LG Remote doesnt control volume with Arc

  • 27 March 2021
  • 43 replies
  • 13202 views


Show first post

43 replies

Same issue here on LG CX running 4:30:55 (and the previous two releases) - no control over volume or mute even though the screen shows that the remote is asking for changes.

I have an LG C9 + ARC in another room and that works just fine. When I power up the C9 I get a momentary green light on the ARC and it then all works fine. With the CX I do not get a green light on the ARC on power on - but I do get sound from the ARC - however there is no volume or mute control of the ARC - the screen shows that the remote is asking for changes but there are none. 

I have swapped the  ARC from the CX to the C9 (with the cable) and it all works fine…. there must be some compatibility issues (I have no other HDMI ports in use) -- any ideas ???

Update - decided to strip back the ARC by deleting the surrounds and power cycling it all with the ARC cable out…. and…. for now it works… have readded the surrounds and am getting ATMOS with volume control and mute. When I readded the ARC cable the TV showed that it auto detected a Sonos device so hoping this is the solution..

Userlevel 7

Try unplugging the Arc and TV from power for about a minute and disconnect your Arc from your TV. Then plug both back into power and redo the TV Setup process in the Sonos app. Don’t connect the Arc to the TV until the Sonos app instructs you to.

Userlevel 5
Badge +10

Our LG Nano 866 TV did something similar on Thursday. The TV had received a software update. I was able to get it all working again just by unplugging both the TV and the Arc for a minute or so as GuitarSuperstar has suggested above. But I didn’t need to do anything more. Once powered up again, it all sorted itself out.

It happened once before after another software update. On that occasion, the TV defaulted back to internal speaker setting and the eARC setting had been toggled to off.   

Thanks for the ideas.  I tried unplugging last night and again this morning, including unplugging the HDMI until it asks, with no luck.  

Userlevel 5
Badge +10

Just a thought, on the TV in the settings menu, under connection settings have you got the SIMPLINK option toggled to on?

Thanks for the note.  Yes, I have that checked.  I also went through the TV menu the manually set up the ‘sound bar’.  I tired setting it up with both Sonos and Philips as the manufacturer.  I did not have to set that up originally when I first set up the system a year ago and everything worked fine.  Not sure why it all stopped yesterday. 

I spent 2.5 hours on the phone with Sonos support yesterday.  They regurgitated the ideas and threads that you can find online and nothing worked.  They actually have old guidance and information related to LG TVs and spent probably an hour telling me the menu and settings selections for the TV were wrong.  They are now telling me that the problem is with my TV remote (which is working fine).  Sonos will not do anything until I go purchase a new TV remote to show that the problem happens with more than one remote.  I couldn’t believe that was the response.

This just happened to me today on my LG 55GX TV which is connected to my sonos arc. I had the standard issue that when I used the LG magic remote, the volume + / - icons appeared on the screen but the actual volume coming from the arc was not changing. I could only change the volume from the sound bar itself or on the sonos app. For me all I had to do was disconnect the hdmi cable from my PS4 and it all worked again. I didn't have to turn the TV or the arc off, or even unplug any of the other hdmi cables. I then plugged the PS4 hdmi back in, but the issue came back immediately so I've pulled in back out and all is good again. It may be worth noting that the hdmi cable I use for the PS4 is the only older hdmi cable which I have in use - the rest are newer ultra high speed hdmi cables. So maybe it's something to do with older hdmi cables? 

Badge

I may have spoken too soon. Even without the hdmi switch the problem reoccurs. It’s not just hdmi cec that’s messed up, the tv stops detecting the Sonos on startup and switches to internal speaker and I have to switch it back every time. It also breaks earc as a 4K disc with true hd downgrades audio to DD5.1. This all started for me after the last firmware update from LG. Truly risible software from LG. 

Userlevel 5
Badge +15

So I just ran into this issue with my 65 lg cx. My Apple tv is not able to control it nor my magic remote. Also have ps5 and gaming switch with multiple gaming systems attached. My question is. Can i just disconnect the devices from hdmi themselves or do i have to disconnect them from the back of the tv. Reason i ask is my tv is on a wall without a swing out and it’s tight and a pain. Do i have to unplug the power of all of them or just the tv?

 

In this case disconnecting one end will suffice.

Each situation is a little different. Sometimes one or both devices must be rebooted while the cable is detached. Some TV’s must be powered down for two minutes before they will reboot.

