Nucleus and Schitt Eitr Troubles

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 1:17am

Ok, I have managed to get the Nucleus installed and i have been using it as the end point, with Roon recognizing the Schiit Eitr as an audio device. I set it up and signed into my account to add my Tidal account credentials.

I played with the settings for the Roon software, as my DAC is a non oversampling DAC, so I get a 16 bit/44.1 kHz signal fed to my DAC. If I don’t do that, then I get a rapid clicking noise from the DAC, indicating the clock isn’t locking onto the incoming signal. I have noticed that I have to get music playing in Roon at 16/44.1, before I can turn on the DAC, otherwise it just keeps clicking rapidly until find music that can play at 16/44.1.

When everything is working as it should, it sounds quite good. Not as good as my analog setup, but I expect that as I have invested far more in that part of my stereo. I want this part to be fun and to sound good, but I have to keep it to a more reasonable budget.

I do have one problem at the moment. I wanted to add an album to my external HDD that stores my music files, so I shut down the Nucleus and took my external HDD to my computer and added a couple more albums to it. Then I brought the HDD back and plugged it back into the Nucleus, before starting up the Nucleus again.

So…it should look exactly as it did before, except for a couple of new albums on my external HDD. Nothing else was changed. I even followed instructions on how to perform a clean shutdown, from the Roon Community forum : )

But…when I started up the Nucleus again, I had trouble connecting to it. I can now see the Nucleus, but I can’t get the system to show any audio devices. In other words, it doesn’t show the Schiit Eitr USB/SPDIF converter, so I have no audio output!

I have shut down the Schiit Eitr and turned it back on again, with no success. I have disconnected and reconnected the USB cable from the Nucleus to the Eitr, with no success.

I am not able to listen to music now : (

Should I disconnect the Roon Nucleus and then try re-connecting to it in the Roon software?
Should I reboot the Nucleus?

Any suggestions as to help get the system making music again would be appreciated!

Don

noris · January 23, 2020, 5:01am

Hi @Don_Parkhurst,

I split you out into a support thread since it looks like you’re having some difficulties here.

For this aspect, I would check that the external drive is actually part of the Roon database. To do this you need to open a Roon Remote and navigate to Roon Settings -> Storage, afterwards, make sure your HDD is on the list, if not then add it.

The proper way to reboot the Nucleus would be through the Web UI. Or you can press the power button once and it should initiate the shutdown sequence.

If you have been disconnecting the cable or press and holding the power button it might not have shut down properly. I would advise another reboot by using the WebUI.

Do any audio zones still show up in Roon Settings -> Audio? Have you tried a different USB Cable or port on the Nucleus?

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 5:31am

Ok, so I have just checked the external hard drive exactly as you suggested, by going to Roon Settings and then selecting storage. It shows up.

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 5:37am

The proper way to reboot the Nucleus would be through the Web UI. Or you can press the power button once and it should initiate the shutdown sequence.

I had powered it down via a ‘clean shutdown’, in which I used the web UI to shut it down. I also waited about five minutes after selecting shut down, to ensure that everything had had enough time to shut down properly.

When I turned it on, I simply pressed the button on the rear once. Then I waited 5-10 minutes to make sure that the machine had enough time to have everything running properly.

I end up with the Nucleus unable to see the Schiit Eitr that it had seen previously.

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 5:39am

I am adding some screen shots, to see if there is something that I have missed.

noris · January 23, 2020, 5:49am

Hi @Don_Parkhurst,

From the screenshots it looks like something went wrong with your database. I suggest you start with a fresh one:

Stop RoonServer from running in Nucleus’s WebUI
Navigate to your Roon’s Database Location
Find the folder that says “RoonServer”
Rename the “RoonServer” folder to “RoonServer_old”
Restart the RoonServer in the WebUI to generate a new Database

Edit: You can also start with a fresh database by using the WebUI, I would just be careful as using the WebUI completely removes the database but using the above instructions sets the database “aside”. Since you have had the Nucleus not too long, you may want to use the WebUI option if it’s easier.

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 5:50am

I would like to add that I have just done the reboot via the web UI and when it was started up again, I had to login from scratch. I typed in my login info very carefully and it is taking a VERY long time to login. As in 5-10 minutes.

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 6:02am

Ok, I have started to follow your instructions…the Roon Server has been stopped.

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 6:05am

Finding the Nucleus on my network…

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 6:06am

Navigating to Nucleus/Data…

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 6:08am

Roon Server has been restarted…

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 6:09am

Now I am unable to access my Roon Core…

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 6:12am

I’m stuck. Not sure at all what to do at this point. Everything has been restarted and I renamed the old Roon Server. Should I just restart the Nucleus again?

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 7:11am

Just rebooted the Nucleus. No recognition of the roon Nucleus…

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 7:14am

I am thinking that at this point it might be best to wipe every trace of Roon and to do a fresh installation. Is that an option? I don’t mind starting over, as I am pretty new to Roon.

What are your recommendations?

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 10:20am

I gave up for a couple of hours. Now I have started the system up again. I now have a functioning system! Really enjoying some Paul McCartney and some Beatles, etc.

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 10:21am

I am having to reload my external hard drive. That is ok! Happy again!

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 10:44am

In case I wasn’t clear, for some reason my system has come to life a few hours after it last gave me grief. Im very happy to be enjoying music again. Thank you for your help!

noris · January 23, 2020, 4:50pm

Hi @Don_Parkhurst,

Glad to hear you’re up and running again! I suspect that you might have had to press the “Select a different Core” button and it would have connected sooner, when the old database was set aside, the new database would have been seen as a new “Core”. In either case it sounds like the system is now stable, if you have any further issues do feel free to reach out again.

Don_Parkhurst · January 23, 2020, 7:39pm

You are indeed correct. I had to ‘select a different core’, in order to get it back up and running again. Interestingly it didn’t show that option after creating the new database. I had thought that I would select a different core, but it took a while (two reboots) to get some of the normal Roon system selections to appear again. Everything looks normal again. Not sure what happened, but all is good now : )

Thank you for your help,

Don