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Simon_89
Avid Contributor I
March 18, 2025
Answered

Losing Rooms on App - Advice Required

So, at the weekend I noticed that our Lounge (Arc, Sub & 2x Play 3) was missing from the App. As was the Port in our garden cabin.

The rest of the house (Conservatory with a Sub & 2xOneSL, the Patio with 2xPlay1’s, a stand alone Play1 and the Kitchen with 2xOneSL & Mini-sub) were all working well. Note; one Play3 is hardwired, all other components work by WiFi. Port in Cabin is connected by Cat5 or 6 cable to a TP-Link router. Always worked fine.

Back-story: Previously with Virgin Media - rubbish connection, drop outs etc. Tried with & without Boost, hardwired one Play3 etc to no avail. Switched to Sky Max Hub in September 24. Sky extender pod added to system in February 25 to help WiFi around house & get rid of black spots , all working great. Second extender pod added early March. We are now mid-March.

I tried Factory Reset, re-adding the components, Rebooting each of the products and rebooting my Router, but none of it seems to work.

The closest I get is that some products say they have been added but that they may not show in my system and that I need to unplug the power cord and plug it back in to complete the process. I have done that, but they still don’t reappear.

I spent nearly 2-hours on the phone with Sonos support last night, trying similar things to what I had previously tried, including unplugging the extenders, but with no joy.

In fact my system is now worse, as (at their request)  the Conservatory was rebooted & factory reset, even though it was working, only it never came back on line.

They are now suggesting that I ring my ISP and request that they turn off my WiFi 6 and make sure my 2.4GHz is working on BGN 802.11.

I am concerned that turning off WiFi 6 will reduce my security and speed of connection for work?

More to the point, Sonos own website help suggests you keep WiFi 6 and leave the router to manage itself.

I am rapidly losing faith in this system and do not trust the advice I’m getting, as it appears to compromise the whole premise of why I upgraded my WiFi and they seem to be trying to find a convenient ‘fix’ at the expense of compromising my non-Sonos equipment. It also doesn’t make sense to me that the system has been working fine up until the second extender was added.

If I have to, I will go back to just one extender, but at the moment that doesn’t appear to a potential solution as we cannot get the components re-established with none of them plugged in.

Does anyone have any serious/sensible advice or opinions on how I can get my system back up and running consistently?

 

 

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Corry P
Corry PAnswer
Sonos Staff
March 19, 2025

Hi ​@Simon_89 

Thanks for your post!

Sorry to hear of the issues you’ve been having recently with your Arc room going missing from the app.

If your TP-Link router is not configured to operate in Bridge mode (often called Access Point mode too), it will be causing problems with IP address allocations. Please ensure it is not operating as a router - you do not want two routers on your network!

It also doesn’t make sense to me that the system has been working fine up until the second extender was added.

This is why we don’t support WiFi Extenders - they tend to be pretty poor at what they claim to do. Although your Sonos system is using SonosNet, if the device running the Sonos app were to connect to one, it could cause problems. WiFi Mesh systems are recommended instead.

One clarification - you have a Play:3 wired to ethernet, and because of that, your other speakers are not connecting to WiFi - they are on SonosNet created by the Play:3. The Port may have been connected to WiFi - it is missing from the diagnostic, so I cannot tell.

Looking at your most recent diagnostic, the first thing I would like to address is that you seem to be using a Home Theatre rear surround speaker as the source of SonosNet. This is not recommended. Due to the likelihood of your Sky TV boxes repeating your Sky router’s WiFi signal, I would like to keep you on SonosNet, but you really should not have a surround speaker as the only ethernet-wired unit on your system. If you can find any way to wire a stand-alone speaker (not a Sub!) instead, I highly recommend it (and I see in the case notes that this was pretty much the first thing that was mentioned to you - and for good reason).

Also a concern is the fact that your Arc is not just missing from the app - it is not connected to the network at all, as far as I can determine. I see that a factory reset was attempted though - is the Arc still flashing green or orange?

Ultimately, I recommend that you get back in touch with our technical support team - I think there is just too much going on here to be able to assist you in a meaningful way and in a reasonable amount of time.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
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17 replies

Simon_89Author
Avid Contributor I
March 19, 2025

A couple of clarifications to my original post:

  • The TP-Link wireless router in the cabin is connected to the Sky Max router in the main house via vat 5 or 6 cable to a TP-Link switch then to the Sky router.
  • The Port in the cabin (was) connected wirelessly to the TP-Link wireless router
  • Case number from for original call is *********

Moderator edit: case number recorded and removed

Corry P
Corry PAnswer
Sonos Staff
March 19, 2025

Hi ​@Simon_89 

Thanks for your post!

