Music Library search returns no result. Force app close fixes

Here’s a sketch and note of the units. All of the Sonos units have Wi-Fi enabled. Sonos connected to the network created by the Deco Mesh Wi-Fi and “only” the ARCH wired to one of the Mesh satellites

Ok, so with fibre to the property there should be a small white box near to the BT Home Hub 2? And that should be connected to one of the ethernet ports via an ethernet cable? Also, I think you stated above that the NAS was attached to the router which. presume means the BT Hime Hub? 

There’s a lot of simplification you can do here. As it stands the BT home hub will be using one 2.4Ghz and one 5Ghz channel, the Deco’s the same, and as it’s plugged into ethernet, the Arc will have created Sonosnet, which means only the Play:1’s and 3’s will be using that, as the Era’s don’t support Sonosnet. Sonosnet will be a third 2.4Ghz channel and the Arc uses another 5Ghz channel for the connection to the Sub and surrounds, so @Corry P ‘s suggestion that there’s a lot of interference is not very surprising!!

So, I would:

Remove the BT Home hub completely. Plug the ethernet from the BT Fibre white box into the Master Deco M4. I’m assuming you haven’t put the Deco into bridge mode and it is still running DHCP? If not, take it out of bridge mode so it provides DHCP. If that works… plug the NAS into the spare port on the Deco master. 

I would then power down all your Sonos gear apart from the Arc and its surrounds. Unplug the Ethernet from the Arc and make sure it and the surrounds are working ok. I presume they are on one of the Deco WiFi channels? If that is ok, power on the rest of your devices. They should now all come up on the Deco WiFi. 

That will remove a lot of unneeded networks and will hopefully mean the speakers see the NAS. 

EDIT: If you do have a BT landline that runs off the Home Hub 2, then we need to take a slightly different approach but should be able to get things running better. 

Hi Ian. Many thanks for the time taken to look at my set-up and reply with advice. I’ve been following the mighty Norwich City this weekend hence the delay in replying. Back home and happy now!

So to answer some of your questions.

Deco is in Access Point Mode (This will likely have been Sonos suggestion as not something I would know about (As I implied I bought the Deco because Sonos suggested my Wi-Fi needed extending).

I have digital voice and have plugged in a modified old BT rotary phone modified to do the Pulse to tone dial conversion (I’m 59 so this is a nostalgia trip!).

Here is a pic of the white box on the wall.

Before I start unplugging The Wi-Fi extender (Mesh, whatever the darn thing is called!) which I can do but I’d need to remove the Hub from the cupboard since that won’ be the best place for it! I’ll wait to see if you have any other thoughts with this extra information.

NB Sonos have been telling me for a number of years that there is a lot of Wi-Fi interference but never told me much of that might be of Sonos’ own making!

We all have our cross to bear… 😉

So… in terms of the picture above, I presume the red/black cable goes directly to your BT Home Hub which you have hidden in a cupboard? And you have a digital BT land line number that runs effectively from the home hub with your modified phone connected via wires to the home hub? 

Then I guess you have an ethernet cable from the Home Hub to the Master Deco M4? 

Where do you currently plug-in your NAS? Home Hub (in the cupboard) or one of the Deco’s?

Yes correct. The NAS is connected to the BT Home Hub.

As a matter of interest I’ve just added a Sky Stream puck and taken the opportunity to route an Ethernet cable from the Arc to the BT Hime Hub (Not connected yet just routed).

As for Digital voice I’m not that committed to it. I rarely receive calls on it not make them so wouldn’t be too devastated if it stopped working especially if that was the result of the Sonos system being healthier.

Ok, so the first thing I’d do is go into the BT Home Hub menu on 192.168.1.254 and click on advanced settings. It will prompt you for the admin password on the back of the router on a pull out piece of plastic. You can then go into the wireless settings on the hub and disable WiFi… Your BT hub will then just provide the passthrough to the internet for the Deco’s and keep your phone running as is. You may need to reconnect any devices that used the BT WiFi to your Deco one. 

As a test, then move your NAS near to your master Deco M4 and plug it into the spare ethernet port on the master Deco. The other should be the cable going back to the BT Hub. 

At this point check to make sure the Sonos App now reliably sees your NAS and local library. 

Then power down all your Play:1’s and 3’s that are not part of the Arc system. Leave your stereo Era’s as is, as they can’t use Sonosnet. Unplug the Arc ethernet from the Deco nearby and reboot the Arc. Verify that the Arc and the sub/surrounds are all still functional. Then power on the Play speakers and verify they still work. 

What all that should do is remove the BT Hub 2.4GHz an 5GHz networks, and also the Sonosnet 2.4Ghz network. That leaves you with the Deco’s providing your main WiFi on 2.4/5Ghz, and the dedicated 5Ghz network the Arc uses to talk to the Sub and surrounds. That’s the minimum number of networks you can get to easily. IF you still have interference, the Deco now has more room to manoeuvre in choosing a less congested channel.

If the NAS works plugged into the Master Deco, then run a second cable from the cupboard to the master Deco and use that to plug the NAS back in to the Master Deco from the cupboard. 

As *ALL* your Sonos kit and the NAS should directly connected to a Deco, I would hope that it would be better at handling the various broadcast signals that Sonos needs to work better. 

If not, then it’s time to try without the BT hub completely and just using the Deco’s, and taking them out of bridge mode. However that will mean loss of phone, so if that is the case only way for it all to work reliably, you my want to talk to BT to see if you can change to a tariff that doesn’t include a land line number. It’s no longer compulsory like it used to be when the phone line carried the broadband signal. 

Hope that’s not too daunting and makes sense! 

Hi Ian. Very many thanks for taking the time to reply. It is very much appreciated.

I’ve gone through all the steps you mentioned and the system has located all the speakers and verified they are all working. Also verified the NAS is discoverable by Sonos (Played some music stored thereon) and my Mac.

I’m just a bit confused about this. That was already the first step you suggested so I now have:-

BT Home Hub Wireless turned off.

Ethernet from Home Hub to Deco Master

NAS ethernet connected to Deco master unit

NO Sonos units wired.

So above seems redundant?

I’ve submitted a diagnostic so Sonos can see if that shows any reduction in interference. For now I guess it’s run not for a week or so and see what transpires.

PS Old telephone still plugged into Home Hub and working

Was simply meaning if that works, then go to the effort of laying a cable so you can hide the NAS in the cupboard again… no point doing that if it didn’t work 😉

Fingers crossed it stays a bit more stable for you!!

Ah ok. You weren’t to know the Deco was on top of the cupboard with the BT hub and NAS and redirecting that Ethernet cable was thankfully trivial

If you have a Mac, there’s a tool I use

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/wifi-explorer-scanner/id494803304?mt=12

This lets your Mac scan the surrounding WiFi networks so you can see where conflicts may be. I find it very useful.