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mcoomey
Contributor I
January 3, 2017
Question

Library inaccessible when MacBook Pro running Sierra 10.12.2 goes to sleep

  • January 3, 2017
  • 9 replies
  • 669 views
I have had this problem since upgrading to Sierra a few months ago. I have a MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011) with the Sonos Controller v7.0. When the MacBook goes to sleep the Sonos system will play for a while (probably whatever is in the buffer) and then just stops. When I wake up the MacBook, I see an empty Sonos Controller template that takes about 2 minutes to fill in with any data (my ROOMS, NOW PLAYING info, QUEUE contents and "Select a Music Source" menu).

I have seen a couple other threads with the sleep issue, but there doesn't seem to be a robust solution. I have tried reinstalling the controller and re-indexing the library but still get the same problem. As long as the MacBook is awake there is not a problem. Prior to the SIerra upgrade everything worked fine.

Has anyone else seen this problem and is there a solution? Is Sonos aware of it?
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      9 replies

      John B
      January 3, 2017
      Hi. Sonos cannot play from a computer that is asleep, never has and never will. The solution is not to let the computer go to sleep, or get a NAS.
      ratty
      ratty
      January 3, 2017
      Sonos cannot play from a computer that is asleep, never has and never will.
      How could anyone imagine that it would? The computer is asleep.

      @mcoomey: If the macOS upgrade has resulted in a different behaviour in terms of automatically sending the computer to sleep, change the computer settings.
      Airgetlam
      Airgetlam
      January 3, 2017
      Look in System Preferences > Energy Saver >

      and then make sure you're making the change on the correct tab (Batter or Power Adapter)

      Look at the settings of the first two check boxes, and make the changes as you desire.
      Bruce
      Chris
      Chris
      Lead Maestro
      January 3, 2017
      Get an NAS drive and pull music from it. Great to have as backup for your home files anyhow.
      Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
        mcoomeyAuthor
        Contributor I
        January 4, 2017
        @John B & @ratty: I agree that Sonos cannot play from a computer that is asleep and I could set the Energy Saver to "Never," but that would be wasteful. A properly designed controller would be capable of waking a sleeping computer.

        There is a checkbox on Sierra's System_Preferences->Energy_Saver template to enable "Wake for network access" (aka Wake on Demand but with WiFi) and I wonder why Sonos is not employing this capability.

        For more information on how this works you could Google "About Wake on Demand and Bonjour Sleep Proxy" on the apple support site.
        BCM
        BCM
        January 4, 2017
        Wasteful of what? Energy? Just have it turn the monitor off. Even if it was wake on LAN it would constantly stay awake while the music was playing, so where is the waste? Or get a NAS.
        ratty
        ratty
        January 4, 2017
        There is a checkbox on Sierra's System_Preferences->Energy_Saver template to enable "Wake for network access" (aka Wake on Demand but with WiFi) and I wonder why Sonos is not employing this capability.
        Because it's highly Apple-specific, and evidently also requires a Bonjour Sleep Proxy running on an Airport device or Apple TV.

        Just get a small NAS and wire it to your network. Many can be configured for disk spin-down and low energy usage when they're not needed. These typically wake on a simple file access, requiring none of the proxy rigmarole.

        If your router supports USB drives, you may even get away with simply installing a flash stick for your music files.
        eharoldw
        Lyricist I
        March 9, 2017
        I think the original question/request is reasonable. There should be a way to prevent a system from going to sleep, or to wake it up when a request is made to it. Installing a NAS is a solution, but not one I would prefer when I am already serving files from my mac.

        So I would like to join mcoomey in a request for anyone who has solved this problem without a NAS.
          BCM
          BCM
          March 9, 2017
          That would make it an Apple or Windows concern... not a Sonos one.
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