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Sonos Play 5_2nd Gen Defective WiFi Cards?

  • 26 January 2018
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I've read several posts about the Play 5_2nd Gen suddenly having problems due to a defective WiFi card. Although it appears that Sonos has been replacing the defective units (when notified) it still gives me pause. Do I need to be concerned about my two (2) out of warranty Play 5 2nd Gen's developing the same issue? If it is widespread I would hope that Sonos would issue a re-call to replace the units similar to what Microsoft did with the 1st Gen Xbox One units manufactured in a certain lot. Can anyone at Sonos elaborate?
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Best answer by Ryan S 26 January 2018, 02:22

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Hi Jeff and team,
Same issue here; I own 2xPlay1, Play5(2nd g.) and a Playbar. The Play5 suddenly dropped from the network and it’s impossible to get it back. Now it’s only working wired and can’t play it along the other speakers. Diagnostic # for the Play 5 is 188020826. I’m located in Spain and couldn’t reach any associate at the Spain’s phone number. Thanks
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Hi Jeff and team,
Same issue here; I own 2xPlay1, Play5(2nd g.) and a Playbar. The Play5 suddenly dropped from the network and it’s impossible to get it back. Now it’s only working wired and can’t play it along the other speakers. Diagnostic # for the Play 5 is 188020826. I’m located in Spain and couldn’t reach any associate at the Spain’s phone number. Thanks


Thanks for sending in the diagnostic report. There appears to be an issue with the wireless card on your Play:5. Normally, our phone team would take over from here. They should answer during their posted hours, found here.

If they still do not answer, reach out to our Twitter or Facebook team, they're 24//7. Let me know if you have any troubles getting in touch.
Hi team,

i have the the same issues here. Gen 2 Play5 dropped from system and can’t reconnect it. I have submitted diagnostics 1583192370.

Thanks!
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You should contact Sonos support directly, see the Contact page. They offer 24x7 support there.

Hi,

Sonos Play 5 Gen2

After hard reset it does play when connected RJ45 to router though does not show as connected in router wifi. # given for dx is 2012354124.

When trying to connect over all to wifi in software I get an error of bad password though all my other devices connect, including another play 1 I did a factory reset on tonight and it simply connected.

I have more than a half dozen other Sonos devices that are working properly.

Before sending this, I updated the firmware of my router, updated the sonos software, updated the spotify software. Those updates do not appear to have helped anything.

Please let me know if there is something more I can try. I’m not looking foward to sending the speaker in. Thank you.

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Just searching around and found this thread, I wonder if it is the same network card in my just failed PLAY3, just 3 years old and part of a now effectively defunct PLAYBAR without surround sound. 

see https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/playbar-has-lost-the-left-surround-sound-play-3-which-flashes-red-and-white-6833910#post16382342

 

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Just searching around and found this thread, I wonder if it is the same network card in my just failed PLAY3, just 3 years old and part of a now effectively defunct PLAYBAR without surround sound. 

see https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/playbar-has-lost-the-left-surround-sound-play-3-which-flashes-red-and-white-6833910#post16382342

 

Good thinking, but it is not that same component. The Play:3 uses an older wireless card than the Play:5 gen2, and is just about different in every way internally. It looks like your case is already in the right hands. As a simple test, you could see for yourself if it’s the wireless card or another wireless related issue (meaning interference, network side wireless restrictions, or something on those lines) by wiring that Play:3 into the Playbar with an ethernet cord and see if it connects. For this test, one of your other Sonos devices would also need to be wired into the network somewhere.

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Thanks might try that, we tried it via connecting into the bridge but that too also failed to work, so I don’t see there would be any difference to what you suggest. 
 
either way PLAY 3 is at fault and only after 3 years, even as a not used every day system. Raises questions of reliability and quality, really poor for such an expensive product with supposedly a price for superior quality. 

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Bridges are iffy for testing anything, they have power supply issues that can cause odd and changing problems that are difficult to identify. I’d power the Bridge down to avoid it being an issue and do my testing with other devices.

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I’m not all that sure that they have to “admit” anything, if they replace them. Especially as it seems to be a relatively low number, in my mind. I think maybe a couple of dozen posted here, versus maybe 10,000 or more sold, as an estimate. That’s a relatively low percentage.

However, the cost to Sonos to deal with the customer service, and process of replacing them for folks who have experienced the issue must be fairly high. I can well imagine some strong words at the least being had with the parts supplier, if not a complete replacement with a new supplier.

That’s completely anecdotal.  Only Sonos knows how widespread this really is.

I’m fairly certain that my entire statement was liberally sprinkled with terms such as “I’m not that sure”, “ I think”, “estimate”, and  “I can well imagine”. 

That would certainly indicate that it’s all from my perspective. I’m not sure what purpose your post serves?

I’ve just had my 3rd defective Wi-Fi card on a Play 5. Each time this happens, Sonos Support is great and they’ve replaced them at no cost to me. But I find the replacement process a bit cumbersome. More than anything, I’m a little embarrassed for Sonos. This is expensive equipment. What are the chances I would randomly have 3 different Play 5s with the same defect? And to boot- it’s always the same left speaker in a stereo pair. So weird. 

