Between 12:15 and 12:34 PM EST on 11/29, lost ROCK. Again Fing shows ROCK is online but I cannot connect via any device or the web address. Rebooting…
Between 4:55 and 5:10 PM EST on 11/29, lost lost connection to ROCK once again.
Hi @nuwriy @dylan Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. Just lost connection to ROCK again this morning between 8:40 and 8:47 AM EST on 11/30. As you can see, it has happened a lot over the last few days and it’s incredibly frustrating. Your help with this matter is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Thanks, for the timestamps, @Gooey, and apologies for the delay due to the holiday. We’ve found recently that there are some DNS issues with Comcast DNS that have caused issues with Roon OS and connecting to our servers, and it’s definitely possible that it is playing into things here.
Are you able to set Google or Cloudflare DNS directly in your router’s settings? Typically this is possible, but there are some routers that don’t make these settings available. Xfinity might be able to help get it changed if you’re not seeing the option.
I can’t say for sure that that is 100% the issue here, but we are seeing a number of DNS errors and have seen Comcast DNS cause problems in the past, so it’s definitely worth a shot to try another option.
Hi @dylan, Just spent a frustrating hour on the phone with Xfinity tech support. It appears that the modem I’m renting from them does not allow changing the gateway DNS for security reasons. They are elevating the issue and someone is supposed to call me back. I apparently can purchase my own cable modem (and thus have full control), but will then not be able to be on an unlimited data plan. Still hoping they do indeed call me back with a solution to changing the DNS on their end.
Your response makes it sound like you aren’t entirely sure the DNS is the issue, so what else can we try? When I first set up Roon, I used an old MacBook as my server running macOS Catalina and I don’t remember this being an issue. The MacBook was connected to my network via WiFi. Because I liked Roon so much, and because the antique MacBook was struggling a bit, I bought a NUC and installed ROCK. Should I switch back to running Roon on a different computer as a troubleshooting method? What is unique about Roon that it has problems with the Comcast DNS but other devices do not? What else can we try?
That would be a quick and easy way to verify and gather another data point.
Hi @dylan, Update on what I have done:
- Called Xfinity. Their modem does not support changing the DNS. My option here is to buy my own modem which would then allow me to set up the primary and secondary DNS. I’m willing to do this, but given there is the modem cost and I have to give up my unlimited data plan, I want to be sure you folks really think this is the issue. Please advise.
- The only two devices connected via ethernet to my cable modem are my television and the NUC. As an experiment, I hooked up the TP-Link AC750 Wireless Portable Nano Travel Router(TL-WR902AC) I bought for my PecanPi Ultra to the NUC and was able to keep the ROCK connected for just over 24 hours before losing it last night. For awhile, I actually thought this might have solved the problem. Is there any reason to believe the ethernet connection could be contributing to the problem?
- I lost connection again to ROCK at 09:43 AM EST this morning. Could you please check the logs and advise if you think a router purchase is warranted. For the record, I was in a video teleconference on my computer when the ROCK lost connection and there was not any problem with my internet connection. No hiccup at all with my video or computer that was sharing a connection to the cable modem via WiFi.
Thank you!
Hi @Gooey,
I’m seeing some DNS errors still, but not necessarily around the time that you mentioned, so let’s not change modems just yet — I’d hate for you to lose your unlimited data plan without being absolutely certain.
I’m going to consult our senior technical team on this one and we’ll get back to you once we’ve discussed with them. Sorry for the ongoing trouble — We’ll be in touch soon.
Hello @Gooey, do you have a non-Linux device you could use temporarily as the core? I’d like to try this and see if this yields a better result. If the issue occurs with a different core, please let me know what device you used as the core and provide another timestamp of when the issue occurred, thanks!
Hi @nuwriy, Yes, I will go back to my MacBook that I used originally for my Roon core and see what happens. ROCK on my NUC8i5 ran about 26 hours or so before disconnecting again a couple of hours ago. This was the longest it had gone without disconnecting in awhile. Backing up now and switching to the MacBook.
Hi @nuwriy and @dylan, update on what I have done:
- Thurs, Dec 3: Migrated core to a 2008 MacBook running El Capitan. Used it for almost 48 hours without losing core a single time running as many as three separate music streams.
- Sat, Dec 5: Migrated core to a 2012 MacBook Air running ROCK/Linux only. As of 11:10 AM EST, it has been running almost two full days without losing ROCK connection at all. Rock solid (no pun intended).
So, pretty confused and wife is mildly upset with the investment into a NUC8i5BEK that can’t seem to run ROCK properly but two antique Macs can serve as cores just fine. What do I try next? Thank you for your help.
Hello @Gooey, and thanks for testing that! I’d like to have you move back to the NUC one more time and reproduce the issue then reply here with one more timestamp when you do. It’s important that you don’t reboot the NUC between when you reproduce the issue and when we collect diagnostics again.
Hi @nuwriy, I have moved back to the NUC as of about 15 minutes ago. Let’s cross our fingers. I did do a complete, fresh install of ROCK for good measure. If I lose connection, I’ll refrain from a reboot until you take a look at the logs. Thanks for staying on top of this. Very happy with Roon overall and your customer service is outstanding.
Hi @nuwriy, lost connection sometime last night between about 10:15 PM EST Dec 9 and this morning at 5:25 AM. Typical behavior, i.e. all remote devices say they are looking for the Roon Core. NUC is still displaying on my TV that it’s available at 10.0.0.36 but I can’t reach it via the web UI either. Again, this behavior never happened for the two days I switched back to a MacBook running El Capitan and the Mac version of Roon as the Core and then another 4 days running ROCK on a headless MacBook Air. It seems NUC-related somehow. I have not rebooted. Thanks.
Hello @Gooey, I enabled and received diagnostics successfully and it looks like the information the team needs is there. I’ll send this over to them and get back to you.
Hi @Rugby , @nuwriy and @Dylan
I think the problem is solved. As mentioned above, I tried running my core on a MacBook under El Capitan and then running a headless ROCK install on a MacBook Air. Both ran flawlessly and I never lost connection to them. While I was doing this experiment, @Rugby chimed in with a recommendation to try different memory and only go with 8 GB in the NUC. For good measure I swapped both the memory and SSD for Corsair memory and an Intel SSD that was on the Intel-tested compatibility list for the NUC8i5BEK. Voila! ROCK has run for almost three days now without any problems at all. Not sure why either the Micron memory or Samsung SSD would cause the problem, but apparently one of them did.
Thank you all for the help. It was a frustrating journey but one thing is for sure… I know how to move my Roon Core around now! If anyone has a question, send them my way!
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