@emaxson44,

See these links below re controlling Sonos playback from the mobile Lock Screen…

iOS Controller… 
https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3381

Android Controller…

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3062

Same problem here ,play 5 gen 1 simply won’t connect, very, very frustrating , this is the third time I’ve tried to persevere to get it working over the last few years, it was initially a gift from my wife ( an expensive one at that ) and at first it worked a treat but as someone else above stated it just an expensive paper weight, would never buy another Sonus product as it looks like there is no remedy to this problem .

Just not enough information in your post to offer any significant solutions, beyond the standard “if you connect it to your router with an ethernet cable, does it work?” But not knowing any of the other significant information certainly hampers any attempt to be of assistance. 

Have you tried calling Sonos Support. There certainly have been a handful of cases where the wifi card/system has gone bad in these, but Sonos Support should be able to discern that, if you call them with more data. 

I have tried everything that the Sonos system suggests to reconnect my Play 5.  I have also tried everything that I could find in this forum.  I finally called Sonos Support about 2 weeks ago.  The customer service guy was as helpful as he could be.  He tried and suggested a number of things to reconnect my Play 5.  He ultimately told me there was nothing that can be done to reconnect it.  He offered me a 30% credit on a Sonos replacement product.  My Play 5 was about 6-7 years old.  I spent about $400-500 for it and it’s useless now.   I am 70 years old and assumed this speaker would have lasted me the rest of my life.   I have to send back my useless Play 5 in order to get the 30% credit.  I’m debating whether to go through the hassle when I still have to buy a new speaker (even though I’d get 30% off) that may not last that long.  I have 4 other pieces of Sonos equipment and I'm wondering how long they're going to last.  I was thoroughly impressed with Sonos during my first few years of ownership.  My opinion has steadily gone down hill since.   The price point of their products should indicate a level of quality that doesn’t seem to exist.   I’m going to need to start researching competitors to Sonos.

Hi, 

Thanks for your reply, yes I have tried a hard wired connection to my router but it still cannot connect, I’ve also tried the Wi-Fi but still no joy , I’ve reset the Sonos to its factory settings and it still won’t connect.

Today I’ve Emailed Sonos support outlining the issue but after reading someone else’s message in this forum from yesterday ( who has the same problem as me ) he was told there was nothing they could do apart from offering him a 30% discount off a future purchase of another Sonos product!!

I mean Really , is that all they can do , when the problem is clearly an issue with the play 5 Gen , I will await a response and go from there and hope that they can resolve this issue but if they cannot I will be pushing for a lot more than 30% of a new product that’s not guaranteed to work.

It’s very frustrating as it was a gift from my wife and an expensive one at that.

Thanks once again for your input.

Note you cannot create a new S1 system with a Play:5 gen1 without first removing the Sonos S2 App from the mobile setup device - so if you perhaps haven’t tried that already, then give that a go.

The speaker’s status LED will need to be reset/flashing green to set it up on a new S1 Sonos Household and the Sonos controller device also needs to meet these system requirements:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4875

Hi Ken,

Thank you for replying, I did have the Sonos S2 app on my phone so deleted it yesterday, turned the Sonos play 5 on this morning after reading your message ,to give it another go to try and get it to connect , as soon as I turns it on it recognised my router

Followed the online instructions to set up a new system and now I’m sat here listening to the play 5 , play my favourites again

So thank you very much Ken , I very much appreciate your input, have a good day

@Ynotuk1 - thanks for the reply.

If not done already, when you re-download/open the S2 App, just go through the opening screens and accept the T&C’s and select the option to connect the App back to the ‘existing system’ it will then find and connect to the S2 system on the network.

Anyhow, have a good weekend.

For what it’s worth, I had the same issue being stuck with a factory reset Play 5 (Gen I) with a green blinking light. Connected it directly to the router and the Sonos 1 app found it immediately. 

Certainly, the Gen 1 PLAY:5 was built before the use of NFC during the setup process to transmit wifi information. If it’s looking for another network, the best thing is to force it onto your router with that ethernet cable. Removes a bunch of potential randomness, that way. Or force it to use SonosNet rather than your own wifi. 

I felt I was cheated when it mentions that I still can connect to my Play:5 (gen 1) on my Sonos s1 app. So I decided to finally upgrade to Sonos s2 app…and it can’t detect any of my Sonos: Play:1, Play:3 (all 3 speakers), and Soundbar…and of course my play:5 . Decided to add the Play:5 to Sonos s1: using the Add Product…but it only asked me to update my apps to S2 with no option to add play:5 into S1 at all…what do I do????

Assuming all devices were initially running on S1 in the first instance and you opted to use the compatibility checker and upgrade the S2 devices. Each compatible device will upgrade to the auto-downloaded S2 App and the S1 compatible Play:5 (gen1) will remain available through the existing S1 App. Personally speaking though, in that type of scenario, both Systems will hold the same Sonos HouseholdID and I would actually prefer different HouseholdID’s, so my choice would be to reset one of the Households so that they were different, but it’s not essential.

I too assumed that play:5 gen1 will still be available on s1. But it is not. I’ve also reset the app (App Preference)…and Setup new account, but when I added the Boost…it automatically setup my old Account ID and again, I can’t see my Play:5 gen 1…sigh!

No you won’t if you started with your Boost from a fresh setup as that created a different Household.

Did you reset the Play:5 speaker? ..if not, switch off your Boost and reset the S1 Sonos App, via App preferences and then on reopening the App and bypassing the opening screens, just choose to connect it back to the ‘existing’ S1 system. (It might help you to switch off your S2 devices temporarily whilst you do that). Also note this will only work if you have not factory reset the Play:5.

I’ve decided to upgrade the Sonos 5 instead. Thanks everyone for the suggestion, much appreciated

I have multiple Sonos systems and run S2 at one house and run all of my S1 components in another house. It has worked quite well for years but then I Purchased a GEN one play five to install on my S1 and it buggers up everything when I try to install it. I’ve done hard reset on everything and whenever I try to install that play 5 … it locks up my entire system. I have done hard reset and I don’t dare try to install it again. What could be wrong with this? 

What were the exact steps taken and what did you do/see on screen … and what was the status LED light showing on the speaker at each point in the process? I assume you started with a full factory reset of the Play:5 and used ‘Add Product’ in the App - did you wire the speaker to the router to get any updates?

Yes, I did a hard factory reset and then tried to install. Everything looked good. Got the chime just like other speakers, but then it would not connect. Then I’d get a orange light, and then the rest of my system would shut down. I then did another factory reset and installed it with the ethernet cable connected to the same net work as everything else, and it did the same thing and crashed the rest of my system. Whenever that speaker is connected to the system, other speakers will drop out of my app.

It sounds like the device ‘might’ be faulty. Have you ever had it working, or seen if working before purchase? Does the router show its getting an IP address and do you see a flashing green status LED before the setup process begins? 

As another thought, does your mobile sonos controller device meet these current system requirements…

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/sonos-app-requirements

Well, I’m not sure if it’s your amazing IT ability but while we were texting back-and-forth, I seem to have installed it successfully and the rest of the system has stayed up. After I hit the chime button and it started connecting, I would get the orange light again and then it would shut down but this time I got the orange light and it connected and is now on my system. No I bought the speaker on eBay, which was a mistake so it’s possible that it has issues that I’m not aware of. Thanks for your time. 

Ah glad to hear you got it sorted and I hope you get many years of playing time from it too.