ultraRendu and microRendu completely dead on Ethernet after long storage period

Audio Gear Talk Sonore
1

Hi everyone,

I am trying to revive my old Sonore setup and ran into a strange issue affecting both my ultraRendu and microRendu.

Background:

  • I successfully upgraded my sonicTransporter to Sonicorbiter OS 2.8

  • Roon Server is now running correctly on the sonicTransporter

  • The sonicTransporter appears normally on the network and works fine as the Roon Core

However, both endpoints (ultraRendu and microRendu) are now completely invisible to the network.

Symptoms:

  • Tried multiple ethernet cables

  • Tried multiple switches

  • Tried direct connection to router

  • sonicTransporter works normally on the exact same cables/switches/router ports

ultraRendu:

  • Front/chassis power LED lights up normally, suggesting the unit at least receives power and partially starts

  • However, there are NO Ethernet link/activity LEDs at all

  • Neither on the switch/router side nor on the RJ45 port itself

microRendu:

  • No front power LED on the device, so I cannot really tell whether the unit itself is booting

  • Also completely silent on Ethernet

  • No link/activity LEDs whatsoever

For both devices:

  • Neither appears in DHCP or ARP tables

  • No Ethernet activity at all

  • Original power supplies tested

  • Additional power supplies also tested

Additional tests:

  • Removed SD card from ultraRendu and tested boot without SD card

  • Behavior remains exactly the same

  • Still absolutely no Ethernet activity

The whole system worked before I stopped using it for a long period of time.

At this point I am trying to understand:

  • Could this still be SD corruption / bootloader failure?

  • Is there any known issue with internal regulators or power stages on these devices after long storage?

  • Is there a recovery/reflash procedure for ultraRendu/microRendu?

  • Does Ethernet PHY initialization on these devices depend on successful bootloader startup?

  • Any known UART/serial recovery procedures?

The fact that BOTH devices fail in an almost identical way is especially confusing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Leonid

2

What are the IP addresses of the Rendus and the RoonServer? Are they on the same network segment?

4

The sonicTransporter / Roon Server is on the normal local LAN subnet and works correctly on the network.

Unfortunately, I cannot determine IP addresses for either the ultraRendu or microRendu because neither device establishes even a physical Ethernet link or appears in DHCP/ARP tables.

This is why I currently suspect a boot, hardware, or low-level initialization issue rather than a network segment problem.

1 Like