Roon becomes unresponsive after running for a while

Roon Core Machine

iMac 27’’ mid 2011, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5, 12Gb RAM
this iMac is the Roon Core as well as the Roon Remote

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Roon Core connected to ethernet switch and to Asus RT-AC68U router

Connected Audio Devices

Schiit Modi 3+ dac via USB to the Roon Core
Apple Airport express via WiFi

Number of Tracks in Library

40691

Description of Issue

I’ve already written a topic about the same issue a while ago (Feb 3 2022) but it eventually got better with build (918), and the topic got closed a month later –> Roon becomes sometimes unresponsive simply while browsing (since latest update, build 898)
Now the same issue is back but this times it happens much, much more frequently :frowning:

If Roon is launched for about 12-24h or more and I select it (it is usually hidden as Roon on this iMac is my Core as well as my Remote to select what I want to listen to) the Remote part of Roon becomes unresponsive on this iMac and I cannot access the user interface to select and play music. I have to force quit Roon and launch it again to be able to access the user interface and play/edit some music on this iMac.
Even though the UI is unresponsive, the Core part of Roon is still running fine as I can use my iPhone to select and play some music.

This problem used to happen every once in a while but became more frequent with the last two updates. It now happens every time I select Roon, except if it has been started recently (a few hours a would say).

Hello @Vexari ,

Thanks for reaching out and apologize for the delay in getting back to you here. Are you still seeing this behavior at the present time?

Does this mean that you are using the “All-in-one” version of the Roon app, and the app is still accessible from other devices? If you try to use RoonServer + Roon app as different packages, do you notice just the UI aspect hang?

Is there any change in behavior if you reinstall the Roon app on the affected device? You can reinstall by using the below instructions:

  • Create a Backup of your current database
  • Exit out of Roon
  • Navigate to your Roon Database Location
  • Find the folder that says “Roon”
  • Rename the “Roon” folder to “Roon_old”
  • Reinstall the Roon App from our Downloads Page to generate a new Roon folder
  • Verify if the issue persists on a fresh database before restoring the backup
  • Restore backup after confirming fresh database does not display the issue

Hello @noris

Sorry for the late reply. Meanwhile I went out in the mountains for a while :slight_smile:

yes exactly I’m using the “All-in-one” version and when it hangs, I can still access the server aspect with other devices.
In the meantime, I had restarted the mac and ran some maintenance scripts (using Onyx app) and it greatly reduced the occurrence of these UI hangs.

For different reasons I decided to finally upgrade the actual old iMac to a M1 Mac mini, so maybe these troubles will maybe go away.
I didn’t know one could run RoonServer + Roon app as different package on the same mac. Maybe this would be a good solution for the new Mac mini as well. At least if the UI eventually hangs I can force quit and restart without affecting the server side.
I imagine the RoonServer app takes up less resources to run than the “All-in-one” version.

2 Likes

Hello @noris

Here is a little update using Roon “All-in-one” version on my new Mac Mini M1.

It seems that the Roon UI aspect still hangs after a while.

I also noticed that the added bonus of running Roon on a M1 mac is that there seem to be some memory leaking involved here. The memory usage of the app keeps growing and I have to quit and restart the app after a week or so (if the UI doesn’t become unresponsive in the meantime).

One more time.

Hello @Vexari ,

With the release of Roon 2.0, we have re-written the Mac app to use another framework, so it should be much more performance-optimized now. Can you try to update to Roon 2.0 and let us know if you see any improvement? Thanks!

Hello @noris,

I updated to Roon 2.0 a few days ago but It seems that the problem still persists. Roon UI just became unresponsive now and had to force quit and restart.

Most of the time after using Roon, I hide it (using ⌘+H, or ⌥click on the desktop) and let it run on the background.
I noticed that the unresponsiveness (spinning beach ball) happens when I bring back Roon to the front (by clicking on its dock icon, or ⌘+⇥ and choosing Roon icon).
Maybe there is something related here. Maybe not.

one more

Hi @Vexari ,

Thank you for the information. I enabled diagnostics and I am seeing some really strange networking errors in your logs, can you please provide more details regarding your network setup?

