Updates have ruined my Sonos

There are hundreds of thousands (millions?) of Sonos users worldwide. Every day a few have networking issues. When there has just been an update they blame the update. When there hasn't they don't. It has always been so and always will be. If you cannot get this resolved quickly by yourself, call Sonos Support when they reopen and they will sort it out.

Hey jcr...

I get that it is frustrating that you are experiencing issues with your system. Nobody likes that. However, I'd reiterate that this is not a issue specifically with the "update".

There obviously is an issue with the wireless connectivity in your environment that I'm confident can be resolved with a bit of work and will set you up for much better experience over the long term. Because of the tight time/sync requirements for digital audio, Sonos (and any other wireless audio multi-room setup) is very demanding of wireless connectivity and network communication.

I have 18 Sonos products connected to my system, a wireless "hub" for home automation, over a dozen computers/phones, etc... I totally get the headache of a complete network reboot... Like many others I needed to do it ...ONCE... and then set up my network to properly reserve IP addresses and have had absolutely no problems since.


Many of us on this site are totally open to helping you set this up so this is the only time you have this headache.

I have a few suggestions for the stubborn SoundBar that is struggling to update, and then a few questions about how your wifi/Sonos.

First go to "About my Sonos System" and confirm the version of each player...

Each player will look something like:

PLAYBAR: YourNameForItHere
Serial Number: AA-BB-11-22-CC-33:D
Version: 7.2 (build 35339010)
Hardware Version: 1.9.1.10-1
IP Address: 192.168.1.50
Audio In:
WM: 0
OTP:

If you are not on 7.2 for any device, I recommend you physically wire that device to your router with an ethernet cable temporarily and run the update. Then place the device back in it's original position. Do this with any device that isn't updated. (Sounds like it is just your 1 PlayBar) I get this can be a pain if the soundbar is affixed to a wall... then you may wish to move your router to closer proximity if possible... post back and we can help figure out alternatives if this is a problem.

Now... as for your set-up. With this many Sonos products, I would highly recommend, if you have not already, you have them set up to create their own wireless "mesh" network that is referred to as "SonosNet". This is done by connecting any one Sonos device physically to the router with an ethernet Cable. Because many people may not want a speaker near their router, Sonos makes the "Boost" wireless product - Its primary function is to be the connected device that creates the "SonosNet" mesh network so this is why this is often called a "Boost setup" (even if not using a "boost" for the network creation - poor marketing language from Sonos if you ask me...anyway...) The use of SonosNet takes a large wifi load off your wireless router as the devices will all communicate among themselves and route internet communication through the single device connected physically to the router. One device connected is all that is needed and SonosNet is automatically created.

In the same "About My Sonos System" list mentioned above, the WM:0 indicates that this particular device is connected on the SonosNet mesh network. If connected via wifi it would say WM:1. DO all of yours say WM:0? or 1? Are they a mix?

With SonosNet enabled, you can tell Sonos which wifi 2.4Ghz "channel" you want it to use for SOnosNet. (1,6 or 11) and then you can (and should) log into your router's admin page and set the router to use one of the other two channels. This way the wireless systems are not creating noise for each other. You should make sure the Sonos product you are using to set up SonosNet is at least 3 feet away from your router and that no Sonos product (like your playbar maybe?) has any wireless device in the immediate area of it (like wireless baby monitors, or wireless DECT home phones, etc.).


To avoid IP problems in the future, you can, and should, log into your router's "admin" page and set up reserved IP addresses for all products that regularly connect to your network. Every device has a unique "MAC address" that it identifies itself by when speaking with your router (looks somewhat like what I have typed as :AA-BB-11-22-CC-33:D ). You are simply telling your router to give it a specific address every time it sees the device. Normally people place this reserved address higher" in the numbering system... so making a few assumptions about your router...you could, for example start at 192.168.1.100 and go up from there.... This may sound hard, but it really isn't... just a little time, but worth it.

Post back with your findings, tell us what is happening, how you have it set up, interesting barriers your home may have (any stone walls for example, etc.) and lots of people here can help. everyone here simply wants to help others get their system rock solid and enjoy their system as much as we enjoy ours.

