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Google Nest Mini gen 2 keeps saying "Sorry, I can't change the volume from this device"

Suzique
Community Member

Everything has been working fine for ages, now I'm asking Google to change the volume and it says...
"sorry, I can't change the volume on this device". 
 I've gone through my Google Home settings and I can adjust the volume within that.  I can also adjust the volume when I tap on the speaker....but it won't obey commands.
It is set up in Stereo with another Nest Mini....and that works fine.
If I ask other things, eg time, weather...it's fine.  If I ask it to turn on/off the light...it's fine.

1 Recommended Answer

JillG
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

I know that most of you will have already seen our Community's Blog post about the speaker volume here Upcoming Speaker Group changes - Google Nest Community 

I will check to see if we can get this link put near the top or pinned so everybody is informed.  

Updated: directed to select as solution and that is the only way to keep it at the top.

View Recommended Answer in original post

318 REPLIES 318

Withdrawnmist
Community Member

Me too. Soooo annoying !

Migorino
Community Member

This has probably already been posted as an answer: if you have a speaker group, delete it, and then join the speakers again. I am able to control volume with my voice again. We shall see if it continues to work. 

I deleted the pair and reset them to factory default. Set them up again, paired them and the volume control via voice command worked for a bit but then failed to work the next day.

 

So I did the same thing again unpairing and factory resetting them again, pairing and the volume control via voice still doesn’t work.

Suzique
Community Member

Further update....my stereo pair of Nest Minis have been working ok for a little now...off and on!! However....not this morning.  My issue seems to occur whenever I am streaming music from I HEART RADIO.    My work around is to stop the streaming, I can then adjust the volume, and then restart the stream.    

I too experienced another brief period of my paired Minis responding to voice volume commands, as well as the Home app showing accurately what was playing where. Unfortunately, as has become usual it did not last. 

 

While the Home app seems to be more stable, other things have changed and voice volume changes are back to not working.

 

Oddly enough, I'm no longer hearing the "I'm sorry..." response. Instead, I see the LEDs cycle and nothing happens when I'm streaming any music, radio or news.

 

To adjust volume while streaming I tell my pair to pause, give my voice volume command and follow with resume. It works but it's a pita and disrupts my enjoyment of whatever I'm listening to.

 

Another change in behavior I've noticed is that Assistant is no longer confirming changes like light adjustment or devices on/off, at least most of the time.

 

It is my understanding that the intended behavior is if you are in the same room as the device you are changing Assistant should at most offer a chime with no spoken response. However, since initial setup of Minis in early December, until the past day or two I had always been met with spoken confirmation of any status change following my command (ie "ok, turning fan off" etc). I much prefer silent or chime change confirmation vs spoken so I hope this behavior stays as is.

 

Still hard to understand what Google is thinking with no official response. At least some customers contacting support are now being told that this is a known issue and that it is being worked on.

 

Ah well... Happy New Year folks

 

-- list

@FixSpkrPairVol 
This....."Oddly enough, I'm no longer hearing the "I'm sorry..." response. Instead, I see the LEDs cycle and nothing happens when I'm streaming any music, radio or news."
I often get that...for all sorts of situations.  I have a "goodnight" routine where Google asks me if I want an alarm for tomorrow, but sometimes there are no words....just lights and a pause.  But I know she's thinking it!!  I'm finding that words are often dropping out.

LeoS
Community Member

A great 2022 to everyone!

The volume issue may have been solved. I'm now able to set the volume by voice control. Keep my fingers crossed that this is the result of the promised fix and that it will stay working. 

Suzique
Community Member

It seems to do that and just when you think it's resolved, it happens again.  Mine was fine for a few days....on a number of occasions. It was ok yesterday, dodgy this morning, working again now.  Let us know how it goes over the next couple of days.

LeoS
Community Member

The volume voice control stopped working during the day. However, it was up again this morning at first use. We'll see how long this will last.

nickp001
Community Member

Still no luck for me here in California.

Kadven
Silver Product Expert
Silver Product Expert

I have found that there are a number of things that sometimes work, but only temporarily.

Such things include:

1. Unpairing and repairing.

2. Factory reset (bit drastic)

3. Stopping and restart playing.

4. Stating ' hey goggle play (whatever) on this device'.

5. Sometimes just starts working when first used that day.

6. Transfer to different group and then back again.

In every case though the problem is not 'permanent' and seems to resolve around the fact that when asking google to increase/decrease volume the error response comes when it thinks you are not talking to the device that is actually playing.

