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Avid Contributor I
February 17, 2024

Music server cannot be found

  • February 17, 2024
  • 24 replies
  • 1258 views

My Sonos system won't play music because it is "Unable to play 'song' - connot connect to //[server name] because the server cannot be found." I have just updated my BT Router - I am based in the UK. Any ideas?

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24 replies

Stanley_4
Grand Maestro
March 8, 2024

That really does sound like a shortcoming in the NAS software, have you tried turning the Network Neighborhood setting off and back on to see if that will force things back to normal operation?

Worst case get it working and submit a diagnostic, break it and submit another, Contact Sonos support as they will be able to see internal data not available to us users.

Dez S
Lyricist III
March 9, 2024

I haven’t tried the Network Neighborhood setting off and back on. Sounds like a good idea to do that in the router, but that’s not ideal to do that each time I added new music to that USB network share.

Stanley_4
Grand Maestro
March 11, 2024

Glitches like this are why I built my own, simple, fully under my control, NAS device.

The cost of a Raspberry Pi Zero , a SD card and power brick quickly paid me back with lack of frustration and glitching.

Just looked, my Pi has been running, ignored and untouched for 117 days. Not that it was touched then, that was when we lost utility power for a few minutes and I shut everything down to save the UPS batteries.

Dez S
Lyricist III
March 23, 2024

That really does sound like a shortcoming in the NAS software, have you tried turning the Network Neighborhood setting off and back on to see if that will force things back to normal operation?

Worst case get it working and submit a diagnostic, break it and submit another, Contact Sonos support as they will be able to see internal data not available to us users.

So I turned off the Network Neighborhood off and than back on. Nothing. Also, did a new Scan of the USB drive on the router’s app. Nothing. Sonos still can’t index the USB shared drive whenever I add new music to it.

I have to remove the Music Library location in Sonos and then re-add it. It’s the only way it will work at Indexing the drive again. Meanwhile my music files are MP3 with minimally tagged info and have been evaluated by Mp3val for errors.

This is a Sonos issue and not an issue with our routers, as I see this is an ongoing issue for 1-2 years that hasn’t been addressed.

Stanley_4
Grand Maestro
March 23, 2024

You can always force the error, submit a diagnostic and ask Sonos Support (call them) to look at the hidden internal data and see if they can identify an issue.

SMB has been an issue since day one with Sonos, sometimes it is Sonos sometimes it is the other device and sometimes it is that the spec isn’t well written and devices that meet it still can’t connect.

Laying all the blame on Sonos disregards the thousands of SMB users that have no issues.

Dez S
Lyricist III
March 23, 2024

You can always force the error, submit a diagnostic and ask Sonos Support (call them) to look at the hidden internal data and see if they can identify an issue.

SMB has been an issue since day one with Sonos, sometimes it is Sonos sometimes it is the other device and sometimes it is that the spec isn’t well written and devices that meet it still can’t connect.

Laying all the blame on Sonos disregards the thousands of SMB users that have no issues.

Yeah. When people complain about an issue, thousands of others do not have the same issue. It doesn’t meant the issue doesn’t exist.

We all have different systems and networks. If we provide feedback of the issues to Sonos, perhaps there would be a solution or fix. But from what I’ve read of countless threads of this very same issue, a solution hasn’t been provide in the past 2 years.

I’ve made it known with Sonos Tech Support with a submitted diagnostic, two different times. They don’t have a fix and when on the phone, they act like they’ve never heard of this issue before. I know that they have. It’s all over this community.

The “fix” is to remove the Music Library pointing to that Share in the app, and then re-add it. Sucks.

Stanley_4
Grand Maestro
March 23, 2024

That is not a fix, that is a work-around for the underlying problem.

Since Sonos locked us out of most internal data “for our own safety” fixing things going wrong is more challenging than it needs to be.

If Sonos support is no help I’d look for other options that do work. My Raspberry Pi based SMB server or SMB gateway both work flawlessly. Other options exist too, even the less technical one here.
 

Live Journal: Stan

Dez S
Lyricist III
March 23, 2024

That is not a fix, that is a work-around for the underlying problem.

Since Sonos locked us out of most internal data “for our own safety” fixing things going wrong is more challenging than it needs to be.

If Sonos support is no help I’d look for other options that do work. My Raspberry Pi based SMB server or SMB gateway both work flawlessly. Other options exist too, even the less technical one here.
 

Live Journal: Stan

You knew what I meant about fix. I don’t regard it a fix at all but it’s the only workaround that allows me to index the music library from that USB share. A most tedious one.

Not interested in Raspberry Pi, nor an always-on NAS drive. I’m only interested in getting this USB port share to work with Sonos. It works with Windows 11 as well as my Roku Ultra. It not fully with Sonos.

Stanley_4
Grand Maestro
March 23, 2024

Then about all you can do is raise the issue with Sonos Support and the support department of your router. Not much we users here in the community forums can do for you.

Dez S
Lyricist III
March 23, 2024

It doesn’t seem like a priority to tech support, when it was addressed.