Dead spots on CR200

  • 14 November 2009
  • 312 replies
  • 107016 views

Userlevel 2
Hi there,

Since upgrading to 3.1 my cr200 has become unresponsive in certain parts of the scree. For example if i try and adjust the treble in the music equalisation screen I cant move the slider. If I try and slide up and down using the A-Z slider at the RHS of my music index it stutters at E and jumps to M. I have contacted Sonos who suggested that I reset the controller but to know avail. Any ideas?

Frazer

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312 replies

Then please explain:

Why did the issue start within the 6 minutes from before to after a controller software update.

Please also explain: Why does the exact same spot within 0.1" (2.5 mm) "CONSISTENTLY" behave differently depending on the software page you are on.

Please also explain why the unresponsive shape changes in size and location depending on the page I'm on.
Well, please explain then why my (already replaced) CR200 still works without issues.
Can't imagine the software works on my CR200 and doesn't on others.
Entirely different story on a PC, of course, because you won't find two identical computers in the wild.
But the CR200 doesn't come in many different flavours, only two: intact and defective.
Glad you had your's fixed thou!
How long has it held up?

It is just funny that the behaviour of broken touchscreens "normally" is quite different.
They have "dead spots" and the dead spots remain dead regardless of what page is displayed.
They do not change behaviour and in one instance tapping (again consistently) cannot be used but a swipe does the job while the same underlying software button (arrow) on another page (again consistently) does accept a tap.
IMHO - Not the behaviour of a broken touchscreen.

Again, why would the touchscreen on the exact same spot be responsive on one page and not on another?
Why would this be "consistently" so?

Going through support now - let's see what the engineers say to this behaviour. I'll post back.

BTW: I'm looking forward to get another PLAY1 so I love my SONOS.
I'm not suggesting that software might not be involved. But this is clearly an issue triggered by a hardware failure.

If it was such a simple software fix (a) why would Sonos have not dealt with it and (b) why would they have taken the trouble to replace units in the field?
I'll post back.
Yes, please do!
My replacement is at least three (or maybe four?) years old now.
And is used so much every day, the silicon padding on the back is peeling off..
Userlevel 1
Badge +4
Like others, my CR200 was replaced by Sonos when the trouble was found and reported. I have not had any more problems with it since. It is still functioning even after multiple updates. If and when it dies, it will likely have its functionality replaced by my iPad Touch gen 5 which is now "unsupported" by Apple -- it does not run iOS 10 but as long as Sonos developers can and do port the controller app to iOS 9, I'm good to go.

I'm not sure what is meant when the word software is used. Are we talking about the firmware or the application. I'm assuming the CR200 is, at least from the 30,000 foot elevation perspective, the same an an iDevice -- there's a low level programmable interface which interfaces with the actual hardware and then there is the level of the OS and/or user app.
It is just funny that the behaviour of broken touchscreens "normally" is quite different.
They have "dead spots" and the dead spots remain dead regardless of what page is displayed.
They do not change behaviour and in one instance tapping (again consistently) cannot be used but a swipe does the job while the same underlying software button (arrow) on another page (again consistently) does accept a tap.
IMHO - Not the behaviour of a broken touchscreen.

I had multiple "dead spot" failures. The spot was consistently dead in all panels. Sometimes, at some places, I could get it to fire, but it took great patience. Over time, the amount of patience and tapping and smearing was increasing.
I was told that the failure related to inability to handle changes in humidly.
We have a couple of months of high humidity each year. My CR200 died, with a dead spot, each year, and each was replaced by Sonos. It happened 3 times I think.

At the time of the last replacement they told me that they were confident that they had completely fixed the problem, and that the new units had been tested in a barometric chamber. ... That last unit has been working without issue for several years now.

A month or two after that, they withdrew the unit from sale due to its function and price point being swamped (pun unintended :)) by smart phones & tablets.

I was quite impressed by Sonos' integrity, in addressing this issue for affected customers, even though they were in the process of phasing the unit out due to unrelated reasons.
Looking forward to the support.
Hopefully I can just get a new screen - having the controller back working would be great. Has been a pricy item and a couple weeks after buing, SONOS stopped selling it. Hopefully replacement will last a bit. I like the size of the controller and that it can last 3 days off the charging station. A plus also the convenient keys on the front.
As promised back with the update:

Support contacted me about the replacement. Will see what the cost will be.
If replaceable within a reasonable price I'll have my controller fixed.

For the issue:

I HAVE BEEN WRONGLY ASSUMING A SOFTWARE PROBLEM!

Apologies to SONOS - more in depth analysis with a grid on the touchscreen would have discovered the issue.

Some 2 hours later I'm a bit smarter. The capacitative screens used can fail because of delamination of the various layers.
This can be a suble process and may be undetected for quite a while as some tapping or swiping can get some clusters going.

The puzzle was that touching some rows would make another row activate but it seems to be a boundary problem on pages which can scroll. Moving the page by only a little bit (0.5 - 1.0 mm) makes it react correctly. Therefore the broken screen is triggering when just barely touching a good cluster while the dead one will obviously not activate.

Found an excellent blog post about the issue:
http://www.setfirelabs.com/sonos/sonos-cr200-dead-spot-fault-is-it-home-repairable

Hence now looking forward to get the screen replaced - hopefully within reasonable cost.
My replacement has shipped!

GREAT SERVICE FROM SONOS!

I'm impressed by the speed and ease - and it will cost me less than 100 bucks. Has shipped 4 hours after starting the process. A cardboard box with the return label is already waiting for the replacement to be delivered.

Looking forward to a fixed controller.