Here we go again...

  • 19 December 2021
  • 67 replies
  • 1153 views

Userlevel 2
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Yet again the wonderfully robust and user friendly software messes up my day. 

The Sonos software and update process is a piece of junk, there’s imply no way it should behave as it is, the lack of attention to detail is astonishing.

The hoops we have to jump through to get something working is absurd.

Of course to complain means I’ll get asked lots of questions, I’ll be asked to unplug this and that, connect this or that to something else with a piece of cable and so on and so forth, all the burden is on the customer.

I tried to update because the PS controller software insists that I update, yet it always fails. If I try the same update from my iPhone, again it fails.

The iPhone fails (I think) because the controller is “not S2 compatible” whatever that means. The PC software is not S2 yet that also fails and the error code I get varies each time.

e.g. “Error code 30: BRIDGE” or “Error code 1002: BRIDGE”.

If these error codes mean something then why not pull down the message text and display it in the controller software???

Everything was working but I have a Roam that fully discharged, I recharged it yet it was not visible in either the PC controller or the iPhone controller, as I tried to get more insight it kept suggesting I update so I tried.

Now the system can’t find jack s**t, it cannot see even one of the devices.

I submitted a diagnostic and the code I got back was: 703555998 perhaps that can shed light.

I’m a very experienced software engineer so before people rush in to defend Sonos don’t bother, this is abysmal, with today’s technology the customer experience can be far far better than it is.

Now I have no system, can listen to no music and was planning on a restful Christmas alone this year to do some reading and studying, without Sonos this really messes up what would have been a restful period for me.

 

The update almost works, I get this far:

but then I get this:

 

 

 

“More information” gives this:

 

 

and that’s pretty much that!

Now I’m stuck with this:

See? I cannot choose “Just continue running with current version” why? 

This update is something I CHOSE to try (because the Roam was not working) so by definition the existing version did work - at least - with the non-roam devices.

This is a one way trap door, the system works with some version, one tries to install an updated version - that fails - yet it is no longer possible to run with the older version - even though it was working!

 


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67 replies

Userlevel 2
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Well I changed the extender SSID name, no worries.

But in the S2 phone app, things are weird now, I went to network to add the HighChaparral network but shows a PLAY3 and asks me to chose it.

I did that and it now asks if I want to add the play3 device to HighChaparral - but I don’t, the PLAY3 devices are working fine on SonosNet, I just wanted the apps current listed channel to be changed.

Anyway, instead I removed the wifi SSID HighChaparral_2.4 from the app so that it only listed SonosNet.

I’m now readding the ROAM and its going better, told me it needs to update the roam and asked for the password for HighChaparral - which is now the SSID for casita and house HighChaparral_2GEXT has gone.

Its updating now…

OK done, at last!

The roam appears in desktop app and phone and is playing music again.

Man oh man oh man, what a labor intensive operation, thanks to everyone in this thread, your posts and encouragement were of huge value!

 

 

Userlevel 2
Badge +4

Alright Ken, all sorted, cycling the power did the trick. I was reluctant to try anything without asking simply because I’d dread having to re-setup all of that c**p over again!

 

Thx

 

Userlevel 2
Badge +4

Alright Ken, all sorted, cycling the power did the trick. I was reluctant to try anything without asking simply because I’d dread having to re-setup all of that c**p over again!

 

Thx

Ah good to hear that has worked and Happy New Year too by the way.👍

Indeed, same to you buddy!

 

Are you running an S1 Sonos system, an S2 Sonos system, or both? If you don't know the answer to that question or what the question means, then I think we have found the source of your problems. 

Userlevel 2
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Next year I’m gonna dump that old gateway (DSL, but that’s my only option) and get the newer ones that support 5G too.

Userlevel 2
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I would just call your router and extender access points HighChapparall_2G for their 2.4Ghz bands and set those to fixed channel 11, rather than ‘Auto’. 

Similarly, just call your router and extender access points HighChapparall_5G for their 5Ghz bands and set those to fixed channel(s) too, rather than ‘Auto’.   

Add both bands/SSID’s to your Sonos App network settings as mentioned previously - if problems persist, then it will likely be that SSDP multicast discovery/broadcast is not working correctly over the entire subnet, either between the two bands, and/or between the two different access points, which is not unheard of with a few devices …and there maybe other settings available on your router/access point that ‘may’ need to be set, such as IGMP snooping, or in some cases you may have to enable multicast and broadcast data if that is set to ‘disabled’ on the device by default ( …just as examples of some device settings).

Finally, channel 1 for SonosNet for all the non-portable Sonos devices should be fine.

I hope that information assists.

Thanks Ken, I will play around with this some more, but my wife and I also use the wifi for work and I’m hesitant to make adjustments like this sometimes, hate to mess up everything else that’s working.

So in your experience its fine to have the SSID the same for the router and the extender? (for a given frequency band I mean).

