Intel NUC i3-8109U 3.0 Ghz 2x4 GB RAM
Samsung 970 EVO 250 GB SSD
Roon ROCK version 1.6 (build 416)
Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
TP-LINK Ethernet over 1000 Mbps Powerline (actual 663 Mbps to PC)
Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
Intel NUC i5-4250U 1.30 GHz 8.00 GB RAM (Tranquil PC)
Running Roon client on Windows 10
Creative aptX Bluetooth transmitter to Wharfedale Bluetooth speakers
Description Of Issue
When booting up the Roon client on my Windows 10 PC, I frequently experience catastrophic failure of the PC when I click on some part of the interface. This can include album graphics, the Now Playing bar at the bottom of the screen, album icons, and possibly other parts of the system. The PC does not show any error message, it does not slow down or stop, it simply switches off – complete, instant shut-off. This obviously is not healthy for the PC. It may have become more common since the last Roon software update. It feels like Roon is playing fast and loose with the PC memory, and is particularly likely to cause a problem in the first 10 minutes or so of starting up when Roon and Trend anti-virus are both using a lot of CPU cycles and power. Only Roon is a problem.
When you say it “switches off”, do you mean it’s powering off?
It appears you’re running the client/remote on the PC. It doesn’t have any privilege that I’m aware of, so it wouldn’t possible for it to directly crash the PC, no matter how badly it misbehaves. It would have to be Windows, a driver or hardware.
If I had to guess based on limited information, I’d say you’re looking at a hardware problem. Probably bad memory. It could be Roon’s resource usage is different enough from other programs to trigger something.
Apps accessing bad memory locations just cause an application exit.
PC actually shutting down tends to be CPU or mainboard thermal protection problems or a failing/overheating power supply.
If power supply failure, then doing something in an app that (for eg) causes a sudden temporary extra load on a GPU could be enough to make it all go belly up.
Can I please ask you to manually send me the logs from your Core by using these instructions? The best way to get them over to me would be via Dropbox / Google Drive / Send.firefox.com.
I would also check to see if the behavior is the same without the antivirus active (as a temporary test) and check to see if Windows Event Viewer provides any additional info as to the shut-down behavior.
noris – some more info.
Event Viewer shows lots of entries but none (that I can see) that specifically mention Roon. Lots of errors when my wife play internet Solitaire though…
I have the ROCK logs, but am unsure how to send them. My Dropbox account has lapsed. Looks like I can use Send.firefox, but I don’t have an ?address? to send to. Please let me know what you want me to do. Thanks.
I will temporarily disable the virus checker to see what happens. I note that Trend and Roon appear to be very resource-hungry at startup.
One last thing, I have 8MB of memory on the PC I am using, and ALL my music is held on a Synology NAS.
Kind regards / Alan
Can you please share a screenshot of your Windows Even Viewer information right before the crash?
You can use send.firefox.com to upload your log files there and them click on my username here and press “message” to send them over to me. Once you upload the files, you should be provided with a link to share, please message me this link.
I was able to download the logs on the second try, maybe I tried downloading while you were still uploading but it did eventually come through. I’m looking at the log and I don’t see any crashes from the Roon side of things, although I do notice one strange thing in particular.
You appear to have quite a few Name Resolution Failures contained in the logs. This shouldn’t impact your PC shutting down but could indicate a networking issue somewhere along the line and I would suggest changing your DNS servers to Google DNS or Cloudflare DNS.
As for the crash behavior, can you upload a few screenshots of your Windows Event Viewer from right before the crash?
Am sending you an Event Viewer screenshot, although I really don;t know what I’m looking for! Basically there are a number of entries saying things like:
“The previous system shutdown at 8:21:47 PM on 9/1/2019 was unexpected.” and
“The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.” which I guess means, more or less:
“Oops, it crashed again…”
As for networking matters, I should emphasise that I do not stream anything, as we are on a 4 Mbps internet connection (on a good day), and internet dropouts are pretty commonplace. I do appear to have a DNS error on the Synology NAS which means that I use fixed IP addresses for the NAS and ROCK servers. But that kind of thing should not lead to a crash-and-burn outcome, should it?
No, DNS errors should not lead to such behavior. It seems that you are aware of the network instability and it is likely due to the dropouts you mention from your ISP in this case.
I would give these options a try, as well as update any on-board audio drivers you may be using.
This is good, if you are content with just running Roon Bridge on this device you can use the current setup, but this does sound like some kind of hardware or driver issue.
Brief update… Despite the PC passing every test I run on it, I have decided to install new memory and while I am at it increase it to 16GB, as I have noticed that a LOT of resources are being used at startup. Meanwhile, several weeks of running RoonBridge on the PC, using either a smartphone or a tablet as control, have produced no catastrophic errors at all. The only issue I have had is the dreaded “an audio file is loading slowly” message, probably when our broadband drops to less than 3 Mbps (which is quite often). I really would like a switch in Roon that dispenses with the added meta-data when running with a slow or non-existent network connection. I’ll let you know what happens when I have installed the new memory and re-installed Roon client for Windows.
Oh dear…
Installed new memory (16GB), boot OK, Windows Memory Diagnostic OK, Roon Bridge still working.
Delete Roon Bridge. Reboot.
Install Roon. Starts OK. Click on something, kaboom… PC dies.
I have a video if you would like to see.
I perhaps suspect drivers, but they have all been checked and refreshed using the Intel utility. Can you tell me what I should have and how to check it? Thanks.
I notice that Roon is not showing in Windows Control Panel as an installed program, in order to uninstall it. Is that correct? Is it not fully/properly installed?