I've done EVERYTHING possible. NO MATTER WHAT Sonos Connect keeps interrupting playback

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I
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@immersifi,
To get your diagnostic report feedback, you can in fact speak/chat online with Sonos Support Staff via this link here below and refer them to thread here (and your earlier thread) so they can see the complete picture…

https://support.sonos.com/s/contact

HTH

Yeah, I chatted with them via chat window and have a case number so that I can call later once my phone gets some charge. I did this once before a few months ago as I recall; nothing positive came from it. I’m going to pour myself a drink before I call. This time in chat I gave them all three submission numbers so that they could reference them as well as the URL for this thread. How I HOPE that I don’t get “Pull-Down Menu Pete” who suggest that I do everything that I have already done and documented in the thread.

I had hoped to be able to use this (CONNECT) with client files (recordings), that is, have them audition their finished work in the critical listening area of The Subterranean Playground but I can’t risk it; if a client’s work starts and stops it will kill the mood not to mention making me look like an idiot. I’ll just have to be at the laptop and run either VLC or Windows Media Player (32-bit no less) when I have clients in to hear their work. It’s 1995 again!

UPDATE:

 

Hopes crushed against the rocks of despair.

 

I ended up taking the drive (4 TB WD in a USB) and making it an internal drive in the main workstation that I use. However, before I did this I cleared the Sonos library and pointed it to a COPY of the library on a WD Mybook just as a “well maybe it’s the USB drive” exercise. As expected that did not fix the interruption.

 

So, I took to heart another suggestion, namely to remove the 4TB volume for its USB enclosure and make it internal to the T7500 - put it right on the host buss. Result?

 

It still glitches.

 

This means - taken with pointing to the copy of the library via USB and now the 4 TB internal volume as an experiment - that it can’t be related to the disk drives; they are physically distinct volumes and now have completely different I/O yet Sonos creates the same issue. This also means it had nothing to do with selective suspend (USB) etc when the 4TB volume was a USB device. Oh, another thing, just to be on the safe side before moving the 4TB volume into the host machine I tried two different vendors’ USB enclosures (thinking maybe it was a marginal chipset etc). That made no difference.

 

Again, all of the scheduled stuff (malware etc) are set up for hours that I know I will be asleep, so it can’t be those.

 

The event log is not very populated (maybe 50 events over a 48-hour period) and shows no warnings or errors...just normal Windows type events.

 

Both the 4TB (now) internal drive and the WD Mybook (backup of library) have been checked for errors with none found, so it’s not either volume.

 

Going to a NAS seems to be the only option if I want to stick with Sonos. However, it would be the ultimate burn for me to a) verify full compatibility (NAS enclosure), b) verify drive compatibility (and REPLACE any incompatible drives at additional expense), c) spend the time setting up the NAS and moving / mirroring the library. If it would work (i.e. 100% GUARANTEED) to fix the issue I might consider it, however as a gamble it feels so much like throwing good money after bad.

 

I can’t even recall all of the things that I have done / tried / swapped / reset/ reinstalled/ rebuilt etc...and all because Sonos started doing this with the passage of time. It used to work brilliantly but now I have zero confidence that the problem can ever be solved, and this includes using a different machine as the host.

 

I can’t dedicate the Connect units direct to the gateway without having to completely rewire the network (the same network by the way that supports many other wired devices, all of which operate without any glitches) and cascade switches etc, and possibly have to buy yet another (because of the port count that one loses by cascading switches. But honestly … considering that the device was MARKETED as being able to access music from networked machines (with said drives shared) as well as local drives seems wholly disingenuous.

 

The hours...I must have at least 100 hours of my time trying to fix this. Every time that I THINK that it may have just worked “this time” I find out that once again the system glitches.

 

I guess I will circle back to a Sonos person and speak with yet another assistant, possibly senior level (again) who might be able to help (although at this point what are they REALLY likely to come up with?). After that...it’s time to put both of the CONNECT units under the rear wheels of my car, get inside, turn the key and put the transmission into reverse and crush that which has been giving me nothing but frustration for several months now.

 

Were Sonos Management willing to buy me a NAS and drives I’d make the swap for the library. In that way even if the NAS wasn’t the solution I would get a drive that could be used with a networked player available from another vendor. Sure, they would be more expensive, but if the functioned *AS ADVERTISED* then wouldn’t that be a worthwhile investment?

 

I recall seeing once or so a “write the C.E.O.” button somewhere...not that eh or she would actually read my email but maybe it’s worth a shot. Probably not, though.

 

So disappointing.

