Sonos Speakers Suddenly Stopped Playing

  • 31 October 2020
  • 19 replies
  • 1983 views
J

I had hoped to get support directly from Sonos Customer Support, but it does not appear they are taking calls right now, likely due to some customer support Armageddon event like the one I am experiencing.

Two days ago, my speakers have just stopped working. When I attempt to hit play, I see the error message: “Unable to play … Unable to Connect to XYZ”, the app flashes (reloads), and basically gives me a big FU. In the error logs, I am seeing errors such as this: “10/31/20, 11:23 AM
Unable to play 'KPCC' - unable to connect to TuneIn.” It doesn't appear to matter what I attempt to stream or playback.

The speakers are connected to my Wifi AP with excellent signal strength, the internet is working fine, and no recent configuration changes have been made on any of my network gear. I tried rebooting all of the systems, but not reset them, unaware of what data I might be losing if I do. I am pretty network and systems savvy but there is just no easy way to diagnose these black boxes. I suspect a recent software update might have bricked these devices. 

Does anyone else have similar stories to share? If not, do you know what phone number I can use to call in? It’s really annoying that Sonos Support isn’t even providing that information, regardless of how busy they might be.

 

Here is my Diagnostic Code: 665523793

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

19 replies

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @Jeff Y, thank you for reaching out to us, and welcome to the Sonos community. I appreciate you for bringing this concern and for providing the diagnostic report. Let me help you out with this.

Upon checking the report, there's interference in your wireless network that may be caused by wireless congestion and an audio playback error in your system that may cause your Sonos to fail to play a track or the music to stop in the middle or get an error unable to play. 

To help you on this, I'd like to ask some questions to isolate the issue so we can create a path towards resolution.

1. When did you encounter this issue? Any changes in the network like a new router or WiFi name/password?
2. Do you experience the same issue with all your music services? Did you get the same error if you play the music using the TuneIn App?
3. Did you get the same error message when you play music on other mobile devices?
4. Have you tried removing and re-adding the music service in the Sonos app? 
5. Do you have any speaker wired to your router? Any improvements?

Let us know how you get on with the advice above. Start the playback on TuneIn and wait for a few minutes then run a diagnostic report for us to check. Just include the confirmation number in your response so that we can look up the information.

If you have any questions about this. We and the community are always here to help.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
J

Hi Rowena-

Answers to your questions below:

 

1. When did you encounter this issue? Any changes in the network like a new router or WiFi name/password?

Two days ago; absolutely no changes to the network.


2. Do you experience the same issue with all your music services? Did you get the same error if you play the music using the TuneIn App?

Yes, all services


3. Did you get the same error message when you play music on other mobile devices?

Yes, in fact, when the error happens on my Mac, it also appears on my iOS app too, from the same event.


4. Have you tried removing and re-adding the music service in the Sonos app? 

Yes, one of many things.


5. Do you have any speaker wired to your router? Any improvements?

No, that is not possible, my router is in the garage. 

 

What I have tried is to factory reset my Play:5 system since. After I did that, I was able to playback from Tunein and Pandora, but Spotify still doesn't seem to work. Note that I have not done an exhaustive test.

 

 

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @Jeff Y, thank you for your response and for answering the questions. 

We really appreciate your patience while working through this. This could be caused by network communication, either between Sonos devices and your router or between Sonos and the internet. 

I'd appreciate it if you can submit a diagnostic report from your Sonos system to see how your system is functioning and help provide a resolution. Please include the confirmation number in your response.

If you need help with any other information, please be sure to let us know. We'll wait for your reply.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
J

Hi Rowena-

I just sent in the diagnostic, code is: 2126958133

I am a little skeptical about the network explanation as we have a business class wifi access point and as I indicated the signal strength is very strong.

Thank you

Jeff

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @Jeff Y, thank you for your reply and for submitting the diagnostic.

Based on the report, your Sonos speakers having communication problems with the cloud server of your music services this is why you're getting the error unable to play or unable to connect. Also, there's interference in your wireless network.

To address this issue, the next step is to perform a sequential reboot of your network devices, all your Sonos products, and force close mobile controllers to refresh the connection.

A sequential reboot means that we need to do this in order.
1. Unplug your network devices (modem, router, any wireless access points on the network) from the power and wait for 60 full seconds before you plug it back in.
2. Once the router is back online, unplug all your Sonos devices from the power. Please wait 15 seconds before you plug back them back in.
3. Force close the Sonos app from your iOS or Android device.
4. When the status light on your Sonos speakers are solid white, get back on the Sonos app and check if you're connected.

After performing the steps above and you're still experiencing the same problem, wire one speaker to your router and test Sonos' performance. If there's no improvement, I recommend contacting our Sonos Customer Care support to perform in-depth troubleshooting and understand your full network setup including the make and model of each device. Our phone support has the tools to check what's going on in your system and to remotely access your device to provide the best option for you.

Please feel free to reach out in the future if you have any other questions. You're always welcome here.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
J

I tried all of those steps but no luck.

C

Did you follow the link regarding interference provided by @Rowena B. ?

Changing your wifi channel may help - and also look for devices that can interfer with your wifi, as mentioned in the link.

It may or may not solve your problem, but wifi interference can cause different issues.

Ken_Griffiths

I tried all of those steps but no luck.

You mentioned you have a business class WiFi system and that the signal strength is very strong... Sadly, that unlikely has anything to do with the issue you have described.
 

