Fails when I pull the switch out of the equation, route again through the switch and I instantly find core again…never seen anything like this in 20 years of IT…Have put the question over to Netgear as something is really not right here…
Hi @YYZ,
Yes, that behavior is very strange indeed. I would see what Netgear says, maybe there is a cache that needs to be reset on the APs. If you are so inclined, you could also try factory resetting your APs.
Unfortunately my joy is short lived, as this all crapped out again. Seems at times it gets a connection (i.e. discovers the roon core) but many times doesn’t. Wifi connectivity is stable however. Now I don’t want to run the core over wifi, but it will do for now. Contacting Netgear to see if I can get some help there…
1 Like
Can someone tell me what is happening here. This is an extract from my logs which show my MBP trying to connect to the Roon core via wired connection. IP address is correct, and I’m connected via wifi on my phone and playing while this is going on…Just so I can provide the right information to Netgear on this:
04/29 11:12:03 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer seans-mbp @ 192.168.2.14:62215] lost client connection. Retrying
04/29 11:12:03 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer seans-mbp @ 192.168.2.14:62215] connecting (attempt 1)
04/29 11:12:03 Warn: [rnet/RnetJsonClient] failed to connect Connection refused
04/29 11:12:03 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer seans-mbp @ 192.168.2.14:62215] client connection failed. Retrying in 500ms
04/29 11:12:03 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer seans-mbp @ 192.168.2.14:62215] connecting (attempt 2)
04/29 11:12:03 Warn: [rnet/RnetJsonClient] failed to connect Connection refused
04/29 11:12:03 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer seans-mbp @ 192.168.2.14:62215] client connection failed. Retrying in 750ms
04/29 11:12:04 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer seans-mbp @ 192.168.2.14:62215] connecting (attempt 3)
04/29 11:12:04 Warn: [rnet/RnetJsonClient] failed to connect Connection refused
04/29 11:12:04 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer seans-mbp @ 192.168.2.14:62215] client connection failed. Retrying in 1125ms
04/29 11:12:05 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer seans-mbp @ 192.168.2.14:62215] connecting (attempt 4)
04/29 11:12:05 Warn: [rnet/RnetJsonClient] failed to connect Connection refused
04/29 11:12:05 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer seans-mbp @ 192.168.2.14:62215] client connection failed. Retrying in 1687ms
04/29 11:12:06 Trace: [KEF LSX] [Lossless, 16/44 FLAC => 16/44] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 1:26/3:14] Volcano - U2
04/29 11:12:07 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer seans-mbp @ 192.168.2.14:62215] connecting (attempt 5)
04/29 11:12:07 Warn: [rnet/RnetJsonClient] failed to connect Connection refused
04/29 11:12:07 Trace: [raatserver] [RaatServer seans-mbp @ 192.168.2.14:62215] client connection failed. Giving up
04/29 11:12:07 Trace: [push] restarting connection (Unable to read data from the transport connection: interrupted.)
04/29 11:12:07 Trace: [raat] [sood] Refreshing device list
AH HA! FIXED IT !!!
Buried deep within Orbi forums is the fact that Orbi’s do not play nice with Green Ethernet (EEE - Energy Efficient Ethernet) - and what is the default Ethernet connection hardware setting on MacOS?
Full-duplex, flow-control, energy-efficient-ethernet
If your having problems with your Orbi’s unable to connect to your core (over an Ethernet connection) - start RIGHT here. Go to your Network Settings, and change your Ethernet hardware setting to ‘Manual’ and select just full-duplex - No flow control, no energy efficient.
Energy efficiency is killing Roon 
Thank you all for your help and support, as always, you guys rock !
5 Likes
Hi @YYZ,
That’s quite the discovery, thanks for letting us know and happy to hear that toggling this setting has resolved the issue!
I’ll see if we can add this info to our documentation, but in any case, glad to hear you’re up-and-running now.
Anything to help. Roon crew and the community have helped me many times 
2 Likes
Ok not so fast - left it down for a while, come back to it a few hours later and…cannot connect again 
Hi @YYZ,
Since this issue doesn’t occur on WiFi and only on Ethernet, perhaps something is going on with the Ethernet adapter. If you try to reset the network adapter does that change anything? If you also by any chance have a USB -> Ethernet adapter, it would be interesting to know if the USB adapter presents the same issue.
Well the issue does manifest itself on wifi - but its a bit more hidden as things ‘seem’ ok but the logs tell a different story. And was switching between wifi and ethernet last night with no positive results.
