Roon ARC Causing RoonServer/Remote Performance Issues [Solved]

connor · October 17, 2023, 5:17pm

Hello everyone,

Thank you again for your ongoing patience as we work to isolate symptoms for each case reported here. As noted above, we have identified one potential mechanism for the behavior reported, and the next step is to cross-index against the individual reports above. Thus, the call for technical detail and our unusually tight enforcement of #support posting guidelines within this thread.

As a next step, we want to request a few volunteers to run Roon with a Command Flag to activate more granular logging for our developers. The specific Command Flag here is -perftimers; I’ve included instructions for each operating system below.

Please note: activating the -perftimers command line flag will create highly verbose logging in RoonServer/Roon logs.

Windows RoonServer/Roon Machine (All-In-One)

Right-click the Roon icon and select “properties” from the drop-down menu
You will see a text input field titled “Target”. At the end of the “target” input line, add -perftimers.
Make sure the “start in” input field ends with “application folder” and nothing else
Start Roon by double-clicking on the shortcut
Reproduce the problem within Roon and ARC
Please post here to let us know that you’ve volunteered to start with the flag.

Mac RoonServer/Roon Machine (All-In-One)

Open Terminal (Applications/Utilities → Terminal)
Add this command line:
/Applications/ Roon.app/Contents/MacOS/Roon-perftimers
Hit “Enter” to run Roon
Reproduce the problem within Roon and ARC
Please post here to let us know that you’ve volunteered to start with the flag.

Linux RoonServer Machine

Find and open the RoonAppliance startup script. This file is /opt/RoonServer/Appliance/RoonAppliance by default, but individual Linux installations may vary
Add the flag to the end of the last line in the script, giving something like:
exec "$HARDLINK" --debug --gc=sgen --server "$SCRIPT.exe" "$@" -perftimers
Restart RoonServer. To do this, open a terminal and type sudo pkill start.sh You will be prompted for your password, type it in and then press enter, then wait for RoonServer to be restarted.
Reproduce the problem within Roon and ARC
Please post here to let us know that you’ve volunteered to start with the flag.

ROCK

Find the ROCK network folder by following the instructions in the “Method #2: Importing To Network Folder” section in this article
Create a simple text file in that directory with the following name (all one word, no caps, no extension): roonserverargs
Inside that file, add one line with the command flag requested: -perftimers
Restart RoonServer in the ROCK web interface: type “ROCK” into the address bar in any web browser, then click the “restart” button under “Roon Server Software”
After recreating the issue and posting here to notify Roon Support, remember to go back and delete the roonserverargs file.

Please post here if you’re willing to activate more granular logging with the -perftimers command line flag. We’ll be awaiting your response. Thank you again!

christiaan201214 · October 17, 2023, 5:48pm

Activated on Mac OS.

Note that you need to remove the space in the command line where it says " Roon.app". I closed the Roon server when I ran the command the first time, but that resulted in ARC app not working from the start. 2nd time I left the Roon server running and now it seems to work. It’s correct that the command line keeps open and running logging?

Rugby · October 17, 2023, 5:51pm

The RoonServer is always logging whether you add this command or not. This command just increases the amount of activity that is logged.

Vladislav_Dobrev · October 17, 2023, 7:18pm

I did not understand entirely how to activate on macOS for RoonServer. I don’t run Roon on the core Mac, only RoonServer.

Paulb · October 17, 2023, 7:24pm

Hello @Connor,

I added it to the RoonAppliance (Roon running in Unraid docker).
I am trying to let it crash, but so far no crashes.

At 21:13 poor connection and still at 21:23 on cellular 4G.

Other apps no problem, download test gives 40mb.

22:01 back home and can’t connect to core with remote app too.

08:51 Can’t connect with my MacMini to RoonServer either, so restarted RoonServer in the Docker

18:49 went for a short car drive and ARC is not updating cover art:

Stampie · October 17, 2023, 9:28pm

@connor I have a sonictransporter running SonicOrbiter OS - do I use the ROCK method to enable this?
thanks
Nick

Menzies · October 17, 2023, 9:38pm

All setup @connor

Edit: wish I hadn’t now
My Windows machine now keeps crashing and needs a full power down to get going again, until Roon restarts and then does it all over again. Had to quite Roon server and stop it starting on reboot.

Any ideas @connor ?

Edit 2: forgot to mention, needed to shutdown Roon as my Windows machines does other things

Will_Moore · October 17, 2023, 11:40pm

I’ve turned it on on the my Linux Core. Arc has been unusually stable over the last few days but for once I’ll hope for quick crash :D.

Spence_Marquart · October 17, 2023, 11:48pm

Is there an update coming? Arc has been unstable for a while and today crashed multiple times. Thanks!

christiaan201214 · October 18, 2023, 9:36am

@Connor I had 2 events since I turned on the flag. Let me know what I need to share with you.

Marcelo_Bulgueroni · October 18, 2023, 3:27pm

Thanks Connor. Just activated on my server. Will report in the event of a crash.

connor · October 18, 2023, 5:39pm

Hi @AMT,

Sorry to hear that you’re experiencing a startup issue. I recommend clearing the Roon install to verify the flag is unset.

Make a Backup of your current RoonServer Database
Exit out of RoonServer
Navigate to your RoonServer’s Database Location
Find the folder that says “RoonServer”
Rename the “RoonServer” folder to “RoonServer_old”
Reinstall the RoonServer App from our Downloads Page to generate a new RoonServer folder
On the Roon Remotes, press “Use another Core” and connect to the new database

Menzies · October 18, 2023, 5:40pm

Cheers @connor

I’ll do this a little later.

Austar · October 18, 2023, 10:35pm

Greetings,
I’ve been using Roon ARC for several months both from my car and local network. My Roon core (2.0) is installed on a large QNAP NAS and always shows as running.
It is always unstable, especially when using remotely. It may start playing ok, then go into the spinning wheel, or error with Core Unreachable……
Roon ARC is no longer a new software product. Surely there is a definitive setup program or at least instructions. At the moment it is unusable….
Cheers,
Steve

Henry_Buckle · October 19, 2023, 7:26pm

@connor - my core has gone into zombie mode again today. I have the logs (with -perftimers enabled), and I also have memory dumps of RoonServer.exe and RoonAppliance.exe. Where can I upload them to?

I haven’t restarted it yet, so let me know if there’s anything else I can capture.

Will_Moore · October 19, 2023, 8:59pm

I also have had it happen and have got the logs as well. Happy to upload wherever you need them. I believe in the past a link to upload them to you has been provided?

Suedkiez · October 19, 2023, 9:19pm

Instructions are here, in Overview:

Will_Moore · October 19, 2023, 10:44pm

Thank you, no idea how I managed to look past that when searching for it. I’ve uploaded the logs from the few minutes around time it happened plus the full log that had it in there.

Joseph_Hallahan · October 19, 2023, 11:07pm

I’ve had this issue happen quite a lot - drives me mad. Restarting the ROCK server fixes the issue.

Trying to diagnose when this happens, it seems to be when I change networks. So if I move from 4/5G to WIFI and back again (using ARC) it’ll probably trigger the issue and require a restart before any of the end points are accessible again.

Henry_Buckle · October 20, 2023, 5:30am

I’ve uploaded my logs as well. The memory dump is bigger than 100mb (even compressed) so let me know if you need it and I can send it some other way.