We have TVS and stuff all setup so adjusting these name is possible, it might be my best bet for now to just adjust the HighChaparral_2GEXT in the extender to be named HighChaparral the router also only supports 2.4 GHz.

That way only casita stuff might be impacted and the only 5G access anyway is via the extender so leaving that as is makes sense.

 

In the past all my WiFi access points had the same name/SSID for their 2.4Ghz band - Localnet_2G …and the 5Ghz band was called - Localnet_5G, I didn’t want my ‘Move’ device to use the 2.4Ghz band, so I put that on the 5Ghz band only. I therefore just added the Localnet_5G to my Sonos system via the network settings in the App.. however all my non-portable devices ran on SonosNet, rather than my WiFi - I just mainly used the access points for connecting my controller (and the Move) to the LAN.

Of course network changes can take a while to do sometimes - I’m just offering some suggestions but it’s entirely upto you what bits you choose to take onboard - I’m just trying to provide you with some suggestions, that’s all.👍

 

Thanks Ken, I do appreciate your help here, despite my grumbling, none of that is directed at you of course, just expressing my frustration!

 

Thanks

 

As it stands you have to reboot the Roam to get it to connect to a different access point. 

On the extender issue, Sonos seems remarkably cunning in detecting the presence of one and complaining when players are grouped. (Pushing past the nag, the group may still work okay.) This restriction doesn’t apply to controllers connecting via an extender, nor should it apply when APs have a meshed backhaul.

One passing comment: the OP’s DHCP server is supplying two DNS addresses. One is the gateway’s DNS forwarder as usual, but the other is an ISP’s DNS (CenturyLink). If the ISP is CenturyLink this feels like a waste of time, as the gateway would quite probably be using the same external DNS.

Assuming redundancy is required it would be better to specify something like Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) or Google (8.8.8.8) instead.

Userlevel 2
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Well a problem has arisen and I want to be patient and see what others suggest before I try.

None of the PLAY3 devices or the ROAM play this morning. When I press the play button on the PLAY3 that’s connected - wired - to the router is flashes white several times, then orange and then freezes white.

Using the app indicates no issues, I can see all devices and it lets me try to play stuff.

If I try to play the main PLAY3 (wired) I see in the app after a few mins waiting “Unable to play <whatever> the server cannot be found” whatever I try to play and so on with the other - wireless - devices.

I guess the wired PLAY3 has lost its settings or something but I do not want to try to address that in case I end up having to re-add all of the other devices again, so want to know what exactly are the steps to take in this situation.

 

 

 

Ignoring the Roam for one moment, I believe you have 3 x Play:3’s all running of SonosNet with one wired direct to your router. What is the mobile device controller connected to?

I would perhaps just check to see if it’s connected to the Routers 2.4Ghz band, rather than an access point and if the App can then see your wired Play:3 (at the very least)… try closing and reopening the App and also (if necessary) power-cycling the wired Play:3.

Userlevel 2
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Ignoring the Roam for one moment, I believe you have 3 x Play:3’s all running of SonosNet with one wired direct to your router. What is the mobile device controller connected to?

I would perhaps just check to see if it’s connected to the Routers 2.4Ghz band, rather than an access point and if the App can then see your wired Play:3 (at the very least)… try closing and reopening the App and also (if necessary) power-cycling the wired Play:3.

 

Hi, I don’t know what you mean Ken by “What is the mobile device controller connected to”, do you mean the app on the iPhone?

In the app under network it just says “SonosNet Channel”.

The phone itself is connected to the 2.4 GHz channel.

I’ll power cycle the wired PLAY3...

(the problem is present whether I use the phone or desktop app too).

 

Yes (sorry if my post wasn’t too clear🙏) I meant the WiFi signal (SSID) that your iPhone was connected to - I just wanted to establish if it was connected to your main routers 2.4Ghz band, rather than it being connected to your WiFi extender.

Alright Ken, all sorted, cycling the power did the trick. I was reluctant to try anything without asking simply because I’d dread having to re-setup all of that c**p over again!

 

Thx

Ah good to hear that has worked and Happy New Year too by the way.👍

Userlevel 7

The error code implies you have a Bridge in your system.

If you are looking to update to Sonos S2 then the Bridge needs to be removed first.

How to Remove a Bridge from your Sonos system

The Roam is only compatible with S2

Depending on what other Sonos devices you own, you might need to split your system into S1 and S2

How to split Sonos products into two separate S1 and S2 systems

 

The BRIDGE, along with certain other devices, continues to be an S1 only device. It will always fail in an attempt to update to S2.

If you desire to update to S2, you need to power off and disconnect your BRIDGE. You could, if you choose, replace it with a BOOST, which can operate under either S1 or S2, or, you could just remove the BRIDGE completely by either wiring a cable to one of your other S2 capable devices, or change your connection method from wired (the BRIDGE or a speaker) to WiFi, by following the instructions in the wired and wireless modes FAQ.