What we really need is for somebody at 'Google' to actually come on this forum acknowledge there is a problem and give us an update as to what if anything they are doing about it.

 

LeoS
Community Member

I have found that, in my case, voice control of the volume only works at first use that day. Now three consecutive days.

Timelydf
Community Member

I have the same problem after pairing new speakers today. Crickets chirping. I think I'll return for a refund.

ronw
Community Member

I think it has been fixed as it no longer does that. It might be worth turning off the pair and then turn them on again and see if that helps. I always have my phone handy and at the worst you can use the Home app to change the volume.

Timelydf
Community Member

Thanks for the reply. I have tried rebooting the speakers, but the problem persists. Has Google stated that they have fixed the problem? 

ronw
Community Member

I saw a note to say they were aware of the problem and would fix it. Since then I have had no problems. But they would roll the fix out in small portions just to make sure nothing else goes wrong. I am in New Zealand so maybe I got it first not sure.

Interesting... @ronw where did you see this note?

 

My Home is back to spoken conf for same room changes, I'm getting "I'm sorry..." for volume changes again, transfers fail, Chromecast now disrupts voice volume changes on speakers, and speaker groups are disappearing from the Home app.

 

No changes from the user side for several days, yet day to day I go from various functions working in random combinations of this way, that way, and not at all. 

 

feel like I'm Alpha testing pre-release product. 

 

I've used quite a bit of pre-release hardware and software in my time. Never have I seen this kind of crazy behavior from post-beta released product, even from smaller companies.

 

Shame on Google for fooling around like this.

It was on a google site somewhere just saying they were aware and working on it. It may well be that Covid  etc has delayed any fix. I am not sure about Chromecast as I rarely use it.  I have Google Speakers n every room and a paired speaker in bedroom. I noticed the problems re changing volume early on but managed to work with the Home app to reduce or increase volume.  That worked OK and when someone else on this forum said theirs was working I tested it and it was back to normal. It may also have something to do with the model of speaker as their are several different models. 

DS3
Community Member

I've had no success either but if you ask Google to  "pause", then ask to change the volume to (up/down, number or %), then ask it to 'play' it does get around the need to get up and do it manually... Three steps instead of one sadly.. 

DS3
Community Member

Not sure if this relates to the volume of recent comments here but after weeks of irritation this is now working for me today!  

TumbaCasa
Community Member

It does work! by pausing and then commanding the volume. Thanks for sharing

RS_SW
Community Member

It also 'works', for example, with my paired Nest minis by saying "hey Google, volume 7 home" i.e. add "home" on the end.

This isn't how it's supposed to work though...we shouldn't have to pause or add additional information? It's not how it worked before.

Still no response here from Google... disappointing...

DS3
Community Member

I spoke too soon... Worked on a couple of occasions then back to error/apology... Reverting back to "Pause, Change Vol, Play" 😞 

Suzique
Community Member

That's me too....works for a while and then nothing.  I have a feeling it is something to do with streaming music via an app.  If I'm not streaming, Google behaves well every time.  If I am streaming, sometimes it works, sometimes not.  Weirdly, it may work for the first few attempts in the morning and then refuse.  I feel like I've been given a few free tickets daily to adjust the volume and then nothing.
The other thing I have noticed, is when I run my "Good night" routine....one of the questions is "what time for your alarm tomorrow"...but often Google doesn't say it out loud...I know when to expect the question and I can respond, but no idea why the words are missing sometimes.

 

TumbaCasa
Community Member

Hi, Happy new year to you all! I just got my nest audio for Christmas. Loooove the speakers but I am having the same frustrating error message when I commend google to turn up the music and saying "can't turn it up >(  it's frustrating when you are up on the roof and can't get to the speaker to turn it up or down. smh.

ScottElsworthy
Community Member

Does make you wonder about the reliability of their other products and services if they cannot fix a critical bug within three weeks. I am glad I do not trust Google with anything that needs to be secure.

 

RichardS
Community Member

I am also experiencing this problem. 

Foaric
Community Member

Also having this problem adjusting the volume on a speaker group (not a stereo pair). Full factory reset and deletion/recreation of the group did not help). Very frustrating.

RafikiHome
Community Member

Have the same problem. Cant adjust volume of Groups or individual speakers by voice an in routines. Can (sometimes) change it in App.

