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Roam Won't Turn On... I've tried the "hold the button for 12 sec"

  • 2 January 2023
  • 68 replies
  • 15910 views

I read the whole thing:

 

charge it

hold the button on the back for 12-15 seconds

 

This doesn’t work. 

 

When I am charging it, the orange light is indicated on the front of the speaker

68 replies

Saying not using a PD charger or a charger with a higher capacity than Roam requirements can cause damage is scaremongering and not true (except that it could be said ‘any’ charger could be faulty and cause ‘damage’) - yet you said both.  Contrary to what you say above, I never suggested asking if a PD charger was being used was scaremongering, that’s a silly twist of words to suit.

No - it’s merely a case that a PD certified charger from version 1.0 to 3.1 will work to charge the Roam - The 5v (@ 3A) is one of its dedicated voltages, (now upto a 240w capacity in the latest version) - so it should work - that’s the point. It’s not a twist at all.

I’m not ‘reading’ into anything - the other aspects were responding to points you wrongly made imho - especially the irrelevant Google, Apple assertions etc. to justify PD when Sonos has no need of it.

Yes although what I said is true, it is perhaps irrelevant and off topic in relation to the thread… but the justification is that a PD certified charger should work in every case to charge the Roam, unless of course it just happened to have a fault, or the cable is faulty. The discussion here though is pointless, as the charger being used was the proprietary Sonos charger anyway.🤷‍♂️ A good alternative however, is to still use a PD certified charger as it ‘will’ work in its place. There are other chargers that may not.

I just had the same issue, but it just is came back to life when I double charged it.  What is mean is putting it on a generic qi charger and also plugged in the USB c.  The orange light came on.  Than after 5 mins it fired up.  State of charge was low.  
 

May be give this a try. 

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Same issue with my Roam. This is the 2nd one. These Roams are a piece of crap, I have had 2 die just after warranty… one at 15 months and the other at 18 months. Always used Sonos charger and base. They just stopped working! I got one back to life for a week on the Sonos charger with USB c but it is now done! For the very high cost of these Sonos should be standing behind their product, they don’t! 

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Same issue here. Roam is dead after 18 months. Out of warranty. Way too short a life for a product like this. 

 

Orange light when charging with cord. Unable to reset or turn on/off. 


I also just started having this same exact issue.  It has sat on its wireless base since I got it and now it won’t turn on at all.   I only get the orange light while charging. 

Happened to 2 of mine…both toast according to Sonos! They recommend buying 2 new ones at a discount directly from them. Complicated process to buy them and the discount is only 30% (which is actually their dealer wholesale) soooo Sonos is making their full margins on the sale! Ripoff!

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Only option is to try and replace battery…Sonos won’t do it or provide details on doing it but you can buy batteries on Amazon (a good company with great customer service, something Sonos could learn from!) and instructions available on YouTube. Waiting for a battery now and will respond if successful. Have no idea why Sonos doesn’t build a roam with replaceable batteries or offer a service to do so??? Even Apple will change batteries for their clients. It’s time Sonos starts to back up their products and would be really nice if they provided customer support 24/7 or at least 16/7. 

Only option is to try and replace battery…Sonos won’t do it or provide details on doing it but you can buy batteries on Amazon (a good company with great customer service, something Sonos could learn from!) and instructions available on YouTube. Waiting for a battery now and will respond if successful. Have no idea why Sonos doesn’t build a roam with replaceable batteries or offer a service to do so??? Even Apple will change batteries for their clients. It’s time Sonos starts to back up their products and would be really nice if they provided customer support 24/7 or at least 16/7. 

I believe Sonos will replace the unit (2 year warranty in the UK) IIRC … and/or there is their own, (or other companies), extended warranty scheme… plus in some regions, you may get a POS warranty. I think smarthome sounds, as an example, provide 6 years cover for the Roam 2. You may find similar outlets that do the same/similar offer.

https://www.smarthomesounds.co.uk/sonos-roam-2

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Only option is to try and replace battery…Sonos won’t do it or provide details on doing it but you can buy batteries on Amazon (a good company with great customer service, something Sonos could learn from!) and instructions available on YouTube. Waiting for a battery now and will respond if successful. Have no idea why Sonos doesn’t build a roam with replaceable batteries or offer a service to do so??? Even Apple will change batteries for their clients. It’s time Sonos starts to back up their products and would be really nice if they provided customer support 24/7 or at least 16/7. 

