Roon intermittently loses System Output zone during playback (ref#WLP4RB)

Support
1

What is the issue with your audio zone(s)?

· One audio zone missing while others appear as expected

Restart Affected Device

· No, the issue is still the same even after a restart

Restart Roon Server

· No, the issue is still the same even after a restart

Restart Network

· No, the issue is still the same even after a restart

What is the operating system of the affected device?

· Windows

Windows firewall / private network

· No, these suggestions didn't resolve the issue

Describe the issue

While playing back music, Roon keeps losing the System Output zone (message: Roon is waiting for the server). It comes back typically in a few seconds, or sometimes I have to manually refresh the zones in Roon to get it back. My music library is on an external hard drive connected to my computer via a usb port that is connected directly to the laptop via one of the laptop usb connections.

Describe your network setup

My Comcast router is connected to my Eero device which acts as the router. I don't have a Lan internet connection, but will be adding that tomorrow. Currently it is connected via wireless only

1 Like
2

Hello @Ron_Stone

Thank you for reaching Roon support.

I think the next step here is to enable some diagnostics on your account so our technical staff can get some more insight into what’s going on here.

However, before I enable this feature, I’d like to ask for your help in ensuring we gather the right information.

First, restart the Roon server multiple times and reproduce the issue once more, and note the time at which the error occurs. Then respond here with that time, and I’ll make sure we review the diagnostics related to that timestamp.

3

Thanks Vadim,

I restarted Roon multiple times and when I finished at 11:24 am MST, the issue was present and this time it would not reload nor was I able to manually refresh. I restarted the computer and then opened Roon and the issue was not present. I played media at that point and the error occurred at 11:56 am MST

Thanks, I hope this helps and please let me know if I need to do anything else.

Best regards,

Ron

4

Hi @Ron_Stone,

Thank you for that! We’ve added some deeper diagnostics to your Roon Server temporarily, could you please fully stop and reboot your Roon Server twice, and then see if the same issue occurs?

Thank you!

5

Hi Benjamin, that seems to have corrected the issue! I played it all day yesterday and did not have the issue. Thank you so much!

6

Hi @Ron_Stone,

We’re quite glad to hear that, but for full disclosure, we’d only enabled some remote logging on your account to enable RoonServer to more closely log the dropouts. We have not yet released a fix for the issue, so you may encounter symptoms again.

We’re going to keep this thread open just in case - please post here if you encounter issues over the weekend and we’ll ensure we pick up the thread.

If you don’t encounter any further dropouts, the thread will close automatically at some point next week.

Thanks!

7

Hi Connor,

Thank you so much. I have experienced a couple more dropouts, so this is perfect.

8

Hello @Ron_Stone

Would you kindly post the exact timestamp and track name when the dropouts occur to grab the diagnostic data and provide it to the R&D team?

9

What is the issue with your audio zone(s)?

· One audio zone missing while others appear as expected

Restart Affected Device

· No, the issue is still the same even after a restart

Restart Roon Server

· No, the issue is still the same even after a restart

Restart Network

· No, the issue is still the same even after a restart

What is the operating system of the affected device?

· Windows

Windows firewall / private network

· No, these suggestions didn't resolve the issue

Describe the issue

While playing back music, Roon keeps losing the System Output zone (message: Roon is waiting for the server). It comes back typically in a few seconds, or sometimes I have to manually refresh the zones in Roon to get it back. My music library is on an external hard drive connected to my computer via a usb port that is connected directly to the laptop via one of the laptop usb connections.

Describe your network setup

My Comcast router is connected to my Eero device which acts as the router. I don't have a Lan internet connection, but will be adding that tomorrow. Currently it is connected via wireless only

10

Ok sure will.

1 Like
11

Perfect, thank you @Ron_Stone - we’ll be monitoring for your reply and results. :+1:

12

I just had another occurrence of the issue at 7:13 AM. MST - I was playing from Brian Johnstown Massacre - Give It Back, Satellite track # 3 at the :26 second mark

13

Another occurrence at 8:05 A.M. MST. This occurrence took a little bit of time to reset itself. No music was playing

14

Again at 8:24 AM MST - I wasn’t playing music at the time

15

It looks like the Roon App restarted as well

16

Sorry, this is off topic, but can we no longer save playlist export m3u file? That made to so easy to create a CD (Yes, we are still out here, CD folks who still buy & burn CDs. All help You could offer would be great.

