Nucleus freezing

[Matthew_Partrick]

I turned off the firewall and the nucleus is accessible through the Mac finder. I’ve had it freeze for most of the day today during any song, on multiple different players. I unplugged it and rebooted it and that seemed to work. What am I doing incorrectly?

Thanks

[Geoff_Coupe]

It may be that the Nucleus is still busy analyzing your library. This can consume resources. See here for more information.

[noris]

Hello @Matthew_Partrick,

Thanks for contacting support, I’d be happy to take a look over this issue with you. After taking a look at @Geoff_Coupe’s suggestion, can you please also describe more in the way that the Nucleus was “freezing”? Were songs not able to play? Did you receive any error messages in your Remote? Did songs cycle from one to another without stopping?

Can you also please let me know how your Nucleus is connected to the internet, is it plugged in directly to your Router or is there a switch in between the Router and the Nucleus? Please let me know the make/model of your Router and Switch (if applicable).

Thanks,
Noris

[Matthew_Partrick]

Hi there, thanks for the help. It’s not still busy analyzing the library.

When I say “freeze” what I mean is that the song will stop playing in the middle of it, and none of the action keys like play/pause/forward do not respond. I then exit out of the Roon app on the macbook and reboot that. I did not receive any error messages. The songs did not cycle from one to the next.

My setup is as follows:

Comcast Router (C7000 I think)
Linksys SE3016 network switch
Nucleus hardwired into Switch
Synology DS216j NAS hardwired to switch
multiple endpoints, three of which are hardwired into the switch, happening with each.

Problem solves itself if I unplug the Roon and plug it back in, at least for a few songs.

Thanks
Matthew

[Matthew_Partrick]

update: think it’s a firewall issue. Prior to the Nucleus when the core was on the Macbook, there were two Roon-related exceptions listed in the firewall, “roon” and “roon transport” or something like that. When I reinstalled the core on the Nucleus, those were still listed but that’s when I started getting the cutouts. When I completely deactivate the firewall, Roon works fine. What language do I need to use to add the appropriate passages to the firewall?

EDIT maybe not firewall, I’m still digging.

[noris]

Hello @Matthew_Partrick,

Thanks for letting me know your setup. I looked a bit into the network switch you have and it seems to be a managed network switch. We have received reports in the past that managed switches can sometimes cause issues in a Roon setup, I would take a closer look there. Specifically, we have found that changing the “Flow Control” settings on managed switches resolve some issues with media freezing, as listed in the following posts here:

After latest update - music file is loading slowly [Resolved - Flow Control Enabled On Managed Switch]

Fair enough. I didn’t realize there was a change in protocol in this build. Anyway, I made the change on the switch to enable flow control and you were absolutely right. It works now. Thanks very much for your suggestion and all the help along the way.

DSD512 with micoRendu NAA App and Holo Spring DAC [Solved, Managed switch, Flow control]

Things that a switch might be doing that could upset RAAT include having jumbo frames activated or limiting multicast or UDP. Can you describe the model of Netgear switch and how it is configured ? Enabling flow control on managed switches has helped others.

Roon 1.2 plays DSD 128, Roon 1.3 version 196 doesn't [Solved, managed switch flow control]

I guess I’m showing my ignorance but it seems the switch or how the switch is configured is causing the problem, as all I changed is the switch itself (I do realize that weird interactions can occur with software changes) I do not have enough ports on the GST 108, I realize that buying a new 16 port simple switch might be the easiest solution but before abandoning the GS 716T I’d like to know what is entailed to make the managed switch work with Roon 1.3 Thanks Andrew

Please let me know if that setting helps, otherwise I would make sure that both Roon and RAATServer are listed as firewall exceptions in both the switch and the Router.

Thanks,
Noris

[Matthew_Partrick]

Yes I need to add" RAAT server" to the firewall exceptions. Is whats in quotations the correct sytax?

Also, do access the network switch settings like a ip address and gui like I would on the modem? Otherwise how do I do that?

Lastly, I did a speed test and was getting between 10 and 30 mbps. Is it worthwhile to substitute an aftermarket Comcast compatible modem for faster speeds and less cutouts?

TIA!

[noris]

Hello @Matthew_Partrick,

I am not sure how your Router’s firewall setup page looks like but both “Roon” and “RAATServer” should be listed as exceptions there. You can read more regarding the Networking Best Practices on our Knowledge Base here: https://kb.roonlabs.com/Networking_Best_Practices

As for the switch setup, I just looked up some more documentation regarding it on Linksys’ site, and the switch does not appear to have a GUI although it has some “Flow Control” features that I previously mentioned built into it, without the ability to modify these settings. I am not sure if you have another switch around the house but you may try temporarily using another one to see if this resolves the issue.

A speedtest reporting between 10 to 30 mbps is not exactly ideal and could be contributing to the issue at hand, I would see if you could increase the speed by changing the modem or changing the internet plan to a faster connection, direct Ethernet connections between devices is always recommended especially with slower networks to minimize latency and dropouts. It’s certainly possible that another application or device on your network was using all of the available bandwidth and causing TIDAL tracks to load slowly.

I hope the above information helps but do let me know your findings or if you have any other questions.

Thanks,
Noris

[Matthew_Partrick]

Hi there,

I’ve gotten Roon added to the network exception list, how do I add “RAATServer”?

Thanks!
Matthew

[noris]

Hello @Matthew_Partrick,

I am not too familiar with Comcast routers, but the option to add devices as firewall exceptions can usually be done in the Router Settings page. If you can provide a screenshot of how you added Roon as an exception, I may be able to provide more information but as I mentioned, not too familiar with those types of Routers. I have found this documentation which may help: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/advanced-xfinity-wireless-gateway-features, generally speaking you add the Nucleus’ IP address to the exceptions page and these ports to allow the connection: Can’t find Roon “Core” from Remote. Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Noris