CR200: ghost in the machine

[oz390gta]

My controller seems to have been taken over by a ghost. My family was woken up last night with very loud music playing from one of the zones we have not used for a while. The culprit was our CR200, it was sitting in its dock randomly clicking away, it was even scrolling. It ended with a flat battery warning, powered down, then it would restart and do it all over again.

Any ideas how to stop it?

oz390gta

[buzz]

oz390gta,

Ultimately, you'll need to contact SONOS support and exchange the unit. In the meantime, perhaps you can go to the controllers advanced menu and turn the controller OFF. If this is not possible, quarantine the unit inside a metal enclosure until the battery runs down.

[Fred01]

Originally Posted by buzz

quarantine the unit inside a metal enclosure until the battery runs down.

Alternatively, you could just take the battery out

[Gyroscope]

Entertainingly, my CR200 has gone nuts.

The old one was replaced maybe a year ago when it developed dead spots on the touch screen.

All has been fine since then until the last couple of weeks when it has started waking up in the cradle for no obvious reason.

Last night it went full-on exorcist, with various items being selected, dipping in and out of menus, and eventually managing to start some music in the kitchen without anyone going near it. Really quite eerie to watch. It did this several times.

If you lift it out of the cradle it says that the battery is dead and shuts down immediately. If it is then put back in the cradle the orange light comes on solid, then after a couple of minutes the orange light flashes, it boots, and promptly goes mental again. The functions it selects seem to be predominantly in the bottom section of the screen - the current queue, and the clock, but this isn't exclusive.

This isn't someone controlling it remotely, or if it was they were busy at 9pm yeseterday, and sitting waiting for it to boot again at 7am today.

I'm sure people will say that I should contact Sonos support, but I'm wondering if anyone has seen this really quite bizarre behaviour before.

On a final note, I don't think I ever received any new proof of purchase (or replacement) the last time this unit was replaced. I also seem to remember that replaced CR200s had a 2 year warranty? Any hints as to whether there might be a chance of returning it under warranty after, say, 14 months or how I might go about this without any documentation?

Cheers,

/g

[ratty]

There have been sporadic reports of this behaviour:
http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=18354
http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=18735
http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=19331
http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=21874

Have a read of those threads, but it sounds like the CR may need a trip to the doctor.

[Gyroscope]

Wow - thanks for all the pointers.

FWIW I tried the old remove-the-battery gag, and that didn't seem to make any difference.

As you say, if I can find any documentation maybe I can return it under warranty again, but TBH I'm not sure I can even be bothered - we have plenty of iDevices in the house. Bit of a disappointment because the CR200 is exemplary when it works, but after two terminal failures it's starting to leave me cold.

Cheers,

/g

[Gyroscope]

I don't belieeeeeeeve it :-)

Found my old post detailing when I got the replacement CR200

http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.p...263#post107263

July 29th 2010

So basically the replacement upped and died 1 year and 2 days after it arrived - LOL - any ideas what the warranty period is on a replacement?

Cheers,

/g

[ratty]

You'd have to ask Sonos. Owners of CR200s from the original suspect batch were evidently emailed to notify them of a warranty extension. http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.p...554#post108554

[Gyroscope]

Thank you once again for the pointer. I may have received an e-mail - if I did then I will have filed it somewhere safe, if not I'll contact Sonos anyway, and if I get no joy there then the CR200 is going in the bin I'll post back with progress (or otherwise!)

Cheers,

/g

[Buegie]

Originally Posted by Gyroscope

Entertainingly, my CR200 has gone nuts.

Last night it went full-on exorcist, with various items being selected, dipping in and out of menus, and eventually managing to start some music in the kitchen without anyone going near it. Really quite eerie to watch. It did this several times.

If you lift it out of the cradle it says that the battery is dead and shuts down immediately. If it is then put back in the cradle the orange light comes on solid, then after a couple of minutes the orange light flashes, it boots, and promptly goes mental again. The functions it selects seem to be predominantly in the bottom section of the screen - the current queue, and the clock, but this isn't exclusive.

You're not nuts. I have the exact same thing happening with my Controller.

Interestingly, I have found that this behavior occurs only when I let the Controller go to full empty on the battery (so far). As long as we keep the battery charged, I have not (yet) noticed the 'ghosts' appear.

I believe that our Controller is of the batch that may have a small problem (based on its serial number). Since I purchased it in December of 2010, I have a bit more time to collect 'sightings' before I call Sonos for an 'exorcism'.

Comforting to see others with identical issues. At least it's not me... this time.

Best of Luck