Switching all S1 Devices (CR200 Included!) to Sonos Net from Wi-Fi after Bridge Failure -
The Saga continues……
My System consisted of 2- Play 5’s, 1- Connect Amp, 1-Play One, a Bridge, and 1- CR200 Controller… This had worked successfully for a many years and then recently I kept had intermittent connection to the Play One…. and after the Help Desk had me switch to Wi-Fi (removing the bridge) all now works… except the CR200 Controller….
When S2 was introduced, I was told specifically that the CR200 MUST have the Bridge to operate as the 200 only has SonosNet.. and it did … until now. It provided great convenience for us when it was used. I was thinking about getting another Bridge or Boost, but trying to find a working one may be a challenge. But now I’m reading contradictory threads of users who have successfully reintroduced the CR200 without a Bridge… and using S1, saying it only requires at least one of your Speakers be connected to your Router.
If this is correct, I would really like that confirmation, and more importantly obtain the specific steps needed to switch from Wi-Fi S1 to SonosNet.
Is it really just Disabling the Wi-Fi for each separate Device in the System Page of the S1 App???
I’m being cautious here as swapping from SonosNet to WI-FI was not a smooth process, as I always had the Sonos on a separate Network where I have all my IoT Devices as I’ve had to use the vulnerable lower SMB Setting to gain access to my NAS’s Music Folder.… My Main Network (such as my NAS/PC’s/etc.) which my Mobile Phone is on has the S1 App… but that's where it gets weird. When setting up the Sonos on Wi-Fi, I had to use the IoT Network… but when done, I go back to the mobile’s the “main” Wi-Fi Channel… Initially access was no problem, but then it would intermittently lose all contact and I had to swap back to the IoT Network. It seems stable at this point…
If you’ve done this, I’d appreciate any hints you might have on how you successfully made this work.
Cheers!
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Just connect one of your speakers by Ethernet to your router. Do NOT disable Wifi on any of your speakers. Doing so actually disables Sonosnet.
Give it a minute to reconfigure. You may need to power off Sonos devices and router, then power on the router and let it come fully back up. Then power on your wired device, then other speakers.
To go back to using WiFi, just disconnnect the Ethernet cable.
Further point: the CR200 requires SonosNet, but it is irrelevant what type of Sonos device is wired -Bridge, Boost or speaker.
John….
Thank you for the clear steps.. though I believed I had tried every known combination of sequences… this was just one I likely did not do… and was initially skeptical.
So in addition to your steps, I had previously Factory Reset the CR200…. but now I even took the battery out.
I even backed out of any open S1 Apps on my phone and desktop… just in case anything could “hang”…. and powered everything down as directed.
Waited more time than I needed to for each step, then powered up in sequence.
And finally... booted the previously Reset CR200.. It asked for me to Press the Mute / + Buttons on a Device.. and for the FIRST TIME, it immediately was recognized & advanced to the operating screen and ALL my devices magically appeared… and for the true test, they also appeared (and matched) the devices listed on my Android S1 app…
To be clear… you provided instructions that the “Help Desk” (on 3 Calls) told me would not work, could not work, was obsolete and could do no more for me.
I’ve now gone back to the CR200 and Mobile S1 several times …… and its still working. YEA!
I know.. not a surprise to you…
Thank you Sir for taking the time…
marc
John….
Now that I see sequence is everything….
I was not convinced my Bridge was in a failure mode….. most talked about the “Power Supply” being the typical culprit, but I swapped in a comparable 5v XFMR and it still appeared in the System List….
As it would be great if I did not have to tie up my PLAY One to an ethernet cable. Would adding the Bridge to this Set-Up (as a Test) and disconnecting the Play One require a “Start from Scratch” or could I just add it by connecting it also via cable while the Play One is still connected and then simply set the Play One free??? I assume before I attempt to add the Bridge, I should RESET it before hooking it up by holding the button till I see a Flashing Orange…. and then wiring it to the Router?
Just an Update….
Since all else was working, and confident if anything went south I could hopefully recover, I simply in this one case used the S1 Screen Prompts and it actually worked.. once the Bridge was recognized, I disconnected the Play 1 and all stayed connected.
If nothing disconnects in the next few days, then the original issue was a one-off and the guidance I had from the Help Desk likely caused the overall issues until John came to the rescue…..
Hi. I’m very pleased that your system is functioning as you want it to again.
If you are sure that the Bridge is fully functional after all, then the sequence is pretty much as you have described:. Resetting the Bridge may not be necessary but you might as well do it. Then wire it to your router, leaving the speaker also wired. Add the Bridge to your system. Remove the cable from the Sonos One anf give the system a couple of minutes to reconfigure. You may need to power cycle the speakers or you may not.
I hope that helps.
Edit: you posted while I was typing my response. Sounds like a result.
And it would have not, if you had not furnished the solution… and it was really quite easy once it was understood that everything in the chain required its boot up sequentially.
After it proved successful, I then needed to disconnect the Bridge and Play One once again and move them back to there home positions. I first powered down all the Speakers (just in case) and then powered all back up and it worked the first time…
Everything you provided helped..
Marc
Just one point. If nothing is now wired, the Bridge is doing nothing - it is completely redundant in a WiFi connected system.
Sorry if I was not clear... once the Bridge was connected to ethernet and successfully recognized, I then removed ethernet from the Play One... the only other device connected to ethernet... This swap of ethernet connected devices has so far proved connection.....
OK Marc - that makes perfect sense. Enjoy your system!
John
Good Day John…
I have been that much more due to your help…. And finally (for the most part?) wrapped my head around its architecture….
Misinformation is abundant,,, and its easy to misdiagnose the problem and label a device defective….
When looking at each devices System information in S1 for example, it shows “Wi-Fi is Enabled”..… SonosNet is shown separately only in the NETWORK page...and says “In Use”...I’ve not used S2, so I’m unaware if any improvements were made to help the user when issues occur in connecting…
S1 works for me…
Cheers!!
Many regular contributors on here, myself included, have been urging Sonos for years to change the terminology on this item. For “WiFi” read “wireless”. “Disable WiFi” actually disables the wireless radio on the unit, making it incapable of connecting wirelessly over WiFi or SonosNet. For 99.999999% of users this setting is best left “enabled” on all devices.
This has caused so much confusion……
Sonos is gradually dumping SonosNet from S2. Recent speakers have neither an Ethernet port nor the ability to connect to SonosNet.
I don’t have S1, but in About My System you used to have an indicator:
WM:0 - connected by SonosNet or Ethernet
WM:1 Connected by Wifi
WM:2 Sub or surround connected connected to soundbar in a system with no SonosNet
Hope that helps.
Everything Helps.. and I have no doubt that others who have issues such as this will be hopefully be led to this Thread and solve there problem..
And while we’re on the subject of issues…. before I lost overall connections, I was checking Alexa…as I found the “Ducking” Functionality stopped. I then found a Red Banner in Device Settings (in Alexa) claiming a speaker was “offline”… The same banner appeared for every linked device….
Calls to both Sonos and Amazon yielded Zero help as both pointed at the other…..
My typical Fix for Ducking issues was to uninstall each Sonos device from Alexa, then Uninstall the Sonos App from Alexa… then Add everything back…. and that would always restore Ducking… But no more.
I thought at this point Ducking was now on the scrap pile of user Functionality and would be no more……
But today, I wondered.. after regaining all SonosNet operation….. would it work again? And it did… Ducking works again!
But it now appears the “Device Offline” Banners, that are still present… have not revealed why and what it claims are offline…. Another mystery…..
