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AudioLinux and NUC Troubleshooting and Tuning


rickca
Message added by austinpop

Summary of useful findings and recommendations

 

This section will be a living repository of useful info from this thread. It's very similar to a wiki and will be maintained by a small group of thread moderators.

 

Before you get started please refer to the Audio-Linux website to ensure you have the latest info and the proper versions of the OS. Audio-Linux.com  

 

**** Updated for AL 1.30 menu 118 or later.

 

  "First Run" setup for headless.  

 

Setup your NUC with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to the NUC BIOS settings.  From the menu note the IP address of the machine to SSH into.  From a MAC the macOS terminal program supports SSH:

324537708_ScreenShot2019-01-28at3_02_19PM.thumb.png.739dc7f9cdb05e04da806c7c66877332.png

 

Then it is simpler to cut and paste into the terminal session. After entering the password for the audiolinuxuser you will be presented with the AL headless menu:

 

1518375894_ScreenShot2019-01-28at3_04_18PM.thumb.png.a7b2867a163f8f014e56e52ff69f94b4.png

 

Option 8 takes you to the command line for the following basic setup.  You will need to be the Root user for this setup and the su command first:

 

su

 

Fix the time zone:  (this is my timezone - look in directory /usr/share/zoneinfo)

 

timedatectl set-timezone America/Chicago
 

Setup and Start NTP daemon (to keep the system time in sync)

 

*** the config file is now properly filled in.

 

Now Start the daemon

 

timedatectl set-ntp true

 

 

NOTE: Sometimes the system takes a little while to get synced up.
 

Set hostname  (this provides a unique name for the machine on your network.  Replace <NAME> with your chosen name)

 

hostnamectl set-hostname <NAME> 
 

Once the above items are set up your machine is ready to be configured for say a Roon bridge/endpoint. That is done using the AL menu.  To return to the menu do the following commands.

 

exit

menu

 

----------------------------------

 

For most of us, the following basic settings are key.

From the configuration menu:

6. START and enable Roonbridge

15. SET Realtime Priority to extreme

16. ENABLE ramroot (reboot after)

 

Return to the main menu and reboot the NUC using 

 

11 Reboot

 

------------------

Roon Server setup is a bit more complex and we will cover it completely a bit later.  The key is where you are booting from and where the Roon database is stored.  In general; say a 32gb OPTANE "SSD".

 

  • You have to partition the SSD into a boot drive and a storage drive.  
  • The transfer the USB stick install to the boot partition.  
  • Reboot from the boot partition.  
  • Do the basic setup. Timezone and name
  • Transfer the Roon Database to the storage drive
  • Start the Roon Server
  • .....

 

----------------- 

The machine will reboot and from the display attached to the NUC you can watch it boot up and load into RAM.  Once the AudioLinux menu is showing the endpoint should be available in Roon.    This completes the basic startup sequence.  The system is ready to start testing.    

 

 

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, MrUnderhill said:

Hi Alan,

 

Are you still using your SE as your server or have you booted that with AL too?

 

Got to say that I just find AL stupidly good whether on the NUC or your old Prestige 2. All the hard work I have done on my system has snapped into place ...find myself listening for hours ...and absolutely no trace of upgradeitus.

 

M

 

Hi Martin,

 

Yup, I got the NUC running as endpoint but with my SE still running as Core. So whilst it sounded amazing its hard to tell how much is the AL ramboot NUC versus how much is the SE and just using Roon in its supposedly optimal config of separating server and player duties.

 

But it's early days and I intend to find out ?

 

I did play around a little comparing SE direct to DAC, SE to NUC to DAC, and both via my TX-USBultra and the results were very promising.

 

Need to get the NUC working on my LPS1.2 next. And also need to listen with Core duties elsewhere in order to better compare the NUC to the SE.

 

Plenty fun ahead.

 

Still impressed that you took the Prestige to such heights!

 

Cheers,

Alan

 

Synergistic Research Powercell UEF SE > Sonore OpticalModule (LPS-1.2 & DXP-1A5DSC) > EtherRegen (SR4T & DXP-1A5DSC) > (Sablon 2020 LAN) Innuos PhoenixNet > Muon Streaming System > Grimm Audio MU1 server > (Sablon AES) Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC > PS Audio M1200 monoblocks > Salk Sound Supercharged Songtowers

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Thanks to a lot of help from Piero, I was able to get my NUC8i7BEH running headless Al with 8 GB of RAM (diskless - running Al and Roon DB in RAM). But even sitting idle, I am getting a message that reads "Core temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events = 1). Then a series of lines, then NOHZ: local_softirq_pending 80. 

 

Anyone have any suggestions of a possible mis-configuration I've made?