 

I
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Am I correct that you have two SONOS CONNECT’s? Have you physically swapped the units?

We cannot rule out hardware fault.

An orderly Mute typically occurs when there is a communication fault that starves a unit’s data feed. It’s difficult to determine exactly when data starvation started because there is a data cache of several seconds. When the cache is empty, the unit will Mute.

Have you checked the Network Matrix to verify that the unit is wired to the network?

Yes, I have two SONOS CONNECT. Prior to last week I had an S1-compatible and an S2-compatible running on the S1 application. However, since I replaced the S1-compatible unit with a new (used) S2-compatible unit I upgraded to the S2 app. I had to.

Each of the two CONNECT units has its own CAT6E connection; each connection is physically and electrically OK; I do not run WiFi (though I have enabled it while troubleshooting just to see if that would make a difference. It didn’t and it still doesn’t..

Each unit halts playback / continues - that is this problem happens with both CONNECT units, whether running independent streams, whether when only one is running, and when both are grouped (which I almost never do). That said, prior to me REPLACING the downstairs unit (S1-compliant unit only) I never once heard THAT unit have the issue. Ironically after buying a replacement S2-compatible CONNECT for the downstairs unit now THAT unit also has the issue. I cannot recall swapping the units when the S1-compatible unit was on the network.

I have even checked the network cables within the house on the odd chance that there was a wire or two loose in a CAT6E termination. No luck - all network lines are OK (I verified these with a DMM that allows pin-to-pin integrity of a cable to be checked along with a CAT6E cable long enough to get to both ends).

The first set of audio players that I owned was the Turtle Beach Audiotron. Clunky interface and a limit of 32,768 songs is what caused me to buy the CONNECT, and for a long while I was quite happy as this problem didn’t start until a year or 18 months ago. That said...THEY ALWAYS WORKED - I never had playback skip or halt. Not once. And...I had five of them around the house and they were all access a .wav library rather than /flac because there was no codec support for flac in those units. I think they were early 2000’s vintage. Again I would like to point out that despite their clunky interface THEY. ALWAYS. JUST. WORKED.

One thing that I DID love about the Audiotron was that you could assign the units a static I.P. (which I did) as well as dial-in how much buffering was desired to make sure hiccups didn’t happen etc. Thus I could always ping the IPs as I had assigned them in blocks of .5 and blow the start of the gateway’s DHCP address span. There were a LOT of user-accessible settings (which made it tough for non computer types to deal with it). I had really hoped that the CONNECT would have offered the end user the same kind of control, but I also understand that Sonos went for a much broader market and put what seems to be about 99% of such settings outside the access of the user.

 

I just want reliability. This feels to me like having a really nice car with the “fun” feature of having the engine simply shut off for anywhere from two to ten seconds before restarting itself. Can you imagine how you would feel driving such a car?

 

As a man once said “Just give me something that works. Consistently”

buzz

Since the older unit is S1 only, you only have one CONNECT in your system.

Am I correct that you have two SONOS CONNECT’s? Have you physically swapped the units?

We cannot rule out hardware fault.

An orderly Mute typically occurs when there is a communication fault that starves a unit’s data feed. It’s difficult to determine exactly when data starvation started because there is a data cache of several seconds. When the cache is empty, the unit will Mute.

Have you checked the Network Matrix to verify that the unit is wired to the network?

Yes, I have two SONOS CONNECT. Prior to last week I had an S1-compatible and an S2-compatible running on the S1 application. However, since I replaced the S1-compatible unit with a new (used) S2-compatible unit I upgraded to the S2 app. I had to.

 

So, you have three CONNECT’s. One is S1 only and two are now S2? While you are fussing with this I recommend keeping the S1 unit powered down.

Do you experience any issues with only one CONNECT powered? We have not ruled out any hardware issues. A defective CONNECT can create some “turbulence” on the network.

Submit some diagnostic confirmations here. Factory Reset destroys all diagnostic data for the reset unit. Reboot destroys most of the data. Fine diagnostic data begins to scroll out of view at about 20 minutes. SONOS staff has access to the diagnostics.

I
Badge +1

Since the older unit is S1 only, you only have one CONNECT in your system.

Am I correct that you have two SONOS CONNECT’s? Have you physically swapped the units?

We cannot rule out hardware fault.

An orderly Mute typically occurs when there is a communication fault that starves a unit’s data feed. It’s difficult to determine exactly when data starvation started because there is a data cache of several seconds. When the cache is empty, the unit will Mute.

Have you checked the Network Matrix to verify that the unit is wired to the network?

