ASUS RT-AX86U & SONOS CONNECTION ISSUE SOLVED!

  • 12 December 2020
  • 96 replies
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D
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So before installing Merlin, I thought I would do what some other threads recently said fixed their Sonos devices, which was to upgrade to the latest firmware and then do a factory reset. 

I did a factory reset yesterday afternoon (already had latest firmware) and so far almost 24 hours and no disconnects.  Will keep you updated.

S

I think Asus AX router has compatibility issues with Sonos and Airplay 2.
Before I had a Asus AC68U with no issue, rock solid.

Two months ago I bought a Asus AX68U and it has been a headache to get it to work with Sonos (Ikea Symfonisk) and Airplay 2 speakers.
I have made all the recommended settings on the router I could find on the net. It is more stable but still loses connection from day to day.

 

Using latest Merlin 386.3_2, factory reset.

J

Similar issues here, but changing the before mentioned settings didn't help. Sonos devices kept disappearing and when they were listed they couldn't connect to the radio stations. I solved it by changing the authentication method in my router from WPA2/WPA3-Personal to WPA/WPA2-Personal.

It used to work fine until I upgraded to the latest firmware 3.0.0.4.386.42095 with the WPA2/WPA3 setting as WPA2 should be supported.

A

After a bunch of trial and error, the only thing that I actually needed to change from the defaults on the router was to disable WiFi 7 mode across all bands. This was done through the mobile app, but the setting is available on desktop, as well, as seen in the screenshot below:

Hi @ajs81, if you are in the mood for an experiment try enabling Wi-Fi 7 but disabling Multi-Link Operation (MLO). I’d bet that is the specific aspect of Wi-Fi 7 that is troublesome. Which is unfortunate, as MLO is perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Wi-Fi 7. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hey @press250 ! MLO was already disabled on my router, actually, so I don’t think it was that? To be honest, we have no WiFi 7 devices in the house yet, which is why I had MLO disabled to begin with; the WiFi 7 mode toggle was a bit more occluded than the MLO feature, which has its own tab.

I actually only thought to disable it when I saw another post by someone here talking about disabling the ‘ax’ mode on their router. When I looked in my settings through the iOS app UI, I saw “WiFi 7 mode” instead of ‘ax mode’, and it was enabled. So I decided, what the heck, let’s turn it off and see what happens. Sure enough, that fixed the problem.

Now, ideally, I’d be able to enable MLO and WiFi 7 when we do start to get those devices in the house and have all of the SONOS speakers still working. Hopefully by then the issues are solved?

Thanks for replying!

M

This issue just cropped up for me! I have a Sonos beam, sub, and Pay 1 speakers downstairs, and a sub and two Play 1 speakers upstairs. Well the the system no longer recognizes any of the Sonos speakers upstairs. Downstairs speakers are fine. 

Have had an ASUS RT-AX86U router for several months with no problem. Using this firmware:

Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_45375

Can anyone help? Thanks! 

 

I’m on the same Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_45375 using RT-AX82U and no longer able to setup my Sonos wirelessly. I have tried a couple of Asus settings mentioned here in the forum but still getting issues (as per screen shot), only way setup works for me is via ethernet cable but once ethernet cable is unplugged, it’ll drop out from the network again. Most likely, will have to rollback to older firmware.

Any luck on yours?

 

 

 

I have recently updated to Asus, and wasnt sure if this was a Sonos thing or a Asus thing.  I have tried all the settings mentioned, but seem to be having issues with (and only with) my Play:1 devices, which I have 3 of.  My Roam, Beam, Arc’s and Play One devices are showing.  

 

As you mentioned in this post, if I connect via ethernet, they appear.  If I do a factory reset on the Play:1, it does pick this up in the app wirelessly, but it takes forever at the stage of adding it to the network.  Once added, it says to reboot the device, but doing that still doesnt bring it into the app.

 

If I check connected devices on the router, the Play:1 device does show as online, but the sonos app doesnt seem to have a clue that it exists.

 

I have tried pretty much everything, but the 3x Play:1 devices I own, are all missing when wireless.  They arent anywhere near wired points, and the reason I have sonos is to remove the need for cables being everywhere.

