Is My Roam Dead? Won't power on.

  • 24 April 2021
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After struggling to get my Roam pairing with Bluetooth devices and finally succeeding, I managed to get my Roam working both via the S2 app and via Bluetooth. For a day. It charged to 100% and was working plugged-in and on battery. I turned it off last night and woke up this morning and nothing I do will turn it on or wake it up (if it were sleeping. I've tried multiple chargers and cables (in case the battery somehow went dead. No joy, no lights, no sound, nothing. I could occasionally see a faint orange LED near the center below the SONOS logo underneath the mesh, but it goes away eventually. Anyone else have the same problem or suggestions? I've tried to factory reset and that isn't working. Held he power for over 20 seconds with and without the play pause button held simultaneously. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

Xander P 2 years ago

Hi @smarner, welcome to the Sonos Community!

If none of the steps above have worked, including the hard reset (13~ seconds holding down the power button), and you’ve confirmed that the charger in use meets the recommended requirements (5V/2A), then I’d recommend reaching out to the Support Team via live chat or phone call so they can take a closer look :)

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76 replies

My Sonos ROAM has exactly the same problem. After a month of usage, it does not get charged at all. Tried various USB chargers even 5V/2A (10W) charger. Please note these were not wireless chargers. Tried charging through laptop’s USB port too

It just shows the orange light for a sec or two; then goes blank. Sometimes if I disconnect and reconnect the USB charger, it shows orange light lit up for about two secs; then blinks orange once or twice and then goes blank.

Battery does not hold charge at all earlier when it worked. Hardly lasted a day on standby.

I have some 8 SONOS speakers including ARC. This is the worst Sonos speaker I ever had. Unfortunately, I have ordered one more Roam which I am yet to open. Wonder if I should return both!

Glad I stumbled across this thread to find I'm not alone. Just recieved my Roam (which I bought directly from SONOS) 4 days ago. 3 out of those 4 days have been spent trying to get the bloody thing to work. Thought I was going mad, because like others I have a number of other Sonos products and had very little issues with them, so didn't expect this one to be so difficult to use, or unreliable.

I spent the last couple of days back and forth with the support team and they have now agreed to send me a replacement unit. I made a video for them demonstrating the issues because it became far to complicated to describe the problematic and sporadic behaviour of this device in anything shorter than a thoesis.

Video is here if anyone is interested:

 

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Video is here if anyone is interested:

I hade very similar issues with my Roam. If I didn't use the unit for a long time, I couldn't turn it on. It didn't matter if it was in the charger or not. Often the device stopped responding to button presses. 
I returned the Roam because my experience was horrible, so I'm worried if they sent you the same problematic piece :-(

Well, since reading all the comments and feedback about these issues online, I’m also starting to wonder if the new device will behave similarly. If it does, I will pursue a refund instead. I will reserve judgement until the new one arrives though, it could just be a case that there was of a bad batch of units (in which case it seems to be pretty wide spread and there probably should have been a recall)

Came back here to report maybe some positive news for other folks - I spent some time with Sonos support today, and they recommended a hard reset, which isn’t in the user guide… Hold the power button down for 12 seconds until the orange light turns back on. Wait a few moments and then see if you get the white light at the top back. If you do, check the app and see if it’s back online. This did the trick for me and now it’s working normally again! (Before I did this, I couldn’t get it to do anything outside of the orange light turning on when I plugged it in.)

Thank you! this worked, I had this issue today, and the only thing a want to note is that it worked for me only when the sonos roam wasn’t charching

Has Sonos not chimed in on this thread?

 

55 people saying their product is defective and no representation from the company?

 

im having all the same issues, btw. Wireless charging, power button not responsive.

I’m facing similar issue, my Sonos Roam wouldn’t turn on after hours of charging. Frustratingly, this is the second issue that i’m experiencing with Sonos Roam.

The first issue is my Idevice (Iphone) unable to pair with Sonos Roam, when the Roam is brought back active from sleep mode. 

Due to such persistent issues, I think of scrapping my sonos Roam. 

 

 

I'm having similar issues. Recd my Roam for Christmas 2021. Fully charged unit and set it up for use at a vacation house. Went there this week and Roam will not power on. The orange led flashes rapidly when plugged in. I left it plugged in to a 2a charger overnight and it was still flashing orange in the morning. 

Came back here to report maybe some positive news for other folks - I spent some time with Sonos support today, and they recommended a hard reset, which isn’t in the user guide… Hold the power button down for 12 seconds until the orange light turns back on. Wait a few moments and then see if you get the white light at the top back. If you do, check the app and see if it’s back online. This did the trick for me and now it’s working normally again! (Before I did this, I couldn’t get it to do anything outside of the orange light turning on when I plugged it in.)

This worked, thanks

My Sonos ROAM has exactly the same problem. After a month of usage, it does not get charged at all. Tried various USB chargers even 5V/2A (10W) charger. Please note these were not wireless chargers. Tried charging through laptop’s USB port too

It just shows the orange light for a sec or two; then goes blank. Sometimes if I disconnect and reconnect the USB charger, it shows orange light lit up for about two secs; then blinks orange once or twice and then goes blank.

