Remote unable to connect to Roon server after software updates (ref#E5GL6C)

Support
1

Hi! What’s not quite right with Roon?

· Can’t reach my Server, remotes or ARC

Can’t connect to my Server, remotes or ARC

· Other ARC issues

Tell us what's going on

· I've upgraded Roon to latest version and Sonic orbiter to a late version...V2.8. My computer that holds Roon can communicate with the SonicTransport as I've used the computer to download new System software for the Transport. So all components are working and can communicate. But the computer as remote will not connect with Roon server.

Tell us about your home network

· No VPN. Switch is an old Cisco Catalyst 2960G. Extenders are Ubiquiti that have a history of working in this system

2

I imagine this is the problem. But I do not know how to “fix” it. I went to sonicorbiter.com and this came up.

"Music Servers 0

No Sonicorbiter OS based music servers found on your network.

Note: Your music server will not show up here unless it’s running Sonicorbiter OS

Network players 0

No Sonicorbiter OS based music players found on your network.

Note: Your music player will not show up here unless it’s running Sonicorbiter OS"

That doesn’t make sense as the Sonic Transport was ‘here’ when I installed the newest version of SonicOrbiter on it this afternoon.

3

Hey @thotdoc,

Thanks for the report and additional findings!

Roon discovery and the

“find devices” page both rely on multicast/mDNS broadcast traffic staying on the same subnet. The fact that the computer can pull OS updates but neither Roon nor

can discover the Transporter tells you unicast routing works but multicast/broadcast discovery is being blocked or split. That points squarely at the network layer, not at Roon or SonicOrbiter.

The most likely culprits, in order:

  1. Devices on different subnets / VLANs. If the upgrade or a reboot caused the Transporter and the computer to land on different subnets (e.g., one on the main LAN, one behind a Ubiquiti extender acting as a separate network), discovery dies. This is the single most common cause. Confirm both devices have IPs in the same range (e.g., both 192.168.1.x).
  2. Ubiquiti extender in a mode that isolates clients. Some Ubiquiti extender/AP modes block client-to-client and multicast traffic ("client isolation" or operating as a router rather than a bridge). Even with a history of working, a firmware update can flip behavior.
  3. IGMP snooping / multicast filtering on the Cisco Catalyst 2960G. This switch has IGMP snooping enabled by default, and if there's no IGMP querier on the network, multicast (including mDNS) can get dropped after a topology change.

First, find both IP addresses. On the SonicTransporter, go to its web admin (sonicorbiter setup page) and note its IP. Then check the computer’s IP. If the first three octets don’t match, that’s the problem, they’re on different networks.

Second, eliminate the extenders as a variable: temporarily plug the computer directly into the same Cisco switch the Transporter is on, via Ethernet, and check whether Roon and

now find it. If it works wired-direct, the Ubiquiti extenders are isolating traffic.

Third, reboot in the right order: power down the Transporter, reboot the switch, then power the Transporter back up, then the computer. After a firmware change, IGMP snooping state on the 2960G can get stale, and a clean switch reboot often restores multicast forwarding.

Fourth, if it only works when wired-direct, the fix lives in the Ubiquiti config, ensure the extenders are bridging (not routing/NAT) and that any client/guest isolation is off.

We’ll be monitoring for your reply and results, thank you! :folded_hands:

4
  1. The router and the transport are on the same network:

Router-192.168.0.1

Transport-192.168.0.30

  1. Plugging the computer directly Inyo the switch did not all me to find the Roon Server

  2. I powered down and up in the correct order

  3. I deleted my VPN account

Still unable to get to the Roon server

More ideas?

Thank you

5

Hi @thotdoc,

Thanks for trying those steps. Based on your account diagnostics, we can see that your SonicTransporter is running a very old Linux kernel (Fedora 25 core), and Roon 2.65 introduced new system requirements: glibc 2.27 or later on Linux. Your unit appears to pre-date that threshold, which is most likely why RoonServer stopped working during the update.

This isn’t something that can be resolved from the Roon side - the underlying OS on the SonicTransporter needs to be updated to meet the new requirements. We’d recommend reaching out to Small Green Computer (the makers of SonicTransporter) directly and asking them to update your unit’s OS to a version that meets the 2.65+ requirements.

You can find more details about the system requirements change in the Roon 2.65 release notes.

8

Work done to establish the repeaters were not the problem in the lack of connection.

Work I’ve done

  • Reinstalled Roon on Sonic Transport, Re-enabled the player, not able to find Storage Settings to reconfigure
  • Reinstalled Roon on Remote
  • Upgraded SonicOrbiter to V2.8
  • Server and Remote on same 3-octets
  • So wifi allows the devices to talk to each other but still no connection between Remote and Server
  • Connecting Remote directly to Cisco Switch that connects directly to Sonic Transport does not allow the Remote to find the Remote to find Roon Server…
10

Hello @thotdoc,

Thank you for the systematic testing - the results are actually very telling. With the extenders ruled out, both devices confirmed on the same subnet, and discovery still failing even when the remote is wired directly into the Cisco switch, the evidence now points at the switch itself rather than at SonicOrbiter or your UniFi gear.

Here’s why: unicast traffic (OS updates, web pages) passes through the switch fine, but Roon’s server discovery and the sonicorbiter.com “find devices” page both rely on multicast - and the Catalyst 2960G has IGMP snooping enabled by default. Without an IGMP querier on the network (home routers typically don’t provide one), the switch’s multicast tables expire over time and it silently starts dropping exactly this kind of traffic. That would also explain why both discovery mechanisms show zero devices while everything else works. Roon has no fallback here - remotes can only find the server through discovery, so when multicast is blocked, the connection is simply impossible.

Three ways to address it, in order of effort:

  1. Reboot the Cisco switch - this clears the stale snooping state and usually restores discovery temporarily. If discovery comes back after a switch reboot and degrades again later, that confirms the diagnosis on its own.
  2. Temporarily connect the remote computer and the SonicTransporter through a simple unmanaged switch, bypassing the 2960G - unmanaged switches forward multicast without any snooping logic. If discovery works there, we have our answer.
  3. For a permanent fix while keeping the Catalyst: via console access, either disable snooping globally (no ip igmp snooping) or enable the querier (ip igmp snooping querier).

Please let us know the result of step 1 or 2 - that will tell us definitively where we stand.

11

I bought a new basic Netgear unmanaged switch and changed over all the cables…remote still unable to reach the core in the sonic transport.

In your description you mentioned that neither the Transport nor the Rendu could be found. I tracked that down. I was using Safari and the sonic orb/sonic transport s could not be found because the sonic orbiter.com site is not secure. I forced Safari to use it but it was hit or miss. I switched to Chrome and it works with insecure sites. I’m using Chrome and contacting the site and the two objects (orbiter and Rendu) with no problems. It is amazing to me that I can install software upgrades on the objects but can’t contact the software that allows my remote to reach the Roon core.

12

Ok. I connected the remote, a Mac Air with Tahoe to the switch and it didn’t connect as noted. Then I thought about it to see if the firewire bridge was working. The Mac says the firewire bridge is inactive. Then when looking for help the help says you can’t use the bridge to connect to a wifi device. So I can’t connect the remote directly to the sonic transport system using a simple switch…or any switch as you suggested or as I read it.

I tried rebooting the Cisco and it did not connect

13

Got it to work. Thank you for your help…now I have to set up Roon.

It was asking me to choose another core and I’d lose my library. I tried it anyway and it made the connection…so many hours of wasted time. Still thanks for your help

14

Hello @thotdoc

Glad it’s finally connecting; that was a lot of hours to burn on what turned out to be a network issue.

Enjoy your music!