ZenWifi XT8 (1-19-21) Firmware Update Causes Sonos System to Stop Working

Hi,

I posted a similar thread over at XT8 Potential 3.0.0.4.386_26044 Issue | SmallNetBuilder Forums (snbforums.com).

I did not get total failure of the Sonos, but the Beam kept dropping off the network, wiring it in seems to have fixed the issue.  FYI  The Beam has 2 x One SL as surrounds and was using on of those devices to create the Sonos Network.

All worked perfectly on 25790.

Can you post details of how you rolled back please?  I believe it will be manual process, so some steps especially around order for both nodes would be much appreciated

Thanks

Minimos

I was having an issue even before the new firmware whereby my XT8 would drop my wired Sonos Boost and as all my units are on SonosNet everything would also drop off the network. Immediately power cycling the Boost would bring the whole system back up. Doing nothing eventually the Boost would re connect and back up would come the rest of the system using their reserved IP addresses. This would happen maybe once a day or every other day. I could understand a WiFi connected device dropping off but not a wired connection.

Its certainly a weird one.  Are you on 25790, and have you done a factory reset the last time you did a firmware upgrade?  Over at SNB if you don’t do a factory reset each firmware change they call it a dirty flash and has caused issues for users.

I’ve rolled back now (did the Node first then the router), issues are gone.

I also had issues with 2 Xbox Ones not allowing access to some online games, going back to 25790 has fixed that issue as well.

Minimos it looks like you were able to roll back.  But in case others need help.  Go to https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/ZenWiFi-AX-XT8/HelpDesk_BIOS/ then download the “25790” driver and save it on you computer.  After that: 1) login into your router; 2) go to administration 3) go to the firmware upgrade tab 4) for your router click “upload”, and 5) upload the driver you saved.  If you are rolling back a node, a separate sign in tab may open; log in (like you did your router) and then follow upload prompts.

This is my 1st time giving instructions like this and I’m no computer expert, but this should work if you have had the SONOS issues I did after the last firmware update (i.e. 26044). FYI, its a little frustrating that this issue developed and I’m a bit surprise at ASUS as I have used their routers for the last 10 years without issue(s). I was very frustrated (and a bit worried) trying to troubleshoot the issue.

Check if Quality of Service (QoS) feature is enabled in the router. My system started working seamlessly when I disabled QoS feature. With QoS enabled, I couldn’t add a new speaker to the system, couldn’t play music on speakers, speakers keep on dropping, etc.

The QoS feature was not enabled and I had the issues.

@conceptk - Disappointedly, I later learned that disabling QoS did not fully resolve the connection issues. I also resorted to workaround of connecting one speaker via ethernet cable and the rest started using “SonosNet” network that the hardwired speaker creates.

FYI, I’m had the same issues with the 2-1-21 update (i.e. 41793) and had to roll back again.  I hope they fix this soon because I really like some of the new features of this update (e.g. device binding).

I’m waiting for a positive sign before updating the system. 

As an update to this (I’m in a ‘me too’ situation), I updated to the latest firmware (2nd February release) version 3.0.0.4.386.41793 and this issue is not resolved. The last known good firmware appears to be 41793. I’m running a 3 node mesh.