 

Here's a screenshot:

 

IMG_6895.jpeg

Intel NUC NUC8i7BEH Roon Server running Audio Linux in RAM -> Sonore UltraRendu (Roon Endpoint) -> Uptone ISO Regen -> Singxer SU-1 KTE -> Holo Audio Spring Level 3 DAC -> Nord One UP Monoblocks -> Spendor LS3/5as | Music controlled via iPad (Power Conditioning: Audience adeptResponse aR12).  Twitter: @hirezaudio

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15 minutes ago, gsquared said:

Thanks to a lot of help from Piero, I was able to get my NUC8i7BEH running headless Al with 8 GB of RAM (diskless - running Al and Roon DB in RAM). But even sitting idle, I am getting a message that reads "Core temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events = 1). Then a series of lines, then NOHZ: local_softirq_pending 80. 

 

Anyone have any suggestions of a possible mis-configuration I've made?

 

Here's a screenshot:

 

IMG_6895.jpeg

 

If you running in extreme mode, you are likely to get it even when doing nothing. If not, then are you running Roonserver which is scanning a newly configured library ? If yes, then you will likely get the throttling message as well.

 

 

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2 hours ago, gsquared said:

Thanks to a lot of help from Piero, I was able to get my NUC8i7BEH running headless Al with 8 GB of RAM (diskless - running Al and Roon DB in RAM). But even sitting idle, I am getting a message that reads "Core temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events = 1). Then a series of lines, then NOHZ: local_softirq_pending 80. 

 

Anyone have any suggestions of a possible mis-configuration I've made?

 

Here's a screenshot:

 

IMG_6895.jpeg

 

Type: sensors

 

This will let you monitor the cpu temps, my nuc7i7bnh has hit 92° (extreme mode dsd512 +convolution) but hasn't throttled once so I'm guessing you're cpu temps are sky high which, as suggested above, might be down to a new Roon library scan being performed in extreme mode. 

 

Type: top

 

This command gives a task manager type view of running processes and cpu usage. 

 

Type: - 1 (once you've typed top) 

 

This will list cpu usage for each core. 

 

Useful as you might see cpu usage as being over 100 %, which is misleading as in reality each core has its own '100%' allowance. 

 

I was worried because mine was at 120% but as it turns out my dual core i7 was running at about 60% on each core. 

 

Much less worrying. 

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3 hours ago, gsquared said:

Thanks to a lot of help from Piero, I was able to get my NUC8i7BEH running headless Al with 8 GB of RAM (diskless - running Al and Roon DB in RAM). But even sitting idle, I am getting a message that reads "Core temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events = 1). Then a series of lines, then NOHZ: local_softirq_pending 80. 

 

Anyone have any suggestions of a possible mis-configuration I've made?

 

Here's a screenshot:

 

IMG_6895.jpeg

Try use the standard mode when the headless is idle. 

 

If you're using the headless as a Room server, I guess it's very taxing and the temperature will rise.  Probably much lower if it is used an Roon bridge (end point without Roon certification).

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11 hours ago, BigAlMc said:

 

Hi Martin,

 

Still impressed that you took the Prestige to such heights!

 

Cheers,

Alan

 

 

Hi Alan,

 

TBH it was a zero risk play. By disconnecting the SSD from the power I reverse the change in about five minutes.

 

When I first got the box it had Vortexbox's newest version of the OS ....but, I could only connect to one USB at a time, and I have 4x512GB. I ended up loading up their latest open source version, which is years old. This allowed to me mount the four USB sticks, but also degraded the sound quality very slightly; still a LOT better than vanilla Ubuntu which I tried first.

 

AL more than recovered that lost quality, and saved me buying a second NUC.

 

M

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1 minute ago, mozes said:

Any suggestions for troubleshooting?

Maybe turn off Secure Boot in BIOS?

Pareto Audio AMD 7700 Server --> Berkeley Alpha USB --> Jeff Rowland Aeris --> Jeff Rowland 625 S2 --> Focal Utopia 3 Diablos with 2 x Focal Electra SW 1000 BE subs

 

i7-6700K/Windows 10  --> EVGA Nu Audio Card --> Focal CMS50's 

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16 minutes ago, mozes said:

My first attempt to install AL headless on my Acer laptop.

I burned the image on a USB flash using Rufus but when I boot the laptop I am getting this error message

"Security Boot Fail"

Any suggestions for troubleshooting?

Mozes,

 

In the UEFI,

 

Switch off the security boot.  Choose Linux as the boot OS if necessary.

 

tapatrick has done brilliant screenshots.  Don't waste it.

 

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Thanks @dev @greenleo @devrettib2001 for the reply. It is a new library, so maybe that is the cause of it.

 

I haven't switched to extreme mode yet, so this is happening in standard mode.
 

Intel NUC NUC8i7BEH Roon Server running Audio Linux in RAM -> Sonore UltraRendu (Roon Endpoint) -> Uptone ISO Regen -> Singxer SU-1 KTE -> Holo Audio Spring Level 3 DAC -> Nord One UP Monoblocks -> Spendor LS3/5as | Music controlled via iPad (Power Conditioning: Audience adeptResponse aR12).  Twitter: @hirezaudio

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Ok guys, I managed to boot AL from the USB flash. Thanks fr your help. It worked after I switched off secure boot from BIOS.

Then I chose extreme mode, but when I type the command "alconf" I got the message that command is not recognized. I tried another mode called Audiolinux BFG and still got the error that "alconf" is not recognized.

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