"Your Sonos System Not Found" after it was already connected and playing


My system has been connected and having no problems.  Then I started getting fairly regular error messages on all my controllers "Your Sonos System Not Found".  Then the controller functionality returns and I hit play again... only to see that same system not found message 5-10 minutes later.  I'd love some help trouble shooting this problem.

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61 replies

My point is that when i search for the problems it does seem that a lot of people are having very similar issues spread over a large number of sites that they are struggling to resolve, and the main strength of Sonos system is supposed to be its connectivity between all of its systems.
The vast majority of connectivity issues are down to:
- a troublesome third party component, often a router
- a basic local network issue such as a duplicated IP address, which a network reboot usually fixes
- wireless strength/interference problems, and Sonos is no different from any tech in needing to abide by the laws of physics

Let Sonos Support help.

I am assuming with 16,230 replies you are possibly working for Sonos anyway or an avid avid fan?

Sonos employees are clearly identifiable. I'm just a former user moderator from the original Sonos forums.
A quick post to let anyone know how we resolved it. Spoke with technical support and it was not working because Sonos doesn't work well with TP-Link wireless extenders, which i wasn't aware of, so as i had the boost to set up the Sonos network the only step that i hadn't taken was to forget my home wifi network, sounds like it was picking up both the Sonos network and my wifi network and they didn't play nicely together.

So anyone else looking for a solution, go to settings > advanced settings > wireless setup > next, and then there should be a reset button to hit which wipes out any wifi setup and lets the boost work on its own. Not something that i had read anywhere but as ratty points out i should have called up ages ago as it was a simple fix.

All fixed, very happy now!! Now to get back to the shop and buy some more speakers
I have 6 Play 5s, 2 Connect Amps, and 1 Connect and have been experiencing the "Your Sonos system was not found"" error now for at least 8 months . I had been using the beta software but have switched back to release and still have the issue. I have been using the system for nearly 2 years with no issue.

Most of the devices are hardwired to my network. I have reset the controllers and the devices countless times now. I have tried most of the suggestions in this thread.

Diagnostic Info sent: Your confirmation number is: 4995971.
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morreale, there are others far more knowledgeable than me who may proffer advice. But one thing I noted is that you really only need one of the Sonos devices hard wired to the network. I think it might actually be unhelpful if more than 1 is wired to your router.

I'd try unplugging all but one of them from the network and then switch of all network attached devices including the router and then restart all router first and so on.
morreale, there are others far more knowledgeable than me who may proffer advice. But one thing I noted is that you really only need one of the Sonos devices hard wired to the network. I think it might actually be unhelpful if more than 1 is wired to your router.

I'd try unplugging all but one of them from the network and then switch of all network attached devices including the router and then restart all router first and so on.


hmmm...it was never a problem before. so i hope not. i would much rather use a wired connection when available.
same problem here

it worked fine for a year or so - a few months back - nothing

playbar on wired
play 1 on wifi
connect on wired

i have a tp link extender and now nothing
I'm out of my depth too. We used to be able to bring a laptop upstairs in our company and it would find our Sonos system without a hitch. We'd play music and then leave again. Last week we tried to use the sonos again, and it didn't do anything. Sonos system not found. I try to add an existing sonos system to my controller and it finds it. Great! But then I get the 'Sonos system not found' alert in my controller right after.

I have no clue what to do... tried setting it up with a router, just to see if it would work. Guess what: I was able to see it in my controller and then immediately after it was gone again as soon as I configured the wireless setup. I don't know what I'm doing wrong? We've added signal broadcasters in our building to have better conneciton with our cellphones, but I'm not suer this is actually the problem? I'm not familiar with Sonos, so I don't know how else I can fix this?
I have had the same problem.
Three different Android controllers would repeatedly show "system not found" message even while using the system they would sometimes loose the connection.
What I noticed was that the PC app (PC is wired to the same router one Play 1 is wired to) never had problems finding any of my components, so the Sonosnet had to be working.
I then found that Sonosnet and my wifi were both using channel 6. So I changed Sonosnet to channel 11 and set the wifi to channel 6, this seems to have fixed the problem, as I have had no dropped connections since then.
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Good suggestion ThomasBroch. This page has some great suggestions and a guided assistance to follow. Let us know if you still need a hand.
Thank you Ryan S, I had already seen the page you mention, however it unfortunately does not mention the possibility of wifi interference between SonosNet and other wifi. I did notice many complaints regarding this issue on Google Play and originally discounted it as an app problem, until I came upon the solution.
I've recently had connectivity issues with my Sonos system. Constantly getting the "system not found" error. Tried everything that was suggested with no success. Turned off the guest network on my router & bingo!.....no more issues so thought it was worth a mention.
Im not saying this would work for you but it did for me ..... I had constant not connecting issues and drop outs almost the point where I was about to put my sonos speakers on ebay.

However ..... I got an app called "wi fi explorer" for the mac ..don't know if it is available for windows it gave a pictorial view of wi fi channels in my location ( houses all around ) changed from channel 11 to 6 which was less crowded and no overlaps.

Not had one dropout or connection failure in 14 days.

