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A continuation of this thread.
Now, even when I manually update, it won’t play music.
The controller shows all albums and songs, and also album art - so clearly it’s pushing/pulling info to and from wherever. But it tells me it’s “Unable to connect” to the server address.
Every device on the network - Windows and Android - can connect to the device where the Library is stored. Sonos says it is able to add the Library at that address (and again, it sees songs and artwork).
I’m so, so tired.
+8
it’s difficult though to see what the OP is seeing/doing during their setup/testing.
I mean, I have posted screen shots of just about every step… I had a video grab at one point...
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I’ve used flash drives mounted in TP-Link, Asus and Netgear devices (as well as BT routers OEM’d from different manufacturers).
The path to the top level folder is always something like //routername/partitionname or //routername/volumename, or more often in my case //routerIP/volumename etc.
Sometimes the router assigns the volume name, e.g. “usb” in the case of a Netgear running stock firmware. Sometimes it uses the device name from the drive itself e.g. “//192.168.2.1/corsair” on that same R7000, but running FreshTomato.
Sonos is currently pointed at 5 different subfolders of “//192.168.2.1/corsair”.
I tried pointing at //192.168.0.1/ and every suffix I could think of.
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I’ve not been following this thread, and have just attempted to skim read it so my comment may be inappropriate.
I’m curious. Why does “…/g/...” keep featuring in the UNC path after the device name? I don’t see a partition named “g”.
In one screenshot there was a label “G:” which was presumably the Windows mapping. This means nothing to Sonos.
It’s not the WIndows mapping at all (I already have a G drive); it’s something the router puts there as a “partition” but it’s not editable and doesn’t appear in Disk Management.
I’ve used flash drives mounted in TP-Link, Asus and Netgear devices (as well as BT routers OEM’d from different manufacturers).
The path to the top level folder is always something like //routername/partitionname or //routername/volumename, or more often in my case //routerIP/volumename etc.
Sometimes the router assigns the volume name, e.g. “usb” in the case of a Netgear running stock firmware. Sometimes it uses the device name from the drive itself e.g. “//192.168.2.1/corsair” on that same R7000, but running FreshTomato.
Sonos is currently pointed at 5 different subfolders of “//192.168.2.1/corsair”.
Any mapping is neither here nor there. It has no meaning outside of Windows, where it’s merely a temporary shortcut to a shared folder.
Yes of course, and it’s why you would expect //RJBMUSIC/seamusic (tried with different upper/lower case letters too) ought to work from the Android controller, or the various paths tested to the other created shared ‘test’ folders like //RJBMUSIC/Music and more recently //SEADRIVE/ should work for them and the OP says they do for a short time with a few tracks transferred to them, but then they stop working.. it’s difficult though to see what the OP is seeing/doing during their setup/testing.
Any mapping is neither here nor there. It has no meaning outside of Windows, where it’s merely a temporary shortcut to a shared folder.
What is more confusing is the OP does mention at one point that they mapped the drive (connected to their router) to A:/ (normally reserved for floppy disk drive?) so the G:/ drive/partition has been a source of some confusion🤔?
I’ve not been following this thread, and have just attempted to skim read it so my comment may be inappropriate.
I’m curious. Why does “…/g/...” keep featuring in the UNC path after the device name? I don’t see a partition named “g”.
In one screenshot there was a label “G:” which was presumably the Windows mapping. This means nothing to Sonos.
I just use some old Netgear NAS boxes (mirrored drives), which I added more RAM too to keep them going - currently running the latest Netgear OS6 operating system (Linux-based). I’ve probably had the boxes for 15+ years. Example photo attached - I also have a 4-bay (noisy) Netgear NAS that I use just as a backup (copy). Example photo of the two bay version is attached. FWIW.
I thought, by definition, any storage device attached to and accessed via network devices (e.g., routers, switches) was a “Network Attached Storage” device, a/k/a NAS. Since the router actively supports and encourages attaching storage devices, what clever parsing of the semantics am I missing?
Most people, when they use the term ‘NAS drive’, mean a device with one or more disk drives and an operating system. I would guess that 99% upwards of Sonos users who store their music on a ‘NAS’ have a device that connects by Ethernet, although I would not wish to claim that ‘NAS’ implies an Ethernet connection. I can give you no reason why what you are doing is not working, but maybe you could consider the sort of device and connection that works for so many of us.
I
I have had this system for over four years. I don’t think it has behaved correctly for 14 consecutive days.
I have had mine for 11 years, and it has scarcely missed a beat - in whatever sense you wish to interpret that expression. No comfort to you, I realise, but drops are in the vast majority of cases down to some feature of the network or the wireless environment. Whether the problems you are having with the library are related to that, I could not say.
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I decided to check some of those assumptions.
I broke the “Seatunes” subdirectory into even smaller subdirectories.
The first three mounted A-OK, the rest did not.
The three that mounted were 29.6GB, 26.1GB, and 6.7GB. The ones that did not were 29.1GB, 39.0GB, and 25.4GB. So nothing consitent about the size of the subdirectories.
Of course, during all this is when the system did its semi-weekly “I think I’ll just start dropping speakers at random” ****, so I had to go and do the unplug-all-the-speakers-unplug-the-router-plug-everything-back-in-and-spend-the-rest-of-the-night-screaming-at-the-speakers-that-just-keep-dropping-out-at-random.
I have had this system for over four years. I don’t think it has behaved correctly for 14 consecutive days.
*Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.*
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If I take the “old” USB drive and Add it to the Library as a drive, it spins about 15 minutes and connects.
When I try to mount the USB stick plugged into the router as a networked drive, it spins about six minutes and returns that the path is “no longer available”.
I tried power-cycling the router and trying again. I tried unmounting and remounting. That six minutes really sucks, because it’s long enough to get my hopes up.
The only hypothesis I can make is that there’s something about the way routers read drives that fluctuates sporadically, and that causes the drive to appear “unavailable” momentarily, but long enough to break the connection. That assumes that at one point the older (2018-2020) router router/modem did not behave that way, the most recent router (2020-2022) only began behaving that way sometime in late autumn 2021, and that the newest router (installed last week) behaves that way, and/or there was something in a Sonos update around late autumn 2021 that became less tolerant of inherent fluctuations. And so when there was a smaller dataset - only a few albums - it was able to read it all before this sporadic fluctuation broke the connection, but once it got past a certain size, it couldn’t add the library before the fluctuation broke. This also assumes that Sonos has to read an entire directory before it can build a drive, and doesn’t just add subdirectories as it goes.
This doesn’t explain why, previously, adding the entire drive (i.e., way back to four days ago when it added /g/ but not /g/SeaMusic) worked for a few days. That feels like a hypothesis-killer, but absent anything else, “sporadic fluctuations internal to the router” - which sounds like “something just doesn’t work” - is the best I’ve got.
If this $350 of an eyesore NAS drive tomorrow doesn’t fix it, I am going to be hella pissed.
Have I mentioned how much I wish I never bought this system?
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Something like this:
https://smile.amazon.com/Cloud-Ultra-Network-Attached-Storage/dp/B01AWH05GE/
They’re all huge! I have limited space….
ETA:
Or this…
https://smile.amazon.com/Cloud-Home-Personal-Storage-WDBVXC0040HWT-NESN/dp/B076CTK55W/
You’re just suggesting any hard drive that connects via Ethernet rather than USB, yes?
I think
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In the samba access method screenshot posted earlier, where you have put the server path as //RJBMUSIC, there is an option to also enter a TCP port - will it let you do that? If so then see if adding TCP port 445 makes any difference. You might also want to see if it makes any difference adding a username and password to provide access to the share and add those user-credentials to the Sonos App too and try reindexing.
If there is, I can’t figure out how to enter/edit:
I wanted to avoid setting a username and password because other devices that access that storage (specifically the teevee) don’t allow for that.
+8
Might a basic Ethernet NAS be an alternative that would stop the TP-Link turning into a brick?
I don’t understand.
In the samba access method screenshot posted earlier, where you have put the server path as //RJBMUSIC, there is an option to also enter a TCP port - will it let you do that? If so then see if adding TCP port 445 makes any difference. You might also want to see if it makes any difference adding a username and password to provide access to the share and add those user-credentials to the Sonos App too and try reindexing.
I’m glad you retain your sense of humour and I can only admire your perseverance. I look forward to hearing how it goes with the Nighthawk. Might a basic Ethernet NAS be an alternative that would stop the TP-Link turning into a brick?
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Within the Android S2 controller app, what path do you see when you goto "Settings/System/Music Library/Music Library Setup”?
Nothing now, because I can’t get it re-added. But there was:
Also, just to show there is some joy in my life, we get two or three more baseball games this year than we expected:
Go Mariners!
I can imagine the air is pretty blue at the moment. The problem seems to defy all logic. Do you have a USB slot on your PC in which you could put the stick and to which you could point the library? This is just a test, not a suggested permanent solution.
I had not tried that with the stick, but I had tried mapping the library to the “Music” subdirectory on my PC and it worked. That’s a different “button” on screen, so I presume there’s a whole different protocol
I think it would be worth trying the stick in the PC. I am not sure it’s a different protocol.
I must say, I am becoming increasingly suspicious of the router USB port. I know other things can see it, but I wonder if the problem is a data processing one and the error messages are misleading?
Edit: although it does say it cannot add the folder, not that it cannot find it.
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The fact that it works for a small number of tracks seems to rule out all the ‘obvious’ possibilities, like firewall. Maybe it suggests some latency in the system, causing Sonos to struggle to process the files within an allowed time??
Is a faulty USB port on the router impossible? Trying the stick in the PC would help assess that possibility.
It’s unlikely. It’s been out of the box for less than ten days. Additionally, I can stream video across the apartment. I know there are different buffer rates, but seems unlikely.
I just ordered the Netgear Nighthawk RAW120 - I swore off Netgear products a few years ago - but we will try that. See if my TP-Link is a $300 brick before I even get its credit card statement.
+8
I can imagine the air is pretty blue at the moment. The problem seems to defy all logic. Do you have a USB slot on your PC in which you could put the stick and to which you could point the library? This is just a test, not a suggested permanent solution.
I had not tried that with the stick, but I had tried mapping the library to the “Music” subdirectory on my PC and it worked. That’s a different “button” on screen, so I presume there’s a whole different protocol
The fact that it works for a small number of tracks seems to rule out all the ‘obvious’ possibilities, like firewall. Maybe it suggests some latency in the system, causing Sonos to struggle to process the files within an allowed time??
Is a faulty USB port on the router impossible? Trying the stick in the PC would help assess that possibility.
Within the Android S2 controller app, what path do you see when you goto "Settings/System/Music Library/Music Library Setup”?
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