can't set up system with old original Play 5, Play 3 and Play 1 speakers, keep having multiple problems.

T
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ok, i’ve have a set of the original first gen Play 5, Play 3 and Play 1 that i purchased new in the box about 10 years. i originally had them set up at a really nice and pretty large apartment, but i moved from there about 5 years ago and they’ve been sitting in a container in a closet since then because i live in a smaller studio now and i haven’t used them in about 5+ years. so i decided to give them to a really good friend, but when i tried to set them up over her house the other night we ran into nothing but problems. all 3 speakers work fine and power up fine when i plugged them in, but the Sonos app(s) now are completely different than the one i used a decade ago, and the S1 app would only pick up the Play 1 speaker (which i’m not sure was made after 2015 or not because i’m not sure if i had it when i originally set up the original system, the original system may have just been the Play 5 and Play 3 and i may have gotten the Play 1 after i moved in 2014). so i was able to see the Play 1 speaker on the app, and was able to play and control the volume in the app, but nothing actually played out of the speaker, and the biggest problem is that when i try to add the other 2 speakers it says i have to log on with an email and password that i’ve never seen before, and i’m the only person that has every owned or registered those speakers and i never had an email that looked like the one it’s requiring. any help or suggestions?! i don’t want to have to throw 3 speakers i spent about $900 on a decade ago in the garbage, but honestly i can’t get anything to work because of nothing other than logon or email or other garbage reasons that have nothing to do with the actual electronics…

 

i just checked and i have the email that Sonos sent me over 10 years ago about the original registration, which is not the email (and password) that shows up and says i need to log on with when i try to pair the Play 3 and first gen Play 5 to the app. any help would be greatly appreciated...

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10 replies

buzz

I suggest that you work  with SONOS phone support. They have access to data not available to us. In the meantime don’t Factory Reset anything. The very old units will need a special firmware update.

T
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my friend that i gave them to was on the phone with them for about an hour, and they weren’t to help her with the email issue, which is the big problem. i did some research last night and found out the Play 1 and Play 3 can work with either app, while the first gen Play 5 can only work with the Sonos 1 app, so i was going to reset all 3 then downgrade the Play 1 and Play 3 (via the Sonos 2 app) and that way i should be able to pair everything and set up the 3 speakers with the Sonos 1 app…

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

When you reset a speaker you can link it to any account, so you could reset them and link them to your friends account.

buzz

Does your friend have any other SONOS units?

T
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i gave her a first gen Play 5, one Play 3, one Play 1 and my original bridge. after doing some research i’m going to try to reset all 3, then try to downgrade the Play 3 and Play 1, and then try to link everything to the S1 on her android phone. she’s going to be using a bluetooth receiver via a 3.5mm cable connected to the back of the first gen Play 5, so all she really needs the app for is to control the volume remotely, cause she uses a different app to play whatever music she wants to listen to... 

 

i couldn’t get there tonight to do anything, so i’m going to try to get there tomorrow night to set everything up and i’ll post here to let you know how trying to get everything to work together actually went...

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Very first thing to do is unplug the Bridge, they are prone to causing very difficult to find issues.

If you need Ethernet hook a speaker directly to your router or a switch connected to it.

You should be able to use WiFi or Ethernet/SonosNet once the system is set up.

Airgetlam

I’d agree, the BRIDGE is at ‘end of life’, you’re better off wiring directly to one of the speakers if possible, or replacing it with a BOOST, which can still run either S1 or S2 (not both simultaneously).

A failing BRIDGE is, at this point, a common failure point, and as @Stanley_4 suggests, extremely hard to diagnose properly. 

Bruce
buzz

I agree -- power down the BRIDGE and wire something else. If you are the DIY type a typical BRIDGE failure is with the power supply. If you can measure voltage the power supply should put out slightly over 5V. Less than this, hard to describe, intermittent problems will start. Regardless, BRIDGE is using older, less effective WiFi technology. 

T
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i wasn’t originally using the bridge when we were trying to set everything up because when i hooked it up the Sonos 2 app said it wasn’t compatible with the bridge, so i literally unhooked it about 10 minutes after i plugged it in, but i totally understand your point so i’m going to try to set everything up tomorrow without the bridge because it’s really old technology and the actual unit is about 11 years old… 

 

i should be able to try to set everything up tomorrow, i’l let you know how it works out...

T
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so after taking just over 3 hours, i was able to set up and connect everything successfully last night. i had to reset all 3 speakers first, then i had to connect the first gen Play5 to the router via an ethernet cable, because it was too far away where i was originally trying to set it up, and i had to unplug the other 2 speakers when i was setting up the Play5 so the network only picked that up. then i had to downgrade the Play3 and Play1, but i had to do them both the same way a far as connecting them to the router via an ethernet cable. i just don’t understand why it’s ok to have the speakers 20+ feet away from the router when they’re set up and playing but they have to be much closed to set them up and/or do the downgrading…

 

and i threw the bridge in the garbage because it’s 10+ year old technology and everyone said that if anything it would create more problems than problems it would solve because it’s so old...

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