I recommend starting from power down with nothing connected to the TV. Power up the TV and the soundbar, then attach the cable.

As the connection is made, the TV and soundbar will negotiate which audio and video formats are common. If you have a bunch of games and players attached at that time, the negotiation might become confused by too much chatter.

Userlevel 5
Badge +15

In this case disconnecting one end will suffice.

Each situation is a little different. Sometimes one or both devices must be rebooted while the cable is detached. Some TV’s must be powered down for two minutes before they will reboot.

I recommend starting from power down with nothing connected to the TV. Power up the TV and the soundbar, then attach the cable.

As the connection is made, the TV and soundbar will negotiate which audio and video formats are common. If you have a bunch of games and players attached at that time, the negotiation might become confused by too much chatter.

Sorry one more clarification, when you say power down and up do you mean unplug power or from an off position. Also, do I need to set up everything on the sonos app again, that is delete the rears and sub and re add them?

Had similar issues to others. After a power outage the set top remote and the magic remote wouldn’t change the volume on my Arc via the LG CX. You could see the +/- on the screen and even the mute but it didn’t control the volume on the Arc. 
 

Saw @Glen Moose suggestion about it being a cec “storm”. I cycled or unplugged all the devices on the HDMI inputs to my CX and it now works. Looks like the signalling caused issues with interference. In fairness the setup on the Sonos app did note there was some HDMI interference. 
 

Thanks @Glen Moose!

I started experiencing this problem yesterday. I see the + and - on the OSD, but the remote does nothing. I am able to control the volume using the Sonos app. 

 

 

“Reboot” is simply removing power. This will not destroy any fundamental SONOS settings. 

I’m annoyed that this is sometimes required. Unfortunately, there are some details about the negotiation process that are not explicitly specified in the standard and each manufacturer might have a slightly different interpretation of the standard. When there is an issue the common answer is “we have never seen this before” or “it’s not our fault”. After a while one or the other manufacturer might receive so many complaints about a specific issue that they will release an update to work around the issue. Meanwhile, the other manufacturer might also release a change and the two changes might interact poorly, generating another round of “not our problem”.

That HDMI switch complicates things because the switch will present itself to the TV as a single device, but the device identity and supported audio/video/control features might be different for each input device attached to the switch. There are somewhat expensive solutions to this. The switching device will include enough extra electronics to present the best possible interface options to each input and output device. The switch will mediate any differences. A side benefit might be almost instant switching between input devices. The dark period that you observe while switching inputs is due to the negotiation between devices. At minimum, each device must prove that it honors intellectual property rights protection. With the extra electronics on board the input and output devices never need to renegotiate anything.

Just adding to this thread, for searchablity of other sources of this issue.

My setup is:

  • LG CX 77 inch Class 4K Smart OLED TV w/ AI ThinQ
  • SONOS ARC w/ two Play 1 + Sub (connected via e-ARC HDMI 1.4+ cable from SONOS)
  • PS5 ( Playstation 5 )
  • And newly added Nintendo Switch (original model)

Problem occurrence:

This problem did NOT appear until I added the Nintendo switch. The Nintendo switch in my setup required the LG to use PASS through audio to reach the full 5.1 setup. Which is so amazing while playing zelda btw. After activating Pass through audio, at a random time in the future the LG remote lost its ability to control sound levels. It was not a loss of sound, but the loss of volume up and down + mute. I was still able to use all of the other modes including power control sync (simplelink). I would try to resetup the TV connection process and it seemed to recognize the e-arc link but when it go to the testing stage it would fail every time. To me this would indicate its no getting CEC from the TV.


Solution: (not 100%) 

  • Unplug all HDMI cables 
  • Disconnect power to LG TV for at least 10 min
  • Go into Sonos app and prepare for TV connect mode 
  • Connect e-ARC HDMI cable from Sonos and complete TV setup on the app
  • Connect PS5 and confirm 5.1 working 
  • Connect Nintendo Switch and confirm Pass through 5.1 is working

This has worked most of the time thus far. But not 100% of the time. I do not recommend resetting all settings. My guess is this is an issue with the LG TV CEC connection to the SONOS, somehow the Nintendo switch going into pass through mode has created this issue on the TV. The other thing to note is swapping around to a casting mode (youtube via chromecast connection seemed to trigger it the first time. 

