"Too many failures. Stopping playback" error on my PC

[James_Knapman]

Roon Core Machine

Roon Nucleus

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Sky Hub
Not using a VPN
Roon Nucleus connected via Ethernet.
PC connected via Ethernet

Connected Audio Devices

Rega Saturn DAC vis USB. Working correctly.
iPhone via WiFi. Working correctly.
PC via Ethernet cable into Sky Hub. Was originally connected to network via wifi but now via ethernet.
I am running on a Private Network in Windows 11.

Number of Tracks in Library

22,500 tracks

Description of Issue

I’m having trouble playing back audio on PC, and only my PC. The USB connected Rega DAC is fine, and I can play tracks in my library via my iPhone and iPad.

A few days ago I finally wired an ethernet connection from my Sky Hub to my PC, but it seems since I did that, I am now constantly receiving the “Too many failures. Stopping playback” error whenever I try and play music on the PC. The output device is the System default one which plays out to a 2.1 Klipsch speaker system.

I have tried the following to fix the issue but to no avail:

1. Checking my AVG Enhanced Firewall settings, and adding Roon and the RAATServer as allowed apps.
2. Disabling AVG and using Windows Firewall, adding Roon and RAATServer as allowed apps.
3. Reinstalling the Roon software on my PC.
4. Reinstalling the Operating System on the Roon Nucleus.
5. Resetting my Roon Database and Settings.
6. Setting the Device options in Roon > Settings > Audio to Load Defaults.

Can someone please help? It seems like an odd coincidence that this all stopped working once I started using an ethernet connection, but even disabling that and trying to play audio on my original WiFi settings causes the error now.

Many thanks,

Jame.s

[James_Knapman]

Does anyone have any advice on this at all please? I just paid for another year of Roon and have a Nucleus and now I can’t use the damn thing on my most commonly used device. It’s not good.

[benjamin]

Hey @James_Knapman,

I’m so sorry for the delay in getting to your thread! I do want to thank you for your patience as well as your attention to detail and the steps you’ve taken to troubleshoot so far!

As a next step, please take note of the date, time and track playing, the next time you come across this issue.

@James_Knapman

• Checking my AVG Enhanced Firewall settings, and adding Roon and the RAATServer as allowed apps.
• Disabling AVG and using Windows Firewall, adding Roon and RAATServer as allowed apps.

If possible I would also temporarily test out disabling your firewalls completely and see if the issue still occurs. This would be a helpful thing to cross off the list early on!

@James_Knapman

The output device is the System default one which plays out to a 2.1 Klipsch speaker system.

If you try to play solely from the actual system output on the PC and not to the Klipsch system, does the same issue occur?

I’ll be on standby for your reply.

[James_Knapman]

Hi again. Thanks for getting back to me!

Just to say, it isn’t any specific file or track that doesn’t play. I can’t play any audio on my PC now at all.

I’ve tried completely disabling AVG (including uninstalling it completely) and the Windows firewalls and that has made no difference.

A more tech-savvy friend of mine had a look at the log files, and he seemed to think it might be somehow related to this issue that was raised on here a while back:

No local audio devices available from Roon on Windows 11 [Solved - Hyper-V Virtual Network In Use]

Roon Core Machine AMD Ryzen 5950X, 64GB RAM (home build) Networking Gear & Setup Details Ethernet connection via Netgear GS116PE switches Connected Audio Devices USB and SPDIF so S.M.S.L. Q5, USB to Schiit audio Modius, onboard audio, AMD HDMI audio port all show in the Windows mixer and all work from all other applications. Number of Tracks in Library 28,000 tracks Description of Issue Roon used to work just fine on this PC. At some point (after an update?), all of the local …

I can provide some log files for you if that would help?

Cheers,

Jame.s

[benjamin]

Hey @James_Knapman,

Thanks for the update! If you could, please reproduce the issue and use the directions found here and send over a set of logs to our File Uploader?

@James_Knapman

think it might be somehow related to this issue that was raised on here a while back:

With that, do you have Hyper-V configured on the Windows remote? Or do you have various virtual networks configured?

Thanks!

[James_Knapman]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for getting back to me again. No I don’t have Hyper-v set up. That part confused me as I don’t really know what that is!

Anyway, I’ve uploaded copies of my RAATServer and RoonServer logs to you now.

Cheers,

Jame.s

[benjamin]

Hey @James_Knapman,

Thanks for sending logs over! We’re seeing a very clear issue around specific file formats not being supported. Both PCM as well as 16bit 44.1khz. I’d be curious if you run into this issue playing any other file types?

As a next step, we’ll want to first refresh your RAATServer database. You mention you’ve done this recently, but core diagnostics aren’t showing anything recently. 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
• Stop RoonServer from running in Nucleus’s WebUI
• Navigate to your Roon’s Database Location
• Find the folder that says “RAATServer”
• Rename the “RAATServer” folder to “RAATServer_old”
• Restart the RoonServer in the WebUI to generate a new RAATServer

@James_Knapman

PC via Ethernet cable into Sky Hub. Was originally connected to network via wifi but now via ethernet.

Can you confirm the Sky Hubs firmware is up to date?

@James_Knapman

The output device is the System default one which plays out to a 2.1 Klipsch speaker system.

