Why is my Alexa showing a red ring?

YOUR Amazon Alexa device might glow red from time-to-time, seemingly out of nowhere.

But there’s several ways to fix it and make it go away.

1

Why is Alexa showing a red ring?

The so-called “red ring of death”, is really not a major problem.

But it may take a few attempts to sort it out.

According to Amazon, a solid red light on Alexa shows when the microphone on/off button is pressed.

The microphone button is located on the top of the Echo, which you can press to enable and disable the voice feature.

If the microphone has been disabled in this way, the button will also be lit up with a red light.

You can press it again to turn the microphone back on and make the red light go away.

But if you haven’t pressed the off button, and the red light persists, it still “means the device microphone is disconnected and Alexa is not listening.”

How do you fix a solid red ring on Alexa?

There are a handful of reasons why you’re Alexa may have turned rouge, without you manually disabling the microphone.

If you’ve already tried to press the microphone button back on, here are a few solutions:

Reset your device

You can restart any Echo device by unplugging it from the mains, waiting 20 seconds, and then plugging it in again.

But you can deregister the device using the Amazon Alexa app for iOS or Android to essentially do a factory reset.

Just follow these steps:

1. Open the Alexa app and select Devices on the bottom bar
2. Choose Echo & Alexa and select the name of your Echo device
3. Tap the Settings button (the gear icon) to see the device settings
4. Scroll down to Registered To, tap Deregister and confirm the action.

If you see an orange light, your command to reset has been accepted and the Alexa is going through the resetting process.

Once the orange light turns off and on, the device has reset and is in setup mode.

You can then go through the setup process like normal and your device should be back up and running again.

Update you device

Updating your device will make sure there its a software bug causing the issue.

Some glitches can cause your red light to come on for no reason.

Unlike when your microphone is working, you can’t simply say: “Alexa, update yourself”.

So, to update your device, follow these instructions:

1. Open the Alexa app and tap Devices
2. Go to Echo & Alexa and select your device
3. Tap the Settings button (the gear icon) and select About
4. If there is a software update available, it can be installed from here.

Connect Alexa to Wi-Fi

Alexa may display the red ring when it has trouble hearing your commands, for example, when your Wi-Fi connection is down or unstable.

Restart your router if you are having trouble, to see if this is the culprit.

What do the rings on Alexa mean?

The lights on your Echo device are how the device communicates its status.

If you’re confused in the moment, just ask Alexa: “What does your light mean?”

But here’s a comprehensive list of what colours may appear on your device, as outlined by Amazon:

• Blue: Your Alexa device is listening to or responding to a voice command.
• Yellow: You have a message, reminder, or notification alert. Read more on what it means when this light flashes here.
• Green: You are receiving a call or Drop In.
• Purple: Usually, this indicates Do Not Disturb mode.
• White: This signals volume changes or that Alexa Guard is switching to Away mode.
• Orange: Your device is in setup mode or trying to connect to the internet.
• Red: Alexa’s in-built microphones and/or a camera are deactivated. Or, it means that an Echo can’t access the internet

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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk