Not able to play music to Arc through Sonos App

Hi @mattn85 

Welcome to the Sonos Community, and to Sonos in general! And, apologies for the delay.

While it has not been the best time to introduce yourself to Sonos, please be assured that things will be soon working better than ever.

In your case, however, I’m not convinced that the new app has anything to do with your reported issues. The diagnostics that were automatically submitted from your system last month when you contacted us report that there is a network looping issue - the Arc is reporting multiple instances of it sending itself data, which should not be happening. This is most likely due to a device on your network (router or switch, most likely) that has mis-configured STP settings. It’s likely that this network loop is flooding the network interface of the Arc such that it can not receive the stream from other speakers to play in a group.

Please see our Configure STP settings to work with Sonos help page for which settings to use. If you are not sure what any of it means, please either let me know what networking equipment you have, and I’ll see if I can find specific instructions for it, or get in touch with our technical support team so they can make the changes for you (remote access to a local computer will be required). There is a bit of a queue on the phone lines at the moment, however.

I hope this helps.

Thanks @Corry P , 

An update to the issue. I think the problem was that I had last used the Arc group for TV, so I had to go into that group and select music from there for force it out of the TV input. Once that was done I could go back and add it to sync up with the other two rooms.

Please note that when I was trying to add the Arc to the other two rooms the TV was off and there was no sound on the Arc. 

While this works, it seems very unintuitive and I’m wondering if I’m missing something. If not it seems this is a very obvious change for future updates. 

Thanks,

Matt

Hi @mattn85 

There should have been no need for you to switch the Arc to a music source before grouping it with others. Are you sure this is what fixed it, or was it possibly just a coincidence? Are you able to recreate this behaviour? If so, please do so and submit a support diagnostic immediately afterwards, letting me know here when you have done so. Thanks.

I’ll admit that I’m still a little confused as to whether you are using the Sonos app or the Spotify app, to be honest. If using the Spotify app, please test with the Sonos app - if we know that works, we can then think about the Spotify app.

One other thing that may prevent you from grouping successfully is mis-matched software versions on the speakers - if you only experience issues when grouping, please ensure all speakers are up to date by checking for system updates: Settings » Manage » System Updates » Check for updates.

If you have not looked into the STP configuration, I highly recommend that you do so.

I hope this helps.

Thanks @Corry P 

I will try to recreate it later today, but I have done it multiple times since the original post and in order to add the Arc to the other speakers I first have to select the Arc and play some music on it, then I can go back and add in all the speakers. 

To clarify,

1. I have only been discussing what I’m doing from within the Sonos app. 
2. I have updated the speakers and they were all on the same versions, but I will double check.
3. I am currently only running the Arc on a wired set up, the other two Era100s are wireless. The internet is coming in through my ISP router and then I have it going into a TP-Link Deco AX3000 mesh router with a hard wire. The Arc is then plugged into one of the mesh units, but the units themselves also communicate wirelessly. I will try to look at the settings for that, but if you had specific instructions for it that would be great. 

Thanks,

Matt

Hi @mattn85 

Thanks for the information/

I found a manual for your Deco router but it did not contain any mention of STP settings - honestly, I was expecting you to report that you had a managed network switch, or a UniFi WiFi system. For now, I will presume that the router just needs a reboot.

So, I’d like to first confirm that the looping is still happening - it was a pretty old diagnostic that I got that info from, and if there’s no current report of the issue from the speakers, there’s no need to worry about it. Also, if a reboot helps, then there’s no need to continue worrying about it.

Basically, what we want to do is clear the existing logs on the speakers, use the system a bit (including recreating the reported issue) and see if any issues show up in the logs (whether or not you happen to notice any). We’ll follow these steps:

1. When you can, and when no one else is using the internet, please switch off your router. Unplug the Arc from power too, and just to be doubly sure, please unplug your Era 100s also.
2. Once the router has been off for at least 30 seconds, please turn it back on and give it a few minutes for WiFi to return.
3. Plug the Arc and Era 100s back into power when WiFi is back
4. Let the white lights stop flashing, wait another minute or so, then open the Sonos app
5. Use the system for at least 30 minutes or so in the usual manner
6. Please then try to group music to the Arc from the Era 100s, when the last thing it played was TV audio
7. Whether the grouping works or not, submit a support diagnostic before doing anything else: User icon » Visit Help Center » Submit Diagnostics
8. Post here and let me know that you have submitted a diagnostic (don’t share the number), and to let me know if the reboots helped with the grouping issue
9. I’ll check the diagnostic for the network loop issue, and consult with a colleague regarding the grouping issue - if it persists - and let you know what I find

I look forward to hearing back from you and resolving this issue.

Note: Although I fail to do so myself, my standing advice for customers is to reboot your router several times a year whether you see issues on your network or not. I am lazy and don’t, but if I ever get weird behaviour from connected devices (Sonos or not), it’s one of the first things I’ll try. Leaving it off for at least 30 seconds ensures that all capacitors (they store electricity) on the circuits are discharged and thus system memory is more likely to be cleared.

@Corry P 

This is awesome, I’ll hopefully have a chance to do this later tonight. One thing I wanted to check is how the Arc is connected. Currently it is hard wired to one of the mesh remote points that would get a wireless connection from the main mesh point. Should I leave the Arc plugged in with a LAN cable or switch to wireless for it since the other two are also wireless? 

Obviously I would still have the HDMI coming into the speaker for TV sound. 

Thanks,

Matt

Hi @mattn85 

There is no right answer for that - just which ever works best for you.

There is a big difference, however - when your Arc is wired to ethernet, it will broadcast a new WiFi signal (called SonosNet) that all compatible Sonos speakers (not your Era 100s) belonging to you will automatically prefer over any standard WiFi available. This can improve connectivity for some people, but it also introduces sources of interference - if the channels overlap, that can result in issues. There’s more information about it in my article:

Please do not disable WiFi on the Arc if you connect it with ethernet - the surround speakers need to communicate directly with it.