I believe Sonos will replace the unit (2 year warranty in the UK) IIRC … and/or there is their own, (or other companies), extended warranty scheme… plus in some regions, you may get a POS warranty. I think smarthome sounds, as an example, provide 6 years cover for the Roam 2. You may find similar outlets that do the same/similar offer.

https://www.smarthomesounds.co.uk/sonos-roam-2

Looks like Sonos takes better care of clients in UK…not the case in North America. 1 year warranty, no exceptions and then they offer you a 30% discount on a new one. Mine were both less than 2 years old and always charged on Sonos base and charger. This is a known and pretty common occurrence. Yet they have done nothing to address it. And for some reason both went down separately after last few updates!! These updates may cause a battery ghost drain. The worst part is their customer support here is brutal (long waits, only available Monday to Friday during day and no real technical knowledge). And the offer of a “complicated” 30% discount, that still gives Sonos corporate full profit, is insulting. It’s almost a scam in my opinion…hopefully a new battery replacement is able to save them from the landfill.

Same trouble here. No light except when device is wired (infinite red light) I think that firmware update was killing this device. This product never worked correctly. Faulty by design.

Hey Sonos Community,

I just returned to my summer condo and discovered that my Sonos Roam is suffering from the dreaded Orange Light of Death.

Despite all efforts, including following every "internet trick" I could find, the Roam remains unresponsive unless plugged into a USB-C charger. The only faint sign of life is when it's connected to power, but even then, it refuses to function properly.

I've tried pressing the power button for 60 seconds and reconnecting it to a USB-C charger, using my MacBook Pro for sufficient power, but nothing works. This issue persists without any resolution in sight.

Is there any update or solution from this community? Or am I left with no choice but to dismantle the Roam and replace the battery myself?

It's incredibly disappointing to receive absolutely no support from Sonos. I expected more from a company of this size and reputation, particularly in standing behind their products and addressing such glaring design flaws.

I hope to hear from Sonos or the community soon with a viable solution.

Sonos Support doesn’t live in these forums, only Sonos forum moderators, of which there are very few. I would recommend that you call Sonos Support directly to discuss it.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

Exact thing here--I’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on, switching charging setups, attempting to reset, then found this forum. It was really lovely while it worked, but there is clearly a major design flaw leading to the same pattern of failure. This thing is just a piece of junk.

Exact thing here--I’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on, switching charging setups, attempting to reset, then found this forum. It was really lovely while it worked, but there is clearly a major design flaw leading to the same pattern of failure. This thing is just a piece of junk.

What’s the power output of the charger you’re using (maybe post an image of its output).

Exact thing here--I’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on, switching charging setups, attempting to reset, then found this forum. It was really lovely while it worked, but there is clearly a major design flaw leading to the same pattern of failure. This thing is just a piece of junk.

What’s the power output of the charger you’re using (maybe post an image of its output).

Had always used the provided Sonos wireless charger. Tried charging up with direct USB-C, but still unresponsive other than the orange light, unable to reset. Tried measuring voltage with voltmeter today, 5V.

@seattle_user1,

It is possible to check the Roams battery via the web interface - goto this address using a web browser and see if all looks okay:

http://[iP Address of Roam]:1400/status/batterystatus

If the battery/LED issue persists, then try this…

  • Whist ‘off’ its charger (that’s important) with the device powered ‘on’- press and hold the rear power-button. The Roam will power itself off after approx. 5-6 seconds, but do not let go the button, keep it pressed for about another 15+ seconds until you see the front top status LED (near Sonos logo) light-up and glow white and then place the Roam back on its USB-C charger (5V/2A (10W) PD power output minimum charge level) and leave it until it’s fully charged (check via the web interface) - when it’s reached 100% it should then be okay after that.🤞
  • If the Roam is still not charging after 30 minutes, repeat the power-button long-press (whilst off its charger) and then try charging it again via USB-C.

Hope that assists.

Had same issue.  Fortunately I bought mine at Costco,  so I was able to return it to them for a full refund. I will never buy another sonos product, I won't support companies that will not stand behind their defective products. 

Had same issue.  Fortunately I bought mine at Costco,  so I was able to return it to them for a full refund. I will never buy another sonos product, I won't support companies that will not stand behind their defective products. 

What steps did you take that didn’t work for you?

I tried everything,  Holding the power button,  charging for a time, approx 1 hrs, then the power button,  power button with play button.  All the steps mentioned in this thread. Nothing, just the orange light of death when plugged in with usb-c.  It's reaaly too bad,  I liked the speaker and the platform/app, but will never buy another Sonos product, as you can see in this thread, many people having the exact same experience,  sonos does not stand behind their products.

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Had the same issue, orange light, no way to reset, holding power button for the recommended time (and even longer) did not make a difference. Until I tried the double charge method (wireless charger plus USB-C cable) described on earlier posts - now my Roam is showing the white light and the microphone light and is shown in my list of Sonos speakers with 14% charge.

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