Soundtouch Presets not loading

[cmartinsf]

Bose product name

Wave III Soundtouch

Country

USA

Detailed description of the issue and steps to reproduce

After updating system OS, and now smartphone (iphone) Soundtouch app, none of the presets work. I get messages like "Hmmm We can't play that now. Please try again later."

What to do now? Anyone have the same problems? Any solutions? Why was it working fine before the update and now zilch.

Once again, after an update, everything goes kablooey with Bose. I can't for the life of me understand how Bose maintains a reputation with a product like Soundtouch. Every single update is an example of poor design and execution and now ... no support.

Where do you run into the issue?

When did you start to experience the issue? Did it work correctly previously?

Any troubleshooting steps you took

[Charlotte_G]

Hey @cmartinsf, thanks for posting!

Sorry that you're experiencing problems with the presets on your Wave III SoundTouch. I'd love to help with this.

Please reset the speaker by removing the power for 30 seconds to start with. Have you tried adding the presets again?

Let me know how you get on with this.

[cmartinsf]

Thank you Charlotte, I'm glad you want to help, because I'm often very frustrated with this speaker. You asked if I've unplugged and replugged the power - all the time. Sometimes I can go a few weeks without any problem but invariably, the radio acts up, Soundtouch can't connect or drops connection, or there's a software update that just up ends everything.

Even now, without any reason, one station plays fine, but another just can't stay selected. I'm not technical in the slightest but if I had to guess, I would say the most fundamental issue with this appliance is its cache management. After awhile it just tops out and then I have to reset or re-add stations. This has been going on for five years.

Would be awesome if you had a silver bullet. Or even just a clove of garlic

Thanks

~Chris

[Vicky_W]

Hey Chris, I am sure we can get this fixed. Let's factory reset the speaker. It will clear all stored presets and allow us to start again from scratch. After this, let's set them up again. In the unlikely event this issue persists, let's try the troubleshooting here. 

Let me know how this goes! 

[cmartinsf]

Thanks - I'll try the factory reset and let you know.

[cmartinsf]

This is many weeks late -- or weeks in the making -- but I have to reply. Factory resets did not work. Resets did not work. Unplugging and plugging in did not. Even at this very minute, the preset I'm listening to halts, reloads, plays, several seconds pass then halts, reloads, plays. Every new update this gets worse and worse. I really hope there's a magic solution to this. This unit cost a lot of money and has never consistently played satisfactorily.

Thank you for your help

[Vicky_W]

@cmartinsf, I am sorry to hear this. Did you have a chance to try the additional troubleshooting in my post? If so, can you please let me know what happened with each of the steps? Also, have you tried rebooting your router, this can be done by unplugging it, waiting 5 minutes and then plugging it back in. 

[cmartinsf]

Hi, yes I did try the additional suggestions. The presets themselves aren't really the issue, its more of the radio actually holding the signal from the router, which I also rebooted (a couple of times). The router itself is admittedly old, but frankly I have no issues when I'm streaming movies or shows or have multiple other devices accessing it at the same time. However, when the Bose comes on, just by itself, it sputters and drops signal. Incessantly. While it's never been very consistent and often has required far more resetting than any other device I own, the dropping of signals (followed by "loading preset" ) comes far oftener since the last update, whenever that was. It really seems like the Bose now needs a fatter, even direct, signal than ever before

[Keith_L]

Thanks for clarifying that cmartinsf!

From how you are describing this, it does sound like the issue is being caused by a problem with either the speaker's connection to the router, or its communication through the router. As such, the first thing I would recommend checking is whether there is anything that could be interfering with the Wi-Fi signal between the router and the speaker. To determine whether there is any interference I do have a few questions that will help!

Where is your Wave placed in relation to the router? Roughly how far away, and are there any obstacles between the two? If you move the Wave to another location closer to the router, do you still have the same sputtering or drops?

Do you have any other wireless devices near your wave? Other wireless signals at a similar frequency to the Wi-Fi signal can interfere with the connection. The most devices that can cause this kind of interference from my experience are things like wireless printers, cordless phone bases, and microwaves, but any wireless device could potentially interfere. If your Wave is next to any wireless devices, try disconnecting them from power and see if the streaming on the Wave improves. If it does, plug the devices back in one by one until you find the source of the interference, then move either the source of the interference or the Wave to stop the interference.

Let me know how you get on with these tests!

[TrainerDebby]

I am having a similar issue after the latest update.  I have 2 Soundtouch 10's and when I try to tune into either IHeartRadio or SiriusXM on my presets, it will try to load for a long time and then say the service is not available.  But if I push other presets that are set to TuneIn channels or my Amazon music library, it will work fine.  I'm using the physical remote, and if it just keep trying to tune either the IHeartRadio or SiriusXM channel, eventually it will finally play.  I have already reset my router once, it has made no difference.  Any help is appreciated, as this is very annoying.  Thanks!