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Recently I have been having a number of issues with my Sonos system

  • 9 December 2023
  • 19 replies
  • 1654 views
J

I’ve been a long time customer and really love my Sonos system that I have added to over time. However, in recent weeks we’ve been encountering a number of different issues including:

  • Different speakers randomly not showing up in the app (this is not consistent to specific speakers)
  • Sound randomly cutting out of individual speakers while music is playing (also not consistent to specific speakers)
  • Volume randomly changing on individual speakers while music is playing (note that the volume in the app is not changing but the volume of the actual sound coming out of speakers)
  • Sound from the TV routed via optical cable to Playbar cuts in and out (note this is not an issue with the content/streaming since no issues when using the TV’s built-in speaker for the sound)
  • Search within the app takes an excessively long time and does not consistently return results for connected services 
  • Skipping tracks in the app does not work consistently (will sometimes hang for a bit before skipping, will sometimes say cannot connect to service requiring multiple attempts before skipping)
  • Connected services will randomly not show content when manually browsing in the app
  • Randomly everything on the My Sonos page in the app will show everything as unavailable 

My setup is as follows:

  • Playbar and two Play:1s setup in surround configuration 
  • Five
  • Two additional Play:1s
  • Roam

App is up to date as are system updates (according to the app).

Steps taken thus far have been unplugging and plugging speakers back in, adding back speakers that were previously in the system but then just stopped showing up, and doing a factory reset on the Roam. 

I was thinking the next step is to do a full reset of everything and basically setup again from scratch but wanted to see if anyone else is experiencing anything similar or has other suggestions.

Thanks!

Josh

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Best answer by Airgetlam 9 December 2023, 20:54

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19 replies

Airgetlam

Most of this is indicative of network issues. Might be wifi interference (possibly from outside your network), or simply duplicate IP addresses. 

At the very least, if the first link doesn’t provide any relief when you follow its suggestions, I’d recommend that you power down all of your Sonos devices. While they’re powered down, reboot your router, and give it a couple of minutes to reboot, before powering back up your Sonos devices. However, this is a temporary thing…if it does fix the issue, I’d encourage you to prevent it from happening again by reading your router’s manual, and setting up reserved IP addresses for all your permanent network devices in the router. It’s good housekeeping ;)

However, if neither approach works for you, I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

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.

Bruce
Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

The factory reset rarely solves problems and you’d loose all your Sonos settings, data and lists so it is best avoided if at all possible.

The static IP setting solved my similar issues here.

buzz

Factory Reset will waste time and not likely result in permanent resolution of your issues. Have you recently replaced your router or added additional wireless items?

J

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and apologies on taking some time to respond. Last Sunday I followed @Airgetlam ‘s advice on WiFi Interference and changing the WiFi channel. However with a two year old and a newborn in the house, most of our Sonos use is on the weekends and therefore haven’t really had the opportunity to properly test. I should have a better idea if this helped after this weekend and will report back. I’m holding off on trying to dedicated IP Address thing for now in case the channel change solved my issues.

What I did not think about - and did not occur to me until after reading through the responses - is that these issues started at the same time we had our second kiddo, which includes a second video monitor (Nanit) and smart bassinet (SNOO) - both using the network.

Will follow up here once I’ve had time to test this channel change this weekend.

buzz

... I’m holding off on trying to dedicated IP Address thing for now in case the channel change solved my issues.

What I did not think about - and did not occur to me until after reading through the responses - is that these issues started at the same time we had our second kiddo, which includes a second video monitor (Nanit) and smart bassinet (SNOO) - both using the network.

 

Reserving IP addresses is a great investment of your time because it is a significant long term time saver. Factory Reset will often work through a current issue caused by duplicate IP addresses, but before long they’ll bite again. This has been a great investment for me. I stopped having (frequent) duplicate IP address issues for my SONOS system in 2005.

Those new baby monitors are high on my list of probable causes. I suggest that you submit a diagnostic and follow up with SONOS phone support. Take the diagnostic within 10 minutes of an “event”.

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Seriously, give your router’s DHCP Settings page a look, most will let you reserve IP addresses with a few clicks.

J

Hello,

Checking back in here. After continuing to use the system for a while with the channel change, it unfortunately is still having similar connection issues. As such, I am know trying to static IP address approach but have a couple of questions…

  1. I was able to locate all of my speakers except for my Living Playbar and two Play:1s that are setup as surrounds. I can’t find any of the speakers in my router’s device list. I was able to update all of my other speakers
  2. While working on this I also came across THIS thread which talks about assigning IP addresses outside of the DHCP range. This is all a bit over my head but my router does not seem to give me this an option - it only allows for me to set a fixed address that is within the range. How much does this matter?

