AudioLinux and NUC Troubleshooting and Tuning

[jcn3]

i also had no problems booting from usb stick, and loading to ram while running roon server.  used 32g stick and my nuc has 16g of ram.

[bobfa]

When I did my server build I said I would publish more of the setup process.  I have not done that.  Here is just the uncleaned up section for building the basic Optane Roon stick.

 

After the hardware is all installed boot from a USB stick with the latest AL headless.  Follow just the section in @austinpoppost below that builds the partitions the Optane stick.  (The rest of what he did here is now automated in Audiolinux menus.)

 

Then return back into the menu system and run #14 to Copy /Backup the current install to another drive.

 

After that is done shut down and remove the USB stick.  Then you can power up from the Optane boot.

 

When you get into the menu, then select #1 configuration  menu and select #5 that will transfer the Roon database to another drive which would be the second partition on the Optane.

 

 

Here is what my server booted into RAM with an external drive for music looks like:

********************************************

              

              Welcome to

         AUDIOLINUX HEADLESS

             version 1.0

             

    https://www.audio-linux.com

 

      [email protected]

      

For configuration menu type "menu"

 

For poweroff type "sudopoweroff"

For reboot type "sudo reboot"

 

********************************************

[audiolinux@FairXeon ~]$ lsblk

NAME        MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT

sda          8:0    0  7.3T  0 disk

└─sda1        8:1    0  7.3T  0 part /media/BobMusic

zram0       254:0    0   15G  0 disk /

nvme0n1     259:0    0 27.3G  0 disk

├─nvme0n1p1 259:1    0  488M  0 part /boot

└─nvme0n1p2 259:2    0 26.8G  0 part

[audiolinux@FairXeon ~]$

 

 

[jcn3]

@bobfa -- just realized your boot issues were more complicated and associated with your server build.  my comment clearly added no value!

[tapatrick]

3 hours ago, bobfa said:

Tapatrick

 

I am thinking you may have a couple of problems here.  

 

1.   Trying to run Roon Server out of only 4GB of RAM. 

2.   I have not seen others run  Roon Server off of a USB stick and them loading into RAM.  

 

When I built my server I boot off of an Optane SSD and then load into RAM.  During setup, I moved the Roon Database to a separate partition on the Optane.  The music is on an external drive.

 

 

Thanks  @bobfa Maybe I should clarify as I'm not understanding what you are pointing to.  

 

See my signature below: My AL roonserver is running in Ramboot and is very stable, it has 16gb RAM. I tried pulling the USB stick out when loaded in RAM several weeks ago and it hung. I haven't tried it since as I'm happy with how it all sounds and works. I have my end point running in ram too with the usb stick out as this is where I notice the difference. 

 

As I mentioned I have my roon database on the server USB stick (64gb) and I have a regular auto save. I wasn't planning on getting any extra drives as I only stream from Tidal/Qobuz. I have a drive with local music but gave up on this some time ago as I much prefer streaming for SQ and convenience.

[Boomboy]

There was a little bit of talk about isolating cpu cores a couple of pages back . im wondering if its done in the bios or the AL menu ?

i cant see it in the AL menu unless i need to update it ? using a nuc7PJYH . should i isolate 2 x cores ?

[jcn3]

@Boomboy - It's under the configuration menu near the bottom - scroll down or expand your window to see it 

[sig8]

On 2/10/2019 at 1:22 PM, Dutch said:

 

It’s a SR7EHD MR4 and the 8A high power ouput regulator module is malfunctioning and needs replacement. I don’t know the cause or what’s wrong with it exactly. All I know is my i7  6700T music server connected to it started acting up end of last year and its output voltage had dropped to around 10.5V. Couldn’t get it back up to 12V using the potmeter (got to about 11.6) but it became more and more unstable. Today I got my old HDplex 12/19v (v1) PSU back into the system as the server either didn’t boot completely or rebooted after minutes. I’m now waiting for Hynes to send me a replacement module.

Which DC-DC ATX you are using. Does SR7 gets hot when you use it with 6700T with 90W TDP?

