Roon very slow after Win 10 1709 Update

Attn: @support:

Since the Win 10/64 1709 Update, Roon has become very slow to load album images and hangs up while it is doing this task. I deleted and reloaded the Roon program but that has not helped. Please advise if there is anything I need to do on my end. I am using the latest Roon update, build 269.

Thanks,

Bob

This looks like the graphics driver issue that resurfaces regularly. I’ll bet that your Windows machine has Intel Graphics hardware fitted. There’s an interaction between some versions of the driver and the OpenGL library used by Roon for the user interface.

Try seeing if there’s a newer version of the Intel Graphics driver available for download and installation (e.g. use the Windows Device Manager to search for a newer driver).

An alternative workaround is to install the 32bits version of Roon on your PC instead of your current 64bits version. For some reason, the issue doesn’t occur with the 32bits version of Roon.

I have had this problem re-occur periodically for some time. Probably a year or two.

Counterintuitively I use an older graphics driver than intel’s latest. What I do is:

  1. Delete the existing driver in Windows 10. This is important, for some reason you cannot simply overwrite. I assume that the windows 10 update has changed something that cannot be overwritten with a fresh install.

  2. Install an older driver from intel’s website. This is going to vary from hardware configuration to hardware configuration. In my case for example I install the driver ending _4425 rather than the latest ending _4653. Because this happens semi-regularly every few months or so I keep a copy of the _4425 executable so I don’t have to go hunting for it anymore.

  3. On occasion, I have also had to rollback the windows update. But this isn’t necessary everytime. Eventually the latest update from windows seems to work as long as I have the older intel driver.

  4. Re-boot

There is advice on the web on how to prevent windows/intel updates so the problem does not recur but I have not gone this far yet as it is only happening every few months and blocking updates causes other problems.

I have also tried 32bit roon and that solves the problem as well to an extent but there is a health warning. My experience was that above about 110,000 tracks roon 32bit crashed with a lot of corruption errors. This will get you into an endless loop of reinstalling roon and lengthy library re-builds if you have substantially more than 110,000 tracks.

Unfortunately, from the logs this can look like failing hardware but it is misleading. In hindsight, I think there is probably also an interaction effect between roon 32bit, intel graphics drivers, and openGL but it only happens past a threshold of 110,000 tracks or so.

Good point - my library is much smaller, and so 32bit software is fine. Large libraries wil require the 64bits version.

Edit: but see Eric’s comment a couple of posts below. Using 64bits Roon Server for a large library, and 32bits for Roon Remotes is a handy workaround for those with large libraries…

Don’t suppose you have heard anything from roon on this? Is there really nothing can be done other than a graphics card swap out? Pops up so regularly. I will get around to it eventually but in my case that would be a complete server rebuild. I have a very compact embedded fanless design that works well except for this.

Thanks everyone. The 32 bit install worked.

Bob

All — Thank you for your feedback here as we always appreciate the insight.

I wanted to take a moment to touch base and offer the following:

"In regard to the “32 bit version” versus the “64 bit version of the application”. Any limitations are really about how much memory is available for the application to use. In short, a 32 bit core will not be able to use as much memory as a 64bit core, which can matter depending on how large a library is being used with Roon. If a user has a very large DB, running the 64bit version of RoonServer on the core machine with the 32 bit version of the Roon remote on the same device (or another) can help improve performance."

-Eric

@Eric, How exactly is this done?

I have roon 64bit running on a dedicated fanless PC in the living room. The TV via intel drivers is used as the monitor and a bluetooth keyboard is used as the ‘control’. The last windows update caused a lot more problems than usual, but I cannot see how to migrate to the work around with both 64bit and 32bit roon running on the same machine as you suggest above.

  1. I can install 64bit core on the PC. But then how do I control it? Does it have an interface? I tried installing remotes on both a laptop and an iPAD but they will not connect. So the end result is I have nothing at all.

  2. I then tried installing 32bit roon on the living room PC on top of the 64bit core but that just crashed.

So, what am I doing wrong? I couldn’t find any documentation, or at least anything I could understand. How exactly is this done?

Hi @Tony_Casey ---- Thank you for touching base with me. The idea of the proposed configuration is to have RoonServer (64bit version) running parallel with Roon (32bit) on the same machine. RoonServer (64bit) handles the “lifting” while Roon (32bit) is used for control. The Roon install (32bit) will have the full UI, think of it as running a remote on the same computer as the server.

Migrating to Roon Server

  • Before ANYTING, make a backup of your database first.

  • After the backup has been created, close the application and make sure that it is not running.

  1. Rename your “Roon” Folder to “RoonServer”

    • Open Windows Explorer. Click in the address area to the right of the text, to make it active like typing in a web browser, and type %localappdata%.

    • Once you’re in the “Local App Data” directory, locate your “Roon” Folder and rename it to “RoonServer”

  2. Download and install the Windows - 64 bit version of Roon Server from our website.

  3. Launch RoonServer.

    ddc54680-fa6c-49cc-af4a-17d5cadaab38

Note: If you use audio devices connected directly to the server computer, you will also need to configure Windows to log in automatically to your Windows user account.

Controlling Roon Server via Remote on the same computer

!!Warning!! : Running the same Roon database twice on the same network is not supported and will almost certainly cause problems.

-Eric

Hi @Eric, thanks for responding.

I already have a folder called RoonServer. So when I try and rename the Roon folder I get an error. What should I do?

I’m not really sure but the RoonServer directory is probably there from a previous attempt at a dual 64bit/32bit install which I couldn’t get to work by just installing one on top of the other. I couldn’t find the different procedure you describe above.

But what should I do now? Just delete the RoonServer directory and rename the Roon directory? Is that safe?

3 posts were merged into an existing topic: Monitor Resolution Too Low

Hi @Eric, got everything working. Only thing is that the TV display now seems to be a lower resolution / more pixillated. Is this due to 32bit roon control?

Hi @Tony_Casey ---- Thank you for the follow up, I am glad to hear everything is up and running :thumbsup:

In regard to your question about the display resolution, the 32bit version of the application would not be the cause of such behavior. This is more than likely due to one or more of the following:

  • The graphics drivers on the core machine.

  • The scaling on the TV the device is mounted to.

  • The interface being used between the core and the TV. My assumption is that you are using an HDMI cable. Please confirm.

My gut feeling is that this is related to the graphics card driver(s) in the PC. Can you verify what graphics card is being used and if all the drivers are up to date?

-Eric

@Eric, thanks for responding.

Yes, HDMI, graphics drivers up to date. It’s an embeded Intel 2500 which is the reason I am here trying to get a dual config of 64bit core and 32bit control up and running.

I am one of those cases where there is an interaction effect with windows updates, GPU, roon 64bit and Intel 2500. I have put up with it for over a year as the work around was always to roll-back the intel driver (i.e. not install the latest) after any troublesome windows update. Last time though it took me a couple of days to get things working again so this is why I am here looking for a more permanent fix.

Prior to the re-install of the dual 64bit/32bit config there was no problem with the screen resolution. But having said that what prompted the re-install was the windows update that led to the unusably slow roon reported here and elsewhere. So although Windows is reporting everything is up to date, maybe something else happened. It’s a Samsung TV, maybe I need something else. I’ll check on their web-site and report back.

Hi @Tony_Casey ---- Saw this got straightened out here.

Happy listening!
-Eric