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Sonos speakers dropping out constantly

  • 5 December 2020
  • 11 replies
  • 16900 views
S

I’ve got 4 Play 1 speakers and a Playbase. The living room has the playbase and 2 Play 1’s paired for surround and the two other Play 1’s are in separate rooms. I’ve had them for about 4 years all working perfectly fine. The internet provider hasn’t changed. The router is the latest one from Virgin media and has always worked fine and does with my other devices.

But for some reason my Sonos app keeps losing connection to the speakers. I’ve tried turning the router on and off, resetting it, turning all the speakers off, reinstalling the app etc.

Still no luck! 
It’s very frustrating because it all worked perfectly fine up until the last week or so.

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Best answer by Airgetlam 5 December 2020, 15:29

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11 replies

Airgetlam

The key to the whole ‘reboot’ process is that the Sonos speakers need to be unplugged while you reboot the router, in order to get all the benefits of the process. If you do them sequentially, they get some benefit, but not all. 

However, if that doesn’t work, you may be experiencing wifi interference, particularly from outside sources, since you say nothing has changed inside your network. 

Finally, I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it, or post the diagnostic number here for a Community Moderator to pick up.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, there are more options available beyond just the diagnostic analysis. 

Bruce
S

Thanks for your reply!

I think I did a diagnostic test and got this number 628415736

C

But did you also try the reboot in the order as suggested by @Airgetlam ?

S

Yes I have rebooted everything in order. Switched all speakers off at the mains, switched router off. Then switched router back on and waited for wifi to be restored before turning each speaker back on sequentially.

still no luck. 

S

It appears to be the wifi connection because my playbase is hard wired to the router and works fine, but none of the Play1’s that rely on wifi are working at all.

I don’t know if it’s the router? But everything else works, our phones, laptops, hive etc all work with wifi. But when I do a diagnostic on my router it does say that my home network has some issues. But gives absolutely no information as to why it has issues or how to fix them?

I don’t want to waste money buying a new router if this isn’t the case.

I’m with Virgin Media and apparently their router (Hub 3) isn’t the best despite all the hype they give it on their website.

I hope someone can offer some assistance as I’m losing my mind and feel every time I try and get ‘technical’ something else goes wrong with it all.

thanks in advance!

Airgetlam

Since no Sonos representative has responded to your posting of the diagnostic number here, I’d certainly recommend calling in to them. 

Bruce
Paul A
Userlevel 6
Badge +17

Hi @SamUL.

Welcome to the Sonos community and thanks for bringing this to our attention and for submitting a diagnostic. I apologize for the late response. Allow me to share with you the content of the submitted diagnostic.

Based on the provided diagnostic, it shows that your Sonos Playbase has a wireless card failure. That is maybe the reason why your Sonos Playbase only works while wired to the router. This is also the cause of why your Sonos devices keep on dropping off.  I would take @Airgetlam’s recommendation of contacting our technical support team for more in-depth troubleshooting steps or possible product replacement. When a Sonos product is connected to the router via ethernet cable, all Sonos devices on the network transition from WiFi mode to Sonos Network. However, this is not the case on your end as the Sonos Playbase has a hardware failure. It cannot generate the Sonos Network and cannot communicate to the satellite speakers bonded as surrounds as the Wireless card of the Playbase is not working.

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns. Here in the community, Everyone can be an expert.

Thanks,

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S

@Paul A Thank you for your reply. 

I have since spoken with a representative via your online chat who said the same regarding the Playbase and have said it needs to be shipped back and replaced with a new unit after a recent software update that permanently damaged the wireless card.  So this was all great news on the chat, but when I then received the email with the return instructions it became a little more frustrating for me.

One reason being, I no longer have the original box to return mine in (annoyingly having had the product for a few years now I decided to throw the box away last month during a clear out as it’s quite a large box!) and the Playbase itself is quite large and heavy to try and bodge any packaging together, nor do I have a printer or access to, to print the shipping label.

Also, I’m not too happy with all the terms and conditions for return, i.e if anything is damaged in transit it’s not Sonos’s responsibility etc.  Meaning I could potentially lose my Playbase entirely or the other other option you provided was for you to send me a new unit first but I then have to secure a pending payment of £699 as insurance for when I send mine to you afterwards?  So either way I could be out of pocket £699 or no longer have a Playable at all.  It’s not as if the fault for return was caused by ourselves, this is a problem from your end.  

Can you not send me a box and a printed label for me to return it in please?

Paul A
Userlevel 6
Badge +17

Hi @SamUL.

Thanks for the update and immediate response. I understand your frustration and your worries about this transaction. However, you do not have to worry, The Sonos Playbase is sturdy and could not be easily damaged unless dropped by the person handling the speaker. Regarding the return label, Sonos’ pays for the return label and therefore was sent to you via email for you to print and stick it to any box that might fit the Sonos Playbase. It does not have to be the original box that the Playbase came with. feel free to contact the nearest courier branch within your geographical location for any questions or concerns regarding the packaging of the Playbase. They may have something up their sleeves for you. Lastly, the security fund/insurance is for Sonos’ security that the unit will be shipped back once the replacement unit has been received. The authorization hold will then be released once Sonos received the defective unit. The unit will be replaced free of charge this includes shipping fees of the defective unit and the replacement unit. 

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns. Here in the community, everyone can help you out.

Thanks,

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E

The resolution is not the same, but i was having the same issues where my Sonos app keeps losing connection to the speakers.
I found this post searching google and just wanna to share my solution to the problem which took me 2 days to find out.

 

A managed switch between the router and the Sonos boost seems to give all the issues.
After removing the managed switch (unmanaged switch should be fine to?) directly from the router to the sonos boost was fixing all issues loosing connection to the speaker.
 

Paul A
Userlevel 6
Badge +17

Hi @eXistenZ.

Welcome to the Sonos community and thanks for sharing the solution on what solved the issue on your situation.  I’m glad that everything worked. This is a good read so other members of the community who might be have the same setup and issue as yours can find this thread helpful. I do hope you continue to love and enjoy your Sonos. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out or create a topic if you have additional questions or concerns. I’ll be more than happy to help.

Thanks,

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