Sorry to hear of the issues you’ve been having recently with your Arc room going missing from the app.

If your TP-Link router is not configured to operate in Bridge mode (often called Access Point mode too), it will be causing problems with IP address allocations. Please ensure it is not operating as a router - you do not want two routers on your network!

It also doesn’t make sense to me that the system has been working fine up until the second extender was added.

This is why we don’t support WiFi Extenders - they tend to be pretty poor at what they claim to do. Although your Sonos system is using SonosNet, if the device running the Sonos app were to connect to one, it could cause problems. WiFi Mesh systems are recommended instead.

One clarification - you have a Play:3 wired to ethernet, and because of that, your other speakers are not connecting to WiFi - they are on SonosNet created by the Play:3. The Port may have been connected to WiFi - it is missing from the diagnostic, so I cannot tell.

Looking at your most recent diagnostic, the first thing I would like to address is that you seem to be using a Home Theatre rear surround speaker as the source of SonosNet. This is not recommended. Due to the likelihood of your Sky TV boxes repeating your Sky router’s WiFi signal, I would like to keep you on SonosNet, but you really should not have a surround speaker as the only ethernet-wired unit on your system. If you can find any way to wire a stand-alone speaker (not a Sub!) instead, I highly recommend it (and I see in the case notes that this was pretty much the first thing that was mentioned to you - and for good reason).

Also a concern is the fact that your Arc is not just missing from the app - it is not connected to the network at all, as far as I can determine. I see that a factory reset was attempted though - is the Arc still flashing green or orange?

Ultimately, I recommend that you get back in touch with our technical support team - I think there is just too much going on here to be able to assist you in a meaningful way and in a reasonable amount of time.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
    Simon_89Author
    Avid Contributor I
    March 19, 2025

    Thank you for your response ​@Corry P like you say there seems to be a lot going on unfortunately, which is such a shame after it was all working so well.

    I will definitely get back in touch with the technical support team, but in the meantime (as a relative Luddite with these things) there seem to be a few things I could check and amend before calling them again - I’d appreciate it if you could check I have picked everything up, if you have time?:

    1. Check that the ‘router’ in the cabin is in  Access Point mode.
    2. Reduce or eliminate the use of extenders where possible.
    3. Disconnect the Ethernet cable from the Play3? (This was a hangover from a solution advised by tech support several years ago when I was advised to get rid of the Boost)
    4. Try and hardwire an alternative speaker with Ethernet (this will take some thought as I have solid floors, brick & concrete walls and no voids to run cables to alternative speaker locations unless I ran an extra Ethernet when I installed the TV which I could plug into the Arc - I will double-check).
    5. The Arc is simply showing a solid white light. We had flashing orange and green lights etc whilst trying to get it reset but it eventually goes back to solid white.
    Corry P
    Corry P
    Sonos Staff
    March 19, 2025

    Hi ​@Simon_89 

    I’d appreciate it if you could check I have picked everything up, if you have time?:

    Gladly!

    1. Check that the ‘router’ in the cabin is in  Access Point mode.
    2. Reduce or eliminate the use of extenders where possible.
    3. Disconnect the Ethernet cable from the Play3? (This was a hangover from a solution advised by tech support several years ago when I was advised to get rid of the Boost)
    4. Try and hardwire an alternative speaker with Ethernet (this will take some thought as I have solid floors, brick & concrete walls and no voids to run cables to alternative speaker locations unless I ran an extra Ethernet when I installed the TV which I could plug into the Arc - I will double-check).
    5. The Arc is simply showing a solid white light. We had flashing orange and green lights etc whilst trying to get it reset but it eventually goes back to solid white.
    1. This is very important to do - it could cause any amount of weird behaviour otherwise, including making your Arc go “missing”.
    2. This is less of an issue when SonosNet is in play, but if your phone were to connect to an Extender, it may have trouble communicating with your Sonos system. Certainly during troubleshooting it’s best to keep them off. Once things are working reliably again, by all means experiment with turning them back on; I am all for you not having to purchase new networking gear.
    3. Putting a speaker that is performing duties as a surround speaker in charge of all Sonos communications with other devices is not a good move. I confess I do not understand why you were previously instructed to connect a surround speaker to ethernet when you have a Boost to use instead. It is possible that you could get the Boost in service again, but I’d recommend attempting that while on a support call - it may need a “special” staged update process to operate again. It is definitely worth mentioning.
    4. The Arc would be good choice of device to wire to ethernet instead of the Play:3 or the Boost (but not necessarily a better choice than the Boost, though it is newer, which can help). It would serve to get the Arc back online though. Wi-Fi is worth trying too (no ethernet to Sonos anywhere), though any Sky TV boxes may become a factor then. Your Sonos system already knows the WiFi credentials, so no need to enter them.
    5. That sounds like the reset procedure was not followed correctly - if the Arc were reset, it would not result in an eventual white light. Hold down the button while applying power, and keep holding until you see flashing orange. However, a solid white light implies that it is connected to a network, but I can see now that it is not connected to our cloud server. An Extender nearby, perhaps? Please see our Factory reset your Sonos product help page for the reset instructions.