Battery does not hold charge at all earlier when it worked. Hardly lasted a day on standby.

I have some 8 SONOS speakers including ARC. This is the worst Sonos speaker I ever had. Unfortunately, I have ordered one more Roam which I am yet to open. Wonder if I should return both!

I have the same issue.  Very deceived of that unit.  It didn’t last a year !!!!!

 

I have the same issue.  Very deceived of that unit.  It didn’t last a year !!!!!

As it was ‘less-than a year’, it will most likely still be covered by the Sonos warranty then. See this link:

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/legal/terms#legal-terms-sale-warranty

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My unit sometimes shows a solid red light before turning on even  being unplugged  but it works, not without issue, but works, with many Alexa, Airplay and Bluetooth issues, but it’s batery life is poor. Is the red solid light before turning on  something wrong? I have it for 3 months and talking about power it works perfect, is my first Sonos unit, but honestly I don’t like at all its battery life. Notice that the solid red light had been happening since I the first day I got this second unit as a replacement, but I’m afraid something serious could happen later with its hardware. @Comunity: What do you recommend? Should I keep trusting on Sonos or shud I change it and buy other brand? I was happier with the Wonderboom 2 I had before, but I want to hear about all of you with  

My unit sometimes shows a solid red light before turning on even  being unplugged  but it works, not without issue, but works, with many Alexa, Airplay and Bluetooth issues, but it’s batery life is poor. Is the red solid light before turning on  something wrong? I have it for 3 months and talking about power it works perfect, is my first Sonos unit, but honestly I don’t like at all its battery life. Notice that the solid red light had been happening since I the first day I got this second unit as a replacement, but I’m afraid something serious could happen later with its hardware. @Comunity: What do you recommend? Should I keep trusting on Sonos or shud I change it and buy other brand? I was happier with the Wonderboom 2 I had before, but I want to hear about all of you with  

The LED lights and what they mean in relation to various Sonos products, including the Battery LED etc; are outlined here in this support link:

 https://support.sonos.com/s/article/226

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Maybe I’m not being clear, I know when my Roam runs out of battery, the light gets blinking orange, and charging solid orange. What I mean is: Sometimes, not always, my Sonos Roam device gets a 3 or 4 seconds solid orange light in the lower front LED of the device before turning on, specially after being fully charged and unplogged from power, and then it works normal. I’ll need to make a video demonstration so you can understand me better, but it seems I can’t. Anyways, being from Mexico, Sonos technical  Support is unresponsive and unhelpful, quite disappointed by the way. 
Is my unit geting faulty? Do I need an other replacement? In advanse thanks a lot        

Maybe I’m not being clear, I know when my Roam runs out of battery, the light gets blinking orange, and charging solid orange. What I mean is: Sometimes, not always, my Sonos Roam device gets a 3 or 4 seconds solid orange light in the lower front LED of the device before turning on, specially after being fully charged and unplogged from power, and then it works normal. I’ll need to make a video demonstration so you can understand me better, but it seems I can’t. Anyways, being from Mexico, Sonos technical  Support is unresponsive and unhelpful, quite disappointed by the way. 
Is my unit geting faulty? Do I need an other replacement? In advanse thanks a lot        

I see the same Amber battery light aswell sometimes, so I guess it’s a ‘by design’ feature and nothing to worry about.

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I don’t mind, this is the second unit that I have, clearly is faulty product. The UE Wonderboom 2 is much better, I want mine back😔. Guys… Before buying the Sonos Roam think twice, is not as good as people suggest, it has too many connectivity issues and battery drain issues, I’ll probably be returning it soon, and buy an other speaker in stead, either the JBL Flip6 or the UE Wonderboom2, no mor Sonos Roam   

I don’t mind, this is the second unit that I have, clearly is faulty product. The UE Wonderboom 2 is much better, I want mine back😔. Guys… Before buying the Sonos Roam think twice, is not as good as people suggest, it has too many connectivity issues and battery drain issues, I’ll probably be returning it soon, and buy an other speaker in stead, either the JBL Flip6 or the UE Wonderboom2, no mor Sonos Roam   

The two Sonos Roams that the Wife and I have here have both been fine, they will charge fully inside of 2hrs-30mins (USB-C PD) and will then play for 10+ hours, without any problems (using Amazon Music Unlimited mostly, but we do use Deezer too and our local NAS library).

As for WiFi connectivity, I really cannot recall the last time either Roam lost their wireless connection, they work just fine with our home mesh WiFi (even outdoors in the garden (40+ feet away)).

Our Home WiFi uses ‘non-overlapping’ channels in the 2.4Ghz band at a channel-width of 20Mhz only and mostly DFS channels are used in the 5Ghz band.

When travelling we use the Roams either with mobile WiFi using a D-Link dwr-2101 5G LTE router, or we use Bluetooth (and quite often a combination of both) with our phones and/or tablets and that’s been excellent too.