To be honest, it really isn’t clear in your post if you’re wanting to update everything to S2, so that your Roam and your other devices can be all grouped together, or you’re trying to maintain a ‘legacy’ system under S1, and your Roam under S2. 

Since you are a software engineer, I’m sure you’re aware that error messages need to be part of the code base that is running, and you may or may not be aware that the reason Sonos had to split S1 and S2 was that there just wasn’t enough space left to hold the code in order to add certain extra things. I’d think better error messages would have been part of that, along with other things, such as extending the Linux kernel to accept the extra space needed to include SMB versions beyond SMB v1. 
 

Hopefully, you have the patience to wait for a forum moderator to look at that diagnostic. Or, if you preferred a more synchronous discussion, you could call Sonos Support directly to discuss it.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and network.

Userlevel 2
Badge +4

Even more bizzaroness - the S1 controller (the older of the two) says I must “Get the mobile app” but the S2 Controller (the newer one) does not ask me to get a mobile app, it lets me update!

 

See? thats the S1 Windows controller - can’t do an update from that.

 

This is the S2 controller and I can do an update from that.

This is just so so so bewildering.

Userlevel 7

Other than the Bridge, what is the oldest Sonos product you own?

Sonos Product compatibility

@Korporal 

Probably because the App was not connected to an ‘existing’ S1 Sonos System - you can only create a new S1 system if you have an S1 only device. (You also need to remove the S2 App to create a new S1 system). There are threads here on the forum that explain these things. 
 

Edit: It’s not clear what you are looking to do, is it remove your Bridge and upgrade all to S2. If so, did you first try the S1 system compatibility checker in "Settings/System/System Tools” to ensure your devices can all move to S2?

Userlevel 2
Badge +4

@Korporal 

Probably because the App was not connected to an ‘existing’ S1 Sonos System - you can only create a new S1 system if you have an S1 only device. (You also need to remove the S2 App to create a new S1 system). There are threads here on the forum that explain these things. 
 

Edit: It’s not clear what you are looking to do, is it remove your Bridge and upgrade all to S2. If so, did you first try the S1 system compatibility checker in "Settings/System/System Tools” to ensure your devices can all move to S2?

 

Hello and thanks.

I have four PLAY:3 devices and a BRIDGE (Which it seems is not compatible with S2). I also have a ROAM purchased recently, everything was working (despite the incessant prompts on my PC Controller to update) fine until the ROAM accidentally fully discharged.

I recharged that overnight but the controller could no longer see the ROAM only the four PLAY3 devices.

After several frustrating attempts to have the system discover the ROAM, I just decided to try the update that the controller was prompting me to do.

That’s when I got the repeated update failures.

 

Just now I disconnected the BRIDGE (since it seems it was not actually that essential) and plugged a PLAY3 device right into the router, that has been discovered now and is visible on my iPhone.

Now the S2 Controller on the PC does not prompt me to update, but it can only see the single PLAY3.

I haven’t tried playing music but I strongly suspect that won’t be a problem.

So now I have the other three PLAY3 devices and of course the ROAM.

In the iPhone S2 app I can see the single PLAY3 but when I ask it to add a device and it begins to search for devices it seems to hang endlessly.

The other devices are of course not directly connected to the router and I have not tried disconnecting the first PLAY3 that is still directly wired to the router, no idea if it will still be seen were I to disconnect it from the router.

 

This is most frustrating but I do appreciate people’s advice.

 

Please try the following

1 Leave the Play:3 connected by cable.

2. Make sure it will play music using the S2app

3 Factory reset JUST ONE of the other Play:3s. Unplug the others from power.

4. In the S2 mobile app, use Add Product to add the reset speaker.

5. Please post back with the outcome

Userlevel 2
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ok will do, thx, bear with me...

To factory reset

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/1096?language=en_US

Userlevel 2
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This was successful.

The first PLAY3 did play music fine, I disconnected two from the power and factory reset the other and the iPhone SONOS app was able to add it and then update it and music played on that too.

I guess I should now simply repeat the process for the other two units.

by the way, what was the role of BRIDGE? I bought this stuff like 9 or 10 years ago and can’t recall whether the BRIDGE was my idea or the stores…

If the bridge is useful then can it be upgraded? can one get a new bridge?

 

 

Yes repeat for other two speakers. You can't use the Bridge on S2 and they are old.tech.

Wiring any Sonos device to the network triggers Sonos devices to communicate over their own mesh. Originally that was the only way Sonos could work. Now it is one option with purely WiFi being the other. The Bridge was used where no speaker was close enough to the router to cable.

Userlevel 2
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OK I repeated this for the next PLAY3, that went OK and the device is listed in the iPhone app.

When I select the device it reports a message “Not registered” I have no idea what that means.