SONOS Roam has two LED indicators, both on the front panel. One is at the top (operation or status LED), and the other is at the bottom (battery LED). During normal operation, the upper LED will be either white (connected to Wi-Fi) or blue (connected to a Bluetooth source). The bottom LED will not be visible if your SONOS Roam has enough battery or if it’s fully charged.
Each of these two LED indicators may flash orange at some point. Depending on the LED, this orange flashing light on your SONOS Roam could indicate different things.
In this post, I will list all the potential reasons why your SONOS Roam is flashing orange, and suggest some fixes to help you make the orange light go away.
Why Do I See This Flashing Orange Light on My SONOS Roam?
As explained in the introduction, depending on the LED (upper or lower LED), the flashing orange light indicates different things.
SONOS Roam Status LED Flashing Orange
If the upper LED light on your SONOS Roam is flashing orange, it could mean three things. First, it could mean that your speaker is trying to establish a connection, which is a normal thing and should not last long. It could also mean the speaker can’t communicate with the source device (phone, PC, NAS device), or there is nothing in the playback queue to be played. Finally, a flashing orange light on your SONOS Roam could mean the speaker is overheating.
The status LED will flash orange and white during the update, after the reset, or to indicate some kind of error.
If the LED on your SONOS Roam is solid orange (not flashing), it could either mean that your speaker can’t complete the setup process for some reason or, if it’s already set up, it could mean that your speaker is overheating.
SONOS Speaker Orange LED Behaviors and Their Meanings (source – SONOS)
SONOS Roam Battery LED Flashing Orange
This one is much easier to troubleshoot than the flashing orange status light. If the battery LED is flashing orange, it means the battery is low (below 15%). It just needs to be recharged. When you connect the charger, the LED will turn solid orange. It should disappear when the battery is full.
Battery LED Indicators and Their Meanings
SONOS Roam LED Lights Explained
How Do I Make the Flashing Orange Light Go Away?
Depending on which of two LEDs (status or battery LED) is flashing orange, you will have to do different things to make it disappear.
Troubleshooting the battery LED is much easier than troubleshooting the status LED, so let’s do that first.
Charge Your SONOS Roam?
If the battery LED light on your SONOS Roam is flashing orange, it’s a sign that your battery level is below 15% and you need to charge your SONOS Roam.
When the lower LED (battery LED) on your SONOS Roam is flashing orange, you need to charge the speaker.
To charge it, you can use a USB-C cable and a 10W charger. You can also buy the SONOS Roam Wireless charger or some other compatible QI wireless charger.
Once you connect the charger, the LED will become solid orange. This means the speaker is charging. The light will go away when the speaker is fully charged.
Two Ways to Charge SONOS Roam
If the status LED on your SONOS Roam is flashing orange, it could mean a few different things. Because of this, troubleshooting the status LED flashing orange is a bit more complicated. Below, you have some basic troubleshooting steps.
Give Your Speaker Some Time
A flashing orange light during the setup may indicate that your speaker is trying to establish a connection. This is perfectly normal behavior and shouldn’t last too long. Give your speaker some time (a minute or two), and the orange flashing LED may disappear on its own.
Your SONOS Roam is maybe trying to establish a connection – give it some time and see what happens.
Reboot SONOS Roam
This is one of the most basic troubleshooting procedures. You need to turn off your speaker, wait for a minute, and turn it on.
To turn off your SONOS Roam, locate the power button on the back (right above the USB-C charging port) and press it until you hear a chime. It should take less than 5 seconds.
Press the POWER button for 5 seconds to power it off. Then, press it shortly to power it on.
If you press it for 1 second, the speaker will go to standby mode, which is not the same thing as turning it off.
To turn the speaker back on, press the power button shortly.
Play Something from the SONOS App
If you press the play/pause button on your SONOS Roam trying to play something from the last connected source, your SONOS Roam will flash orange shortly if there’s nothing to play.
This could happen if the track was deleted or moved to a different folder but still present in the playlist. It could also happen if you have reached the end of the playlist.
To fix this issue, open the SONOS app, select a different source, or add a new playlist.
Move Your SONOS Roam to a Cooler Location
Flashing orange light on a SONOS Roam could indicate the speaker is too hot. If you leave it turned on for too long, you could cause serious (even irreparable) damage to the internal components.
Move your speaker to a cooler location, and don’t expose it to direct sunlight to avoid overheating in the future.
Move the speaker to a cooler location
Check Your Internet Connection
If you still see the flashing orange light, even after moving the speaker to a cooler location and giving it some time to establish the connection, it’s time to check your Wi-Fi connection.
Try connecting your phone, your laptop, tablet, or some other device to see if you can access the internet. If everything is working fine, your Wi-Fi is not the problem.
If you can’t connect to Wi-Fi, this could be the source of your problem. Note that when your SONOS Roam is trying to connect to Wi-Fi, the LED should be flashing white, not orange.
To fix the issue with your Wi-Fi, you have two basic troubleshooting steps – restart the router or reset it. Let’s do the restart first.
