Serviio

I've been using a roku ultra connected to my network via ethernet for a couple years. I used to use bluray players, but they had issues with hulu. The roku device just seems to do a better job in general, so I use it for all streaming now.

However, in the past week, when I go into the media player channel on the roku player, serviio doesn't show up. I try rebooting the computer serviio is on, doesn't have any effect. The only thing that seems to work is if I go into the roku media player, then login to my serviio computer, open the serviio console, go to status, stop the server, then restart the server and then serviio shows up immediately on the roku. If I then leave the media player app on the roku and come back, serviio is gone again.

Sometimes if I just leave the roku on the media player, serviio eventually shows up, but I have to keep fiddling with the buttons so the roku doesn't go to sleep.

I don't see this same issue on my bluray players. I'm able to reboot those and serviio remains/functions like normal. This is only a recent issue that started happening on the roku.

The serviio computer is a windows 10 pro 64 bit 1909 build. I'm running serviio 2.0. It's plugged into the same netgear network 1GB switch the roku is plugged into.

Up until now, if I went to the roku, selected media player, serviio would either be there immediately or would show up after about 10 seconds. As far as I'm aware, I haven't changed anything on my network. I do keep the W10 computer up to date via windows updates. I tried rolling it back to an older checkpoint, but the issue remained, so I brought it back to current.

Any help would be appreciated.

The most likely reason is that Microsoft released an update/patch that is messing with uPnP packets. The most common issue is the patch usually does something to the Windows firewall. As a test, you could completely disable the firewall. In fact, I don't run the firewall on any of my computers, because I trust everything on my network.

If that fixes the problem, then you can either leave the firewall off, or dig deeper into the settings to see if everything necessary is open. An easy way to reset the firewall would be to reinstall Serviio, as they makes the necessary changes to the firewall.

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

Kind of odd that it sort of works though.

True. But I have Serviio on two separate Windows 10 PCs, both on build 1909, and don't have that issue. The firewall is a likely suspect, since that's probably the only significant difference between your install and mine. I have two Roku Ultra players and two Roku TVs, and they all see Serviio on both PCs without an issue as soon as I start RMP.

Disabling the firewall didn't help. I'll turn it back on and reinstall serviio later when we aren't using it.

Using the serviiodroid app to restart makes it show up too. Which is easier than going into my office, remote desktop into the mediapc in the living room to restart it.

Something I forgot to mention, and you probably did it correctly anyway. But still wanted to throw it out.

In the Windows Firewall, there are three different "networks": Domain, private and public. Make sure you disabled the right one. The network you're using will say Active next to it.

I disabled all 3 and rebooted. Didn't help. Then I turned them back on, rebooted, reinstalled serviio, rebooted again. No dice.

Do you have a static IP on your Serviio computer? It almost sounds like the computer is changing IP addresses and Serviio is looking for the previous address. Restarting the server would force it to recheck it's setting (I think).

I think it's static. Been a while since I set it up. I know it's the same ip, even after restarting my router, switches and computers.

I just thought of one more possibility. Windows by default will power off a network adapter if it appears "unused". If you go into Device Manager and find your network card, you can disable it on the Power Management tab of the device details window.

Nope, I had checked that already.

One thing I have noticed is that when I ping the serviio server/machine from another, there's a delay about 5% of the time and sporadic timeouts and packet loss. If I ping the roku at the same time via another cmd window, I don't see that happening at all. For the roku, speeds always show 3ms or less and no packet loss or timeouts.

Both the roku and media PC are sitting side by side plugged into the same network switch. Perhaps the cable has become faulty from the media pc to the switch or the ethernet port/card on the pc is dying... It's odd, but it doesn't have wireless, so I can't disable the ethernet port and use wireless to see what it does. I may have a 1G pci network card laying around... not sure that mb has an open slot though.

Yeah, it does sound like some sort of network issue. The PC should never be having any sort of latency on your internal network. I'm upstairs in the bedroom that serves as my home office, and just pinged several of my devices downstairs. My media PC had less than 1 ms, while the two Roku Ultras and the TV were all 1 ms. One of the Rokus is wired, while the other and the TV are wireless. Even 3 ms should be fine. So I think there's some sort of issue with your PC and it's network connection. Perhaps the cable, perhaps the network adapter. You might also try a different port in your switch if there's one available, and swap it with another device at the minimum.

Switched the cable and port, now <=1ms ping rate and no packet loss after an hour or two. Still isn't showing up though without restarting the DLNA server on the pc via the serviiodroid app or servvio console.

Well rats. I thought we might have identified the issue. I'm rather stumped at this point. I don't know if viewing the Serviio log will show anything, but I'm will to look at it if you want to upload it here. Might need to enable detailed logging and let it sit for a while to see if it occurs and gets logged.

I can try. I get a bunch of crap from my AV receiver in there... contemplating disconnecting the network cable from it for now. I never use it with serviio, I just have it connected to the network for firmware updates.

I updated the log4j.xml and restarted it. Will see if it tells me anything after I try starting up teh roku and going to media player a few times.

Just change this section and no other?

Yes, that's the only change necessary to enable debug logging. The log will get pretty large, so you'll likely need to compress it for size before you upload it here. Just right-click the file and select Send To, then Compressed File. Text files will zip quite small.

I increased the limit from 5M to 50M. I disconnected my av receiver's network cable, rebooted the media pc after wiping out the existing log files. Will let it boot up, then try accessing it via the roku a few times and see what it says, if anything.

Still getting noise in the log from my main PC and it's own IP.

Interesting IP address range you used. Not likely to encounter a problem with someone trying to penetrate it by guessing your range.

Incredible as it might seem, that long log only covers 6 minutes. I saw nothing out of the ordinary, just the initial startup, binding to your network card, scanning the network for playback devices, and then a library scan. Yes, the detailed log contains a lot of "noise". Perhaps Zip could discover something hidden in there, since he's the developer and knows exactly what each line means.

But if Serviio appears at first but disappears at a later time, this log probably doesn't cover the right time period. And waiting for it to happen is probably going to make the log far too large to upload, even compressed. You might as well change it back to standard logging, start with a fresh log, and just let it run until it doesn't appear. I think a network connection issue might appear in the standard log, since it does log the initial network startup and connection.

You said both the Serviio computer and the players (TV and BD player) are all plugged into the same switch. Is that switch part of your Internet router, or a standalone network switch? If it's running though the router/switch, there's a chance that the router is blocking the uPnP advertisement packets. Is that a setting in the router? Maybe. Some routers have a lot of detailed controls and some have very skimpy controls. One way to prove/disprove that would be to use a separate standalone Ethernet switch, connect all the devices to that switch, and just run a single Ethernet cable from the switch to the router.

Nah, it conflicted with my work VPN for some things, so I changed the subnet.

Just a reminder, 1 week ago, everything worked fine and I changed nothing. The switch is just a netgear 8 port switch. The router is a cheap netgear wireless/ethernet router connected to a comcast modem.

Serviio is showing up after 3 or 4 minutes. If I restart serviio via serviiodroid or serviio console, it shows up immediately on the roku.

Yeah, it just doesn't make any sense that I can come up with. I wish I could be of more help.