Here is a suggestion, particularly if it’s a ‘mesh’ WiFi system, I would personally recommend you perhaps sacrifice a single Sonos device (at least just on a temporary basis) and wire it to your router in the garage. Set it’s physical position so that it is at least 4 feet away from the router to prevent interference.
 

Set your router to use a ‘fixed’ non-overlapping 2.4ghz Channel (ie. Channel 1, 6 or 11) and a channel width of 20 MHz and ensure the 2.4ghz band has a different SSID Name compared to the 5ghz band.
 

Next, set the SonosNet channel in “Settings/System/Network” of the Sonos App so that it is at least 5 channels away from your chosen routers 2.4ghz channel.

 

If you have any other WiFi Access points about the premises, then I would set those devices with exactly the same SSID/Password/(fixed) Channels and Channel-width as your main router. 
 

If the Sonos system performs well after this, then maybe consider purchasing the Sonos Boost to replace the temporary sacrificed speaker in the garage. You can then return the speaker back to its original location. Your system will then continue to run on its own independent SonosNet signal with far less interference from other (wireless and wired) devices on your current home network.

J

Hi

The experience is spotty and uneven. Some play lists in Spotify work, others don’t. Some Tune-in channels work, others don’t.

I don’t have a mesh network, its just a single AP running in layer 2 mode, so it has no routing functionality. The radio in the access point has excellent signal strength, but it might have issue with devices that were designed to work strictly in the 2.4Ghz spectrum. Can you tell me what wireless standard specifically the Sonos devices have implemented so that I might be able to better tune my wireless network. I have seem issues where Nest devices would occasionally disconnect from dual band Ruckus wireless devices. Whats odd about this whole situation is that the speakers have been online for over a year and only recently started acting up. 

Note that the firewall sits in front the the AP actually functions as the router. My home environment is more like a small business environment than it is like a classic home environment.

The SonosNet Channel option on the Sonos app is greyed out, not sure what to do about that.

 

 

Ken_Griffiths

Jeff Y,

Here are the Sonos system requirements including the required WiFi standard:

Sonos System Requirements
 

Here is a document that provides some details about SonosNet. Note, the channel will become active when a device is wired to your LAN:

Choosing between a wireless (WiFi) and wired (SonosNet) Setup

 

J

Thank you Ken for sending that over. I have made the changes to the 2.4Ghz radio you suggested. How do I switch the Sonos system between SSIDs? Is there a way to force it over to a particular WLAN? And even with those changes, can the WLAN remain dual-band?

Ken_Griffiths

Thank you Ken for sending that over. I have made the changes to the 2.4Ghz radio you suggested. How do I switch the Sonos system between SSIDs? Is there a way to force it over to a particular WLAN? And even with those changes, can the WLAN remain dual-band?

If you choose to wire a Sonos device, then your system will switchover to SonosNet - the signal & credentials are hidden/inaccessible, but you can see that your devices are running on SonosNet by going to ‘Settings/System/About My Sonos’ where the Wireless Mode will be shown as zero next to each device in the list - just look for WM:0 - note that a Sonos ‘Move’ speaker does not support SonosNet mode.

 

WM:1 (or WM:2) applies to devices running on your routers 2.4ghz WiFi signal.
 

As long as your routers WiFi bands are not ‘isolated’ from each other, or the LAN, then your Sonos controller device, or any local storage devices (NAS boxes/PC local music library etc.) are fine to run on either your 2.4ghz, or 5ghz band. They just need to all be on the same subnet.

 

J

I want to keep everything wireless since I have good reach with my wifi network. I don’t want to purchase a boost but I plan on purchasing another speaker for my garage, maybe not immediately.

I have two different WLANs. Is there some way inside of the Sonos App too choose a specific WLAN?

Ken_Griffiths

Yes, you can change WiFi network.. see this link:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/1061

 

Ken_Griffiths

Jeff Y,

I would goto ‘Settings/System/Network/Networks’ in the Sonos App to see which WiFi network is currently in use.

 

To change WiFi, (if necessary) I would first choose to temporarily wire a single Sonos device to the LAN, then goto ‘Settings/System/Network/Wireless Setup’ and follow the onscreen instructions to install the new WiFi credentials.

 

Once you have installed the new WiFi settings in the App, you can remove the old WiFi settings in  ‘Settings/System/Network/Networks’ as these are no longer required and then un-cable the Sonos device and all should then run on your new WiFi network.

 

Ensure your Sonos mobile controller devices are switched to the new WiFi network too.. if the mobiles controller device auto-connects to the ‘other previous’ WiFi signal you may well lose sight/control of your Sonos system, so you may want to remove that previous WiFi network from your mobile ‘network connection’ settings too.

HTH

J

Hi Ken, does it matter which speaker I connect to my LAN (example my Gen 1 Sonos One)?

Ken_Griffiths

Hi Ken, does it matter which speaker I connect to my LAN (example my Gen 1 Sonos One)?

That speaker is ideal to use as the wired device. 

J

Apologies, I got pulled away from doing further testing and have been limping along, but the situation has gotten worse. Now my wife cannot open her Sonos App as it cannot find the network, and only one or two station works for me.

How am I able to get phone support at this time? Is it available over the weekend?

Thanks

Jeff

Rowena B.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @Jeff Y, thank you for your response and for updating us. Our phone support team is closed on weekends. You can reach our Sonos Customer Care during weekdays, 10 am - 7 pm EST, Monday - Friday. You can also get in touch with our Sonos Chat support. Select your country on the dropdown and you can start chatting with our technical support to assist you. Please feel free to reach out in the future if you have any other questions.

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
Terms & ConditionsCookie settings