Roon Server on 2012 Mac Mini intermittently fails to play music (ref#3M04SX)

Support
1

What best describes your playback issue?

· Music doesn't start when I press "Play"

What type of Zone is affected by this problem?

· *All of my Zones* are affected.

Does the issue affect all file formats?

· The issue affects *multiple/all* file formats.

Does the issue happen with local library music, streaming service music, or both?

· *Both streaming and local* *library* music are affected.

Do you encounter any playback errors with the "System Output" Zone?

· The System Output has the same problem as my other Zone.

Do you have a complex network setup?

· Both the device and RoonServer are connecting to a *single router*

Please try rebooting your router.

· No, I'm still having trouble

Do you have an approximate timestamp of when the issue last occurred?

· The last time this happened was last night, Feb 11 around 9:30 or 10 PM I believe I was trying to play the Björn Meyer album Convergence from Qobuz

What are the make and model of the affected audio device(s) and the connection type?

· 2012 Mac Mini MAc OS 10.15.8 and a Lumin U2 Mini running whatever the latest firmware is, I think it might be 21.2a connected in to my DAC

Describe the issue

I have Roon Server 2.58 build 1608 running on a 2012 Mac Mini running Mac OS 10.15.8. Sometimes when I go to play music wia Roon Remote on my iPad or iPhone, I can see the track I wanna play, but then I press play it looks like its starting, then nothing happens. I see in the Mac Console error MacOS error: -25294 a lot, but not sure if its related. If I quit Roon Server via Activity Monitor, and then restart it, its fine for a while, but eventually it will fail again and I have to do the same thing all over again. This is a reasonably new problem that seems to have appeared since the last Roon update or maybe the recent Apple Security update for this OS, but to be honest, I cant remember exactly when it started, but all used to work fine. I realize that I probably need to buy a new Mac that can be updated to the most recent OS, but also, your website says that 10.15 is supported, so I thought I should try to get this issue fixed before ultimately taking that step.

Describe your network setup

I have a Synology T2600 (I think thats the model) WiFi router with an ethernet cable running to the Mac Mini and a Lumin U2 Mini also hardwored to the router - its pretty simple

2

Hey @James_Moore,

Thanks for writing in and sharing your report!

If you could, please reproduce the issue and share the specific track name the next time you hit the failure. From there, we’ll enable diagnostics and take a closer look.

Thank you!

3

Hi Benjamin OK. Will do, but what I need to make sure is, do you want me to leave it in failed mode - IE not working for you to be able to do something, or can I resolve it (all be it temporally) so I can play music ? It is totally random as to what tracks, local files or Qobuz, and whatever is failing, can do so while actively playing something, or when I fire up Roon for the first time of the day. It’s working fine at the moment, so will wait to update next time it fails. Thanks -

4

Hey @James_Moore,

Great question! You don’t need to keep it in a failed state, just take note of the track name, date, and time. Afterwards, you can resolve it and continue to enjoy your tunes! :blush:

We’ll be monitoring for your reply, thank you James!

5

Hi @James_Moore,

Thank you for your patience while we reviewed the logs.

We were able to capture and inspect Roon Server logs from a playback interruption event, along with corresponding logs from your LUMIN endpoint. Here is what we found:

Good news first: Roon has no difficulty reaching Qobuz or buffering the track. The track download and local buffering both complete successfully. There are also no problems with device discovery or initial setup. Roon Server and the LUMIN discover each other normally, and endpoint setup begins as expected.

However, right as playback begins, the network connection between Roon Server and the LUMIN is briefly reset. At that moment, Roon Server logs a network reset on the control connection, and the LUMIN’s RoonReady logs show a corresponding disconnect at the same time. The two reconnect almost immediately, typically within a fraction of a second, but that brief interruption is enough to cause playback to stop.

In short, audio is prepared correctly, but the TCP control connection between Roon Server and the LUMIN is being interrupted momentarily. This points to a transient network path issue rather than a problem with Roon, the LUMIN hardware, or Qobuz.

This matches the symptom you’ve reported. We see about 10-20 of these events in the last two weeks.

Even in a simple wired setup, a router can sometimes handle traffic shaping, multicast, or prioritization in a way that disrupts RAAT control traffic. Changes introduced by router firmware updates can also quietly alter default behavior and affect a previously stable setup.

To help us stabilize the connection, please check the following in your router’s advanced settings:

  • Do you see IGMP snooping enabled?
  • Are there any QoS, traffic prioritization, or bandwidth management features available?
  • Have there been any recent firmware updates applied to the router?
Once we know how the router is handling multicast and priority traffic, we can advise on the best next steps to prevent these brief connection resets and restore reliable playback.