 

Currently looking into how to replace 9+ existing and another 6 planned Google devices to another more reliable technology / supplier.

 

Suggestions are welcome. Alexa ? Sonos ?

 

BertBri
Community Member

This issue exists only with speaker groups, individual speaker devices still respond.

I use the next workaround for now. I created a routine in the Google Home app in which for all individual speaker devices the volume is adjusted is the same way.

works fine for me now.

For more this only works for individual speakers in a group but not for a stereo speaker pair that is part of a speaker group. I couldn't find a way to change volume for stereo speaker pair via voice command.

R-J
Community Member

Google doesn't test crap - between my Pixel 6 and home devices breaking down I'm getting pretty fed up.  Any chance children can use YouTube music yet? I regret buying into the Google ecosystem. They never listen to the community and just keep pushing me products.

Skinz
Community Member

Here is hoping there will be a more formal response from Google… but in the meantime thanks to @DS3 for a way to do it by voice.

In the meantime, voice up/down works, sometimes, so fingers crossed there is a resolution on the way - after all it used to be fine!

 

Shaharco99
Community Member

Is ther going to be an update or just work arounds?

Withdrawnmist
Community Member

This is ludicrous !.....adjusting the volume easily and without fault is a fundamental action that should work flawlessly. It makes my smart speakers very dumb !!!

 

Google should compensate everyone on this thread with £1000000 ($1350000) to say sorry and keep us happy !!!!😁

nickp001
Community Member

I think it might be fixed for me.  I went into the app today and noticed some weird things with my speaker pairs and groups.  So I deleted and recreated my pairs and groups, and now it appears to be working for the first time in at least 2 months.  I'll keep you posted.

Update:  I'm still seeing some strange functionality.  Now Google thinks my nest audio speakers are displays and when I say "stop bedroom speakers" it keeps telling me that my video devices aren't connected to the internet.

Update 2:  I worked on it most of the day and I don't really know if I'm any better off.  I removed all my speaker groups and pairs, factory reset all of my Google Home speakers and displays and then painstakingly added each device back in the app.  I created just one speaker pair, tested successfully and then created a group.  Again, it tested successfully.  For the time being, it seems that I can control the volume on pairs and groups with voice, routines and with the app, but things are still wonky.  I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm done messing with it for today.  It's a pain in the ass and it doesn't help that my Nest WiFi keeps dropping it's connections.  Turns out Nest Wifi has known connectivity issues that Google claims to be aware of and working on as well.  This seems to be a familiar story across the board for Nest products.  I'll play with it more tomorrow and update again.

RS_SW
Community Member

For the past couple of weeks with my paired Nest minis, I have been able to use a work round by saying "hey Google, volume 7 home" i.e. add "home" on the end.

Today (Thursday 6 Jan), this no longer works! So, there are obvious changes happening (what changes?) but things are getting worse! I have tried unpairing / pairing to no avail.

Come on Google, please communicate with us.

SamInPgh
Community Member

 

Again...  it's not a bug and it won't be magically fixed by rebooting, resetting, or re-anything (except maybe returning). Check your Nest Mini firmware version. If it starts with 1.54 (as in 1.54.277099), you will continue to have these problems and more. If it starts with 1.56 (as in 1.56.264660), you will not have these problems because you will be running with the firmware that the courts have ruled infringes on the Sonos patents. Google was forced to recall the 1.56 firmware two months ago and replace it with their own buggy 1.54 version. Look at this Google document purportedly showing the current firmware versions for all their products: 

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7365257?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid

Now read this article:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/29/21492671/sonos-google-patents-infringement-lawsuit-wireless-audio

"The patents in Sonos’ first lawsuit covered the foundations of wireless audio systems: setup, playing in sync, creating stereo pairs."

Is it starting to make sense?

LJD
Community Member

Sounds logical. Except my minis are still 1.56+ and my audio is 1.54, and randomly they flip as to which will respond to voice volume commands (ie: one day the Audio will, one mini won’t, another mini will… another day the Minis won’t or will… or “all speakers” will or won’t.  no pattern that i can discern yet).

SamInPgh
Community Member

Interesting. I wish there was a way to manually update the firmware version. Mine are on v1.54 with the Preview program "On".  Are your Minis Gen 2? If so, are they on the Preview program? My Gen2's were working flawlessly for 3 months on the v1.56 firmware before inexplicably being back-leveled to v1.54 in November. Now they can't stay connected for more than an hour or so.