 

Has anyone got any further with this, as lost my surround sound now, as I use 2 of these as LS and RS with the Arc.  If I connect them with Ethernet, I can re-add them, but as soon as the ethernet is unplugged, it says it cant see the device.

 

I have AsusWIFI AX Firmware 3.0.0.4.386_45934 and have tried all the suggestions above.  Thanks in advance.

C

This issue just cropped up for me! I have a Sonos beam, sub, and Pay 1 speakers downstairs, and a sub and two Play 1 speakers upstairs. Well the the system no longer recognizes any of the Sonos speakers upstairs. Downstairs speakers are fine. 

Have had an ASUS RT-AX86U router for several months with no problem. Using this firmware:

Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_45375

Can anyone help? Thanks! 

 

 

C
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A couple of updates:

After two weeks of no dropped connections, I had three over the past week. Who knows why. But the fact that 3 drops in a week is now highly unusual is a sign of how stable things have been. Also important: restoring the connection never involved a reboot of any Sonos components--I just cycled my Asus off and back on to restore it, 

Merlin has posted a new finished release of Asus firmware: 386.2.0. Against my better judgement I installed it--there was a voice in my head yelling, “Leave well enough alone!” But so far, so good. When the router rebooted after the firmware updated, Sonos system reconnected without issue or me having to do anything. Which is how it SHOULD work, of course, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, since Merlin’s releases are focused on bug fixes to the stock Asus firmware and performance improvements--as opposed to adding new features and thus additional bugs--the Merlin releases are pretty solid. 

B

I might try to use the Merlin asuswrt firmware this weekend, but it also sounds like people are having to disable numerous options that are important for my situation.  We live in a terrible wifi environment with a big mix of devices (Sonos, google TV, two people usually WFH on laptops, phones, etc).  Smartconnect and auto channel selection are a big help in keeping everything connected and humming along.  As it is I just had to run a cat5 cable down the hall to keep my partner online during her work meetings.

A thread I found on the small net builder forum said the wifi driver part of the asus firmware is closed source.  So even in the asuswrt builds I think that’s a black box.  I am interested to hear how things are working for people.  I just don't have tons of time available where I can bring everything offline to screw around with this stuff.

H

I had been trying to solve this issue for a few weeks, applied most of the suggested setting changes suggested with mixed success. The factory reset was the solution

 I have had 2 weeks of no drop outs on Sonos 1,3 and 5. 

The QoS was disabled by the factory reset, leave it that way

My other settings of note on the 2.4 GHZ Wireless: 

wiFi 6 mode enabled

Bandwidth 40MHz

Channel 1 (sonos ch 6)

 

 

 

Can you confirm router and firmware version please? Thanks

Airgetlam

And why should Asus routers handle the LAN any differently than any other brand router out there? Why are we seeing this issue only with Asus, and not any other company’s routers?

Bruce
A

Besides, disabing the Guest Networks and turning off 802.11ax/ Wi-Fi 6 modes for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, I also have the following:

SmartConnect disabled

QOS disabled

Airtime Fairness disabled

Universal Beamforming enabled - some people have said to disable this, but I’m not sure.  Disabling didn’t seem to do anything.

Control Channel set to Auto

With these settings, my Sonos devices stay connected.  Do any of you have the Guest networks enabled?  I will try this weekend to enable the Guest Networks and Wi-Fi 6 and set the channel to 6 and see if it works.

Damn, so you literally can’t use your router at this point. Sonos is so buggy I’m thinking of replacing it at this point. It should just work. The router reports it’s connected, there’s no reason it should disconnect.

C
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Since updating to the latest Merlin firmware, I’ve noticed an uptick in my disconnects--I’d say once every other night--though hard to know if that’s due to the new firmware or some other source of interference. I will say that Sonos is the only wifi device I have that drops its connection like this, so in my mind, the glitchiness is ultimately due to Sonos, not the router. 

Unlike the “bad old days” when I first got my AX-86U, I don’t have the issue with repetitive dropped connections any longer, where I’d no sooner reconnect after rebooting everything, and a half-hour later it would drop again. Now if it drops, I reconnect by just switching the router off and then back on, and I’m good for at least a day or as long as a few weeks. Not perfect, but it doesn’t drive me crazy. 

