What in the world is going on with Roon ARC? Worked flawlessly for the last two months with daily usage, but now back to the same connection problems that were common during initial launch. Help!

Support ARC: Port Forwarding Help
1

Roon Server Machine

My setup is a iMac running MacOS 12.7.4, Core i7 with 32GB Ram with CenturyLink for Router.

Specifically, does anyone know WHY Roon ARC will work fine, then without ANY hardware changes, suddenly stop working and won’t connect? I have port forwarding setup, and Roon ARC was working flawlessly with daily usage for the past two months, then yesterday it stopped working (screenshot of my error message below). What the heck changed??? Roon ARC has been like this since launch and was so bad that I left the ecosystem to use Plex/PlexAMP for mobile listening, and it did/still does work flawlessly, but I’d gotten used to having all my listening integrated in Roon. The last two months have been GREAT and I’d love to get back to using Roon ARC but I don’t have much confidence. Anyone know why it was working but now not, and potentially how to fix?

{
“ipv4_connectivity”: {“status”:“NetworkError”,“status_code”:504,“error”:“error: Error: ETIMEDOUT, response code: undefined, body: undefined connected? undefined”},
“external_ip”: {“actual_external_ip”:“174.aaa.bbb.ccc”,“actual_external_ipv6”:“null”,“router_external_ip”:“null”},
“natpmp_autoconfig”: {“status”:“NotFound”},
“upnp_autoconfig”: {“server_ip”:“192.168.50.1”,“found_upnp”:true,“error”:“doaction request return statuscode: UnknownError”}
}

Networking Gear & Setup Details

  1. Who is your internet service provider?

  2. Please list the make and model of your modem and router?

  3. Do you have any additional network hardware, like additional routers or managed switches?

  4. Does your network have any VPNs, proxy servers, or enterprise-grade security?

Connected Audio Devices

Description of Issue -

What is the exact port forwarding error message you see in the Roon Settings → ARC tab?

3

Hi @Charles_Wynn,

Roon can connect to ARC vai two different mechanisms, depending on how your ISP has configured your IP address.

In an IPv4 environment such as the one CenturyLink has set up for your account, Roon relies on port forwarding. The router opens a specific port in its firewall that points to the local IP address of your RoonServer machine, allowing certain traffic to safely pass to and from the internet.

The other connection mechanism concerns IPv6, which isn’t relevant here.

If you’ve autoconfigured port forwarding in Roon → Settings → ARC, then a pre-installed service on your router called UPnP has created a port forwarding rule for you. The diagnostic message you’ve pasted shows that this port forwarding rule is failing, but the router is unsure why.

There are two primary reasons why ARC can suddenly stop working when configured via UPnP:

First, the port (listed in Settings → ARC) is no longer available in the router firewall, either because CenturyLink or another software program using port forwarding (like Plex) has reserved that port number.
I’d first try to change the port number in Roon → Settings → ARC (something like 56000 instead of 55000) and see if that helps.

The second reason port forwarding can fail is because CenturyLink has rolled out Carrier-Grade Network Address Translation (CG-NAT) above your account level. They have run out of addresses so they’ve pooled your account with the rest of the block. This is outside of Roon’s control, but you can inquire with CenturyLink directly and they might offer you a static IP address if this is the case. Anecdotally, I don’t think CenturyLink commonly uses CG-NAT in your area, but it depends on the account.

Do you by chance has two routers in your setup, or just one?

In any case, we’ll work with you to sort this out.