How to Fix Alexa Lights up But Wont Respond Issues?

Amazon Alexa makes your Echo speaker a useful smart home appliance. It becomes very frustrating if your Alexa fails to work the way it should. You may face that Alexa is ignoring your voice commands and is not responding the way it should

The device will acknowledge you and the light will also turn on but it won't respond to your command. If this happens, then below mentioned are some of the solutions that you can apply to make your Alexa work.

Alexa doesn't Understand You

One of the common problems that people face is that Alexa fails to understand your command. The status light turns on and Alexa listens to your speech but does not give a response to it. In such a case, you can try giving the same command one more time.

You can also try speaking more closely and clearly near the speaker. In case you are still encountering this problem, then launch the Alexa app on your smartphone and then go to the bottom right corner and then finally select More.

After that, select Activity and then go to the top of your page and choose voice history by going to the top of the page. Take a look at the most recent entry, there you will see "Audio could not be understood.

Alexa Lights up But Wont Respond Issues

Another Alexa Device Processed Your Speech

In case you have two Alexa devices kept close to each other, then there is a chance both of them will not give a response to your request. One of the devices will decide that it wasn't the intended device and ignore you.

In some cases, you will see the Alexa speaker light glowing up but your Echo device in the other room will respond to your request. In such a case, move close to Alexa and then try speaking to it once again. You can also try looking directly at it while speaking to it.

If you wish to check whether the speaker ignored you because another device responded, then launch the Alexa app on your smartphone and then select the More option given at the lower-right corner.

Select Activity and then select the option of Voice History given at the top of the page. After that, check the last entry, you will see "audio was not intended for this device" in the search results.

Alexa Requires a System Update

There is a chance that you are encountering this problem because your Alexa device needs a system update. Generally, the displays and speakers update on their own. However, you can force-check and run an update if required.

All you have to say is "Alexa, check fr a software update". Once Alexa finds the update, it will continue with it.

Check the Microphone Mute Button First

Before trying anything else, look at the top of your Echo device for a red light ring or a red indicator on the microphone button. If you see red, the microphone has been muted by pressing the microphone off button. When the mic is muted, Alexa can still light up in response to sounds but it cannot actually hear or process anything you say. Simply press the microphone button once to unmute it. The red light will turn off and the device will go back to its normal blue ring when listening. This is the number one reason Alexa lights up but does not respond, and it gets accidentally pressed more often than you would think, especially if the device is in a spot where things get placed on top of it.