Roon Core is Loading Very Slowly

Noris,

Since the Core is stuck on the jellyfish (i.e., won’t load), how am I to get to an update prompt in order to access Build 882? The Controller won’t launch until it accesses the Core and the Core isn’t launching, so I’m still stuck in Build 880. How do I get past that? (short of a complete uninstall and reinstall, which I don’t have time for before I leave…)

Download the Roon application from …

… and then install that over the top of the existing installation.

1 Like

Hi @Lon_Baugh ,

Did an install on top resolve the issue on your end? You can also try to set the previous database aside, install Roon fresh and then restore the backup:

  • 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
  • Try backup restore again

Let us know if that helps!

Hi Noris,

Thank you for your follow-up. I just returned to my FL house and installed your latest available Roon app over Build 880. The installation went smoothly, this latest build (884?) tied into my Roon music database and identified and connected to my playback systems without any further glitches. It appears that the build fixed all of my problems and I appreciate the efforts that you and your team went to in addressing them.

I’ll spend some time with Roon over the next few days and let you know if I have any further issues.

I imagine that you all have already arrived at this same thought, but for the absence of any doubt - I strongly suggest that you not push out any discretionary updates right before the holidays. I also strongly suggest that you thoroughly beta-test updates and builds across both new and legacy platforms that conform to Roon’s published system requirements prior to release. Finally, I’m hopeful that if you properly version your future updates and modifications, you can allow us to “roll back” to the previous version if disaster strikes again…

Thanks again and kind regards,
Lon

1 Like

Hi Noris,

I had an opportunity for a good listening session last night with the latest build and, while the primary problems I’d experienced with build 880 have been eliminated, I find that the Controller app is very sluggish when pulling up my album selections. I’d never before received an error message on the screen, but last night did - it was a blank screen save for this error message like “There was an error loading your selection” (something like that). The Core is still much slower to open than with v. 1.7, but overall it seems to be behaving, but not the Controller…

I hate to sound like a broken record, but v. 1.7 worked a lot smoother for me that any of these iterations of v. 1.8 has…I’m not sure what your developers have done with the code, but unfortunately it has produced unnecessary issues for me. I’m using the same iPad Air (3rd Gen) and same wireless network, but the Controller corresponding to v. 1.8 is a lot more winky and unstable that it was with 1.7. Ditto with the Core.

Perhaps there’s a log accessible for your folks to examine to determine this instability? I’d be happy to send it along if there’s one I can access…

Lon

Noris,

Roon Core Build 884 is still very slow to launch (i.e., it took more than two minutes to fully launch and present the home page view.) It is working, but sluggish. Can you suggest anything to help it run more smoothly and be more responsive?
Lon

Noris,

Nine days ago, I replied to your note with information that even after Build 884, Roon Core is still very sluggish. I’m reading this problem exists with others. Since issuing v. 1.8, Roon Core and Controller performance has suffered significantly. I don’t want to continue having the jellyfish occupy my screen for 60, 90 or more seconds every time I attempt to launch the Core and listen to my music. I remember such smooth operation with the previous version. What is Roon doing about this?

I’d appreciate a response.

Thank you,
Lon

Hi @Lon_Baugh ,

Apologies for the slow response here.

You can manually access Roon logs by using these instructions, as you have done earlier in the thread:

Can you please upload a more recent set after our latest build?

Does this behavior impact only the iPad controller or the Core itself? If it is only impacting the iPad, I would try to remove the Roon app and reinstall it from the App store, perhaps that will help. If it’s happening on the Core itself, please send a new log set.

Thanks!

Noris,
As I’ve mentioned, the sluggishness is with Roon Core Build 884 and I just sent you the current logs.
Lon

Dear Noris,
I responded with updated logs nine days ago. I would appreciate a response. I’ve seen several other threads concerning Core v. 1.9 sluggishness, so this looks like it’s not isolated to anything particular with my system. Again, I would appreciate an update, particularly with what you learn from the logs I sent you.

Thank you and regards,
Lon

Hi @Lon_Baugh ,

Apologies for the slow response here. We looked over your logs and it appears to be a slow loading due to Roon loading graphical elements of the app. Can you please confirm if you have the latest graphics card drivers installed on this Roon Core?

If you have updated and that still did not help, we can try to reset the GUI aspect of the app, please first create a Backup of your Roon database, then exit out of Roon and navigate to your Database Location
\Roon\Database\Registry\Client and delete any file that starts with GMS.