If you have not done so already, have you considered reserving the Sonos IP addresses in the routers  DHCP reservation table?
 

Also, maybe try a different ‘fixed’ non-overlapping 2.4Ghz WiFi channel set to a channel-width of 20MHz, with any SonosNet channel (if using) set at least 5 channels away from the chosen 2.4Ghz channel. 
 

See if that perhaps eliminates your intermittent audio/device dropout issues.

Ken, if I had any idea of how to reserve IP addresses in the DHC reservation table, I’d give that a try! And honestly, it shouldn’t be this hard for Sonos owners. It is the ONLY wifi device I have that gives me problems. 

controlav
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Was a big fan of Sonos until this problem occurred. Asus routers are popular and highly recommended in in the consumer electronic products world. Asus routers should work with Sonos without any problem, well maybe a tweak to the router setting is OK. But that’s not the case here. So I will call Sonos tomorrow and see if they can fix this. 

This is 100% an ASUS problem to fix. Sonos require a functional local network, and the newer firmware on these routers do not provide that. I don’t think you’ll find many Sonos users recommending their routers these days.

Author of the leading independent Sonos app for Windows, the only Sonos app for Xbox, and a Sonos app for iOS
Corry P
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Hi @MrJohansson 

Thanks for sharing that!

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
E

This week my Beam would not connect to my Asus RT-AX88U router.

I have previously tried the enable then disable Airtime Fairness trick on both 2,4 GHz and 5 GHz, but my Beam would still not connect to my router.

What did help was changing the following option under Wirless → Professional, under 2,4 GHz radio. My Modulation Scheme was set to “Up to MCS 11 (NitroQAM/1024-QAM)”, I selected instead “Up to MCS 9 (TurboQAM/256-QAM)”.

Power cycled all my Sonos gear (Beam, Sub and 2 x One), and they connected back to the router and rejoined my surround setup.

C
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Yes, you can easily go back from Merlin to stock Asus firmware (just google it for directions), though it’s hard to imagine a reason why you would. Merlin essentially IS the Asus firmware, just with much more attention paid to quashing bugs and improving stability. 

Since installing the latest release version, I’ve had two dropped connections over the past week--in both cases, just cycling the power switch on the router got everything restored. 

B

Started having the issues after the latest firmware update on RT-AX82U. No system nor speakers detected and connecting directly via Ethernet didn’t help. Rolled back firmware to earlier release (July 2021) and system weren’t grayed out anymore and was able to add speakers via Ethernet but only for a minute. Now dropouts and not able to detect speakers is none stop. 

I called the tech support and after few try’s and two hours  of testing, they suggested I purchase the Boost to resolve these issues. Anyone has experience with using the Boost with latest firmware to resolve theses issues?

C

This issue just cropped up for me! I have a Sonos beam, sub, and Pay 1 speakers downstairs, and a sub and two Play 1 speakers upstairs. Well the the system no longer recognizes any of the Sonos speakers upstairs. Downstairs speakers are fine. 

Have had an ASUS RT-AX86U router for several months with no problem. Using this firmware:

Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_45375

Can anyone help? Thanks! 

 

I’m on the same Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_45375 using RT-AX82U and no longer able to setup my Sonos wirelessly. I have tried a couple of Asus settings mentioned here in the forum but still getting issues (as per screen shot), only way setup works for me is via ethernet cable but once ethernet cable is unplugged, it’ll drop out from the network again. Most likely, will have to rollback to older firmware.

Any luck on yours?

 

 

D
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Since updating to the latest Merlin firmware, I’ve noticed an uptick in my disconnects--I’d say once every other night--though hard to know if that’s due to the new firmware or some other source of interference. I will say that Sonos is the only wifi device I have that drops its connection like this, so in my mind, the glitchiness is ultimately due to Sonos, not the router. 