Sonos is on BBC radio 2 about 10 hours a day.
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When I go into settings - advanced settings and tap wireless setup I just see instructions on setting up a wireless network, there is no reset option. There is an option further down to reset controller but I don't think that's what's being referred to here. How do I get the reset option?
Thanks.
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When I go into settings - advanced settings and tap wireless setup I just see instructions on setting up a wireless network, there is no reset option. There is an option further down to reset controller but I don't think that's what's being referred to here. How do I get the reset option?
Thanks.


I think what you are referring to is when you reset your WHOLE wi-fi network. See below:-

Switch off your Wi-Fi Router
Switch off ALL your Sonos kit
Switch off ALL devices connected to your Network
- Computers, Laptops, Tablets
- Smartphones, thick phones
- NAS

Switch on Router. Wait until it has re-connecte to the internet
Switch on Sonos Bridge and/or Boost, Connect - Wait a minute or two for them to connect
Switch on your Sonos Plays and Playbar
Switch on all your other network devices


Also, as the above post make sure that your SonosNet is on a different channel to your wi-fi and make sure the device connected to the router via cable is as far away from the router as possible.

If all this fails then submit a diagnostic and post here or phone Sonos with it.
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Thanks for that Stuart, appreciated.
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My Sonos system has recently developed an issue that I haven't seen before. Living room: 2 x Play 1s and sub. Kitchen: 1 x Play 1. Right Play 1 of the stereo pair connected to router via Ethernet cable. IPad and iPhone controllers on the same wi-if network. On several occasions recently I've used the play/pause hardware button on either the living room or kitchen speakers to play music. However, when opening the controller app to change the music source, it can't find my Sonos system even when both rooms are playing music. This behaviour is seen on both iPad and iPhone.
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My Sonos system has recently developed an issue that I haven't seen before. Living room: 2 x Play 1s and sub. Kitchen: 1 x Play 1. Right Play 1 of the stereo pair connected to router via Ethernet cable. IPad and iPhone controllers on the same wi-if network. On several occasions recently I've used the play/pause hardware button on either the living room or kitchen speakers to play music. However, when opening the controller app to change the music source, it can't find my Sonos system even when both rooms are playing music. This behaviour is seen on both iPad and iPhone.

Please try the full reset procedure in my post above
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In spite of fully resetting the system, iPad Air 2 is still showing intermittent issues with connecting to Sonos speakers. The Play/Pause hardware buttons on all speakers are working fine. On a couple of occasions, the Controller will find the Sonos speakers after being left open for around 10 minutes. Interesting that another poster on Windows 10 is experiencing similar issues:
https://en.community.sonos.com/ask-a-question-228987/windows-10-several-minutes-to-find-sonos-system-6735461
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In spite of fully resetting the system, iPad Air 2 is still showing intermittent issues with connecting to Sonos speakers. The Play/Pause hardware buttons on all speakers are working fine. On a couple of occasions, the Controller will find the Sonos speakers after being left open for around 10 minutes. Interesting that another poster on Windows 10 is experiencing similar issues:
https://en.community.sonos.com/ask-a-question-228987/windows-10-several-minutes-to-find-sonos-system-6735461


We'd love to look into this further. Can you send a diagnostic from your Windows 10 controller after it's found the players?

This problem sounds like an issue with the security software on the PC or something wrong with the windows network configuration. Do you run any firewall or anti-virus software on your computer? Also, can you check what the network profile is set at? It should be Private or Home, not Public. I'm going to reach out to that other thread as well, if he's experiencing exactly the same problem you are, it'd be best to continue over there. You can add your diagnostic confirmation on to that thread.
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I'll submit diagnostic on the other thread. FYI, controller is on an iPad Air 2 with the latest version of iOS. No firewall or anti-virus! Network profile is Home.
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Thanks testcard, I pulled up the diagnostic from the other thread. Since you're not seeing this issue on a Windows10 computer, just the iPad and iPhone. Might as well keep these threads separate. My apologies on before, I somehow read your comment to say that you also had the Win10 trouble.

Does rebooting the router resolve the connection trouble with the iPhone or iPad? Even temporarily. If it does, I'd recommend giving us a call on our support line. A technician can assist further investigating the system live.
I have similar problems. Diagnostics number is 5525821.

I've had many issues keeping my apps connected to my SONOS setup, and I've redone the whole setup about 10 times now since i bought it last month.

I have a wireless setup, no BOOST device. All is working fine now thank the gods, and as we speak the SONOS is playing some radio station.
On the iPAD the SONOS APP is connected to the device, but my PC SONOS Application cannot find the SONOS. But I'm sure it is connected!
I can see the SONOS on my wireless router, with IP address 192.168.1.4.

I would love to just be able to point the application to the bloody IP address... Shouldn't be that difficult, should it? 😠
Is your PC wired to the router? Some routers won't forward discovery broadcasts between the wired and wireless segments. Sonos relies on these to locate the players. And before you ask, this is entirely compliant with the UPnP standards. Some routers simply don't play ball.

I have to say that having a wired component -- a BRIDGE or BOOST -- would probably solve your problems.
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Sonos is fantastic until it is not Biggest upset was the day of a huge family get together, and NO Sonos. My daughter connected her Iphone to something and that was all we had, so annoying, no music is just NOT GOOD!!
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I have bridges and boosters, one day Sonos was perfect and then it disappeared. This has been happening for years, however for over the past month it has completely disappeared