Unstable Playbase

It would depend on what ‘area’ of the LAN card is having trouble. If it’s the radio that receives the WiFi, I’d agree, but if it’s the processing of the LAN signal, I’d disagree. 

It certainly is smart to try connecting it via an Ethernet cable. While it’s connected, there are a couple of things I’d be trying, which aren’t clear from your post that have been done.

First, since this is a used device, have you factory reset it? It is entirely possible that may resolve some of the issues. If not, have you checked in your controller, while it is showing up, for updates to the operating system (S1 or S2 I think run on the PLAYBASE, of course they can’t talk to each other, if the rest of your system is the other). 

I’d also recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it. Don’t post the resulting diagnostic number here, they get sensitive about GDPR.

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 Support staff, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

Hey,

thanks for your reply.

Yeah, I started by doing a factory reset after purchasing it, and then did around 15 resets over the weekend, everytime I tried trueplay or creating a surround setup, which caused it to crash.

And I updated it. Or, I updated the system and since the user hostile app doesn’t tell me which unit(s) needed updating I don’t know which.
 

Thanks for the info, I might try calling them, though I’ve read several posts that they don’t really replace neither the internal cards if I offer to repair it myself, nor do they replace faulty units anymore, so I’m more hoping to find a replacement LAN card somewhere to try to fix it. Haven’t found any details on that however.

I’ve not heard that they don’t replace faulty units, but it certainly may be that a PLAYBASE is so old that it can’t be anymore. If memory serves, the PLAYBASE stopped being sold by Sonos around 5 years ago, a large time for computer components like Sonos makes. At least Sonos still provides phone support for them, but certainly if you open one of their devices, they don’t.

There is a small community of folks who seem to repair their own, but Sonos doesn’t offer any ‘official’ service that does work on their speakers. I think most of the ‘self repair’ threads on this forum are around PLAY:5s, you may want to search for them, but the volume on those threads is rather infrequent. Given that Sonos doesn’t support self repair (probably due to legal exposure for devices that carry a strong current, but I’m guessing), there certainly aren’t a lot of posts from those folks. There does seem to be a repair place in the UK (you’ve not said where you live), I suppose it’s possible they can help in someway.

In any case, I’d encourage you, before opening it, to call in to Sonos. Once you’ve done so, you’d be clear to open it, I suspect. Even with a device that is at least 5 years old, they’ll give you support, so it wouldn’t hurt to try. 

If the wifi card is problematic it may be causing your issues when you wire the system and Sonosnet is enabled automatically.

You can disable the entire radio using the disable-wifi option under networking to see if that allows the other Sonos to return to using their wifi connections instead of the iffy playbase Sonosnet. 

However, if you disable the ‘radio’ portion on the PLAYBASE, you will lose its ability to directly contact surround speakers,  and force the path to be through your router, which implies wiring any surrounds as well. 

Agreed, but I was thinking of a quick and easy test rather than a permanent solution.

If it is the card one might be purchased on the used market, swapped in and normal operation restored,

Just spent 1,5 hours with support, running several diagnostics, just to be told there’s nothing wrong with it.

They don’t even acknowledge that this is a known issue.

I made it clear I understand its outside of warranty and I don’t want a free replacement, I just want rhe chance to fix it. But no.