That should reset the interface part of Roon, please let me know if that helps!

Hi Noris,

What do you mean by graphics cards drivers installed on this Roon Core? And how would I verify this?
(If you mean my hardware: HP workstation with the following:
3.2 GHz Hex-Core Intel Xeon E5-1650 Processor with 12M Cache
32GB (8x4GB) PC3-10600R Memory Kit
RAID 1 (for real-time music library back-ups)
500GB SATA 2.5" Solid State Drive
SATA 2TB 7.2k 3.5 3Gbps Drive
NVIDIA Quadro 600 1GB Graphics Card
Blu-Ray Drive (for ripping)
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional

I’m using this as my dedicated music server. And it is fully updated with all the latest Windows updates available.)

I’d also like a little more explanation of what you mean by the second portion of your comment - resetting the GUI aspect of the app. I don’t understand what this represents and I don’t want to be messing with the Roon app itself; I shouldn’t have to. It seems to me if it’s hogging memory or not releasing caches, something along these lines (which it seems to be doing), then that’s a programming issue that your tech folks need to resolve.

Again, I never had the sluggishness with the Core v. 1.8.

Please advise.
Lon

Hi @Lon_Baugh ,

Thanks for those details.

Yes, this is what I was curious about.

You can verify you are using the latest NVIDIA drivers via the NVIDIA GeForce Experience App:

The logs were showing UI slowness, as in your graphics card was taking a while to display the Roon app info, which is why I inquired about the driver update. This is not a widespread issue that I’m aware of, and your library doesn’t seem to be too large in terms of track size, so it is strange that you are getting this slowness.

If you don’t wish to reset just the GUI, I would first verify if there’s been any change in behavior with our latest Roon release (from today) and if there isn’t then you can try to reinstall Roon entirely by renaming the install location:

  • 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

Please, let me know if that helps!

1 Like

Noris,

Update: I’ve had several Roon updates on both my HP music server and iPad controller. No hardware changes. I returned to this matter and performed the steps you indicated on Feb 1 with the fresh Roon App install. And I’m still experiencing slow loading on the music server when I open Roon and controller app freezing on the iPad (it will automatically close and then I reopen the app and return to music selections.)

The third issue is that about once in each listening session, the controller will suddenly stop the music (in the middle of my listening), which is an abrupt distraction while listening. In this instance, the selection will remain on the controller screen with the pause button shifted to play; and I press the play button; the music resumes as though nothing happened.

If you respond to this with suggestions for troubleshooting, can you please include explicit instructions as I’m not an expert and even that fresh install was quite the endeavor for me. Unfortunately, it did nothing.

Lon

1 Like

Hi @Lon_Baugh ,

Thanks for trying the fresh database and for providing that additional information. I just took another look over your Roon logs and I am still noticing some slowness, but it’s less than it was previously.

Where is your Operating System installed, is it on the 500GB SSD? Seeing slowness like yours could be attributed to spinning hard drives, but if it’s on the SSD then it should be pretty quick.

I would also potentially perform a disk check and an SFC scan, in case there are operating system issues impacting Roon’s performance. There are detailed guides on this in the links below:

Noris,

I’m glad you see it’s still slow. It’s still a lot slower than Roon v.1.7, which was trouble-free for me - no slow loading; no music pauses. OS runs on the SSD and I’ve done nothing to impact the speed except to update as Roon has indicated, to keep everything up to date. I find it interesting that you’re continuing to send me all this stuff about my OS, computer drive, etc. when the primary issue and the behaviors points to your software engine under v. 1.8 being basically boggier and slower than v. 1.7. Many others have noted this in other posts, Noris. I’d like for you to look at everything I’ve sent you and done and figure out how I can eliminate this sluggishness, OK?

Noris,

I had the worst experience listening last night (multiple times, the music playing would just “pause” on its own and I would have to press the play arrow to get it going again. Also, a few times, the Roon Controller would just close and I would have to reopen it. Finally, twice the app would not identify the player. I’ve never before had these issues in such concentration as when attempting to enjoy my music last night.

I’ve sent you the logs using the link you previously sent me ( https://workdrive.zohoexternal.com/collection/8i5239cc05950ac07456889838d9319545a82/external ) and I hope that you will have your guys review them and then reply to me as to what’s going on.

I look forward to your response soon.

Thanks,
Lon

Hey @Lon_Baugh,

Ben here stepping in for Noris, thanks for sharing a more recent log set with us.