We’ll watch closely for your response. Thanks!

6

Thank you Connor for your detailed update.

A couple things to note/update before I directly reply to your few questions. Today at 3:57 PM PST I came home and I went to play Half-Light II by Rosales On the LP Half-Light and it failed. I (at least temporarily) resolved this by going to the resync delay setting and changing it from 3000 to 2000 and pressing play again and it immediately began to play. I learned this from other Lumin users in the forum having similar issues.

Now for your questions :

  • Do you see IGMP snooping enabled?

    Yes it is.

  • Are there any QoS, traffic prioritization, or bandwidth management features available?

    Yes. Both the Mac Mini and the Lumin are set as high priority items for traffic management.

  • Have there been any recent firmware updates applied to the router?

    Not in many months. Long before this issue started.

Thanks.

7

Hey @James_Moore,

Thanks for the update and additional information! While your setup is simple, Synology’s “Traffic Prioritization” can sometimes be too aggressive, causing packets to be buffered in a way that Roon (which hates buffering) doesn’t like.

  • Next Step: Temporarily disable QoS/Traffic Prioritization for the Mac Mini and Lumin.
  • IGMP Snooping: While usually good, if the Synology firmware had a minor silent update, it could be mismanaging the multicast traffic Roon uses to "find" the Lumin. Try toggling this OFF to see if playback stability returns.
[quote="James_Moore, post:1, topic:315398"] I see in the Mac Console error MacOS error: -25294 a lot [/quote]

Are you still seeing this? This is a security/permissions error. Roon relies on the macOS Keychain to manage security certificates and tokens for streaming services (Qobuz) and device handshakes. If the Keychain is “stuck,” Roon hangs while trying to authenticate the stream, which explains why the playhead doesn’t move.

  • The Fix: Open Keychain Access (Applications > Utilities).
  • Go to File > Lock Keychain "login", then immediately unlock it again with your Mac password.
  • If that doesn't help, run the Keychain First Aid (if available in your version) or manually delete any expired Roon-related certificates (after backing up).
Thanks, James! We’ll be monitoring for your reply. 👍
8

Hi Benjamin. As always, Thanks for the additional info. I will make the adjustments to the QoS and IGMP settings as suggested - though can I please ask a couple questions?

1. I have been a Roon customer/User for a long time. Since these settings in my router have been set this way for many years, why is it causing a problem now after all this time? Based on everything I can tell/read, Synology is not pusing silent updates to these features.

2. What am I triggering by adjusting the Resync delay setting in Device Setup that (at least temporarly) resolves the problem when things are non-functional? How is it related?

Regarding the Console errors. There is no Keychain Firstaid in this version of Mac OS - I think they removed it in a version a few years earlier. I don’t see any any expired Roon-related certificates, or frankly any Roon-related certificates at all. Is there anything else you might suggest? Thank You!

9

Hi.

None of the suggestions have been successful. Just had the issue at 2:53 PM PST today trying to play Totality by the Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas. To clear it I did what I mentioned above that I’m waiting on a reply about, which is to go to Resync delay setting in Device Setup and changing tat setting to whatever. It clears the issue temporarily.

Could you let me know answers to my previous post and where we can go from here? Thanks! :folded_hands:t3:

10

Hey @James_Moore,

Thanks so much for the follow-up!

From a fresh diagnostic report, we can unfortunately confirm that you are experiencing a known issue that our development team is actively working on. Here is the tracking thread where we’ll be posting any updates:

There could be a plethora of reasons for this, but generally speaking, while your settings haven’t changed, networking requirements often evolve and can become stricter, and backend security or ISP updates can silently change how those settings actually function.

You can learn more about resync delay here:

11

Thanks for the update.

Hopefully the development team figures out something soon and pushes out a fix.

Cheers. Jim

12

Hi @James_Moore,

Thanks for your patience! If you give both your server and remotes a reboot, how do things perform?

13

Well, that temporary resolves things, but the issue always comes back, same as every else with this issue. It’s easier to just quickly change the resync delay, which does the same as restarting.

Just to do as you ask I restarted them this AM, but unfortunately I just checked now and it’s failed again.

Let’s hope your developers resolve this soon as it’s super annoying .

Thanks.

Jim

14

Hi @James_Moore,

Thanks for your ongoing patience here! Services should have fully stabilized now, how did things perform over the weekend?