[Dutch]

1 minute ago, sig8 said:

Which DC-DC ATX you are using. Does SR7 gets hot when you use it with 6700T with 90W TDP?

 

In the server,  now runnig AL as well as my endpoint, I’m using a Gigabyte GA-H110TN-E. This is a thin-itx mainboard with a DC-in jack much like the NUC’s. Regulators are thus on board and no DC-DC ATX converter is used.

 

The 6700T is a 35W TDP CPU, not 90W.

[Boomboy]

Thnx @jcn3 there is no side scroll so I pressed down and 2 more options appeared .

Is this the procedure? 

Stop running processes .. isolated 2 cores .. save into ram .. then reboot ? 

 

What does isolate irq threads mean ? Should I say y to that ?

[Monge]

11 hours ago, Boomboy said:

Thnx @jcn3 there is no side scroll so I pressed down and 2 more options appeared .

Is this the procedure? 

Stop running processes .. isolated 2 cores .. save into ram .. then reboot ? 

 

What does isolate irq threads mean ? Should I say y to that ?

I would start with Realtime Priority set to Extreme.

Then isolate CPU cores to Audio under Configuration Menu:

Half

isolate CPU cores to irq threads  USB=Y if NUC7PHYH is you endpoint

Extreme2

 

Then under Configuration Menu - Save if in ramroot mode.

Reboot

Enable services under Configuration Menu

 Configuration Menu - save if In ramroot mode 

Then check it all In Status menu

[jcn3]

11 hours ago, Boomboy said:

Thnx @jcn3 there is no side scroll so I pressed down and 2 more options appeared .

Is this the procedure? 

Stop running processes .. isolated 2 cores .. save into ram .. then reboot ? 

 

What does isolate irq threads mean ? Should I say y to that ?

 

Easiest thing to do is just maximize the window -- then you'll see a full list of options.  If you don't want to do that, then just arrow down.

 

Since I run in RAM, before I make changes and to ensure they're saved, I get out of RAMROOT first:

* Disable RAMROOT

* Reboot

* Make changes

* Reboot

* Enable RAMROOT

 

Not sure about the IRQ part -- I didn't enable that.

 

My NUC has just two cores, so I allocate one to audio processes.  I set everything to Extreme (vs Extreme2) -- that sounds good to me.

[lpost]

I find that with priority apps and irqs set adding isolated cores only increases cpu temp and I find no SQ improvement.

 

I use Extreme, ramroot, and prioritize my I2S board and hqplayerd only.  Roon is normal priority as it is only for control in my setup.

 

I'm not running a NUC but it's worth experimenting to make sure the extra power/heat is worth it in improved sound quality.

[HeeBroG]

Hi All,

 

I am running LMS and Squeezelite via AL headless on a NUC7PJYH with 4GB RAM

It plays DoP fine for DSD64 and DSD128 but can't play DSD256 even though my Chord DAVE/BluMkII is 768kHz capable.

For those using Squeezelite as an endpoint for ROON; is playing DSD256 possible via DoP?

It was working without any problems on my previous setup with Macmini/Audirvana.

I would appreciate any help.

Thanks

 

Geoff

[austinpop]

5 hours ago, HeeBroG said:

Hi All,

 

I am running LMS and Squeezelite via AL headless on a NUC7PJYH with 4GB RAM

It plays DoP fine for DSD64 and DSD128 but can't play DSD256 even though my Chord DAVE/BluMkII is 768kHz capable.

For those using Squeezelite as an endpoint for ROON; is playing DSD256 possible via DoP?

It was working without any problems on my previous setup with Macmini/Audirvana.

I would appreciate any help.

Thanks

 

Geoff

 

I'm afraid I don't know. I do know that LMS/squeezelite will do up to 24/384 and DSD128 (DoP), but I have not tried it with a DAC that can do 768.

 

Roon/squeezelite is limited (by Roon) to 24/192, so it's a moot configuration.

[HeeBroG]

Ok thanks. 

 

G

[rickca]

Has anyone updated AL to the latest kernel (headless version 1.1 with menu version 105)?  Any issues or noticeable change in sound quality?