So this morning, based on my findings yesterday, I’ve resolved the issue again but I don’t know why its working. This morning I had the following when I first tested devices:
iPhone / iPad - immediately connected to core and was able to play music. But I do see weird things, like the IOS device (iPad was the main test) intermittently losing connection to core - so it would do things like cycle through an entire album unable to play, lose the iPad as as an endpoint and have trouble loading album artwork. Restart (or sometimes multiple) restarts of IOS Roon app seems to resolve.
MacBook Pro - again the cycling through connection failed messaging I’ve become accustomed to. So yesterday switching the network hardware settings worked, so lets try that again.
So to the Mac mini, and changed the network hardware setting in MacOS from just full-duplex, to ‘full-duplex and flow-control’…Apply…and bingo, connected to Core.
Now I have absolutely no idea what is causing the issue, but at least I have somewhat of a workaround.
My hunch is as follows: This Netgear ORBI system is new on the market, and from reading forums they are having serious trouble with Firmware at the moment. This could be part of the problem. So I may have to live with this for a while.
I will re-open discussions with Netgear on this issue. In the meantime, I would still appreciate a technical explanation as to what I see in the logs with the ‘failed to connect, Connection refused’ messages which are the symptom of the problem. To me, it says that the RAATServer connection request from the client is being refused by the host. That’s what Netgear is gonna tell me. So please help me tell them why this is not the case
Another interesting tidbit I see. Whilst I appear to be connected on all devices (which I am on some level, as I can play music, change music, search etc.) the logs are still filling up with connection refused messages between router and core.
The cause of this appears to be local zones on each remote. So on my MBP, and my iOS devices, I cannot play to the local zone - the zone does not exist on any remote. So they now can all control what is currently being played to devices connected to the core, they cannot play in their own zone. Totally fubar
Update: after working a bit with NETGEAR Support and some very nice people on their forums (mostly the latter), we’ve made some dramatic improvements. Just want to note that there is absolutely no problem with Roon here, this is 100% networking issues. But thought it valuable to capture this information for Roon Support when they get more questions/problems with these devices.
This pertains to the new Orbi (AX) models (wifi6).
-
They do not play nice with green ethernet. If you have any switching in between your ISP modem/router and your Orbi that is running on Green Ethernet, get rid of it. Direct ethernet connection is preferred. If you must run a switch in between, and its managed, make sure green (EEE) ethernet is disabled and disable IGMP if you can.
-
The CTS/RTS default setting on the new Orbi’s is incorrect. The factory value is 64, which is way too low. It should be set to 2347 for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels.
Although things had someone stabilised when I made the changes in point #1, only devices directly connected to the network via Ethernet were stable - so for example my KEF LSX zone was always available, but none of my local zones showed up (MBP, iPad, iPhone).
After changing the CTS/RTS setting and rebooting the router, local zones showed up on all devices. Note that the first time starting remotes on all devices, I had to go through the ‘less documented’ approach of telling the Roon Remote which IP to find my core on - once connected it finds it now without issue.
Only hiccup I am seeing now is that occasionally the local zone on the iPhone or iPad disappears, but a simple restart of the app clears that problem.
Hope this helps anyone with issues down the road.
5 Likes
Good job in sticking at it.
1 Like
Never be beat by a system !
1 Like
I’ve bookmarked this thread as a lot of “roon” problems are as you graciously acknowledged are network issues but users a can be very reluctant to see that. This in depth analysis of up to date, mainstream kit may help others to take another look.
Every network topology is different. Every ISP provided device is bastardised in some way. Newer devices (such as the new NG Orbi system that I purchased) are never ready for primetime until some months after they are released. Firmware is constantly changing to add and improve devices that are “rushed” to market. I’m often amazed by the Roon crew at the sheer number of devices that they try to support and try to help with. 99% of issues are PEBCAK issues - every issue I have ever reported to Roon that involves connectivity turns out in the long run to be something that I have done, or something that I have introduced to my stack that causes the issue…
2 Likes
Hi @YYZ,
Glad to hear you managed to sort out the networking issue with Netgear’s help!
This is very useful information indeed, I’ll mention it to the team in case we get similar reports on this networking hardware.
In any case, thanks again for outlining the troubleshooting you did, and glad to hear that you’re up and running!
There are still some issues, but everything is working mostly as it should be. Remaining issue pertains only to MacOS remote, on startup it will not find the core (as before) - but a quick restart of core and it finds it. So there are still a few wrenches left in the engine, but we’ll see if future firmware upgrades to the NG devices resolve this last issue. iOS is stable and works instantly from all devices.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 36 hours after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.