macOS Catalina interface laggy randomly while running Roon (High GPU usage randomly, Roon idle 20% GPU, sometimes up to 99% usage) [Resolved in Roon 1.8]

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

macOS Catalina 10.15.4 (Happened in 10.15.3 as well) iMac 2019 6cores i5, 40gb RAM. Roon 1.7 build 528.

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

No networking involved between repository source and the iMac core, USB3.0 external hdd 7200rpm DAS.
iMac connected to the network via gigabit ethernet.

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

USB Mcintosh Roon ready integrated amp.

Description Of Issue

From time to time the macOS interface becomes laggy while using Roon (every 1 or 2 days), the workaround is to close Roon (cmd+q) at that point the macOS interface will become fluent (0 lag) once again. Then bring Roon back to work, the issue will happen again later on. I tried to catch it in video the latest times it happened and finally make it today.
I thought it was related to run Roon in full screen so started to use Roon in window mode but I do remember it happened once or twice while running in window mode.

Thanks!

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Edit:
03/27 15:08:04 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget newwaveform(2406) took 206ms to OnLayout
03/27 15:08:04 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget newseekarea(2405) took 206ms to OnLayout
03/27 15:08:04 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget newseek(2400) took 206ms to OnLayout
03/27 15:08:04 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget footer(995) > stackpanel(2338) > stackpanel(2339) > stackpanel(2347) took 207ms to OnLayout
03/27 15:08:04 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget footer(995) > stackpanel(2338) > stackpanel(2339) took 207ms to OnLayout
03/27 15:08:04 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget footer(995) > stackpanel(2338) took 207ms to OnLayout

Hi @mavmcl,

Thanks for sharing the log output and the video, but I am not certain what I am looking at here.

Are you saying that going back to the Roon app is laggy? Or is there a specific aspect that is lagging, such as scrolling up and down, clicking on items takes a long time to load a new page, ect?

I also noticed that you had music playing in the video, is the behavior the same with music paused?

hi @noris , the weird thing is that the macOS interface is that one that becomes laggy (finder scroll up, down, mission control, etc…) the lagginess goes away as soon as I close Roon, once I reopen it, it will work fine (both Roon and finder), you can notice finder starts performing back with normality once I closed Roon.

It is hard to believe for me the issue is related to computer performance as I had my core previously in a lower spec MacBook Pro and never experienced something like that, I think this has to do something with the screen resolution of the iMac, I do use scaling I thought it was related to that but used the iMac in “default for display” for few weeks and it happened a couple of times.

let me know if now the demo video makes more sense
note: at the time of the screen capture, I was not running a video it was just QuickTime for screen capture.
Thanks!!!

hi @noris it just happened, let me know if you need more logs. thanks.

Hi @mavmcl,

Thanks for clarifying. I would like to see if installing a fresh copy of Roon resolves this behavior, can you please use these instructions to reinstall Roon and set the old database aside?

  • Make a Backup of your current Roon Database
  • Exit out of Roon
  • Navigate to your Roon’s Database Location
  • Find the folder that says “Roon”
  • Rename the “Roon” folder to “Roon_old”
  • Reinstall the Roon App to generate a new Roon folder
  • Do not restore your database just yet
  • Verify if the same behavior doesn’t occur for a few days
  • If the behavior does not occur, then restore the backup made in step 1

good morning @noris it is hard for me to live without my DB, I am going to format this Mac, fresh install everything (including Roon), then will test for few days, if the problem persist I will let you know and proceed as you suggested. Sounds good?
thanks!

Got the same issue on my 16" MacBook running Catalina, so wouldn’t be so rigorous!

@jmvdv Check the logs to see if you get the messages I got, this is for yday:

04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget newwaveform(2406) took 203ms to OnLayout
04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget newseekarea(2405) took 203ms to OnLayout
04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget newseek(2400) took 203ms to OnLayout
04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget footer(995) > stackpanel(2338) > stackpanel(2339) > stackpanel(2347) took 203ms to OnLayout
04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget footer(995) > stackpanel(2338) > stackpanel(2339) took 203ms to OnLayout
04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget footer(995) > stackpanel(2338) took 203ms to OnLayout
04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget footer(995) took 203ms to OnLayout
04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget main_size_big(981) > vpanel(992) > stackpanel(993) > stackpanel(994) took 203ms to OnLayout
04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget main_size_big(981) > vpanel(992) > stackpanel(993) took 203ms to OnLayout
04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget main_size_big(981) > vpanel(992) took 203ms to OnLayout
04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget main_size_big(981) took 203ms to OnLayout
04/01 15:45:27 Warn: [ui/slowness] widget win_main(975) took 203ms to OnLayout

This is a screencast from my mac: https://juliusvandervaart.stackstorage.com/s/j6JEBPMvyv9T969

I’ve got a lot of these:

04/02 16:01:28 Debug: render area size changed value: 1277x1051

But not the “Warn: [ui/slowness]” that you’ve got.

yeah… you clearly got the same.

Already reinstalled my Mac, Roon on Mac, Roon Core on Nuc… won’t work.

hmmm so if the issue happens when you put your core in a Nuc that means it will happen in control devices as well, meaning it is not related to the DB? what you think @noris ?

It’s a video-thing. So where the core is won’t matter.

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yeah! I think your MacBook Pro resolution is insane as well, it may affect high resolutions only

When the lagging occurs, is Time Machine running or doing a backup? Also, is Spotlight indexing?

I just reformatted the iMac, restored the DB (sorry just can’t without my DB), now will monitor.
I would say no to both of them, anyway Time Machine backups at least for this Mac are no more than 100mb size and happen hourly, this issue happens every 2 days or so.

I have never seen spotlight indexing so far, even now that it was reformatted.

Now that I think of it, indexing or backups should be a factor here as it happened to @jmvdv as well running the core in another device, I do believe it is video related, I am curious about those resolution debug messages, if you check the forum browser for those messages you will only see another thread where that was reported.

No it’s not.

I have a feeling it has something to do with the .net mono framework on Catalina or retina mac’s or the combination with the video drivers. There are a lot of video issues currently with Roon.

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