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Why Playbar will not communicate on Sonosnet?

M
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I have a Playbar from another home where it was setup S2.   I cannot get it to work on Sonosnet in my other home which is S1. I have tried many things with no luck.   I was suspecting maybe a wifi radio issue but I had no problem testing that theory and the speaker successfully connected to a test wifi setup.  
 

After factory reset, setup is fairly normal.  In S1, add product, speaker is detected with Mac  address but fails afterwards and says device not found.  No problem so I hardwire it and can complete the setup. But when it is unplugged from hardwire it drops off and is no longer visible in app.  
 

The Playbar worked perfectly in other home as a S2 device.  I’m wondering if this is maybe some software glitch relating to the downgrade as I can’t make any sense of this.   I consider myself to be savvy and have a strong understanding of how the product works so I am at a loss at this point.  Will reach out to Sonos after the weekend but I’m hoping some veterans may have some ideas and suggestions in the meantime. 
 

I appreciate the time of anyone who can offer suggestions.  Thanks very much ! 


 

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Best answer by M B 4 July 2022, 20:14

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7 replies

Airgetlam

I wonder if it’s possible that the process of going through the factory reset and re-adding it as an S1 device has borked the WiFi components in the PLAYBAR. While it is wired, and showing up in the controller, submit a system diagnostic , and call Sonos Support to discuss it. I would think if it has broken in some way, it would show up in the diagnostic. 

Bruce
ratty

With the Playbar wired what does Settings/System/About tell you about its firmware? Is it indeed at S1? What else is wired? 

Assuming the Playbar joined the Household okay, and its firmware is compatible, it should work on SonosNet fine… unless the 2.4GHz radio is somehow blown. Another factory reset might be worth a try.

M
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Hi All,

 I appreciate the response.   I haven’t made any progress but tried a few things today.  Planning to query Sonos once they are open and submit diagnostic.

Hey ratty,  honored to get your perspective and thoughts.   The only item in my system which is wired is a boost.  When the Playbar is wired it shows up to date firmware and works as expected. Unwired it drops off the Sonos net and is not present at all.  Boost and Playbar currently in the same room about 10’x15’
 

as I mentioned in the original post I suspected a wifi radio issue however the Playbar worked perfectly fine if setup stand-alone and connected to wifi.

 

Today I tried another test. Where I hardwired a connect,  setup as a new S2 system. And added the Playbar wirelessly over sonosnet without a issue.   I’m assuming there is some kind of software glitch as I can’t make any sense of this and the results of my tests seem to be in conflict.   Seems to communicate fine on s2 sonosnet but will not communicate at all via a s1 system via sonosnet. 

ratty

It sounds like the wireless card is okay then hardware-wise. It’s a bit of a mystery why it wouldn’t work on S1.

Conceivably the downgrade process S2->S1 is not flawless. I’ve not had cause to try it in recent times, and certainly not with a Playbar. Sonos Support will need to advise. 

M
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Hey all,

 I just wanted to follow up.  I spent nearly 3 hours on the phone with support solving the issue.  Kinda wish I was pushed to level 2 earlier as the gentleman there had a plan immediately.  
 

I’m not going to say I fully understand what occurred but I will do my best to explain.  
 

Support tier 2 referred to the unit as out of sync. I think what was happening is even though the unit was factory reset it must maintain some information relating to previous households
 

The hardline I referred to during setup which I was using was the open port of my boost which comes from a managed switch.   Tier 2 informed me that the ports don’t transfer data.  Obviously some data but not all data.  I don’t really understand this, but ok.  Let’s say limited data.   
 

In order to fix my issue. I needed both devices, the Boost and Playbar plugged into my network switch.  I temporarily configured a second port for STP on my network switch and plugged the Playbar into it.   Factory reset the Playbar again and re setup using the hardwired connection.  After unplugging the network cable the Playbar now remains online and connected to sonosnet. 

Thanks to all that offered responses.  I hope this may help someone in the future.    

ratty

The hardline I referred to during setup which I was using was the open port of my boost which comes from a managed switch.   Tier 2 informed me that the ports don’t transfer data.  Obviously some data but not all data.  I don’t really understand this, but ok.  Let’s say limited data.   

Well I don’t understand this either. 

It was always stated that the 2-port devices could be used to daisy-chain to anything, thus effectively replacing the router/switch port that was occupied by the Sonos device, without a net loss of ports. For years and years I’ve daisy-chained off Sonos units, providing connectivity to other Sonos components or third party devices.

The only distinction I know of is that a Sonos unit can’t have its radio (‘WiFi’) disabled if it’s daisy-chained. It needs to have a direct connection to the network backbone. I’ve suspected that this was based on an STP-based topology assessment. 

buzz

I’m having trouble with this resolution description too. If the 2nd port on BOOST does not supply any data, why is it there?

Before wireless WiFi mesh systems were widely available, I used SONOS units to extend my Ethernet with SonosNet connected units. If I needed an Ethernet connection for a TV or similar, I’d just wire to the nearest SONOS unit. It didn’t matter if the SONOS unit was wired or wireless. SonosNet is not very fast in the modern context, but it is reliable. What doesn’t always work very well is connecting the Ethernet ports of two otherwise wireless SONOS units. I did this for a few years, mostly as a test and it mostly worked OK, but every once in a while … .

When switching between wired and SonosNet, the unit’s MAC Address will change. I don’t know if your network security is sensitive to this.

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