconnects but I still want more testing time before calling it officially.

10

Ten minutes ago I experienced another loss-of-connectivity event, after several days of listening without problem. Music reproduction stops mid-track, the remotes lose connection to Roon Core. After some seconds, they reconnect and I can resume music reproduction from where it had stopped.

It seems as if the Roon Core during these events lost temporarily network connectivity. Reconnection occurs without user intervention. This is new, can’t say precisely when it happened for the first time, but it’s not more than a month at most. My server runs on Ubuntu 20.04.1 and I regularly apply available updates to the OS.

11

Interesting that turning off IGMP snooping on my ASUS router made my issue worse- unable to play a full song without losing connection…At least it seems to be getting closer to my issue. Going on two months with no functioning Roon.

12

On my Synology router I have turned off IGMP snooping and IGMP proxy. Connectivity loss of my Roon core occurs once every 2-3 days. It really doesn’t bother me much, but it stirs my curiosity… why does it happen?

13

@Lawrence_Klein RoonLabs recommend the following configuration for Asus routers. I just wanted to point this out in case you don’t have it configured and it helps.

“ASUS Routers

We recommend enabling “Enable Multicast Routing” option in settings.”

14

Yes thank you so much but that is already set in the router…

15

I hope that I am not tempting fate here but I am happy to say that I think that my issue is fixed. The only change that I have made is to disable the IGMP snooping on my NightHawk S8000 switch. I really hope that @Lawrence_Klein and @Andreas_Philipp1 get their issues resolved too.

16

Thank you! Glad you have found a solution. Hoping for something soon…

17

This topic was automatically closed 36 hours after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

18

I had a recent thread where I thought the issue had been resolved - the symptoms just (21:40 pacific) occurred again, only a few hours after the thread auto-closed.

All of the specifics are detailed in this thread, nothing has changed. @noris, will this post suffice for continuation or can you reopen the old one?

@noris the kernel is “Ubuntu 5.4.0-54.60-generic 5.4.65”

1 Like
21

Hi @Robem,

Sorry to hear that the issue is occurring again.

What happens if you try to temporarily host the Roon Core on Mac, does the same issue occur?

This test should help separate weather the issue occurs just on the Ubuntu Core or any Core on this network, to switch Cores:

  • Open Roon on the other PC you wish to try as the Core
  • Roon Settings -> General
  • Disconnect
  • On the “Choose your Core” screen, press “Use this PC”
  • If asked to Unauthorize, you can go ahead and do so. You are limited to one active Roon Core at a time but you are free to switch between them as often as you’d like.
  • Verify if the same behavior occurs on the different PC
22

Hi @noris,

I am not comfortable setting the MacBook up as a core, it is a corporate device and is monitored heavily. I do not have any other computers in the house that will function as core.