What Ethernet switch are you using? Is it a managed or unmanaged switch? What is the model? Are you using the latest firmware for your router? What network connections do you have turned on usually, both WiFi and Ethernet? Any VPNs?

Hello @noris,
Thanks for the follow up.

Here is my network setup:

  • Converter
    • 10/100/1000Base-TX to 1000Base-SX/LX Media Converter
  • Router
    • Asus RT-AC68U
      • firmware: Asuswrt-Merlin 386.5_2 (almost the latest)
      • OpenVPN server activated (TAP ethernet bridging)
  • Switch (not managed)
    • Netgear GS208
  • Mac Mini M1
    • Connected by Ethernet cable to Ethernet Switch
      this is the mac where my Roon Core/Remote resides.
      WiFi is often activated as well (because of Airdrop requirements)
  • Other computers/devices connected to the network:
    • 1 Airport express (wifi, only for Airplay, no WiFi network extension)
    • 3 iPhones (WiFi)
    • 2 MacBook Pro (WiFi)
    • 1 Windows PC computer (Ethernet cable to Switch)
    • 1 Canon MX925 multifunction printer (Ethernet cable to Switch)
    • 1 Siemens IP phone (Connected directly to the Router with cable)

Notes:

I use the Open VPN server on my router to be able to remotely listen to connect to my home Roon core from my work iMac. it works. Maybe this is the reason of the strange networking errors you’re seeing in my log?
I’m still using this instead of ARC because of DSP PEQ and convenience of using Roon remote on a mac.
Please note that I had the Roon becomes unresponsive problem using v1.8 on my previous Intel iMac and this seems to happen even though I don’t remotely connect to my Roon core from my work iMac (I sometimes don’t for a week or two).
Please note as well that it is only the User Interface part of Roon that becomes unresponsive and I can still access the core and play music using my iPhone.

The first days I upgraded to Roon 2.0 my Mac Mini M1 was set to auto sleep after a while. This was causing lots of problems with ARC as well as my remote Core connection through OpenVPN. I then set my Mac Mini to never sleep. I no longer get the network problems I had, even though this is not ideal energy saving wise (this is maybe the network errors you see in the logs?)

Hi,

Just to add to this topic, I have exactly the same problem with my set up.
Roon app on my macbook becomes unresponsive and the only way to fix it is to force quit the app.
Let me know if you would like more info or if i should start a new thread instead.

Roon Core 2.0 on a MacMini (intel), macOS 11.
Roon Desktop app 2.0 on MacBook Pro M1. macOS 12

[Once more]
I noticed that the UI becomes unresponsive —and appears in the Activity Monitor as such— when I bring Roon to the front by clicking on its dock icon (it was hidden).
Before this, Roon was behaving normally in the Activity Monitor.

Hi @Vexari ,

Thank you for the additional info here. The Roon release from today contains some changes that may help with your issue. Can you please update to the latest build and let me know if there’s been any change in behavior? Thanks!

hello @noris,

I updated Roon right after your post. I thought it was better for while up until now, Roon UI became unresponsive right after I added an album to one of my monitored folders. Or maybe it was because I clicked on Roon in the OS X Dock to listen to this new album. (Please note that the new album was still available to listen when using my iPhone to browse the Roon Core.)

A little followup on the issue.

Since the last two updates, Roon UI did not become unresponsive once. This is good progress :))

I’ll report back later to see if this holds.

1 Like

Ok the UI became unresponsive once more. With the latest releases it doesn’t happens very often, but still happens.
I had restarted my Mac Mini a couple days ago so the unresponsiveness of the UI doesn’t seem related to how long Roon has been running. I happened as brought Roon to the front and clicked on the back arrow “<” to go back to “My album” view.

Once more 5 days later. I can still access the Roon Core with my iPhone, only the UI seems unresponsive. This time I didn’t do anything except to bring Roon to the front (it was hidden).