building a roon ROCK server (and fixing the “welcome to GRUB” error)
Last holidays I built a dedicated Roon ROCK server and like most good projects, it didn’t go completely to plan.
What started as a straightforward install turned into a frustrating “welcome to grub” dead end. But after a bit of digging (and almost giving up), I found the fix.
If you’re running newer Intel NUC hardware. ie; NUC13/14 this will save you a lot of time.
The Build
I ended up going a bit overkill… but for the price, it made sense.
- Intel NUC14 Pro Slim (Ultra 5-125H)
- 64GB Crucial DDR5 RAM (5600 MHz)
- Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB NVMe (music storage)
- Corsair MP600 Micro 1TB NVMe (2242) (ROCK OS)
- iFi LAN Silencer
I picked up the NUC, RAM, and 4TB drive for about $1,000 AUD on Marketplace, basically new. Once I priced up a “reasonable” build, it was nearly the same cost anyway… so I leaned into it.
I went with the Slim variant, skipping SATA entirely and running dual NVMe:
- One drive purely for ROCK
- One dedicated to music
The Problem: Stuck on “Welcome to GRUB”
After creating the ROCK USB installer, every boot attempt landed me here:
welcome to grub
And that’s it. No progress, no install.
I tried everything:
- Recreating the USB
- Different ports
- Different extraction tools
- Multiple attempts
Same result every time.
At that point, I was ready to ditch ROCK entirely and just run Roon Server on another OS.
The Fix
The issue turned out to be BIOS-level Intel features interfering with ROCK.
Disabling them fixed everything instantly.
Steps that worked:
- Boot into BIOS
- Disable the following:
- Intel Virtualization Technology
- Intel VT-d (Virtualization for Directed I/O)
- Intel Platform Trust Technology (PTT)
- Save and reboot
- Boot from your ROCK USB installer
After that, the install worked first go.
Important Note
I did try re-enabling these settings after installation, one at a time but the system wouldn’t boot, and I had to reinstall ROCK.
So I’ve left them disabled permanently.
NVMe Setup
Some guides suggest installing ROCK with only one drive connected.
I didn’t bother—and it worked fine:
- Both NVMe drives installed from the start
- ROCK detected everything correctly
- The Samsung 990 EVO Plus was immediately available as internal storage
Performance & Sound Impressions
This is where things got interesting.
After getting everything up and running, I added an iFi LAN Silencer, and within a couple of hours of listening:
- Soundstage opened up noticeably
- Instrument separation improved
- Overall presentation felt cleaner
It’s one of those upgrades where you sit there thinking…
this shouldn’t make this much difference. It did.
Going Fanless (Final Build)
I’ve now moved the NUC into a fanless Akasa case, which was always the end goal.
Originally, I was concerned about thermals given:
- The Ultra 5-125H is a 40W TDP chip (with much higher turbo)
- Many Akasa cases are only rated for ~28W
In the end, I went ahead with it yet applied tweaks:
- Adjusted CPU behaviour in BIOS (limiting turbo boost)
- Prioritised thermal stability over peak performance
For a ROCK server, this trade-off makes complete sense. It doesn’t need bursts of power.
The Result:
- Completely silent operation
- Stable thermals
- No performance issues
- Looks mint
Final Thoughts
A couple of takeaways from this build:
- Newer Intel platforms don’t always play nicely with ROCK out of the box
- BIOS settings can completely block installation
- Fanless setups are absolutely viable with the right tweaks
- Over-speccing isn’t necessary
Also worth noting: ROCK isn’t officially supported on NUC14 but it can work.
If You’re Stuck on GRUB…
Try disabling those Intel features first.
It saved this build and would’ve saved me a few days of pain if I’d known earlier.