I have a Lenovo laptop i7-8550 with 16GB of RAM. It is currently updated to run WIN 11.
This laptop is no longer being used as the screen is a bit damaged and battery barely lasts 15 minutes, when disconnected from power. I wanted to use this instead of a NUC and would like to load ROCK. I flashed a USB drive with ROCK using etcher and tried to boot with it.
I get an error message saying “Roon Optimized Core Kit could not find any disks to install on”
Could you please advise how to resolve this as I would love to make use of this machine instead of buying a NUC.
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
2
Do you have to run ROCK on it? You could just install Roon Server on top of Win 11, and use it as a Core machine instead of a NUC.
Dear Bill, it’s what I am doing now, but given that I prefer the “appliance” approach to ROCK and a lot of users claim improved SQ, so I wanted to give it a shot.
If it’s not seeing your storage in the laptop you’re likely out of luck. Normally it will show you a drive it can install on. There is nothing you can do as ROCK has no options and is limited to device support for intel NuCs.
For the past 5+ years I have been running Roon via a windows desktop at home which is also used heavily as a general PC with mail, browsers, Spotify, Plex server, Office applications etc.
My audio device is the Devialet 220Pro and often I have noted signal drop outs, issues like ‘roon has lost control’ etc.
As I now have this laptop idle, I wanted to find the best possible solution for Roon. Over the past few days, since I reset the laptop and only installed Roon, I have not faced the sound issues like before, however as it is Windows OS, it tends to sleep (despite turning off the sleep mode) and so every morning I need to wake it and restart Roon as it ‘hangs’. Hence the idea that maybe the better option will be to just run ROCK.
It’s is not a multi purpose operating system it’s been designed for a subset of devices only it may or not work on other devices if use similar boards and components it might but there is no guarantee. I assume this machine is using non standard storage type which it doesn’t have the drivers for. You best going for a Linux build of some kind and install Roon server. Rock is not customisable in any way it works or it doesn’t end of.
Best bet is that it is networking causing these issues, not anything to do with core performance.
Your best bet:
Run Roon core and nothing else on that laptop, either Win11 or Linux. If Win11 you can now run RoonServer instead of the whole Roon package including front end, so it will be less resource intensive.
Plug the now headless laptop core into your router or primary switch (the top node / L1 switch in your network)
Make sure all your endpoints / playback devices have their own ethernet LAN / non-Wi-Fi connections to your network
If that doesn’t solve your issues (which should like they are networking not SQ) then you have something more subtle going on. But the first things to do are above.
I wouldn’t worry about trying to turn your laptop into a MOCK. ROCK is only supported on a few Intel NUC models. Some people get it running in other hardware but it is unsupported - as in “you get what you get, and you don’t get upset.” The OS of your core is unlikely to have any impact on dropouts/network quality and while opinions may differ on whether there is some possibility of SQ differences, I personally think you have much bigger fish to fry if you are facing dropouts. If you like what you get to and then want to invest in a NUC-based ROCK, so be it. But do 1-3 above first.
Thanks for the tip Johnny, Steps 2 and 3 were always in place. I will now have the luxury of having a dedicated machine for Roon. I will unistall Roon and install just Roon Server.
BTW, as this machine is solely for Roon, I have noticed that it goes to sleep and hibernates, despite changing the battery settings. Is there some trick to keep the WIN 11 machine ‘always on’. Bear in mind, I dont always have music playing all through the day.
Ok, well if you have had drop-outs or gaps with 2 & 3 in place, once you get 1 in place you should definitely keep track of them (google sheet or whatever) - date & time etc. That’s worth a support request (in the support sectuon) if you continue to have issues - Roon shouldn’t act like that, though given the low buffers of RAAT this is a more demanding payload than most other streaming that you might do.
I’m no Windows expert, but I believe that you can configure power settings in the control panel so that the machine never sleeps when it’s plugged in.
You didn’t disclose info about how your desktop is connected to your network, but “heavily using it” for other stuff is calling for trouble while streaming through Roon, especially when connected wirelessly.
And by the way, drop outs and that sort of stuff have nothing to do with sound quality…
Long story short, fix your Windows install, set up Roon server and be done.
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
13
Thanks Marin, I appreciate the inputs.
The desktop PC (and now also the WIN 11 laptop) is connected via ethernet, to a switch, which additionally also connects the NAS holding the music. The Devialet is another room, connected to a different switch.
Incidentally, I had reset the WIN 11 laptop. I discovered additional power settings that were causing the machine to hibernate and adjusted these, so it no longer sleeps now (It stayed up all night, and Roon was able to play music in the morning)
I have followed Johnny’s advice and installed RoonServer and running this instead of Roon. Everything seems to be working fine for now. Will have the opportunity for extended listening over the weekend.
There’s a good chance you have to change bios settings. For sure you need to disable “Secure Boot”, which is likely enabled if the installer can’t see the drive that currently has windows on it.
This doesn’t mean that Rock will install or work properly, but should allow you to try.
Thanks Mike, I had followed the instructions on the Roon website, and had disabled the ‘secure boot’ and ‘network boot’ options. I will try again with a partition to the drive.
