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Alexa Timers intermittently fail on Sonos. Everything else is fine. Why?

  • 21 January 2020
  • 9 replies
  • 692 views
inopinatus
Userlevel 4

For the last six months we’ve had a weird, intermittent issue with Alexa and timers on a Sonos One and a Beam. We get two problems, intermittently (for about 50% of all timers):

  • In response to “Alexa, start a N minute timer”, unit fails to respond, but starts the timer anyway; or
  • Unit responds affirmatively, but upon subsequent inquiry says “No timer is set” and/or it fails to go off.

They otherwise work perfectly in all respects; all kinds of playback, whether internet streams or local music library, and for all other voice commands & skills. In addition, the same timer commands do work consistently on a “real” Amazon Echo & Echo Dot on the same network.

Fixes attempted:

  • Factory reset, including deconfiguring, removing unit from both Amazon & Sonos accounts and re-adding after reset
  • Connecting via alternate networks (including all of: Wifi, Sonosnet, and fixed-wire network). Even tried a different ISP, temporarily.

Circumstances:

  • Alexa on Sonos devices otherwise works flawlessly for a variety of commands and skills
  • Amazon Echo devices on same network DO work correctly for all timers
  • Other voice assistants work correctly (Siri etc)
  • Wake word is active on intended device, going by visual indicator and music ducking
  • Devices in situ for >18 months but only misbehaving for ~ 6 months (no infrastructure changes were made around then)
  • Date & time set correctly
  • No particular time-of-day affected, although it does seem to be episodic (my wife would say, “is it working at the moment?”)
  • Local network is stable (routinely tests up to 1G wire rate, no packet loss, no STP topology changes)
  • Network located in Melbourne, Australia and routed through a UBNT EdgeRouter on a stable 250mbit/sec fibre link, static IPv4 address with correct reverse lookup, and a provider assigned /56.

We have a bunch of other Sonos devices (a couple of Play:1s, a Playbar, several Connects) on the same network. They’re mostly fixed-wire with wifi disabled. The absence of topology changes, or of any other symptoms, suggests this is (probably) not a Sonos mesh networking issue.

I contacted Amazon support and they said “you’ve already tried everything we would suggest, we’re out of options”. Thanks, Jeff.

It’s totally weird. Why just timers, and why just with Alexa on Sonos?

Any suggestions/thoughts welcome.

 

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Best answer by Anonymous 20 June 2020, 19:03

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uncooked meat prior to state vector collapse
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9 replies

I
Badge

Hi I'm having the same problem with timers so I thought I would chime in here, I've submitted a diagnostic ( Your confirmation number is: 1785100892 ) hopefully this will help identify the problem, sonos one pair if it matters

May be down to both speakers having the mics active as when I check the actual alexa app there are timers listed.... I will have to get up and disable one of them to see if it fixes the problem....

A

Thank you for the diagnostic @iceblade2005 

I would like to let you know that I am not seeing any errors within the report. I believe that you may have to get in touch with Amazon's support as they will be more equipped to help with the timers.

P

My problem is consistent and can be reproduced every time, so far. Timer is set, Alexa tells the user how much time is remaining when asked later, but no alarm chimes when the timer reaches zero.

Diagnotic submitted: 1644885284

I never heard from Sonos on this, but in case anyone is listening… I narrowed the issue further. 

The timer does go off when music is not playing. When music is playing, the timer fails to chime. This appears to be the issue.

inopinatus
Userlevel 4

Thank you for the diagnostic @iceblade2005 

I would like to let you know that I am not seeing any errors within the report. I believe that you may have to get in touch with Amazon's support as they will be more equipped to help with the timers.

Not sure why this is marked as the “best answer”. As OP I sure didn’t mark it as such, and it doesn’t qualify.

uncooked meat prior to state vector collapse
A

I have the same problem - and looks like a lot of others do too:

https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/alexa-timers-not-working-unreliable-6829421

Sebastien D.
Userlevel 4
Badge +11

Hi folks,

Couple of suggestions, which may be useful. First, make sure that your Sonos System is currently up to date.

If that’s not the issue, try unplugging the power from your Sonos speakers and plug it back. Wait for few minutes for your Sonos products to come back online.

Lastly, check and make sure your time zone is set under Date & Time within the Sonos app. If that doesn't work, I'd recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of trying to set an alarm, and post the number here.. 

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting best answer to your question.
P

I have the same issue with a new Sonos Move. Timer is set. Can be confirmed by asking how much time is left on the timer. But timer never goes off.

P

My problem is consistent and can be reproduced every time, so far. Timer is set, Alexa tells the user how much time is remaining when asked later, but no alarm chimes when the timer reaches zero.

Diagnotic submitted: 1644885284

A

@inopinatus 

 

Thanks for reaching out to the community.

 

I would like for you to send us a diagnostic and reply back with the number. I want to see if any issues shows up in the report.

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