Anyway, LG get your * together, I don’t think this is a Sonos issue.

 

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

 

-b

Hi everyone,

Given the HUGE amount of posts on here, and LG support pages, and REDDIT, and AVForums, etc... on the issues of interworking between ARC and LG TV’s I thought I’d post my own experience, which I hadn’t seen a similar answer for anywhere else…

To clarify, I am talking about LG TV (in my case OLED 55GX6) using ARC port (and eARC enabled) straight in to the HDMI port of the ARC, and specifically about the issue with loss of volume control from the Magic remote, and occasionally leading to loss of sound.

(NOT referring to the much promoted SONOS guide on working with the TV Optical out and ARC Optical to HDMI adapter and programming the Magic remote to use IR)

Having initially plugged this in and everything working a dream, and enjoying the Mandalorian in Dolby Atmos… Suddenly one day I started having issues. These started with volume controls failing, instead coming up with a “no entry” sign where the volume + or - were on the screen. And I noticed that the TV setup and Remote setup in the Sonos app failed mid-way through when I tried to remedy.

This was frustrating as I had my Magic remote for TV, also controlling my AppleTV on HDMI port 1, but had to then pick up my phone/Sonos app to adjust volume…

Following lots of googling and reading, I assumed the issue had been triggered by an auto software update or a power cut. I reset the TV, reset the ARC. Changed my very good own purchased cable for the Sonos ARC supplied one. Took both back to manufacturer settings. Checked for software updates. Tried turning Simplink off. Tried turning it on and going through the Universal Device Control menu to setup Sonos. Tried the same but using Phillips instead of Sonos (as recommended by Sonos). Tried all the above in various different orders. Nothing worked.

I unplugged the AppleTV, and tried all again, and actually managed to break the sound out from the ARC all together. When I chose “internal speaker” on LG, everything fine, when I went to ARC, nothing.

I was pulling my hair out.

Got Sonos support on the line. Following a full power cycle (about the 12th over two days….) and with their support, I finally got sound back. But hey ho, no volume control still.

I started to play with de-registering and re-registering the Magic remote, and at one point got the + and - volume controls back on screen… but they didn’t actually do anything. Pretty soon I was back to square one, ARC sound, but no volume control from Magic remote and failing TV setup and Remote setup in Sonos app.

But it was becoming clear the TV and the remote were talking. The TV was receiving instruction to adjust volume. But the TV wasn’t executing. So trying my best to ignore every single bit of Sonos advice out there re ARC and LG, which basically takes you down the Optical out and IR route, I started to focus on the fact that the TV needed to send the signal to the ARC over CEC. Remote to TV. TV to ARC. So the problem must be CEC TV to ARC.

I recalled that when on the chat to Sonos support, the engineer asked me to unplug the Apple TV that was in the LG TV HDMI 1, as sometimes some devices can create a CEC “storm” with the LG TV….

I had already unplugged my Apple TV some time ago, so knew that couldn’t be the issue. And I had no devices connected to the TV…. Or did I….

On the end of my HDMI 3 cable, I had an Apple Mac HDMI to USB-C adapter. You know the ones… white… take Macbook port to HDMI, power and standard USB. No Macbook was connected. No “device”. Just an adapter...

Unplugged it a hey presto….

Everything works wonderfully. Pretty much out the box. Unless you have a “device” (or adapter...) on another HDMI port causing a CEC storm…

Oh, and the TV setup in the app now works fine. But the Remote setup in Sonos app still won’t work. And shouldnt. Don’t bother with it, again, it seems to be relevant if you’re trying to use IR from Magic Remote.

So… hopefully this helps the huge amount of others out there fix their LG TV to ARC issues. (Not using Optical port!). Ensure you don’t have ANYTHING else plugged in to your LG TV HDMI ports, not even an adapter, and go from there.

Hopefully Sonos will work on updating FAQ’s etc to address the issues specifically to ARC/LG and CEC issues, not just the current Optical adapter focused ones.

Thank you. This helped me in 2023. I have LG C1, Arc and Era 300 surrounds. The light strip behind the TV, which is plugged in the USB port (for power supply) was never an issue until I changed it to a different USB port. Following your suggestion I unplugged it, then plugged it back in and it now works as it used to. There is a chance that CEC issue is caused by the side USB port but not the one on the back. 

Reply