It’s probably even more embarrassing to Sonos. I’d bet that the vendor they purchased the Wi-Fi cards isn’t getting any further business. But as it isn’t a 100% failure rate, it’s hard to pull them all and replace them.

Despite your personal bad luck, my guesstimate is the failure rate is substantially lower than 1%, based on the number of posts here in the forums.

Here’s hoping the third one is a charm for you….but I’d also be tempted to put it on an electrical filtering device, on the offhand chance that you’ve got voltage fluctuations that are affecting it more than normal. 

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I put one of there or better on all my Sonos gear, Arizona power is not kind to electronics and I’m too old and slow to run around unplugging everything at every boom of thunder.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009K79U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

1080 joules mean maximum protection for your equipment. Conforms to current UL 1449 3rd Edition safety standards.

I’d also be tempted to put it on an electrical filtering device, on the offhand chance that you’ve got voltage fluctuations that are affecting it more than normal. 


I do have a line-in connected to the Play 5 with the bad wifi card. It’s my turntable, which has a separate preamp and its own power source. Could the preamp be sending power surges into the speaker via the 1/8” port? Is that even possible, and could it have anything to do with the Wi-Fi card that failed?
 

Seems pretty unlikely to me. I’d rather not have to connect and disconnect the line-in every time I want to use the turntable...

I wouldn’t think that there’s enough power fluctuation in the line in to affect a WiFi card. After all, an analog line in is all about power fluctuations. In my mind, the potential for this issue comes from the wall plug, or ‘mains’ as some call it. Dirty power coming in from the street has caused issues in many an electronic device. 

In my mind, the potential for this issue comes from the wall plug, or ‘mains’ as some call it. Dirty power coming in from the street has caused issues in many an electronic device. 

 
I’ve got the Play 5s connected to a surge protector. Shouldn’t that do the trick?

Sometimes, yes, sometimes no. I’ve frequently read stories about those power filtering and surge suppressing devices degrading in efficiency over time. And, it’s possible that a power fluctuation may not be the cause of this. It could be a contributing factor in some cases, but may not in others. That’s why I’ve used words such as ‘potential’ and ‘offhand chance’. It could be any of several other issues, I really don’t know. That’s why you should contact Sonos Support directly to discuss it.

I usually suggest the phone folks, they have more tools available because they're on the phone with you, but they are available Monday through Friday during business hours. The Twitter support folks are available 24/7.

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After getting in touch with Sonos customer care and submitting a diagnostics report (1307359301) which confirmed a faulty wireless card in my Left Sonos P5 Gen2, the customer care team advised they would replace the unit. No mention of any cost to me at this point I might add, which made me think it must be an existing issue. I’ve now received the RMA which states out of warranty, so a fee of £340 is required to replace the unit. Figured I’d check here to find several posts relating to faulty wireless cards which demonstrates it’s a known issue. As confirmed my speakers are out of warranty (approx 2 years old) but after shelling out £1000 for a pair, I would expect products that reliably perform for >5 years and a far better response for what is clearly a known issue, and that Sonos would look after its loyal customers (Previously had 2 Play 3’s) far better. Very disappointed and will quite frankly take my business elsewhere in the future. 

Hi Sonos,  

reading this string I get exactly the same issue with my Sonos 5 (2nd gen). I cannot see on app . When I hard wire through router I see it but it still cannot create a WiFi or join existing. It really is frustrating. Please can you help.

 

thanks in advance for your support.

 

David

 

Has this speaker worked wirelessly for you in the past?

What other Sonos equipment do you have?

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Hi David, I would recommend getting in touch with tech support and requesting a diagnostics check. This will confirm the root of the issue and they should be able to advise the best course of action from there. 
 

 

Hi Richard. I contacted Sonos weeks ago but no acknowledgement or response.  Everything was working fine… well not really fine since I hate this two tier ecosystem Sonos have forced upon their consumers which only punishes early and loyal customers to have a substandard product…. but this sonos 5 2nd Gen was my last purchase and the first to fail.  I will try again but thanks for the advise.

 

 

Just happened to me one week ago on my Play:5. Diagnostics # 450583405

Contacted support and they’re supposed to send me info for a replacement soon. Let’s see how much this is going to cost me.

Quite unfortunately, this may cause me to rethink my entire home sound setup. I was actually in the process of expanding to include a few more units, like an Arc and Sub paired to an HD projector (currently running a connect:amp) a few One’s spread around the house and a mid range unit (perhaps a 3) for the master suite. But together with a previous replacement needed on the connect unit and now this, which I’m guessing will be costly, I am inclined to go the opposite direction, sell all units and move on to a different manufacturer. Could be labeled as an emotional reaction to an infrequent issue but costumer confidence is affected by such events. No one likes the threat of having to deal with such issues every other year. We buy decent sound systems expecting not to have problems for at least 10 years. Older systems would last never less than 20 years - still have an old technics setup playing as if it was purchased today, never a problem whatsoever in the almost 30 years I have owned it. Yeah, tech got more complex but still. There’s enough competition out there to at least give costumers the possibility to try something else.

Hi Support Team & Everyone

,

The wireless connection is broken for one of my Play:5 Gen 2.

I turned off all sonos devices except for the Playbase and the problematic Play:5 (connected with ethernet cable).

Your confirmation number is: 340369900.

Please let me know what are the next steps! TY!