Roon playback cannot resume after using iPhone remote; requires reboot (ref#PY2DLW)

Support
1

Hi! What’s not quite right with Roon?

· None of the above quite fits

None of the above quite fits

· None of these quite match

Tell us what's going on

· When I pause Roon using my iPhone often I can't start it again without rebooting Roon or, even more often, rebooting my iMac. Sometimes there is no "play" option to choose. Other times it is frozen. Generally a quick pause -- of a few minutes -- does not cause this. But a pause of any longer usually does.

My Roon core is on my iMac in a different room than the one my stereo is in. Pausing from the iMac doesn't seem to have the same effect. But then I don't really have an option for remote operation.

This has been true for as long as I can remember -- and I have been a Roon user for many years. One knowledgeable person on the forum suggested some time ago that it is an iPhone issue.

I've learned to live with it but would prefer the remote operation worked properly.

Tell us about your home network

· My router is whatever the standard rental is from Xfinity. I also use a Netgear switch (but previously used a Cisco switch and had the same issue). I also use TP-Link power line adapters. No VPN.

2

Hello @Geoff_Mirelowitz

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 ensuring we gather the right information.

First, can you please 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

Thank you for the offer. I will try to reproduce the issue but it may take me a few days.

4

I’ve recreated the issue. I began Roon play around 12:50 pm. I paused it, first for about 15 minutes and then for about 30 without a problem. But now at 2:52 pm I got this message on my iPhone:

“Uh oh, something’s not right” etc., etc.

My Roon server is absolutely turned on and remains connected to the same network.

I then went to my iMac (where the Roon core resides) and was able to restart play.

Thanks for your help.

5

Hello @Geoff_Mirelowitz

I have gone ahead and enabled diagnostics mode for your account and what this action will do is next time your Roon Server is active, a set of logs will automatically be generated and uploaded to our servers for analysis.

I wanted to reach out because I’ve been keeping an eye on our servers, waiting for the aforementioned diagnostics report.

For some reason it is not reaching our servers, even after I tried re-enabling diagnostics on your account. I also ran a quick test and I was able to submit a similar report from my setup here, so something else is going on.

So we can move forward, I was hoping for now you could use the directions found here and send them to our Logs Uploader Service and let us know after, thanks!

6

Thank you for your note. I am not able to remember if I have used Roon in the time since my last report. If I have not, that may explain why you’ve seen no reports.

So before I try to follow those complicated (to me) instructions, I will start playing music on Roon today and wait to see if you receive the reports you need without my doing all of that.

I hope that’s ok.

7

Update:

I began Roon play at about 8:00 am PDT. At approx 9:35 am I paused the play with my iPhone. When I tried to start play with the phone, I got the “something’s wrong” message and could not restart play with the phone.

I was able to restart play from my iMac where the Roon core is. Roon is now playing again.

I hope this generates the logs you need.

8

Hello @Geoff_Mirelowitz

Good news: your logs already show the cause, so you do not need to follow those log instructions at all. Please put that aside.

Your iMac is connected to your network twice at the same time, once by Ethernet cable and once by Wi-Fi. Each connection has its own address on your network, 10.0.0.78 for the cable and 10.0.0.37 for the Wi-Fi. Roon Server is therefore reachable at two addresses, and your iPhone picks one of them, not always the same one.

When it picks the cable address, everything works. When it picks the Wi-Fi address, the connection often fails to re-establish after your phone has been idle, and Roon shows you “Uh oh, something’s not right”. Your logs record 42 of these failures since late July, and the largest number of them, fifteen, fell on 10 August, the day you reproduced it for us.

This also explains the two things that have always puzzled you. Controlling Roon from the iMac itself always works, because that does not use the network at all, it talks to itself internally. And it explains why this has been happening for years: your iMac has presumably been connected both ways the whole time.

The fix is to leave only one connection active, and the cable is the one to keep.

  1. On the iMac, click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
  2. Switch Wi-Fi off.
  3. Confirm you still have internet on the iMac, which you should, since the cable is doing the work.
  4. Quit Roon on the iMac and start it again.

Then use your iPhone as you normally would, pause for half an hour, and try to resume. If it works, that was it, and you should not need to reboot anything again.

If you need Wi-Fi on that iMac for some other reason, tell us and we will find another way round it, but turning it off is the simplest test and it is easily reversed.

9

Thanks very much! I will follow those instructions and reply again after I’ve tested the solution.

10

On second thought…

“If you need Wi-Fi on that iMac for some other reason, tell us…”

My wife’s iMac is far from our router and has no ethernet connection so (as best I understand all of this) I think she relies on Wi-Fi. So turning it off would be problematic. We also have other Apple devices – iPads and iPhones – that I think rely on Wi-Fi at home.

Apologies if I don’t quite understand how this all works.

11

Open the settings of your iMac which contains the Roon core and switch wifi off

12

Yes I understand the instruction. I’m just trying to make sure that doing that will not affect WIFI access on our other Apple devices.

13

It won’t, you’re only affecting the iMac that is running Roon.

To affect all your other devices the WiFi access point inside your router would need to switched off … and that is not being suggested.

14

Thank you. I’ll try to solution now and I’ll report the result.

15

I regret to report that the fix did not work.

Around 10:15 am my time I started playing music with Roon and at the same time turned off the Wi-Fi on my iMac. Around 11 am I paused Roon play with my iPhone. Around 12:05 pm I tried to begin play again with my iPhone. That did not work. I got the same “Something is wrong…” message on the Roon iPhone app that I’ve received before.

Again it was possible to restart Roon play from my iMac. At that point I turned the Wi-Fi on my iMac back on as turning it off did not resolve the problem.

16

I’m just calling to your attention the reply I just wrote to Vadim. Unfortunately turning off the Wi-Fi on my iMac did not solve the problem.

17

Did you follow these instructions?

The sequence is important.

I’d actually go one step further and reboot the iMac after making the change (which ensures Roon server and not just the GUI has been re-started).

In any event, after the above, please leave WiFi off … and let Roon support follow up before reverting or making any other changes.

18

Thanks for the quick response. My mistake! I did not quit Roon and restart or reboot the Mac after turning off the Wi-Fi. I’ll do both now and try again. Apologies.

19

Sorry to say the problem persists.

I followed all the instructions including rebooting the iMac before restarting Roon (a full reboot, not just “restart”). Then I played music and subsequently paused Roon play with my iPhone. When I tried to resume play with the phone I got the same “Something is wrong…” message.

I’ve left the Wi-Fi turned off on the iMac as you suggested. Hopefully Roon Support can get back to me with more information.

20

I hope so too.