Is there anything between your PC remote* and your endpoints? What we’re essentially seeing is:

A) Roon attempted to start playback to your Klipsch endpoints @ 16bits/44.1kHz
B) The PC said “I don’t support that”

I’ll be on standby for your reply. Thanks!

[James_Knapman]

Hi again Ben,

Thanks once again for getting back to me. I tried performing the RAATServer reset you suggested but sadly it has had no effect.

I also tried playing some mp3 files on the PC, but received the same error message as before.

The Sky Hub firmware is up to date. I checked on Sky’s site.

And did you say PC core? My core is the Roon Nucleus Rev 2. As I say, I have the Nucleus connected via ethernet cable to the Sky Q Hub. And the PC upstairs is connected via ethernet cable to the Sky Hub. And that’s it.

As I say, the only thing that changed recently is my connecting the PC to the Sky Q Hub via an ethernet cable to improve my connection generally, and that seemed (I can’t be certain) to coincide with Roon no longer playing back audio on my PC. Everything was playing fine before when my PC was connecting to the Sky Q hub via wifi. But now even if I disconnect the ethernet cable from my PC and try wireless playback, it still returns the same error.

It plays fine everywhere else. I have the Nucleus connected via USB to a Rega Saturn-R CD player through its DAC ports and that works fine. I also have a Sonos Play 1 that can play back all audio from the Nucleus as well.

Cheers,

Jame.s

[benjamin]

Hey @James_Knapman,

Thanks for the info! And good catch - typo on my end for your core device being your Nucleus. I’m currently trying to activate a fresh diagnostic for the PC, but the connection keeps falling.

If possible, could you please use the directions found here and send over a set of logs from the PC to our File Uploader?

[James_Knapman]

Hi again @benjamin,

I’ve just uploaded some more log files. For completeness, I uploaded the RAATServer logs from my PC, and the RAATServer and RoonServer logs from the Nucleus.

Cheers,

Jame.s

[James_Knapman]

Oh… and the PC Roon log as well, sorry.

[benjamin]

Hey @James_Knapman,

Two things to look into:

1. Your Windows mixer - I’m seeing the same errors pop up:

07/25 11:15:43 Trace: [RAAT::System Output] [lua@0000000016327D58] [192.168.0.6:47730]  GOT [6] {"request":"setup","format":{"sample_type":"pcm","sample_rate":44100,"bits_per_sample":16,"channels":2,"sample_subtype":"none"}}
07/25 11:15:43 Trace: [RAAT::System Output] [output/wasapi] output setup: format is pcm 44100/16/2
07/25 11:15:43 Warn: [RAAT::System Output] [lua@0000000016327D58] [192.168.0.6:47730]  setup failed: RAAT__OUTPUT_PLUGIN_STATUS_FORMAT_NOT_SUPPORTED

This indicates that for some reason, your PC isn’t accepting the file format Roon is attempting to play. I would verify what your system mixer settings look like to ensure there is compatibility.

2. After viewing your mixer settings, I would head into Roon and test out using the sample rate converter to see if you’re able to get audio that way. Test out matching formats to what your PC has under its mixer settings.

I’ll be on standby for your reply. Thanks!

[James_Knapman]

Oh my goodness Ben, you did it!

In my PC advanced sound settings, I had the default format set to 24 bit, 44,100 Hz and nothing was playing in Roon. I changed it down to a 16 bit setting, saved. Nothing. Then back to 24 bit again. Still nothing.

I turned audio enhancements on again (I had turned it off previously to see if that helped) and still nothing.

What finally did work was ticking the “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device” checkbox in the Advanced Windows Sound Settings dialog. This had been turned off for a long time previous (while Roon was still working on my PC) so I’m not quite sure what changed?

But anyway, I’m back up and running! Thanks so much for taking so much of your time to look into this for me. I’m a happy camper once again!

Cheers.

Jame.s

[benjamin]

Great news @James_Knapman and excellent work figuring out the culprit! I agree that it’s odd Roon was functioning properly prior to this issue popping up.

Adding ethernet instead of wifi shouldn’t affect sound settings as far as I know, did you by chance also perform a Roon update on the PC right before things went south? Or perhaps a windows update?

Either way, I’m glad you’re able to access your music again. Happy listening!

[James_Knapman]

I’ll be honest I think there might have been an update on both ends, possibly? All I know is there was a period of time I wasn’t streaming on the PC via Roon, and then later after I added ethernet connection to the PC it suddenly wasn’t working. Basically that was probably an annoying coincidence?

Didn’t there used to be an option in Roon for “Exclusive Mode” by the way, that you could set on an endpoint-by-endpoint basis? I don’t see it anymore.

I suspect this is basically a case of Windows 11 being Windows 11, and the update to Windows 11 causing the problem. As I say, I can’t recall now if I had Exclusive Mode on in Windows 11 before for other apps, but I’m pretty sure I did. But in classic Microsoft tradition, it seems “turning it off and on again” fixed the issue. Which is… annoying.

Not sure if you have this in an FAQs or other documentation, but you might want to add it there somewhere maybe, in case other people run across the same issue? Who knows.

Anyway, thank you again for the support. I really appreciate it, and I would never have found the solution without your help and suggestions.

Cheers,

Jame.s