Unplug the router from the outlet, leave it like that for a minute, and plug it back in. Wait for the router to boot up and try connecting to Wi-Fi. If it works, try turning the speaker back on and see if the flashing orange light is gone.
If you still can’t access the internet through Wi-Fi, try resetting the router. Find the reset button or pinhole, usually located on the back. If the button is inside the pinhole, use something thin (like a paper clip) to press it.
Reset your router by pressing the reset button until all the lights on the front start blinking.
Press the button until the LEDs on the front flash. Release it, wait for the router to reboot, and try connecting to Wi-Fi.
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Check Your Phone and SONOS App
It is possible that your SONOS Roam is having trouble communicating with your phone or the SONOS app. To eliminate this possibility, try troubleshooting your phone and the SONOS app.
SONOS Roam communicates with your phone (with the SONOS app) and other SONOS speakers through Wi-Fi. If only one link malfunctions (the SONOS app, phone, Wi-Fi, or speaker itself), it’s impossible for the speaker to establish a connection.
You could try using a completely different phone with a freshly installed app to see if this fixes your issue. If the flashing orange light goes away, the problem is either with your phone or the SONOS app.
To fix the communication issue between your phone and your SONOS Roam, try reinstalling the app. If that doesn’t help, try resetting your phone’s network settings. If even resetting network settings doesn’t help, reset the phone.
Reset SONOS Roam
If none of the fixes listed above don’t help with your issue and you still see this annoying flashing orange light on your SONOS Roam, it’s time to reset your speaker. Don’t worry, it’s not a complicated procedure. The only problem is that you have to configure your speaker afresh after resetting it. Let’s start.
First, turn off your SONOS Roam.
Now, long-press the PLAY/PAUSE button. Press the power button shortly while still holding the PLAY/PAUSE button. The speaker will power on. Don’t release the PLAY/PAUSE button.
Soon, the speaker will start flashing orange and white. When you see the flashing orange and white lights, you can release the PLAY/PAUSE button and wait for the reset process to complete.
You will know it’s time to configure the speaker when the LED on your SONOS Roam starts flashing green.
Resetting SONOS Roam
Now, the only thing left to do is configure the speaker. Open the SONOS app, and follow the on-screen instructions until you finish the setup process. Hopefully, this will make the flashing orange light go away.
Setting Up SONOS Roam
Contact SONOS Support
If none of the fixes listed above help, the only thing you can do is contact SONOS customer support. Tell them about your problem and all the troubleshooting methods you have already tried.
They may suggest additional troubleshooting steps or, if they can’t think of any, they will give you instructions on how to send the speaker for repair.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Question: How do I reboot my SONOS Roam?
- Answer: Long-press the power button for 5 seconds. You will hear a chime indicating that your speaker has been turned off. Pressing the power button shortly (for about 1 second) will only put it to sleep (standby mode). Don’t confuse these two states, as they are not the same.
- Question: How do I put SONOS Roam in pairing mode?
- Answer: You can’t put your SONOS Roam in pairing mode if it’s not been configured first. You have to set it up prior to connecting it to your phone and other devices via Bluetooth.
- After setting up your SONOS Roam, you can easily enable pairing mode by pressing the power button until the status LED starts flashing blue.
- Question: What is the red flashing light on SONOS Roam?
- Answer: Red flashing light means that your SONOS Roam was not configured 30 minutes after being powered on. Restart it, and start the setup process afresh.
- If the status LED is flashing red and white, your speaker failed to update. Restart it and try updating it again.
- If the battery LED is flashing red, your SONOS Roam is suffering from a fault condition. You need to contact SONOS support.
- Question: How do I reset my SONOS Roam WIFI?
- Answer: Turn the speaker off by long-pressing the power button for 5 seconds. Press the PLAY/PAUSE button and keep it pressed while turning on the speaker. Don’t release the PLAY/PAUSE button until the status LED starts flashing orange and white. Then, you can release the button. Wait for the status LED to start flashing green. Once you see the flashing green light, set up your speaker.
- Question: Why is my SONOS Roam not turning on?
- Answer: It could be because the battery is low or empty. Just charge the speaker and try turning it on.
- It could also be because the battery is damaged or dead. In this case, you can only try contacting SONOS support, and see if they can repair your speaker.
- Other potential causes include a damaged or unresponsive power button, a damaged charging port, and malfunctioning speaker firmware.
- Question: Can you pair a SONOS Roam without the app?
- Answer: Yes, you can. However, you need the app to set up your SONOS Roam before connecting it to any Bluetooth source. After setting up the speaker, you can pair it with any Bluetooth source without the app.
Wrap Up
SONOS Roam is a great portable smart speaker, but it’s still not foolproof. One of the common issues users experience with this speaker is the flashing orange light that won’t go away.
I hope this guide helped you figure out why your SONOS Roam is flashing orange and fix the issue on your own. If not, your last option is to contact SONOS support. Hopefully, they will find the solution that works for you.