[Dev]

3 minutes ago, rickca said:

Has anyone updated AL to the latest kernel (headless version 1.1 with menu version 105)?  Any issues or noticeable change in sound quality?

 

I did a full update (kernel, packages, AL menu) last week. No issues on my side. No change in sound quality either.

[lmitche]

18 minutes ago, rickca said:

Has anyone updated AL to the latest kernel (headless version 1.1 with menu version 105)?  Any issues or noticeable change in sound quality?

Yes, I did the update yesterday. I heard a SQ change straight away.

 

Seems there is a bug in the pstate-frequency package.  I reported this to Piero, he elevated the problem and the bug was quickly fixed by the developer at GitHub.

 

Piero suggested executing the following from a $ command prompt to install the fix:

 

You must update database
$yaourt -Syy
and reinstall to latest version
$yaourt -S pstate-frequency

 

The fix worked.

[Dev]

36 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Yes, I did the update yesterday. I heard a SQ change straight away.

 

Seems there is a bug in the pstate-frequency package.  I reported this to Piero, he elevated the problem and the bug was quickly fixed by the developer at GitHub.

 

Piero suggested executing the following from a $ command prompt to install the fix:

 

You must update database
$yaourt -Syy
and reinstall to latest version
$yaourt -S pstate-frequency

 

The fix worked.

 

Did you hear the change after the pstate fix or was it before ? I think I also noticed the pstate issue with the Max vs Performance profile. I can't seem to set the max/min cpu freq and the  pstate governor is always set to performance whatever I do. Will update the package today and see if anything improves. Thanks for the pointer.

[austinpop]

1 hour ago, lmitche said:

Yes, I did the update yesterday. I heard a SQ change straight away.

 

Seems there is a bug in the pstate-frequency package.  I reported this to Piero, he elevated the problem and the bug was quickly fixed by the developer at GitHub.

 

Piero suggested executing the following from a $ command prompt to install the fix:

 

You must update database
$yaourt -Syy
and reinstall to latest version
$yaourt -S pstate-frequency

 

The fix worked.

 

What was the bug?

[sypderman88]

On 3/7/2019 at 9:12 PM, HeeBroG said:

Hi All,

 

I am running LMS and Squeezelite via AL headless on a NUC7PJYH with 4GB RAM

It plays DoP fine for DSD64 and DSD128 but can't play DSD256 even though my Chord DAVE/BluMkII is 768kHz capable.

For those using Squeezelite as an endpoint for ROON; is playing DSD256 possible via DoP?

It was working without any problems on my previous setup with Macmini/Audirvana.

I would appreciate any help.

Thanks

 

Geoff

 

Hi,

 

 I am also running NUC7PJYH AL headless with external LMS  server but with 8GB ram using squezelite (not R2 version). My DAC supports DOP for DSD64 (tested on the same NUC using daphile working fine ) but I could not get DSD to work in DOP mode for AL. Can you share what is the setting for your squeezelite config file in linux ?  Thanks

[Monge]

I downloaded the new 1.1 version yesterday and burned a new USB stick. But I could’nt enable LMS service only squeezelite service. I did install both from Update menu. No matter what I tried I could NOT start LMS.

Also I found a bug with the MPD DAC In Configuration menu. When I tried it went to first 1. in Status menu.

I gave up and wen’t back to the other USB sticks I have.

 

[LTG2010]

8 hours ago, austinpop said:

What was the bug?

You couldn't set processor/ performance settings they defaulted to max speed and turbo on, Its fixed in the latest patch.

[lmitche]

9 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

What was the bug?

 

10 hours ago, Dev said:

I think I also noticed the pstate issue with the Max vs Performance profile. I can't seem to set the max/min cpu freq and the  pstate governor is always set to performance whatever I do.

 

[hifi25nl]

If you have a version before 1.1.1, you should reinstall manually pstate-frequency (because of a bug in a previous version)

yaourt -S pstate-frequency

and reboot

 

Select MPD DAC is working fine here and also LMS. For specific problems of subscribers please contact me.

 

I remember that the menu is not designed for using numbers really, to select an option you should use arrow keys and Enter.