Unlike the “bad old days” when I first got my AX-86U, I don’t have the issue with repetitive dropped connections any longer, where I’d no sooner reconnect after rebooting everything, and a half-hour later it would drop again. Now if it drops, I reconnect by just switching the router off and then back on, and I’m good for at least a day or as long as a few weeks. Not perfect, but it doesn’t drive me crazy. 

 

 

After doing a factory reset on the latest Asus firmware, I have had no dropped connections since the reset last Saturday (4/10).

C
Userlevel 2
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Since updating to the latest Merlin firmware, I’ve noticed an uptick in my disconnects--I’d say once every other night--though hard to know if that’s due to the new firmware or some other source of interference. I will say that Sonos is the only wifi device I have that drops its connection like this, so in my mind, the glitchiness is ultimately due to Sonos, not the router. 

Unlike the “bad old days” when I first got my AX-86U, I don’t have the issue with repetitive dropped connections any longer, where I’d no sooner reconnect after rebooting everything, and a half-hour later it would drop again. Now if it drops, I reconnect by just switching the router off and then back on, and I’m good for at least a day or as long as a few weeks. Not perfect, but it doesn’t drive me crazy. 

 

 

After doing a factory reset on the latest Asus firmware, I have had no dropped connections since the reset last Saturday (4/10).

That is great news, darkelf!

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @simondo 

I’m afraid just submitting diagnostics does nothing to prompt anyone to help you - we’re not notified. They’re to be used in an on-going troubleshooting session.

I’ve had a look now however. I can’t see any wired speakers reporting audio dropouts, but I can see that the large group involving Living Room is struggling, which appears to be due to multicast flooding (or looping) on your network. I recommend checking your router’s settings for an option called IGMP Snooping (or Filtering) and turning it on.

 

 

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
S
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Thanks for your response, unfortunately it is already turned on.

D
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A couple of updates:

After two weeks of no dropped connections, I had three over the past week. Who knows why. But the fact that 3 drops in a week is now highly unusual is a sign of how stable things have been. Also important: restoring the connection never involved a reboot of any Sonos components--I just cycled my Asus off and back on to restore it, 

Merlin has posted a new finished release of Asus firmware: 386.2.0. Against my better judgement I installed it--there was a voice in my head yelling, “Leave well enough alone!” But so far, so good. When the router rebooted after the firmware updated, Sonos system reconnected without issue or me having to do anything. Which is how it SHOULD work, of course, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, since Merlin’s releases are focused on bug fixes to the stock Asus firmware and performance improvements--as opposed to adding new features and thus additional bugs--the Merlin releases are pretty solid. 

I am still having dropped connections almost on a daily basis with the latest Asus firmware, especially with my Sonos Beam.  The Play 1s drop less frequently and my Sonos move, rarely drops.  How easy is it to install Merlin?  Also, please keep us informed of how stable your system is.  If it is consistently stable, I may consider installing Merlin.

E

Hi,

For those who are having issues, just to share that my current router firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_42840 seems to work fine now, I don’t have connectivity issues and my Sonos is working well.

I used to have issues about 4 months ago and recently noticed the change.

Do give it a try and see if it help.

Ken_Griffiths

When everything else connects just fine, the one defining detail here is the Sonos firmware.  If every set of speakers, including One, One SL, Move, etc. all fail, but every other smart speaker from JBL, Google, Amazon, Yamaha, etc. all connect without issue?  What’s left?  You guys.

Sonos, you have got to get your firmware up to date (and kept up to date with the latest fixes for wifi vulnerabilities and security standards.  I’ve moved most of my clients away from your products already due to the lack of support that Sonos gives to modern wifi security and industry standards.  

These same issues occur on most WiFi Gen 6/6e routers, not just Asus.  You tell people to upload their diagnostics data then tell them (much) later that you don’t even read them.  It’s smoking mirrors, and it’s gotten old.  If you want business and consumer customers, you’re going to have to figure this out.  Because even the cheap Chinese knockoffs on AliExpress are killing you in this very detail.

Just my 2 cents, prove me wrong.

It’s often because SSDP Multicasting isn’t quite working correctly on the local network… this (hopefully) explains the issue for you in simple terms:

http://www.steves-internet-guide.com/introduction-multicasting/

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