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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

      Show previous replies
      jgatie
      jgatie
      May 5, 2020

      Factory resetting of Sonos devices is NEVER needed except in very special circumstances, and it erases important diagnostic information.  A reboot will suffice. 

       

      Factory Reset: What you need to know

       

       

      PotemkinMcNasty
      Enthusiast II
      June 21, 2020

      This started working on most of my Sonos speakers after upgrading to the new Sonos 2 app.  Some still refuse to accept the commands, however

      PotemkinMcNasty
      Enthusiast II
      August 18, 2020

      Now “pause” and similar commands has stopped working in all my Sonos speakers yet again.  None of the steps in this thread help unfortunately.  So frustrating.  Anyone had any success with other solutions?

        dslemmer
        Avid Contributor I
        October 18, 2020

        Alexa won’t ‘Stop’ my Sonos music either (two different Beams) but saying ‘Alexa Cancel’ seems to pause it.  Why Sonos can’t get this figure out after TWO YEARS should embarrass someone…. 

        redrock_no
        Lyricist II
        November 13, 2020

        Alexa “STOP” is a crucial command for all Alexa enabled Sonos products and the “STOP” command is working fine in all my (8) rooms with a separate Amazon Echo device. However, the “STOP” command does not work on my (3) kids Sonos One Gen2, but voice commands like “PLAY” & “MUTE” ++ works fine.

        Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that the reason for not fixing the faulty product or giving this community a real explaination about the problem, is due to the poor cooperation between Sonos and Amazon - not the best partnership maybe? 

        I planned to upgarde all my devices to Gen2, but without a real and honest feedback from Sonos and a promise for a permanent fix for the above bug, flaw, fault (including fix date), I will not. I’ve heard the same from other Sonos users as well…

         

         

        PeterIOM
        Contributor I
        November 24, 2020

        I have the same problem on my two sonos ones, they will not stop, cancel or turn off to voice commands. They will change station, adjust volume and perform other voice commands but won't stop. I have tried all the suggestions on thread.

        I’ve been onto Sonos several times and no solution. The last attempt was to turn off internet router and devices which seemed to work, for a day. They ended the conversation saying my internet was the problem. I’m not saying it isn't but this only started a few months ago and worked well for the 2 ish years before. I also have an amazon speaker which works.

         

        I would love a sonos fix.

         

         

        Sam-bam
        Lyricist II
        November 24, 2020

        Go to SONOS.com support page, choose fix an issue, Voice assistant issues, Alexa commands not working on Sonos. It involved disable sonos skill, deregister sonos speaker from 

        amazon, remove voice command and sign out of Alexa app and re-set up of the speaker. I just tried it today and it works.

          PeterIOM
          Contributor I
          November 25, 2020

          Hi Sam-bam,

          Thanks for the info above. I tried and no success.

          What I did find this morning is it won't stop whilst playing a radio station from Tunein but it will if I switch to spotify and stop from there. Strange.

          I will chat with Sonos later today and see what they say.

            jrm523
            Trending Lyricist I
            January 27, 2021

            Problem still exist. If I reboot my play 1, it will start working for a few days and then it acts up again and won't stop Amazon music. It's extremely frustrating as we use the Sonos to listen to music while getting ready and are use Alexa to stop the music quickly (as we're mostly in a rush). 

            The fact is that there is a problem and multiple people are experiencing it (whether Sonos chooses to address it or not). I should not have to jump through a flaming hoop every week to get my device working properly. The Play 1 that I referenced is not within easy reach and unplugging/replugging requires moving the bed.

            PeterIOM
            Contributor I
            January 27, 2021

            Hi JRM523,

             

            My problem has gone away. I had a local radio station app installed on alexa and once removed my sonos devices work as expected. I now play the local radio station via tune in.

             

            I will say for the most part Sonos support were useless, one guy had me plugging and unplugging devices and then decided my internet connection was not good enough. The last person I spoke with had a better idea and I took from the conversation that some 3rd party apps cause problems and its essential to complete all updates.

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