Music Library Not Doing Its One Job

Alonzo Mosley
Userlevel 2
Badge +8

Trying to play music from Library.

Song will play about five seconds - through some, not all, of the selected speakers. Then it will skip to the next and do the same. Sometimes for four songs, sometimes for five.

Then it will stop and return one of two messages:

  1. Unable to find file (and provide an address that is absolutely findable on all other networked devices)
  2. WiFi connection “unstable”

I spent about a grand last October upgrading every part of my network to avoid this problem, and it has returned.

I am playing the files through a Synology NAS DiskStation, that is wired into my router.

I have a Play 3 wired into my router, and in the same room - with direct line of sight, less than twelve feet away - another Play 3 and a Connect. I have four Play 1’s scattered throughout my one bedroom, 1300 square foot apartment. WiFi “instability” is not a correct diagnosis.

Yes I have changed channels of both router and Sonos. Router is on 4, Sonos on 11. Both are mega-green-starred channels on my WiFi analyzer. (1 is not as good).

Music Library is updated. Firmware on router and NAS is updated.

I have typed this while sitting on hold with support, and it is still a 15 minute hold time and I am late for another call.

@Wits’ end.

Any suggestions, other than setting on hold for a tech?

Diagnostic 1925358464

 

Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
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27 replies

Airgetlam

 No mention of reserved IP addresses, and this sounds awfully like a duplicate IP address conflict. We tend to group that under wifi interference , although strictly speaking, it’s merely a network issue, and not specific to Wi-Fi networks. 

But, since users don’t have access to that diagnostic, you may want to call in. 

Bruce
Alonzo Mosley
Userlevel 2
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Each Play unit has an assigned IP.

 

At least it did.

Checking now…

Yeah, looking at my router, each Sonos device has:

  • Static address
  • Unique address
  • Shows it’s connected via LAN (and not 5G or 2G, like the TV, printer, this PC, etc...)

Even if that was the case, why would that impact only the Music Library and not any of the other services?

(Which, I did not mention in the OP, seem to be OK. TuneIn is 100% OK, the Connect has been (knock wood) stable, and the Sirius has been stable for the past few days.)

Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
Airgetlam

Does the NAS drive also have a reserved IP address? If the drive was being forced off and reconnecting, that would certainly cause this behavior too. What did Sonos Support say when they looked at your diagnostic?

Bruce
Alonzo Mosley
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I couldn’t wait on hold with Support long enough.

Not sure about whether or not the drive is static (not home now). Will check this evening.

f the drive was being forced off and reconnecting, that would certainly cause this behavior too.

Implying that the NAS is cycling in and out of network while the Sonos is trying to play those files? That seems… odd, doesn’t it?

I never have trouble connecting to it via Windows Explorer, which I know is different, but remains stable.

Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
ratty

Router is on 4, Sonos on 11. Both are mega-green-starred channels on my WiFi analyzer. (1 is not as good).

What’s the channel width on the router? If it’s 40MHz it could be interfering badly with Sonos.

Airgetlam

That’s exactly the behavior I’d expect to see with a duplicate IP address conflict with the NAS. But without you taking the time to check with Sonos, we are stuck making guesses. 

Windows explorer also wouldn’t be going through SMB like Sonos does, but connecting in a completely different manner…although that might be a better explanation as to why it isn’t in fact a duplicate IP address concern. 
 

 

Bruce
ratty

Windows explorer also wouldn’t be going through SMB like Sonos does

It would actually, which is why Windows 10/11 boxes stopped talking to SMB1 shares when Microsoft disabled SMB1 by default. 

Alonzo Mosley
Userlevel 2
Badge +8

Router is on 4, Sonos on 11. Both are mega-green-starred channels on my WiFi analyzer. (1 is not as good).

What’s the channel width on the router? If it’s 40MHz it could be interfering badly with Sonos.

Not certain I understand the question. What am I checking?

Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
ratty

Router is on 4, Sonos on 11. Both are mega-green-starred channels on my WiFi analyzer. (1 is not as good).

What’s the channel width on the router? If it’s 40MHz it could be interfering badly with Sonos.

Not certain I understand the question. What am I checking?

The bandwidth of the 2.4GHz channel. It it’s not stated in MHz it might be of the form “up to X Mbps”.

buzz

I once had an intermittent issue with my NAS. It was an old unit and I just assumed that it was EOL, but the issue was not fully consistent with “defective NAS”. I’m too smart to be harpooned by a duplicate IP address, right? Finally, I swallowed by pride and checked for duplicate IP addresses … darn …!! A few weeks prior I had replaced the router and reconfigured my DHCP range slightly. Of course, I reserved everything … except … a forgotten, small, seldom used palm sized gadget hidden in a cabinet. This device used a fixed IP address that was now inside the DHCP range -- using the NAS’s IP address.

Alonzo Mosley
Userlevel 2
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I haven’t actively done anything with the network (e.g., changing DHCP ranges) - in fact, I am almost positive the last new piece of equipment I’ve added was the NAS in October. This problem has only become really consistent until the last few weeks. (At first I thought maybe it just didn’t like Bob Dylan. But then when it came for Taylor… oh!!!!)

