My Sonos Beam has the same symptoms it works sometimes after a reset. After reading all post in this thread seems like calling support is a waste of time, has been more than a year and still not a firmware update that fixes the problem. Waste $400 on a “good” soundbar that can’t control with a remote, Sonos I thought you were a better brand, I guess I was wrong. We will have to continue with Bose or something else.

Yes. I even had mine replaced and the replacement has the same issue. It seems to have some link to asking Alexa to do something. If you don’y use Alexa it’s fine for week. @Sonos just ignored my support requests thereafter. Utter rubbish… Still!

In my case is even worse since I’m outside US I can’t return it, shipping it back will be super expensive. I guess it was my first and last Sonos product. At least they should acknowledge the issue or even compensate us with something. 

I do have the very same issue. Sonos connected to Sky Q black set top box via the optical to HDMI connector. I opted for this setup because unfortunately my TV does not support dolby pass through from HDMI to ARC nor optical. Thus, the only way to get Dolby 5.1 was to connect Sonos directly to the Sky Q set top box. After initial setup the volume via IR works fine with either the TV IR remote or the Sky Q remote (which is a combo Bluetooth/IR, but volumes gets controlled via IR). However after some days the IR on Beam just stops working without any environmental change (position of the Beam, light etc). In fact the issue is solved by power cycling the Beam. The problem is very much reproducible, and happens every few days. So it definitively seems like a SW / firmware issue that stuck the IR sensor.

Is Sonos listening to this and providing any fix? 

Thanks 

Brief update. The same issue with the IR and inability of changing volume occurred again today. I noticed that when this happened, the status led on the Beam does not flash when pressing the volume up/down on the remote. I rebooted the Beam and it started working again: this time you can see the Led flashing on Beam when pressing the volume buttons on the remote. 

I am having this same problem. Bought a Beam (my first Sonos product) just before Christmas - it’s been fine for the first three weeks with both my Sky Q remote and OneForAll remote controlling the volume on it without issue, but the other day suddenly stopped being responsive to either device. I can see that both remotes are working, but the Beam doesn’t pick them up (no flashing lights on the top). As with others a hard reset sorts it out temporarily. I’ve never paid so much for a sound bar so to say this is disappointing is an understatement. Clearly the issue has been know about for a long time and obviously nothing has been done to fix it. If there is no long term fix then I’m guessing the best option is to send it back and get a refund.

I too have had this maddening issue on and off for months.

Response of the Beam to the volume and mute buttons on my remote is highly erratic.  Sometimes I can press mute ten times in a short space of time and it recognises every press.  Sometimes it won’t recognise any of them.  More often than not it will recognise 2-4 of the ten presses.

I have eliminated all of the possible causes suggested here (https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3404?language=en_US) by using brand new batteries, while standing six inches from the Beam in a pitch black room.  The issue persists.

I have noticed that if I try to set up the same remote again, the Sonos app will often either:

(a) immediately go from “Point your TV remote at Beam and press Volume+” to “We didn’t detect a signal from the remote...” before I’ve even had a chance to press the volume button on the remote, or

(b) the white status light will flicker or flash sporadically while the app is telling me to “Point your TV remote at Beam and press Volume+”, when I’m not pressing any buttons

This suggests to me that the Beam sometimes thinks it is receiving an IR signal when it isn’t, and that this issue which many of us are seeing is caused by the Beam being confused between these “ghost” signals, and the signal it is actually receiving from the remote.

Long story short, I think there is a bug somewhere in the Beam firmware.

Yes, I have noticed that same thing too with the app when trying to set up the remote again.

The three more common reasons in the past for this have been either

1. weak IR signals, where the remote just needs fresh batteries
2. a Plasma TV casting enough interfering light to block the IR signal getting to the sensor in the Sonos
3.  physical blockage of the IR sensor on the Sonos that is keeping the signal from reaching its intended target.

However, ‘more common’ does not preclude the potential failure of the IR sensor, something which I wouldn’t expect to show up on a diagnostic. Your best bet would be to call Sonos Support directly to discuss it.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, there are more options available for them to assist you.