It’s worth noting that in your recent Roon Server diagnostic report, we did see a handful of corrupt files pop up. If you head to Roon Settings>Library>Clean up Library, what does this pop-up show you?

Thank you :+1:

15

Hello Benjamin,

Thanks for your email.

Can you describe for me how they would’ve stabilized? I’m just curious because I thought from earlier posts that developers were working on an update to the software that I would need to install?

I recently left Tidal and consolidated everything onto Qobuz, so that could be affecting the library maintenance issues. Not sure. There were 700+ files that were deleted apparently that needed to be cleaned up and there’s apparently 9600+ files that it says our unavailable because of storage location not being disabled. That could be because I recently moved off of an old Synology NAS to some new solid state storage for my local file storage. All those files were copied over so I’m not sure why it doesn’t understand that, but I can clean that up..

Is there still an update expected to be sent out from the developers to address the issue, or was that a misunderstanding on my part?

I haven’t had the issue in a a few days now, but that doesn’t really mean anything because often that’s what would happen, and then it out of the blue it would not work.

Thank you!

16

Hello @James_Moore

Thank you for your patience. Let’s cut straight to the core of the issue based on the specific symptom you mentioned.

The question is related to the recent Cloudflare outage, and we have the clue that you were affected and decided to clarify if anything is improved.

The MacOS error: -25294 you are seeing in your Mac Console is the smoking gun here. This is an Apple Keychain error directly related to security certificate validation.

Here is exactly what is happening:

Because your 2012 Mac Mini is running macOS 10.15 (Catalina), it is no longer receiving root certificate updates from Apple. Meanwhile, streaming services like Qobuz and Roon’s own cloud infrastructure are constantly updating their security protocols to modern standards. When your Mac tries to securely handshake with Qobuz to play a track, the outdated certificates on your machine fail the validation. The connection stalls, and the music simply hangs without starting. Restarting Roon temporarily clears the connection cache, which is why it works briefly before failing again.

I completely understand how frustrating it is when a system that worked flawlessly yesterday suddenly stops working. However, in the current landscape of networked audio and cloud streaming, continuous software and security updates are mandatory. The fact that a setup worked in the past does not guarantee it will work tomorrow if the underlying operating system falls behind modern web security standards.

For stable, long-term troubleshooting and reliable playback, updating the operating system is the required next step. Since Apple officially caps the 2012 Mac Mini at Catalina, you have essentially hit a hardware limitation, or consider manually replacement of the root certificate on Catalina.

17

Hello, OK. You are talking about the error’s in the logs, not the other issue with the recent update that is causing issues. So, ya, the errors are still occurring. See attached screenshot.

The other issue with Roon not playing a file when pressing play, then eventually going to the next track, then the next and so on, never actually playing anything hasn’t occurred in several days, but that’s not all that abnormal, in that the timing of when it happens has been random. This second issue is the one you guys told me the developers were working on and so many others in the forums are experiencing. I understand that there is a beta of 2.61 out there that is in testing that might address this?

Thanks!

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19

Hello @James_Moore

To clear up the confusion: the two issues you are describing are actually the exact same problem. The track-skipping behavior you are experiencing is not related to the recent update, nor is it the bug being addressed in the upcoming 2.61.

The core issue remains the hardware and OS limitation. Because your Mac Mini is running an older operating system (Catalina) with outdated root certificates, it physically cannot establish a secure connection to our servers or streaming partners like Qobuz.

Here is how the two are connected:

  1. Roon attempts to play a track and requests a secure connection to the streaming server.
  2. Your Mac’s outdated certificates fail the security handshake (throwing the macOS error: -25294).
  3. Because the connection is rejected, the track cannot load.
  4. Roon assumes the track is unavailable and automatically skips to the next one, repeating the cycle.

This certificate failure will cause a wide range of communication issues, as your Roon Server must constantly communicate with both our cloud infrastructure and external services. The upcoming 2.61 software update cannot bypass your operating system’s core security limitations.

To stop the track skipping and restore normal playback, you must manually update the root certificates on your Catalina machine.

Please proceed with replacing the root certificate. Once you have done this and the -25294 error is completely gone from your Mac Console, please reach back out if you still experience any playback issues.

20

Ok. Just to let you know, I haven’t had the problem with it not playing tracks or skipping tracks since 2.61 came out and I updated. I’m not saying that the cert issue isn’t real, and I’ve decided to update my Mac Mini anyway in the very near future so I can run the latest OS, but the update did seem to deal with the not playing issue. So far anyway. Thanks!