In our small camper van the Roams will also BT pair with our small 12vDC/240vAC TV and FireStick and that greatly improves the sound output of that setup too. 

So personally speaking, I’m very happy with the Sonos Roam and would highly recommend the small portable speaker to everyone.

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Good luck for you! Mine 1 month ago  started to cut off  using Airplay, Apple Music and Bluetooth, and Alexa gets unresponsive often. Sonos always  says that is Wireless interference and network related issues, but all other devices in my home network  are working fine, an iPad Pro streaming content from Spotify and YouTube, my iPhone 11, my Laptop HP and my brother’s Xbox Series X. Also, I’ve use Alexa, I had an Amazon Echo 4gen before the Roam and it never got unresponsive, always worked fine. How ever, Alexa on my Roam gets stuck, answers with any error and it fails to play Apple Music most of the times, I don’t know why. Before I return my Sonos Roam I want to make sure: Are these issues (REALY) caused by Wireless interference? What else can I try besides changing my Router’s channel and put my Roam away from electronic devices or materials potentially interfering? My home has concrete walls and that might be the case. But I wonder why the Sonos products tempt to suffer more Wireless interference issues than the rest of other devices, I don’t really get it! Here I posted an other topic explaining my matter with the Roam, I’m stressed!         

Good luck for you! Mine 1 month ago  started to cut off  using Airplay, Apple Music and Bluetooth, and Alexa gets unresponsive often. Sonos always  says that is Wireless interference and network related issues, but all other devices in my home network  are working fine, an iPad Pro streaming content from Spotify and YouTube, my iPhone 11, my Laptop HP and my brother’s Xbox Series X. Also, I’ve use Alexa, I had an Amazon Echo 4gen before the Roam and it never got unresponsive, always worked fine. How ever, Alexa on my Roam gets stuck, answers with any error and it fails to play Apple Music most of the times, I don’t know why. Before I return my Sonos Roam I want to make sure: Are these issues (REALY) caused by Wireless interference? What else can I try besides changing my Router’s channel and put my Roam away from electronic devices or materials potentially interfering? My home has concrete walls and that might be the case. But I wonder why the Sonos products tempt to suffer more Wireless interference issues than the rest of other devices, I don’t really get it! Here I posted an other topic explaining my matter with the Roam, I’m stressed!         

Earlier on, you described your Roam as being on the routers 5Ghz band, which is much less-penetrating (through walls etc.) and has much shorter distance than a 2.4Ghz signal - I suggest a couple of simple changes and that is to move the Roam onto the 2.4Ghz band and set its channel to either 1, 6 or 11 (these are the non-overlapping channels for that band - start with channel 1) and set the channel-width to 20Mhz only and see if that then resolves your issue.

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Hi

 

The only way I really can get it to work is through Spotify Connect, the music plays stable  without issue. Please look at this confirmation number, and tell me why it works fine, Apple Music, Airplay and Bluetooth often  cuts off,  skips etc.  

1 5 4 5 2 5 7 2 0 3

My roam worked fine since they first came out I've owned it and a couple of weeks ago it wouldn’t turn on so I charged it directly from the charging cable instead of the wireless charger and it came on again. Just last week it shut off and now is completely unresponsive. I wonder if the speaker took a recent update that caused it to brick. I hope that Sonos checks in to a solution for this because none of the said solutions worked. $179 plus tax is a costly brick for sure.😠

Hi

 

The only way I really can get it to work is through Spotify Connect, the music plays stable  without issue. Please look at this confirmation number, and tell me why it works fine, Apple Music, Airplay and Bluetooth often  cuts off,  skips etc.  

1 5 4 5 2 5 7 2 0 3

You will need to speak to Sonos Support Staff to get your diagnostic looked at. You should be able to contact them via this link: https://support.sonos.com/s/contact

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OMG!!! Surely, they are going to say that is Wireless interference, as always. Sonos technical support here in Mexico almost always is unresponsive, so let’s see what they tell me. 
Anyways, thamks for all your kind help, I appreciate it   

OMG!!! Surely, they are going to say that is Wireless interference, as always. Sonos technical support here in Mexico almost always is unresponsive, so let’s see what they tell me. 
Anyways, thamks for all your kind help, I appreciate it   

It might well be wireless interference as Airplay etc uses the audio via your controller device, whereas playing via the Sonos App is a different route altogether and audio is sent direct to the speaker from the source, so wireless interference would explain what you’re seeing. It’s why I suggested you try the Roam on the 2.4Ghz band using a non-overlapping channel (1, 6, or 11) and a channel-width of 20Mhz only… that should hopefully sort it.🤞

I have 2 Roams (paired), both are now dead.  All current on S2 etc..  Cant’ reset them using the hard reset process.  No go.  Very disappointed.  Calling support tomorrow to see what they say.  Both worked fine until pulled off of the recharge platforms and used remotely until they ran out of juice … once the battery expired… they crapped out and never came back.   I’m a big Sonos customer (and fan) and I must say this product is a big negative customer experience and needs a major look at or upgrade/exchange.