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Alexa on Sonos One stopped working, tried resetting, FAIL

  • 15 January 2019
  • 8 replies
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Loved the functionality of Alexa on my three Sonos One speakers when I bought them in September (voice control at last!!), though I did notice little glitches here and there. However, one by one, the speakers stopped responding to voice commands, and after procrastinating for awhile, finally went through the steps of re-setting everything. To be clear, I can control the Sonos speakers flawlessly through the Sonos app. The devices all show on the Alexa app. When I call Alexa, it either doesn't respond at all, or says it cannot understand me right now. Ran diagnostics on Sonos app: 1895040296

And yes, the mics are on (double white lights are showing on all speakers)
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Best answer by UKMedia 16 January 2019, 10:45

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8 replies

In the case where Alexa does not respond, the most common scenario was that the microphone on the unit was inadvertantely turned off. If the mic is on, you will see a small LED lit right in front of the mic icon. Press the mic icon to turn it on or off.

As far as 'not hearing right now', that usually means that the unit cannot connect to the internet. That could be becomes you're home connection is down or there is wireless interference. The diagnostic should help Sonos staff troubleshoot any interference issue.
Userlevel 7
Hi clowjul

Not sure what you mean by resetting (as a factory reset if done was probably unnecessary). It sounds more like a network issue assuming you have deleted and reinstalled the Sonos app and activated Alexa voice; and done the same for the Alexa app and setup the Sonos Skill. Also, that you are positive the mic's are on.

Note: Doing what follows will change the state of your Sonos and require that you submit another diagnostic if the issues aren't resovled.

I suggest you log into your routers setup page and check for updates. After that you want to unplug everything (router/modem) including Sonos, wired and other wireless products. Bring the modem and router back one at a time in that order. Next plug in your Sonos one by one. Next plug in your other wired and wirless products one by one. Post back to let us know results.

Cheers!
When I said reset before, I deleted all the amazon apps on my phone including Alexa, and then reinstalled only Alexa and reset up all the speakers. I did not do a factory reset of the speakers as that seemed overkill. The only thing I did not do is delete and reinstall the Sonos app.

Double checked all settings - Alexa voice is activated on Sonos, and the sonos skill is activated in Alexa. Microphones are ON with the white lights showing.

As per your advice, I checked for router updates and unplugged router and speakers, then restarted the router and then the speakers. Speakers still working perfectly through the Sonos app. When attempting voice commands, I’m still getting the “Sorry, I’m having trouble understanding now. Please try a little later” message. Reran diagnostics: 202644802
Userlevel 7
OK...This step won't change the state of your Sonos…..if there are any Alexa devices in the same vicinity of your Sonos One's unplug them and try your commands. Just a shot in the dark:?
No other Alexa devices are in my apartment.
Userlevel 7
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Sorry for the long post but this type of issue is normally down to one of three things:

1/ Duplicate device names - Alexa prefers that names for Devices, Groups and Scenes are unique,
1.1/ Please open up the Alexa App>Smart Home and make a note of any duplicate device names;
1.2/ You can then change them in the source app. e.g. Use the Sonos App to change the name of Sonos players. (I personally use the naming standard Room Name + Device type. e.g. Kitchen Sonos, Kitchen Echo Dot, Lounge Sonos, etc)
1.3/ Once you have changed any duplicate names then please open the Alexa App on a Browser (https://alexa.amazon.co.uk or https://alexa.amazon.com)>Smart Home>Devices and select 'Forget All' followed by 'Discover'. NOTE: This will remove ALL Actions from ALL Alexa Routines! (Only the Browser version has this functionality.)

2/ Some form of Account Linking or Authorisation has not completed successfully. There are a number of causes for this and it's best to try these steps 1 at a time and test before moving on to the next step if the problem persists:
2.1/ Open the Alexa App>Skills>Your Skills>Sonos and 'Disable' followed by 'Enable';
2.2/ Ensure that you don't have multiple Amazon accounts logged into different Apps on your device, as this can confuse the Amazon Authorisation. If yes, then please log out of the other accounts and then complete step 2.1 again;
2.3/ If the problem still persists, please logout of all Amazon accounts then select the Alexa App>Skills>Your Skills>Sonos and 'Disable. Now power down all Sonos devices for 10 secs, allowing for any wired devices to boot before booting the remaining Sonos players. Now log back into the Alexa App>Skills>Sonos and 'Enable'

3/ If the problem persists then an entire reset of the Authorisation & Account Linking process is required:
3.1/ In the Alexa app, select Skills>Your Skills>Sonos and then 'Disable';
3.2 In the Alexa app (Browser version), select 'Smart Home>Devices'. Now select 'Forget All' at the bottom of the screen;
3.3/ In the Sonos app (Android or iOS), select Settings>Room Settings and for each of the Sonos One's sign into 'Voice Services' and select 'Remove Amazon Alexa from this Room';
3.4/ If you have any wired Sonos devices, please power down for 10 secs and then switch on and wait for it to boot;
3.5/ Now power down all other Sonos Players for 10 secs then switch them back on and wait for them to boot;
3.6/ In the Sonos app, Select Manage>Add a player or sub' and add the Sonos One's again. This will complete the set-up process again;
3.7/ In the Alexa app, select Skills>Your Skills and ensure the Sonos skill is 'Enabled', if not please 'Enable';
3.8/ In the Alexa app , select Smart Home>Devices>Discover. Ensure that your Sonos One's are displayed correctly and not shown as 'Off Line'.
3.9/ Also check one last time that there are no devices with the same name. Remember, if there is a need to rename any then you'll need to select 'Discover' again.

Let us know how you get on.
I have to admit...when I saw your instructions, I just about gave up completely and had ideas of running to the store to buy Google home and say the hell with it. BUT, after calming down I decided to give it one last go.

I suspected the first two options were not the issues, so did the steps for option #3 (thank you for making these so clear!!), and ALAS IT WORKED. Thank you, thank you. I am so relieved and grateful to have finally solved the issues.

Just an observation here, but the Sonos technology and software is first rate, but Amazon's is not....any hardware I've ever purchased from them had some issue, and the software on their devices is not much better. Sonos seems to have to bear the brunt of the Amazon issues, and it should NOT be this difficult for the user to get the device to work. Thank you, Sonos, for making the effort to ensure we can enjoy the products, but maybe next time, partner with Google instead. 🙂
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My sonos one was working perfectly when suddenly I could not get my flash briefing or play spotify music. Sonos are taking it up with Amazon after a lot of time with sonos customer care trying to resolve the problem. Does anyone else have this issue?