When I looked through the “connected devices” on my router, I didn’t have anything with duplicate addresses. (The Sonos devices, the NAS, a printer, a TV, the PC, and my phone were the only things connected). Is there something else I should be checking, @buzz?

 

Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
buzz

Typically, a router will only report items that it has assigned an address and will not indicate duplicates. My current Router (supplied by the ISP) is a mess and will sometimes create a duplicate. At this point I need to remind myself to reboot the Router every 6-8 weeks, else things start getting weird. Last week I caught it assigning a SONOS player an IP address that was clearly reserved for another device. Fortunately the other device was inactive. (Note that it’s not the same installation I was using during my NAS adventure described earlier)

You’ll need a program to check for duplicates. An iPhone/iPad would be a poor choice for installing the program because they do not report full network data to an App.

Alonzo Mosley
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“an iPhone/iPad would be a poor choice” is apropos in many situations, I’ve found!

I had rebooted the router as part of my “troubleshooting” (in quotes because it’s the worst form of troubleshooting, natch), so that should have resolved issues as you’re describing, yes?

Googling “how to detect duplicate IPs on my network” leads to some really deep, arcane solutions… Gulp.

Whether or not this has anything to do with this particular Music Library situation, should I:

  • Re-assign my Sonos devices in a narrow-ish range (i.e., .201 - .249)?
  • Exclude that entire range from my DHCP table?
Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
Alonzo Mosley
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What’s the channel width on the router? If it’s 40MHz it could be interfering badly with Sonos.

It reads “20/40 MHz”.

It’s a dropdown box with the options:

  • 20/40 MHz
  • 20 MHz
  • 40 MHz
Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
Alonzo Mosley
Userlevel 2
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You’ll need a program to check for duplicates.

Used NetScanTools’ “Duplicate IP Scanner” twice, and both times came back “No Duplicate IPs Found”

Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
ratty

What’s the channel width on the router? If it’s 40MHz it could be interfering badly with Sonos.

It reads “20/40 MHz”.

It’s a dropdown box with the options:

  • 20/40 MHz
  • 20 MHz
  • 40 MHz

Change it to "20 MHz".

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

Here is a diagram showing the effect of a 40Mhz channel width on 2.4Gz, and why 20Mhz is recommended:

 

https://www.engeniustech.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/blog_nov2b.jpg

 

I would change the router to channel 6, is Sonos if using 11, and you have seen 1 is “not good”

 

If the above doesn’t help, is it worth creating a temporary test Music Library on the Windows PC with the Sonos Windows Application, and copy some of the tracks that fail on the NAS. This may help diagnose where the issue is, can be disabled if no longer required, but useful to keep as a test, especially if there are network changes etc.

 

Alonzo Mosley
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Thanks. Didn’t have time to make the switch this AM before I had to bolt, will report on changes tonight.

 

Why is Channel 6 preferred over Channel 4?

 

 

Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
C
Userlevel 6
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Why is Channel 6 preferred over Channel 4?

 

https://www.metageek.com/training/resources/why-channels-1-6-11/

 

ratty

If you happened to live in a field then channel 4 for the router would be okay, since at 20MHz width it wouldn’t overlap with SonosNet’s channel 11. 

In busier environments where everyone’s being neighbourly then only channels 1, 6 or 11 should be used.

Alonzo Mosley
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That graph helped, thanks.

Wouldn’t it still be a problem if the neighbors were on 6 as well?

Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
ratty

That graph helped, thanks.

Wouldn’t it still be a problem if the neighbors were on 6 as well?

Only if they were heavy users. The channel bandwidth would be shared, cooperatively. 

It’s when there’s a partial overlap, between two different channels, that nasty interference arises on both sides. Sharing the same channel doesn’t cause such problems.

buzz

That graph helped, thanks.

Wouldn’t it still be a problem if the neighbors were on 6 as well?

Think of it as sharing the conference room floor using parliamentary procedures vs opening a window and having construction noise or an angry crowd leak in.

Alonzo Mosley
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I read that as “paramilitary procedures”

Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
Alonzo Mosley
Userlevel 2
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Made the changes. Still sporadically acting up. e.g., some albums play just fine, and at other times I’m still getting a few seconds before it jumps to the next. Sometimes the Android app gives me the “Wi Fi Unstable” message.

Again, to beat a dead record, the router is 10 months old, with the NAS (two weeks newer) and one of two Play 3’s both connected via RJ45 (and the other Play 3 with direct line of sight, 12 feet away).

I did put Sonos on 11 and the router on 6. After a day, this is what my “Wi Fi Analyzer” told me about Channel 6:
 

 

Looks pretty bad, but the only two things I can find on Channel 6 are my router (sending two signals, the “Guest” and the “Main” (i.e., RJB-NW5G)) and this other random one (“FRTRow Rugby”). Tonight I will turn off the Guest and see if that improves. It also looks like nothing nearby is on Channel 1.

 

 

Dan: You're gonna need to get someone to fix my computer. Kim: What's wrong with it? Dan: It's in several pieces on my floor.
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