Is My Amazon Echo Dead, Or Did It Just Stop Working?

Amazon Echo is one of the most widely used smart speakers in the United States. It has more than 70 percent of the market share and is adored by customers worldwide. But like any other electronic device, it is also prone to malfunctioning. You might come across an issue of Amazon Echo not responding to your voice. Does that mean your Amazon Echo is dead?

Not necessarily. There are multiple reasons why your Amazon Echo might not work. For instance, if it fails to connect to the internet, or the signal gets jammed, then the smart speaker won’t respond to your voice. Of course, your Amazon Echo can die as well, but the possibility of that is very slim.

In this article, I will extensively discuss the various fixable errors that may prevent Amazon Echo from responding to you and make you think your amazon echo is dead. If you’ve faced this situation, I strongly suggest you read the whole article so that your smart speaker can be patched and used again.

Reasons Why Amazon Echo Might Stop Working (With Solution)

There could be a variety of reasons why your smart speaker is not responding to your voice. Some of the most common reasons are given below:

Amazon Echo is not Connected to Your WIFI

Failing to connect with your WIFI is one of the most common reasons behind the unresponsive behavior of Amazon Echo. If you call out for Alexa and it does not respond, monitor the color of the light on the top of the device. You will see an orange color circling if your smart speaker is in the process of connecting with your WIFI.

Amazon Echo will try to connect with your network for around 3 minutes. If you spot a purple light flashing like a pendulum that is the indication of your smart speaker being offline. It might fail to connect with your WIFI for various reasons. An error might occur while the network setup process which is preventing your device from being connected.

Here’s what you can do –

• You first need to verify if your internet works. Contact your ISP if you are facing network issues. Even if your internet is working, check if it is stable. Some of the customer reviews indicate that Amazon Echo malfunctions if the internet connection is weak or inconsistent.
• If your smart speaker is unresponsive even after having a stable internet connection then restart your router or WIFI. Sometimes rebooting your networking devices resolves the issues of connectivity.
• If your Amazon Echo is far away from your WIFI router, then it might become unresponsive. Always try to place the device near the router or modem.
• If you are trying to log in with the wrong WIFI password, then your device might get unresponsive. And, after several failed attempts, the safety protocol of the software might lock you out. So, be very wary while typing the password of your WIFI or modem.
• If WIFI congestion is high, your smart speaker might not respond. Turn off some of the devices that might use the internet data and then try again.
• If all of the attempts fail, then you can reset your device back to its factory settings using the app and try again. In most cases, that should do the trick.

Amazon Echo is Muted

If you are using a smart speaker for the first time, then you might not know that you can disable all the connections with the device using the mute switch.

Observe the color of the light on the top of the speaker. If it is red, that means the speaker is muted. Simply unmute it using the specified button or you can also do it using a voice command.

If you are too far away from the smart speaker, then it might not respond appropriately. Try to maintain the minimum distance before using the voice command feature of the device.

Not Connecting Amazon Echo and Smartphone to the Same Network

You need a smartphone to use the Alexa app for setting up your Amazon Echo device. This is also needed to use the voice assisted calling feature. For this, your smartphone needs to be on the same network as the Echo.

If your smartphone is connected to a different network, Amazon Echo will fail to set up. And if it’s already set up then it will not respond to your call. Even if you connect your mobile to a different WIFI router but on the same network, the smart speaker will remain unresponsive.

You need to make sure both your smartphone and the Amazon Echo speaker are connected to the same network and same router.

Unclear Voice Command

Sometimes, the smart speaker mishears you and fails to perform accordingly. You can go to the history section of the app and read what Alexa has heard. Try to use a clear voice and small dedicated sentences while using the voice command option to get the best result.

If your device mishears you every time that might mean dust has been building inside your smart speaker, and that is altering the frequency of the sound it receives. In such cases, all you can do is to take it for repair.

Sometimes, the smart speaker cannot identify the dedicated word which is supposed to wake it up. There could be various causes behind it. One of the most common reasons for this issue is, the frequency of your voice might be untraceable for the device.

There is a very easy solution to this problem. Using the app, simply change the wake word of the smart speaker. If the untraceable frequency is the issue, then this will surely fix the issue.

Reboot the Amazon Echo

If your Amazon Echo is not responding and you cannot identify the problem, then the best thing you could do is to reboot the device and it might start working again. If all else fails you can also completely reset your Amazon Echo

Sometimes with Amazon Echo, internal technical issues occur and it can only be resolved by restarting the whole device. If the smart speaker is still unresponsive or misbehaving after reboot, then take it out to repair.

Should You Turn off Amazon Echo at Night?

It is very rare for Amazon Echo to completely die. But if a power outage occurs at your home, then there is a slim possibility that your device might face some sort of short circuit and it may completely lose all of its functionality. Some of the users claimed that their smart speakers also died during a heavy thunderstorm.

The uneven flow of electricity is the main reason behind a short circuit. So, using a voltage stabilizer is the best way to prevent such situations. 

For staying completely risk-free, it is wise to turn off the device when you go to sleep or when you will not use it. Try to set the smart speaker away from the window to reduce the possibility of the device being affected by a thunderstorm.

Conclusion

As you can see, the unresponsive behavior of your Amazon Echo doesn't not mean it's dead. In this article, I have listed some of the fundamental issues that could cause the Amazon Echo to stop working properly and discussed their fixes that you can try before deciding that your Amazon Echo is dead.

It is highly unlikely that your Amazon Echo has died completely. But even after applying all the fixes, if the smart speaker stays unresponsive, then you should use your warranty (if available) for its repair or replacement. Hopefully, if you’ve read through the whole article, you will now be able to fix the device yourself.