Why does Sonos force us to update the software?

Never said I set it up without using an app  I said my brother doesn’t even use the app, which is 100% truth.  Sorry, but that's no gotcha.   And I'm not your son.

Now, do you wish to fix your problem or not?

lol finally we’re getting somewhere...

ok you set it up, using your app, on your phone, so technically this system is yours isn’t it? It just “lives” at your brother’s house. Based on your time here, you of all people would have up-to-the-minute controller software, right? Maybe that explains why your brother’s Arc doesn’t have any trouble. Hm, gotcha, since that kind of thing is important to you. 

Yes I want to fix this problem, and thats why I posted here. Two pages in you suddenly want to help? Thank you for that kindness, but please just leave the thread. Seriously. 

Are you always this wrong?  

1. I set it up using his email, so it is his.  I then reset my controller and added it back to my system, which is registered to my email, so it's mine.  I now have zero connection to his system and his Arc has not been updated since the install over a year ago.  But keep on trying, lol.
2. If what you claim is true, that Sonos is forcing updates by cutting the sound from a non-updated Arc, my brother's Arc would have ceased working  many months ago.  That's a clue for you.  As is the fact that not one other poster seems to experience the same as you, which is what you claimed to be seeking in this thread.
3. What is it about "I'll post where ever I damn well please" did you not understand?

Hmm, ok. Let me see if I’ve got this. I’ve been complaining about my system dropping sound, and the only thing that fixes it is doing controller updates. Occasionally a firmware update, but usually a controller update. I ask if Sonos is forcing people to update by doing this. 

You show up, you proclaim that I don’t have to update if I don’t want to, and that I can shut off automatic updates - which has nothing to do with my question - and then claim victory. 

I tell you that has nothing to do with my question. You reply that it then must be something I’m doing because its impossible for Sonos to do what I’m saying. 

I tell you that its very possible, that other companies do it, and Sonos has done something akin to this in the past though not by the same modality. I also remind you that you were wrong in your initial post, which you still haven’t acknowledged. 

You sidestep all this and bring up your brother and how his system has never been updated and he doesn’t use the app. Fine, but how did his system get put together? Ah, you did it, using the app, which you then just admitted you’ve dissociated from his system, so the controller couldn’t be causing an issue. I have half a dozen controllers here, and software updates for those have more often than not been the problem. 

Finally, you stick to saying that I’m talking about a non-updated Arc causing this, when the problem is generally solved by updating the controller app. 

So, in summary:

You misunderstand the question, you post the wrong solution. You still misunderstand the problem and continually bring up firmware updates when this is apparently a controller issue. You then use an example that can’t possibly prove my situation isn’t valid because your own description of your example proves you’re wrong. I repeatedly remind you that you were wrong in your very first post and you still can’t admit that. You’ve been shooting in the dark during this whole thread. And you ask me if I’m always this wrong? Maybe on your Bizarro world. On this world you’re at around half a dozen errors and counting, and thats just in today’s posts. 

And to your last question: I understand every bit of your mini bravado statement about posting. However, I don’t think you understand what you’re doing. You should go now. 

Please, we don’t need all of this yelling and screaming.

SONOS does not issue any middle of the night forced updates. There are situations where a strongly worded suggestion to update will be issued. For example: if a new phone/pad/computer arrives and a fresh copy of the controller is installed, the newly installed controller will be the current version. This new version will strongly suggest that players with older versions be updated. Following this, an older controller running on another phone/pad/computer will discover the mismatch and suggest a controller update as it encounters the newer firmware. If a controller is re-installed, the same issue will present.

With respect to your missing ARC SL audio, we don’t have enough information and can only guess a cause. Implied in a system update is a reboot of each player. The reboot might temporarily work around an issue. In my opinion a high probably cause is a problem in the HDMI connections. HDMI has a checkered history of issues. There are too many cases where a user contacts each manufacturer involved and receives a “never happened before -- not our problem” response. “Never happened before” issues are both solved and introduced by an update of one unit (SONOS, TV, Cable, DVD, etc.) in the system.

Rather than waiting for a potential update after this issue occurs, I suggest that you immediately submit a diagnostic, then contact SONOS support.

Sometimes momentarily breaking the HDMI connection will work around this sort of issue.

Thanks for the measured reply. Hopefully “the other guy” gets it. 

Regarding the reboot… implied doesn’t necessarily mean it happened though, does it? Wouldn’t restarting the controller devices as well as pulling the plugs on each device and reinserting them do the same thing?

I should mention that when the problem happened the first time, here’s the list of things I did to fix it:

check audio settings on the aTV

check for aTV updates

power cycle the aTV

check audio on the LG display, including changing the settings and then going back to the usual ones

reseat the HDMI connection

power cycle Sonos

check for update on main controller

check for update on other controllers

apply Sonos update(s)

problem resolved

In all but a couple of cases out of at least a dozen, it was a controller issue. The other times it was a device update. 

And with the cable replaced, the issue persisted, though it hasn’t done it once since I started the thread.  If there is anything I’ve missed in there, please let me know - aside from the diagnostic. 

The next time the issue happens I’ll run a diagnostic. In the overnight mystery update thread I mentioned yesterday, I read that Sonos engineers told the affected customer that he should wait until he hits a trouble spot before doing so. This makes sense because otherwise all I might be sending you is information that nothing is amiss. 

@Forstal . Please read the question in the title of your thread and then try to understand why we all think that @jgatie 's reply was entirely relevant.

Your suggestion that your sound drops are caused by one  controller needing an update is ridiculous.  So as @nik9669a  has suggested, submit a diagnostic next time it happens and end the nonsense of this thread. 

Edit. I started typing my reply before your last post. Thank goodness you plan to submit a diagnostic. 

This is just silly.  The thread title and first post are pretty clear that @Forstal believes that Sonos is intentionally disabling his system when his controller software is not up to date.  While those of us who have some understanding of how Sonos works, as well have seen the typical problems people experience, see that this doesn’t make any sense, the only way to definitely demonstrate this to get a diagnostic reviewed by support.

As already suggested, best to just wait for that rather than the given attention to conspiracy theories.

Some items don’t reboot after a momentary power interruption. For example, recent SAMSUNG TV’s require that the interruption is at least two minutes.

Well when you put it that way, I suppose you could be right. But then I think JGatie’s response to my first post was so completely off the track it made no sense, unless you consider perhaps what he did was to read the thread title, ignore the post content itself, and then answer the title as if all I was asking about were updates that were applied without my permission rather than what my content was about, which was suspension of services that was only rectified by doing a controller update. 

And I’m not suggesting that its one controller update causing this as you suggest. It has happened with almost all of them at different times, and in some cases its two or more in a single event, but in any of the instances it was only after I updated the controller(s) software that the system started working again.  On a couple of rare occasions it was device updates. 

Yes, Sonos will get a diagnostic, just be patient. Its been 10 days since the last dropout, and who knows when it’ll happen again.