Roon app on core server crashes in pillowsimd.dll when changing tracks

Hi - I restored a backup from 3 weeks ago and that seems to have solved the problem. But it might come back, that happened before, and I am not sure what’s causing it. Roon works fine for a few days then this starts happening, and it gets worse.

Today it happened almost every time I changed a track or clicked the back button e.g. to go from an album back to the main screen while music was playing. Either in the core app or in a remote app, both desktop computers.

I am in the US Eastern Time Zone, it’s 9:12 pm now. Let’s hold on until this happens again, if it does. I don’t know what’s triggering it. Seems to be some unexpected db state.

Hi @Tudorici,

Thanks for providing that additional information, please do let us know when/if this behavior next occurs so that we have a timestamp that we can cross-reference in the diagnostics from your Core.

It’s still happening. Here’s the latest, 10/10/2019 11:56:27 AM and 10/10/2019 11:56:26 AM respectively. Not as bad as before, but extremely annoying.

I had another issue these days, where my main remote computer would not detect its own devices! This happened after a Windows Update reboot. All my DACs etc. are connected to it, the core only does HDMI to an AVR. It turned out to be a firewall-related issue, one of the firewalls (either core or remote, cannot remember, probably core) was silently disallowing something. After I disabled it and re-enabled it, then checked Roon everything was ok.

Not sure if the following might be related to the firewall. All my devices run properly, music is on large USB-C drives, all drives are accessible even when this happens. The db on core is on a relatively small drive (256gb) but nothing else of consequence is installed or runs on it, except windows and some drive-formatting etc. utilities.

Faulting application name: Roon.exe, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5cc12f39
Faulting module name: pillowsimd.dll, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5cc12e93
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00000000000042c8
Faulting process id: 0x3294
Faulting application start time: 0x01d57f74402b87fb
Faulting application path: C:\Users\tudor\AppData\Local\Roon\Application\Roon.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Users\tudor\AppData\Local\Roon\Application\100600416\pillowsimd.dll
Report Id: f5b48699-5de7-409a-887b-2c4045ef6c3c
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

===================================

Application: Roon.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.AccessViolationException
at Imagoo.NativeUtils.scale(IntPtr, Int32, Int32, Int32, IntPtr, Int32, Int32, Int32)
at Imagoo.Utils.Scale(Byte*, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32)
at Imagoo.Bitmap.Scale(Int32, Int32)
at Sooloos.Broker.ImageCollection._FinishRenderImageToBitmap(Base.ByteBuffer, System.Nullable1<Int32>, System.Nullable1, ScaleMode, System.Nullable1<Int32>, System.Nullable1, System.Nullable1<Int32>, System.Nullable1, System.Nullable1<Int32>, Sooloos.CallingThread, Base.ResultCallback1<Imagoo.Bitmap>)
at Sooloos.Broker.ImageCollection+<>c__DisplayClass45_1.b__0(Sooloos.CallingThread)
at Sooloos.CallingThread+<>c__DisplayClass10_0.b__0(System.Object)
at ThreadUtil._WorkerThread()
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

============================================

And, it keeps happening. And happening. Now it is the first time it happened without manually changing the track! But the track changed to next.

I also turned off the Firewall on the core > private network and it still happens.Please help, it makes Roon unusable.

Hi @Tudorici,

Thanks for letting me know those timestamps and additional traces. I have gone ahead and activated diagnostics mode for your account and what this action does is automatically upload a set of logs to our servers for analysis.

I’m looking over the logs and it appears that there is quite a bit of activity going on in your Core and the crash is not contained in the logs as it has been overridden by other background activity. Let’s proceed as follows:

  1. Reproduce this behavior once more when Roon crashes and note the timestamp
  2. After Roon has crashed, please leave it closed and manually upload a set of your Roon logs by using these instructions. The best way to get them over to me would be via Dropbox / Google Drive / Send.firefox.com

Hi - yes, today I restarted quite a few times – then I switched the drive to a new one, something I had planned to do a while ago, and today everything was ready and I had the time to watch it. But these issues started again before that.

Then I said what the heck, in the beginning it was crashing constantly as it started to scan the new drive. But then I rebooted the computer and it settled. Now it finished and seems to (again) happily chug along. But this is typical! Usually starts crashing just when you think it could not be better.

The only common pattern so far aseems to be Windows updates. But I am not sure. This is a relatively new core, with new drives and a new drive bay.

We’ll keep in touch. Thanks for your attention on this.

OK, Here we go, started crashing again constantly in pillowsimd.dll. Let me know what you find 10/10/2019 2:16:55 PM

Can you provide a link for me to send the Roon logs?

