Migrated Roon Core from Mac to Linux, now Android Roon Remote cannot connect to Core

[leafy (Chia-Wei Yeh)]

Roon Core Machine

Linux rooncore 6.1.0-13-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.55-1 (2023-09-29) x86_64 GNU/Linux
CPU is Intel Alderlake N100, 32G RAM with 1TB SSD

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Core is attached via ethernet to the network.
Mac Remote on Wifi
Android Remote on Pixel 6 Pro Android 14 on Wifi

Connected Audio Devices

USB DAC on Mac Remote

Number of Tracks in Library

12359 tracks, mostly from Qobuz, only 124 local tracks

Description of Issue

I started migrating my Core to a Linux from my Mac. I installed using the easy method to my linux machine and restored a 3 days old backup from the cloud.

The Mac remote has no problem connecting to the new Core, but the Android remote can only connect if I reboot the linux machine and connect immediately. Leaving the Android remote for longer time will result in no long able to connect. The connection screen becomes:

I also see a lot of

10/29 23:06:52 Warn: [remoting/brokerserver] [initconn 192.168.1.179:45910=>192.168.1.214:9332] failed: System.Exception: got unexpected broker id in REQ_HANDSHAKE

in the server logs when the Android remote was trying to connect. There is no firewall on the linux machine.

[leafy (Chia-Wei Yeh)]

I just installed Android Roon Remote on my other Samsung Tablet and it connects flawlessly, only my Android Pixel 6 Pro remains unable to connect.

Is this a registration issue?

[kc1]

try to clear the Cache and/or the Data of the Roon Remote app on your phone, and try again
(Apps->Roon->Storage:

[leafy (Chia-Wei Yeh)]

Does not make a difference, I even reinstalled several times.

[kc1]

did you try to clear the Data as well?

[leafy (Chia-Wei Yeh)]

Reinstalling the app itself wipes everything related to the app.

[kc1]

not so sure - anyway, try unconnecting/reconnecting to WiFi
that might work. Rebooting your router could also help.

[leafy (Chia-Wei Yeh)]

Nop, neither helped.

[Fernando_Pereira]

I have 3 Roon cores on Linux (Ubuntu Server 22.04), different locations. My phone is a Pixel 6 Pro too. It connects with no problem to each core. Network gear is either UniFi (2 sites) or AmpliFi (one site). The one thing I’ve done is to disable IGMP snooping on the networks, because I had problems some years ago with connecting Android remotes to my servers until I turned IGMP snooping off.

[leafy (Chia-Wei Yeh)]

I haven’t found a solution to this, but I found the cause of this issue.

I like the dark theme, so once I switch to a new core, I turned to the dark theme. At the point, the app will ask if you’d like to restart the app. If I click it right after the prompt, it will end up as a non-connectable remote afterwards. I think I ran into this many years ago but forgot about it.

So, to get back to the right state, first, wipe the data used by the app, this turns out to behave differently than reinstalling the app itself. Wiping the data section allows the RAATServer on the Pixel 6 Pro to be registered as unreachable (reinstalling doesn’t trigger this), and waiting long enough (about ~10 min), Roon Core will report this back to Roon HQ via API.

At this point the remote can connect to the core again. But while switching themes, DO NOT RESTART IMMEDIATELY. Change the theme option and wait till Core phones home again (tail -f /var/roon/RoonServer/Logs/RoonServer_log.txt to see when Core called home again) and then restart the remote app. This should prevent the remote from falling into limbo.

[kc1]

@leafy

I like the dark theme, so once I switch to a new core, I turned to the dark theme. At the point, the app will ask if you’d like to restart the app. If I click it right after the prompt, it will end up as a non-connectable remote afterwards

Interesting - is your phone on Android 14 by any chance?

@leafy

wipe the data used by the app, this turns out to behave differently than reinstalling the app itself.

thanks for confirming this

[leafy (Chia-Wei Yeh)]

It is android 14, but I ran into this with earlier versions of Android too.

[daniel]

Hi @leafy,
We were unable to reproduce the issue so we would like to look into this further. With your permission, we will activate our diagnostics and investigate further.

Additionally, I’d like to clear up some discrepancies in your description of the issue. In your original post, you say

…the Android remote can only connect if I reboot the linux machine and connect immediately. Leaving the Android remote for longer time will result in no long able to connect.

However, later you say

At the point, the app will ask if you’d like to restart the app. If I click it right after the prompt, it will end up as a non-connectable remote afterwards.

Which is it?

[leafy (Chia-Wei Yeh)]

Thank you @daniel and apologies on the confusing timeline of events.

The first paragraph describes how a defunct remote would behave after it’s been broken.

The second paragraph describes how to break it (this is after I discovered how I could bring it back).

HTH

[daniel]

Hi @leafy,
Thanks for the clarification. Can you reproduce the issue and let us know the date and time that it happens? This will help track things down in diagnostics.

[leafy (Chia-Wei Yeh)]

Apologies, I can’t reproduce it now. I’ll have to come back again if I run into the same situation.