I had a problem with my QNAP TVS-471 running Roon Server yesterday. I wanted to share the steps I took to resolve the issue in the off chance that someone else has the issues I did and is looking for a fix.
Symptom: QNAP TVS-471 spontaneously rebooting. Reboots happening anywhere from 10 minutes after the system start to 45 minutes but always and consistently happening.
Steps taken to resolve issue:
Removed drives and cleaned dust out of the NAS. My thought was that the system may have been overheating. This did not resolve the issue.
Called QNAP support for help. QNAP tech had me remove the drives installed in the QNAP and boot the system. We then opened a terminal window so we could ping the unit to make sure it was running. I let it run for four hours during which time the system never rebooted. This told me it was not a hardware issue.
Reinstalled drives and downgraded the firmware since QNAP pushed a new firmware update just a day or so ago. I thought that perhaps the issue was related to the firmware change. After I rebooted the system with the older firmware the reboots started again. So, it was not the firmware. I updated the system to the current firmware and moved on to the next step.
At that point I decided to stop the Roon Server application that was running on the QNAP. I didn’t do it because I thought that Roon was the problem but rather because I wanted to try removing the drives one at a time to see if one of the drives may have been causing the reboots.
After turning off the Roon Server application I left the QNAP running to see what would happen. To my surprise it ran stable with no reboots. I let it run overnight.
When I woke up in the morning and saw that the QNAP had been running for 15 hours without a reboot I decided to remove the Roon Server application and then reinstall it.
Roon Server reinstalled. My QNAP has been running now for 7 plus hours without a reboot.
At this point I have to think that the Roon Server application had somehow gotten corrupted and was causing the QNAP to spontaneously reboot. I have been playing music all day with the thought that this would put the most stress on the system as I was trying to confirm a fix. Unless it reoccurs, I have to think I solved the problem.
UPDATE: The QNAP problem I described in the post above came back last weekend. QNAP published a new version of firmware. I downloaded it and installed it on Sunday morning. When the system rebooted the spontaneous reboots returned. I was still convinced it was the Roon Server App on the QNAP so I stopped the service and uninstalled it and reinstalled it. At that point I noticed that doing almost any task would cause my QNAP to reboot. It was at that point that I decided it was the memory.
When I bought my QNAP I upgraded the memory from the 4GB that it came with to 16GB the max it will accommodate. I purchased a 16GB memory kit from Crucial Tech and have been running it for 2 plus years with no issues. I opened the unit and reinstalled the original 4GB that came with the machine. This stabilized the unit and all my reboot issues disappeared. My QNAP is now rock solid stable again. It was the memory. I have never had any memory go bad before so it was the last place I thought to look.
Since going back to 4GB I have noticed that at times Roon seems a bit slower. It takes a bit longer to bring screens up and it just feels slower. According to the Resource Monitor my 4GB memory is being 42% utilized. I decided to buy another 16GB memory kit. Crucial has a lifetime warranty on the memory however I cannot remember where I bought it and so I can’t find the receipt which is needed for a warranty claim. The new memory is coming today however I probably won’t install it until later in the week as I want to run the system for a bit with the 4GB installed to see if I get any random reboots.
This was a lesson learned for me. I spent a lot of time testing and trying stuff out only to have the system reboot again and again until I hit upon it. Hopefully do one else experiences this issue but in the off chance that you do, check that memory. By the way, the tech at QNAP that I spoke with suggested this as a solution early on but to be fair he also suggested that it could be the UPS that the unit was plugged into as well so I ignored his suggestion. He was right about the memory at least.
I am now considering this a closed issue and calling it fixed.