Yes, I have two SONOS CONNECT. Prior to last week I had an S1-compatible and an S2-compatible running on the S1 application. However, since I replaced the S1-compatible unit with a new (used) S2-compatible unit I upgraded to the S2 app. I had to.

 

So, you have three CONNECT’s. One is S1 only and two are now S2? While you are fussing with this I recommend keeping the S1 unit powered down.

Do you experience any issues with only one CONNECT powered? We have not ruled out any hardware issues. A defective CONNECT can create some “turbulence” on the network.

Submit some diagnostic confirmations here. Factory Reset destroys all diagnostic data for the reset unit. Reboot destroys most of the data. Fine diagnostic data begins to scroll out of view at about 20 minutes. SONOS staff has access to the diagnostics.

Since the older unit is S1 only, you only have one CONNECT in your system.

Am I correct that you have two SONOS CONNECT’s? Have you physically swapped the units?

We cannot rule out hardware fault.

An orderly Mute typically occurs when there is a communication fault that starves a unit’s data feed. It’s difficult to determine exactly when data starvation started because there is a data cache of several seconds. When the cache is empty, the unit will Mute.

Have you checked the Network Matrix to verify that the unit is wired to the network?

Yes, I have two SONOS CONNECT. Prior to last week I had an S1-compatible and an S2-compatible running on the S1 application. However, since I replaced the S1-compatible unit with a new (used) S2-compatible unit I upgraded to the S2 app. I had to.

 

So, you have three CONNECT’s. One is S1 only and two are now S2? While you are fussing with this I recommend keeping the S1 unit powered down.

Do you experience any issues with only one CONNECT powered? We have not ruled out any hardware issues. A defective CONNECT can create some “turbulence” on the network.

Submit some diagnostic confirmations here. Factory Reset destroys all diagnostic data for the reset unit. Reboot destroys most of the data. Fine diagnostic data begins to scroll out of view at about 20 minutes. SONOS staff has access to the diagnostics.

 

No. Not three connect units; the S1 can’t “play nice” on the S2 application and was replaced with a new (used) CONNECT that is S2 compatible. The Old S1-compatible now just sits on a shelf. I don’t know if I will sell it on or merely recycle it. So while there may be three CONNECT units in my domicile only the two S2-compatible variants are connected to the network. The upstairs unit was the first unit that I bought.

Again, PRIOR to swapping the old S1 variant it was the only one of the two units that did NOT have this issue - always the newer-hardware S2-compatible CONNECT upstairs. That is, my original CONNECT was/is S2-compatible (but I wasn’t running S2 until about a week ago) and was the one that would always hiccup while the old S1-compatible one never hiccuped, again both running S1. Now the new (used) S2-compatible unit also hiccups.

Ironic because when dealing with Sonos support one of the first things suggested was to upgrade to S2, and like I said, I did all of this in good faith, so much as even finding another unit to buy (which now feels like throwing good money after bad) that I knew to be S2-compatible...and now things are WORSE.

I am not sure about any issues with only one of the two connected; Having only one unit is a colossal drag because it is quite often that I play something entirely different in the subterranean playground than what’s playing on the whole house CONNECT. However, these two units (running under S1) were fine for years without the hiccups - there was a time when both units could run at the same time without hiccups (sync’d or not) as well as running separate files in each unit, at the same time or having only one operating and there were no hiccups.

IF it happens that running only the whole house unit “solves” the problem then I guess I’ll just stop using the 2nd unit and rely on my laptop pointed at my .mp3 library via windows media player. That’s a sad state of affairs - to make one product work you have to stop using the other.

When you say submit some diagnostics here how do you mean? Is it possible to simply submit diagnostics in another fashion? That is, can I create a diagnostics file and drag and drop here in this discussion? I thought that Sonos frowned upon submitting diagnostics unless first asked by someone from Sonos to do so.

I
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I just don't understand why this is so complicated.  There are loads of us out here with a basic  NAS wired by Ethernet to our routers, and a bunch of Sonos devices, one of which is also wired to router. That is how Sonos was originally designed to be used. You seem  to have tried everything except that. 

As I have stated...when I bought the Sonos they stated that a NAS was not a necessity (indeed it was not designed to work exclusively with a NAS as you seem to be suggesting) and that one could play music from ANY connected drive, it’s even in the system setup (NAS, another drive on this computer, mymusic folder), thus I chose not to buy a NAS. Simple as that. Sure, a NAS would likely be a more stable solution but if so just tell the consumer what may lie ahead without an NAS, but I have no guarantee of this, and why should I now have to buy a NAS to fix a system that was once stable?