Hi @Tudorici,

I just sent you a private message with alternate file upload instructions. As a reminder, please upload this file immediately after the crash (without opening Roon again) so that the crash is listed in the logs and is not overwritten by other background activity.

I just sent the logs, please let me know what you find

The new hypothesis is that the issue is strictly correlated with my ADI-2 Pro. Right now it only seems to happen if that DAC is set as the Zone. I reinstalled the drivers but it still happens if that zone is active. Roon seems to work on other different zones, but let’s see if this continues.

Hi @Tudorici,

I checked the logs you sent, but I am not seeing any crash reports contained in them.

I just spoke to our hardware team and they have noted that we do have and ADI-2 Pro in the lab which we can try to reproduce this behavior on and I have requested that they schedule this test.

If you notice this behavior occur when playing to any of your other zones, do let me know as this would be good information to have. Thanks!

This happens ONLY on the ADI-2 Pro on ASIO, not Wasapi. I tested repeatedly and I have quite a few DAC devices. It has the latest firmware and drivers. This is my favorite and my daily driver. I rarely switch to other devices for music.

For now I disabled the ASIO and I am using Wasapi, but it is strange. The same DAC was working OK on an old core. On that (old laptop) I had an issue where Roon was freezing once every few days, but it went away by itself.

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Hi @Tudorici,

Thanks for confirming the behavior only occurs on the ASIO zone, I have noted this in my request with the lab. Once I hear back from them regarding the results of the test, I will be sure to let you know. Thanks!

Now it started to crash on any ADI-2 zone (Wasapi and Asio), and also on System Output on my main remote, which used to work great until today (with system output I was able to trick it to play to ADI-2 on any device I select in my Windows sound tray). This is ridiculous, same pillowismd.dll event error that makes Roon simply quit. Jriver or any other app incuding browsers have no issues on any device whatsoever.

Hi @Tudorici,

Sorry to hear about the continued frustrations and thank you for providing the update that this occurs on multiple zones now.

I just spoke to our hardware team who has been trying to reproduce this behavior, but they have been unable to do so in the lab, leading me to believe this issue is specific to your setup.

As a follow-up step, I have gone ahead and internally escalated your report to our technical team and have requested some feedback from them I will be sure to let you know they have reviewed the case notes.

Thank you in advance for your patience here!

Well, I am starting to lose my patience.

Would you please point out to your team it is YOUR bullshit pillowsimd.dll that is erroring out here?!

Also while you are at it send them the logs again that clearly show how Roon.exe is NOT bubbling up errors properly, letting Windows catch the crash in .NET libraries.

Every app I have including Jriver, Chrome running Qobuz and Tidal etc. etc. is running fine on ADI-2 Pro.

The errors show some crap, that must be some clue on how at least catch what exactly is going on. Is it really my fault I stumbled upon some condition their hairy code is not catching?

Hello @Tudorici,

We apologize for the delay in our response, we had been waiting on our development team as well as the QA team comment on your diagnostic logs before proceeding.

The QA team was able to set up and install the RME ADI-2 Pro FS drivers on a fresh Windows 10 installation and use the ASIO playback functionality without encountering any issues. Is there anything different about your setup that the QA team would need to reproduce the behavior you are seeing?

Additionally, the QA team noted that your computer contains an audio device from Realtek. There is a known issue with the Realtek audio drivers that can cause other audio devices on your computer to cease to be operational. They recommend uninstalling the Realtek audio driver to see if this changes the behavior. Note that your Realtek audio device(s) will still work without the driver installed. You can read more about this issue here.

Once you have uninstalled the Realtek driver (and rebooted your system), please try running the “System Output” test again. For this test, ensure that you have set Windows to output to a local audio device that is not the RME ADI-2 Pro. This is crucial for determining if this is a device-triggered issue or some other interaction of Roon with your setup.

Additionally, we saw some traces in your logs relating to Roon’s Display Zone functionality. To rule out the possibility that the Display Zone is causing this issue, please do not use this feature until your testing is complete.

-John

Hi John

Thanks for your follow-up. I purposely waited a while so I can test this properly, and continuously, and indeed it seems to be the Display Zone functionality. This explains a lot of behavior in the past, e.g. why more devices started to exhibit this, not just the ADI-2 Pro – but most importantly, since I closed the Chrome display on all computers that had this issue, and turned off the Display Zone on these, I have not experienced ANY crashes at all for about 2 weeks now.

Please let your developers know there is some kind of issue with Display Zones.

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