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday 🙂

I am having a lot of issues after 7.2 bot the worst one is that my iOS controller usually does not find any of my speakers quickly ( one Play:3 and Two Play:1 configured as Left+Right). I am having some minor issues with the Mac OS controller but at least seems to find the speakers right after opening it withou delay. Tho avoid network issues all speakers have fixed IP address defined on my router.

Also, to my system works after 7.2 upgrade I needed to plug one of my speakers throught an ethernet cable, without doing this the controllers seems no to work fine. I pulled out the ethernet cable and right now my OSX controller is seeing my Play:3 but none of Play:1s and my iOS controller is seeing just one of my Play:1 (the left channel) but none of other speakers appears. And there is only one wifi network here created from a single router. I never had issues like this on the previous versions.

Hi Tales, a recommendation for you is to disable the WiFi Assist on your iOS device, then re-open the app. There are steps for that here.

Also, I'd be happy to take a look at a diagnostic from there, you might just be having some interference trouble. Sometimes during the reboot of Sonos players, a router in auto-channel mode thinks the channel they were on is clear and switches, only to cause trouble when they're back up. When you're seeing your system, go ahead and submit a diagnostic from your Sonos system and post your confirmation number.

Hi Tales, a recommendation for you is to disable the WiFi Assist on your iOS device, then re-open the app. There are steps for that here.

Also, I'd be happy to take a look at a diagnostic from there, you might just be having some interference trouble. Sometimes during the reboot of Sonos players, a router in auto-channel mode thinks the channel they were on is clear and switches, only to cause trouble when they're back up. When you're seeing your system, go ahead and submit a diagnostic from your Sonos system and post your confirmation number.

Hi Ryan thank for your help. I did not had to change the Wifi assist yet. I rebooted my wifi router after posting this and the missing speaker appeared again on the controller but now as a new speaker (not being used) and not part of the stereo setup, as I didn't had time to check this yesterday and today both controllers I tested (OSx and iOS) were showing the same situation as yesterday Play:3 (bedroom), Play:1(living room), Play:1(new device not being used) so I re-configured is to create the Stereo setup and right now they seems to be working fine. Even the iOS controller is not presenting the delay to show the speakers as it was.

Three days ago I also sent a diagnostic when I started to have issues after upgrate to 7.2. Incident:170325-000578

I found the diagnostic, I see that you had 1 of the unit's wired to the network. I would advise you to indeed go over to the Sonosnet, this because the scan results show you are using multiple access points. However, this is an unsupported network setup in combination with Sonos.

I think I'm having a similar problem, not sure whether it was the sonos update last week or the iOS update a couple of days ago that prompted it. My playlists (various music sources) keep dropping out after one song, or mid-sing I will try rebooting everything as suggested & see if this helps.

I think I'm having a similar problem, not sure whether it was the sonos update last week or the iOS update a couple of days ago that prompted it. My playlists (various music sources) keep dropping out after one song, or mid-sing I will try rebooting everything as suggested & see if this helps.


Hi AM_A

Yes, what you describe is a classic symptom of communication problems on the network. Try the full network reboot and post back with your results!

I found the diagnostic, I see that you had 1 of the unit's wired to the network. I would advise you to indeed go over to the Sonosnet, this because the scan results show you are using multiple access points. However, this is an unsupported network setup in combination with Sonos.

Thanks Ryan.
Yes, my setup was always like that even before I get my first Sonos. I have an Apple Airport Extreme as my Wifi provider (a pfsense server is my router and dhcp server) and + 1 airport express + 2 airport extremes on the network, only the airport extreme is used to expand the wifi signal, the express are set as client only and my play 3 was wired on one of them) after about one week post updating to 7.2 everything started to works fine again. Last week I needed to move the airport express to other rooms and changed my setup to have all sonos on the wifi directly and I had no issues also. I don't know what caused the problem I had, but it only occurred on the following days after the 7.2 update was released.

I've also had many problems since software updates. If only we could go back to the software from 2 years ago, it was perfect! It's not a IP address issue for me. All devices on my network have an assigned fixed IP address... With the current software the controller (smartphone) constantly disconnects. Radio streams for example stop and start for no apparent reason. The smartphone interface is much harder to navigate... My sonos favourites lists were deleted for an unknown reason after one update. I've no interest in creating new lists. Right now I can't play anything from the internet only music from my home library. Sonos has gone from a highly desirable 9/10 to barely usable 3/10 thanks to these
software updates...