17

Another occurrence at 3:51 PM MST. The song that was playing was Traffic band, the Traffic self-titled album and the 3rd track called Don’t be Sad

18

Hello @Ron_Stone

During the log inspection, we were able to find traces of the slow media. Usually, it does mean that the connection to the streaming services is slow, but as you are playing local files, it makes me think that the issue is with the HDD connected via the USB.

Would you kindly temporarily move a part of the library to the internal drive and try to reproduce the issue one more time?

10/14 23:09:01 Trace: [System Output] [HighQuality, 16/44 WAV => 24/44] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 4:59/6:46] 11 - Homesick [Live] - 
10/14 23:09:06 Trace: [System Output] [HighQuality, 16/44 WAV => 24/44] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 5:04/6:46] 11 - Homesick [Live] - 
10/14 23:09:14 Trace: [System Output] [raatclient] GOT [304] {"samples":21279,"status":"Dropout"}
10/14 23:09:14 Trace: [System Output] [raatclient] GOT [304] {"samples":23814,"status":"Dropout"}
10/14 23:09:15 Trace: [System Output] [raatclient] GOT [304] {"samples":18963,"status":"Dropout"}
10/14 23:09:15 Trace: [System Output] [raatclient] GOT [304] {"samples":23814,"status":"Dropout"}
10/14 23:09:15 Info: [stats] 2107164mb Virtual, 3441mb Physical, 2229mb Managed, 1212mb estimated Unmanaged, 2413 Handles, 79 Threads
10/14 23:09:16 Trace: [System Output] [raatclient] GOT [304] {"samples":23814,"status":"Dropout"}
10/14 23:09:16 Trace: [System Output] [raatclient] GOT [304] {"samples":18963,"status":"Dropout"}
10/14 23:09:17 Trace: [System Output] [raatclient] GOT [304] {"samples":24255,"status":"Dropout"}
10/14 23:09:17 Warn: [System Output] [zoneplayer/raat] Too many dropouts (>3s dropped out in the last 30s). Killing stream
10/14 23:09:17 Trace: [System Output] [zoneplayer/raat] too many dropouts. stopping stream
10/14 23:09:17 Trace: [System Output] [HighQuality, 16/44 WAV => 24/44] [100% buf] [PLAYING @ 5:07/6:46] 11 - Homesick [Live] - 
10/14 23:09:17 Trace: [System Output] [zoneplayer/raat] Endpoint System Output State Changed: Playing => Prepared


10/14 23:09:17 Trace: [System Output] [raatclient] SENT [306]{"request":"end_stream"}
10/14 23:09:17 Debug: [raat/tcpaudiosource] disconnecting
10/14 23:09:17 Trace: [System Output] [raatclient] GOT [304] {"status":"Ended"}
10/14 23:09:17 Info: [audio/env] [zoneplayer -> stream] All streams were disposed
10/14 23:09:17 Trace: [System Output] [raatclient] GOT [306] {"status":"Success"}
10/14 23:09:17 Info: [audio/env] [zoneplayer] All streams were disposed
10/14 23:09:17 Info: [audio/env] [zoneplayer -> stream -> endpoint] All streams were disposed
10/14 23:09:17 Info: sleep 378ms after flush
10/14 23:09:17 Warn: [zone System Output] Track Stopped Due to Slow Media
10/14 23:09:17 Info: 
--[ SignalPath ]---------------------------------------------
SignalPath Quality = Inactive
Elements:
------------------------------------------------------------
10/14 23:09:17 Warn: inactive signal path :(
19

Hi @Ron_Stone,

This thread will soon automatically close due to inactivity if it doesn’t receive another response from the original poster. We wanted to reach out to ensure you’d seen @vadim’s response above.

The slow media traces in diagnostic indicates Roon stopped the track because the audio data wasn’t arriving fast enough from the storage device. With local files, this usually means the drive 1) paused or 2) slowed down briefly during playback. If the storage can’t keep up for a few seconds, Roon’s buffer runs out and RAAT stops the stream to avoid audible artifacts (digital distortion, etc.)

Changing the storage drive temporarily to check for dropouts is the most immediate troubleshooting step. Please let us know if we can elaborate further. Thanks!

20

This topic was automatically closed 9 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.