 

Had Sonos said “music interruptions may occur if non-NAS storage is utilized” that would have swayed my decision, but to advertise the system as being able to play music from any valid share. The only Sonos devices I won are the Connect units and believe me I’ve no plans to buy any more Sonos products. We’re talking about streaming AUDIO content on a local network that’s been validated; VIDEO gets streamed to TVs on the same network which requires much greater bandwidth than do audio signals. Everything else on the network - printers, TVs, other computers, none of them suffer any loss of connectivity, but somehow that should be OK with a CONNECT unit? Streaming songs? Are you kidding me?

 

IF in fact the performance (avoiding interruptions) was marginal WITHOUT an NAS then they should have said as much, but you see, it worked fine for years, and lest we forget they advertised the product as capable of accessing remote music; it’s even in the setup still (NAS, another drive on this computer, mymusic are ALL listed as valid choices (and with no disclaimers next to any of them))

 

Thus, were I to switch to a NAS it would be at my expense and there is no guarantee that it will work. It MIGHT work, it PROBABLY would work, but again, Sonos never said anything about shares (or even local drives as being problematic.Were Sonos to say “We’d like to make this right for you and end the struggle, so here’s a NAS and drives for you - no charge” but that’s about as likely as me jetting off to Ibiza with Salma Hayek (at her request).

 

It sounds as though you’re suggesting that this is somehow my fault for “not getting on board with a NAS”, but frankly I would be willing to do that IF I didn’t have to spend any money on it with zero guarantee from Sonos or anyone that the problem would be solved - just conjecture.

 

So in summary IF Sonos had said “hey...your music may get interrupted a lot if you choose not to use a NAS that would have either swayed my decision NOT to buy any CONNECT units, but as I said even the setup says each is equally valid (no disclaimers) and once worked flawlessly no longer does.

 

Maybe I should start a gofundme page citing Sonos Connect issues in a non-NAS environment.

buzz

Submit diagnostics and post the confirmation number here.

I
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Submit diagnostics and post the confirmation number here.

120604493

I just submitted them. However, the units have not been played much (if at all) today. I can always wait until the next fault. generate that diagnostic report, and then post THAT number here, right?

 

Anyway, thanks for the help.

 

Airgetlam

Yes, please. Much if not all of that diagnostic data is for the previous ten to fifteen minutes, it’s thought. You’d be better off catching the error data within 10 minutes of the issue occurrence.

Bruce
I
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Submit diagnostics and post the confirmation number here.

OK. It just did it again on The Subterranean Playground unit.

Playing a playlist, in random. Whole Lotta House Sonos was inactive.

Anyway, here’s more grist for the mill:diagnostics confirmation number is: 998872726

BTW just checked both hosts for corrupt windows files. Both are squeaky clean. This time I was running The Subterranean Playground Connect via S2 on the M6500 that’s downstairs.

I think this makes the third diagnostics session that I have submitted immediately after the fault occurred. Is there any insight from Sonos yet?

Is there any commonality between the previously submitted two diagnostics report and this one?

I’d REALLY like to know if the diagnostics are at all useful in any way, or if I’m merely doing this with the idea that someone is checking.

 

Ken_Griffiths

@immersifi,
To get your diagnostic report feedback, you can in fact speak/chat online with Sonos Support Staff via this link here below and refer them to thread here (and your earlier thread) so they can see the complete picture…

https://support.sonos.com/s/contact

HTH

I
Badge +1

@immersifi,
To get your diagnostic report feedback, you can in fact speak/chat online with Sonos Support Staff via this link here below and refer them to thread here (and your earlier thread) so they can see the complete picture…

https://support.sonos.com/s/contact

HTH

Yeah, I chatted with them via chat window and have a case number so that I can call later once my phone gets some charge. I did this once before a few months ago as I recall; nothing positive came from it. I’m going to pour myself a drink before I call. This time in chat I gave them all three submission numbers so that they could reference them as well as the URL for this thread. How I HOPE that I don’t get “Pull-Down Menu Pete” who suggest that I do everything that I have already done and documented in the thread.

I had hoped to be able to use this (CONNECT) with client files (recordings), that is, have them audition their finished work in the critical listening area of The Subterranean Playground but I can’t risk it; if a client’s work starts and stops it will kill the mood not to mention making me look like an idiot. I’ll just have to be at the laptop and run either VLC or Windows Media Player (32-bit no less) when I have clients in to hear their work. It’s 1995 again!

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