Thanks

Josh

Airgetlam

That makes sense, the surround speakers would contact your router and get their IP addresses through the PLAYBAR. Try powering off both the PLAYBAR, and the pair of PLAY:1s, and reboot your router. Give the router a couple of minutes to recover, then plug back in your PLAYBAR, and a minute later, the surrounds.

I have fairly rudimentary knowledge about networking, I’ve never investigated assigning IP address ‘outside’ of the range of 255 numbers provided to me in my DHCP table. I just don’t have that many devices that I need on my network. I do tend to start my assigned addresses at 100, just to keep those numbers ‘below’ as floaters for things like phones, tablets, and friends. My computers all get assigned IP addresses…and in fact at least one of my tablets does too. I haven’t looked in years. It’s that stable for me.

Bruce
106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

The reason behind choosing ip adresses outside of the ip-range seems to that’s that way the router will not hand them out to other devices because it simply does not do “outside the range”. 

J

Thanks @Airgetlam. So I tried what you suggested but unfortunately no change. The speakers are showing in the Sonos app and I can see the IP Addresses assigned to them via the app about page but these IP Addresses are not available in the device list of the router and therefore I am still unable to assign them a fixed address. Any other ideas?

Thanks!

Josh

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Power off the Playbar and surrounds, reboot the router.

Power up JUST the surrounds and see if they appear.

 

Different router makers have different IP assignment ideas, some allow static IPs to be anywhere, others allow only outside the dynamic pool, others only within it. All you can do is live with your router’s rules or get a more friendly router.

O

Sonos method of connectivity is questionable. I have had 6 different brands of wireless speakers and sonos is the only one that causes frustration. The app is meh and IMO is used to data mine customers for resellers. All the excuses listed are just that excuses, script reading tech support with the last entry blame ISPs is pathetic. The fact the so many users have reported the same issue over and over and over again, is falling on DEAF EARS is pathetic. For the price there should be no excuses!

O

Power off the Playbar and surrounds, reboot the router.

Power up JUST the surrounds and see if they appear.

 

Different router makers have different IP assignment ideas, some allow static IPs to be anywhere, others allow only outside the dynamic pool, others only within it. All you can do is live with your router’s rules or get a more friendly router.

Are you a network engineer? What is your expertise with routing hardware and routing protocols?

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Power off the Playbar and surrounds, reboot the router.

Power up JUST the surrounds and see if they appear.

 

Different router makers have different IP assignment ideas, some allow static IPs to be anywhere, others allow only outside the dynamic pool, others only within it. All you can do is live with your router’s rules or get a more friendly router.

Are you a network engineer? What is your expertise with routing hardware and routing protocols?

Nah, I’m a complete idiot, just ignore me.

O

Power off the Playbar and surrounds, reboot the router.

Power up JUST the surrounds and see if they appear.

 

Different router makers have different IP assignment ideas, some allow static IPs to be anywhere, others allow only outside the dynamic pool, others only within it. All you can do is live with your router’s rules or get a more friendly router.

Are you a network engineer? What is your expertise with routing hardware and routing protocols?

Nah, I’m a complete idiot, just ignore me.

was scratching my head with the information provided. Might know what your thinking but just cant write it or youre regurgitating the web which explains your reply.

Airgetlam

Just curious as to what your expertise is. @Stanley_4 has been helping people with their Sonos system for years, without any pay, and with scant thanks. He has a Sonos system, understands more about networking than I do, has helped many a user set up a Pi device as an NAS, but apparently doesn’t meet your standards for a community member to offer assistance. Feel free to ignore him, but I’d recommend if you want assistance from Sonos, and not this community, posting here won’t be very helpful, as Sonos support doesn’t frequent this community forum. You’d need to call Sonos Support directly to discuss your particular issue. 

Bruce
buzz

@Josh Guss,

After making their initial connection via WiFi the surrounds will switch to using a private 5GHz connection to PLAYBAR. Some routers will then assume that the surrounds are no longer present and will stop displaying the surrounds. Unfortunately the surrounds still have an IP address and will use it from time to time. If this occasional use of their IP address results in a duplicate … the phantom might strike. The “might strike” is what makes this issue so frustrating because you could accidentally get away without reservations 100 times in a row, then the phantom does its deed. You can view the surround’s IP addresses in via Settings → System → About My System. Most routers will allow you to add clients that are not currently visible.

O

Feel free to ignore him,

Will do. Ty

 

J

Power off the Playbar and surrounds, reboot the router.

Power up JUST the surrounds and see if they appear.

 

Thanks @Stanley_4! That did the trick. So now I have each speaker setup with a dedicated IP Address. Will monitor performance and hopefully these changes will resolve the issues I have been having. Will report after more regular use. 

Thanks

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