It has been like a year and the issue was not fixed - for my case the IR used to work perfectly for a few year before the last fw update. I am sure it would not be an isolated case as you see a lot of us file the same report on the issue.

To my disappointment neither the official support nor this forum can really listen to us and give us a solution. I think it would be my last sonos and you messed up a brand which was once great.

My Sonos beam hast started doing this now. It has been fine for a couple of years but now it won’t respond to volume over IR. I’ve tried with the Sony TV remote and the Apple TV one. Both used to work perfectly with it.

A power cycle has fixed it for now but I really think Sonos need to fix the bug.

Good news! My Beam's remote volume controls now works again with latest firmware (v13.0 build 62186220). Will check it out for the next couple of days to confirm

My Beam is version v13.0 build 62186220 and the IR issue is as annoying as ever. 

Same issue here - with latest firmware and Nvidia shield remote. It just stops working, the status light no longer blinks when pressing the volume buttons. A power cycle is the only thing that gets it working again (so it’s not related to light sources or low remote batteries)

Someone else posted this: 

“It sounds like the IR may be turning off and converting back to RF via commands from the TV. Could I get the make/model of the TV? If the remote has a model number, please include that as well.”

Is this something that’s possible? That the TV (Sony in my case) turns off the IR functionality through the optical connection when it turns on? 

My 2 year old Beam just started loosing control by IR remote (but come back after restart) - I have read the 65 different reply - what is status after two years discussion?
Is there a fix - are newer BEAM fixed - or should I look for 3rd Sound options?

It’s still broken in 13.0.5. Worked for a couple of days and then it stopped responding again, requiring restarting the Beam. With me, usually after playing something via Spotify and then turning on the TV.

Very annoying as my Sony Bravia also has issues when using the CEC/HDMI connection instead of optical (it doesn’t activate the sound system output on the tv sometimes, forcing me to manually switch from tv speakers to sound system).

I have spent countless hours on the phone with technical support on this issue. I’ve also replaced one Beam. All since Christmas. Beam is connected to the TV via HDMI Arc. Using a Roku remote. 

in my last conversation with support yesterday, they asked me to move the Beam to another tv. I just don’t know if it’s worth it. Have others tried this and “solved” their remote problem? Second TV would have to use an optical connection but same model Roku remote. 

That’s also what is marked as the “Best Answer” here: “ There are some cases where an IR remote sensor gets overwhelmed by the light coming from the TV. You may want to try putting a 3x5 card tenting the location of the sensor, to ‘shade’ it from the TV’s light, and see if that makes a difference.”

But this problem has nothing to do with that, otherwise a simple reboot of the Beam would not solve this issue (temporarily). Very frustrating.

Right. And the reboot of the beam does work, but only temporarily as others have experienced.

When the beam loses infrared control from a TV remote it is being controlled by wi-fi. To restore infrared control one has to unplug or switch off the beam to restore normal control. Resetting the beam is not an option as one loses the true sound setup.  Would it be possible to have a control button which in effect recycles the beam so in  effect the power to it switched off then on without physically doing so.?

I'm getting bored of switching the beam on and off off to restore the remote control. When are you going to sort this.?

I think it's pretty clear by now that SONOS have no intention of fixing this issue. 

I'm having all the exact same problems as described here but with a twist. After factory resting the Beam, volume down commands are recognized from two different remotes. Volume up commands are not. So I can raise the volume using the Beam’s touch buttons and the Sonos app but the remotes only work for lowering the volume. What a *** show!

After power cycling, it works for a couple minutes, then back to busted.

Firmware 13.1

Sony TV connected via HDMI ARC

*Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.*

That suggests the two remotes are using similar, but not the same IR codes. Sonos can work with any single set, you’d need to reprogram the second remote to use the same IR codes that the first is.

Once you have reprogrammed both remotes, then use the Sonos software to retrain the Beam. It might also be worth checking the batteries in both remotes, and that there is nothing potentially obstructing the Beam’s IR receiver.