    If the SonosNet channel was changed recently, it is possible that the Arc never got the instruction to change, and that could be why it is missing. If you connect the Arc to the ethernet instead of the Play:3 and it returns to the app, but all the other speakers go offline (do give them a few minutes, though), then that is even more likely to be what happened in the first place. In this case, wiring the Play:3 again and then changing the SonosNet channel back to whatever channel it used to be on would pick up the Arc. Honestly, a factory reset of the Arc is probably easier to do (but get Arc set up and working again before swapping the ethernet cable to it).

    I hope this helps.

     

    "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
      Simon_89Author
      Avid Contributor I
      March 19, 2025

      ​@Corry P thanks for the feedback. I will have to review again tomorrow evening.

      Tonight I made sure the cabin router was on AP. I also unplugged all extenders. I have coincidentally unplugged the Ethernet and reinstalled the Boost as I don’t have a spare Ethernet to the TV.

      when the boost booted up everything appeared momentarily in either unregistered or not assigned with the exception of the couple that have stayed connected.

      I couldn’t get the Port or Arc reconnected. Both got to the stage where they are on the system but may not show without being unplugged and plugged back in again. Didn’t help on either of them.

      i will probably try Support on Friday night. 
       

      thanks again for your help so far.

      Simon_89Author
      Avid Contributor I
      March 19, 2025

      ​@Corry P  PS when doing a factory reset on the arc tonight it alternates flashing white & orange, then went to green. Once component added it went to solid white but then I got the message about it being added but needing to unplug & reply n to show up. But it never did show up.

      Corry P
      Corry P
      Sonos Staff
      March 20, 2025

      Hi ​@Simon_89 

      Progress!

      At this point, I recommend a reboot of the main router, if you have not already done so - please turn if off for at least 30 seconds.

      It may also help to reboot devices afterwards - Arc and Port, and the controller, at the least.

      I hope this helps.

       

      "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
      Simon_89Author
      Avid Contributor I
      March 20, 2025

      Thanks ​@Corry P . I will have to try that tonight. I did factory reset the router but did not reboot the components.

      Arc showing a solid green light this morning but not showing in the App. 
       

      Im hoping if I can finish early on Friday support might be able to get this lot back on line.

      thanks for your continued help & advice.

      Corry P
      Corry P
      Sonos Staff
      March 20, 2025

      Hi ​@Simon_89 

      A solid green light just means that it is muted - that should not have anything to do with why it is not showing in the app.

      Your Arc is still showing as offline (not connected to our cloud), so it seems that it not showing in the app is just one of it’s problems.

      Hopefully, the router reboot will help.

      I am off all day tomorrow, but am working till 7pm UK time tonight - you may be able to catch me later this evening. If not, I hope the support team can solve this for you.

      thanks for your continued help & advice.

      You are very welcome!

      "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
        Simon_89Author
        Avid Contributor I
        March 31, 2025

        Hi ​@Corry P I was wondering if you could just confirm something for me please.

        I am having a few challenges with Sky in getting the 2.4GHz changed to B/G/N as the support team needs to push a request through to their Network team and I never get to actually speak to them myself.

        the base support team do not appear to have the knowledge to help me either.

        On the past two occasions that I have requested the 2.4GHz is changed to 802.11B/G/N I have ended up receiving a text to say that they have either resolved the issue of that they have checked the issue and ruled out any issue outside of my home.

        However, these are the settings I see when I log in which seem to show it staying on G/N/AX. 
         

        I fear that I don’t understand what they have done (if anything) or that G/N/AX is the equivalent of what you have suggested I do…?

        can you shed any light for me or advise further?

        Thanks.

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