I have a few follow-up questions for you:

  1. Do you run into similar issues when streaming from your system output? We’re seeing reoccurring RAAT server errors pop up in your logs with relation to your DAC.
  2. If possible, are you able to give us a more detailed breakdown of your system setup? How are your endpoints connected to your core?

We’ll be monitoring this thread for your reply :+1:

Hi Ben,

I do not understand your first question, but I’ll provide all the information I can regarding my digital audio system that may be helpful. I do not wirelessly stream any music in my system; it’s all connected via a very stable LAN (which I can explain more fully in response to your second group of queries).

My music server (the specs for which I’ve already provided to Noris in this string, but will repeat below for your convenience) is connected via ethernet to a Netgear 24 Port Gigabit PoE+ Network Switch. From this switch the music data is transmitted via Cat6a in the wall and from the wall via a SOtM dCBL-CAT7 Audiophile Ethernet Cable to an SOtM sMS-200ultra Neo Special Edition (receiver) followed via Audioquest Cinnamon USB 2.0 by an SOtM tX-USBultra (USB renderer) which carefully re-clocks the music data prior to passing it via a Transparent Audio USB DIGITAL cable to my DAC, a T+A PDP 3000 HV (I have a note that specifies the USB interface with this unit from the T+A CTO as follows: " the USB receiver is based on Amanero technology (because this USB receiver is the best we could find in terms of jitter performance) but it is NOT the standard Combo384 OEM module. We build the hardware ourselves with a few refinements and enhancements to increase the performance to even higher standards. But I think what is important for you is that our receiver behaves exactly like the Amanero and it uses Amanero firmware." It’s a very high quality interface that supports resolutions up to 32/384 PCM and DSD 512 via USB.

For your convenience, my music server is as follows:
HP Z420 Workstation
3.2 GHz Hex-Core Intel Xeon E5-1650 Processor with 12M Cache
32GB (8x4GB) PC3-10600R Memory Kit
RAID 1
500GB SATA 2.5" Solid State Drive (this SSD is where Roon Core is kept along with the OS)
SATA 2TB 7.2k 3.5 3Gbps Drives (2)
NVIDIA Quadro 600 1GB Graphics Card
Blu-Ray Drive 1 (which I use for ripping CD’s)
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional (and I try to keep bloatware to a minimum)

Everything downstream from the T+A PDP 3000 HV is analog and, unless I’m mistaken, is probably irrelevant for what you’re seeking re: my system.

Additionally, I utilize an iPad Air 3rd Gen as my Roon Controller for this system (and that is my exclusive use for this particular iPad). Of course, it is connected wirelessly via my Ubiquiti HD Wireless Access Points 802.11ac High Density Wave 2 Enterprise model (which provides a very stable wireless network throughout my home, including my listening room where the system is located.)

I’ve stated on several occasions and will do so here again - Roon v. 1.7 worked FLAWLESSLY for me and it wasn’t until the unveiling of v. 1.8 (from the very start and continuing throughout the plethora of subsequent builds) that I began experiencing playback issues as noted throughout this lengthy message string. I can’t help but think that there are memory hog or other caching-type issues inherent in v. 1.8 that were not present in v. 1.7 (at least the behavior I’m seeing reminds me of such issues).

I really don’t require a lot of the bells and whistles of v. 1.8 and I long for the stability I enjoyed with v. 1.7.

Since first using Roon with this music server, I ensured that no firewall or other network security issues would interfere with the Roon Core and, to the best of my knowledge, that remains the case as previously verified with Noris in this message string. I utilize the music server only for music - ripping CD’s, copying over my hi-res FLAC files from my other computer I utilize for music purchases, maintaining my music library and NO other applications.

I hope you find this information helpful.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Lon

Hey @Lon_Baugh,

Thank you for the detailed response. My first question was based on playing audio from your system output VS any separate endpoints. Please let me know if you’re able to stream audio from the system output and if this has any effect on the issue.

I’d also like to get a fresh database going to see if that helps since we did see RAAT server error logs in the files you send over. You can generate a new RAATServer instance on your device by following these instructions, but please be aware that this will reset your Roon Settings → Audio Tab to factory settings and I would advise making a backup of any custom DSP settings you have:

  • Create a Backup of your current Roon database
  • Exit out of Roon
  • Navigate to your Roon’s Database Location
  • Find the folder that says “RAATServer”
  • Rename the “RAATServer” folder to “RAATServer_old”
  • Restart the Roon App to generate a new RAATServer folder

Thanks, Lon!