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Disco Stu
Contributor I
August 3, 2019
Answered

Alexa will not stop playing or pause

  • August 3, 2019
  • 94 replies
  • 27141 views
I have a Sonos Beam in my living room in a group with two Gen 1 Sonos One speakers and a Sonos Sub. I have had Alexa enabled since I initially setup this system.

All had been working well but suddenly, Alexa will not stop or pause playing by voice command. I can say "Alexa, play NPR" and it will respond properly. I can say "Alex Louder" and "Alex Lower" and the volume will adjust. But when I say "Alexa Stop" (which is what I've been saying since day one) or "Alexa Pause" it will simply make the command chime and keep playing.

Also, the Beam is working properly but in the Sonos app, I don't specifically see the Beam listed as a speaker. I think it might simply be labeled "Living Room?" I'm not sure if I should see the Beam specifically?

I tried to remove Alexa and reactivate it but I got completely confused and I'm not sure what I accomplished.

I'm now back to square one, with the same symptoms as described above.

I have an Echo Dot in another room that responds normally to Stop and Pause commands.
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      Best answer by UKMedia
      Best option first is to Disable the Sonos Skill and then Enable it again in the Alexa App. If the problem persists, please power down the Beam for 5 secs and then power back on.

      If the second option works, I suggest that you open the settings web page for your router and reserve the IP address for your Sonos devices. (I normally reserve the range 192.168.0.200 and above for my Sonos devices.)

      94 replies

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      gerrib
      Contributor I
      February 11, 2020

      hi Alex, I am using 2 Sonos Play One speakers. I have disabled Alexa on one and uninstalled and installed Alexa on the other.

       Stop used to work. It works for timer still. I tried Stop ABC RN and Stop ABC Radio National but neither work. Alexa says playing ABC RN on Tunein Radio app when I give the command.

      Anonymous
      February 12, 2020

      That is very odd. as I mentioned previously we are working with Amazon on this issue. We hope it can be resolved soon, but we cannot provide a time frame at this time. When we have more information to share, we will update this thread.

        gerrib
        Contributor I
        February 13, 2020

         

        hi Alex, I am using 2 Sonos Play One speakers. I have disabled Alexa on one and uninstalled and installed Alexa on the other.

         Stop used to work. It works for timer still. I tried Stop ABC RN and Stop ABC Radio National but neither work. Alexa says playing ABC RN on Tunein Radio app when I give the command.

        Just to clarify. I meant when I give the command to ‘play ABC RN’ or ABC Radio National Alexa responds saying ‘playing ABC Radio National On Tune In app'’ and the station is played but  Alexa will not respond to stop or stop abc rn or other similar commands . Alexa responds to stop when the timer goes off.

         

        THNDRacket
        Contributor I
        February 15, 2020

        We are having this problem also. The wife listens to NPR, but when she tells it to stop, it does not. She’ll say “Stop NPR,” stop the station name, stop room, nothing works. I’ll say,  “ALEXA! Listen to your mother!!” But she is obstinate. 
         

        I have submitted a diagnostic 1681780391

         

         

          gerrib
          Contributor I
          February 16, 2020

          Can you please let us know if you have any success. 

          chrissystew
          Lyricist I
          March 3, 2020

          I’m having the same issue on 2 of 3 of my Sonos speakers, Alexa won’t pause or stop my music. Any news on a fix for this?

            gerrib
            Contributor I
            March 3, 2020

            Yes, I'm still having the same problem. Any updates Sonos?

              Disco StuAuthor
              Contributor I
              March 6, 2020

              I started this thread 7 months ago.  There has been no fix.  I have gotten in the habit of saying “Play WNYC” instead of “Play NPR.”

               

              I’m not a Sonos engineer but saying “Play NPR” seemingly uses some kind of “skill” that is flawed and will not allow the user to stop or pause play.

               

              Saying “Play WNYC” apparently uses TuneIn to stream the station, and pause and stop work as they should.

              PotemkinMcNasty
              Enthusiast II
              May 5, 2020

              I too have this same issue. Started recently after working fine for months. Alexa pause, shut up, and stop commands no longer work for BBC Sounds or Amazon Music

              Valakgram
              Lyricist I
              May 5, 2020

              *!!!Thanks Firewater,*** your process help me solve the issue with took me the whole day to figure out.

              “ step 1: in the Sonos amp remove amazon music.

              step 2: disable Sonos skill in the Alexa app and remove all sonos speakears froms your groups

              step 3: either using the amazon app or the webpage go to device and contents section and deregister each Sonos device found those three steps takes about 1 min.

              step 4: factory reset all devices all but one. (This will make added devices back quicker)

              step 5: in Sonos app go to settings>system>add device add all speakers. Then Factory reset the last speaker and add it back (for me this took about 4 mins for three devices)

              step 6: add amazon music back in Sonos app

              Step 7: add Sonos skill back in the Alexa app

              step 8: run discover if the Alexa app didn’t do it. You can do so by voice command or via Alexa app.

              You should be able to test the system now. This error is possibly an issues between Sonos systems and amazon servers. The factory reset forces a new connection between Sonos and amazon servers. I’m not sure if a software update can do it alone. This could be sonos’s fault but could also be Amazon’s fault. “

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