Alexa and Q950T

[Wigbilly]

Hey

I’ve had a Q950T for a couple of months now  and a few minor issues aside it’s been great ... but I just can’t get Alexa to work. 

The bar is set up on my 2.4ghz network as is my TV to which the bar is connected by eARC. 

It is also registered to my Samsung account and shows on my SmartThings app. 

It also appears as a ‘device’ in my Alexa app.

So as I see it everything re: Alexa should work ... but it doesn’t.  

When I give the ‘Alexa’ command word the bar wakes up - the sound (of whatever is playing on the bar) drops and the bar gives the Alexa chime indicating it’s ready for a command.

At the same time 3 lights come on the front of the bar - one blue central light with a white light either side.

But when you give any command nothing happens. It’s like the bar does not ‘hear’ you. After 10 seconds the sound returns to normal levels but the 3 lights remain. 

This happens EVERY time anyone says ‘Alexa’

Is my bar broken or have I not set it up

correctly across SmartThings/Alexa app?

thanks 

[Wigbilly]

Bump

[Pavel Kolev]

Same here 😕

[Pavel Kolev · Accepted solution]

So after 2 days of struggle. Most likely you have made some changes either on the soundbar or the alexa app/account and it can't authenticate.

The smartthings app is broken and won't let you sign out of alexa.

Here are the steps I took to make it work:

1. Delete soundbar from SmartThings app

2. Delete soundbar from Alexa App

3. Deregister soundbar from Alexa App (this is different from deleting it - in the alexa app, in your devices list you should have 2 instances of the soundbar - one you can delete with the trash can icon on the top right (the one connected through smartthings) and the other one has way more settings like location, follow-on etc - you should deregister it

After those steps the soundbar should not exist in any of the apps

4. Factory Reset your soundbar

4.1. Turn the soundbar off 

4.2. Turn it on and immediately hold "-" and "+" until INIT is displayed.

5. Add the soundbar to the smartthings app

6. Follow the instructions - at some point you will be prompted to sign in into Alexa again.

Hope that helps

[Wigbilly]

Perfect - thanks. That worked for me!

[J19Q]

Same issue with Q950A, tried the above solution and Alexa still doesnt connect. Software issue I'd think, will reach out to the tech support. 

[Members_cJYusl3]

I spent over an hour with a Samsung Tech to try and resolve this issue for my Q950A.  We ended up resetting the Soundbar, TV, and Smartthings... Alexa still not working. It did once but I had to change my WiFi router. Samsung passed the buck and are blaming the new router, but Alexa works on my phone using WiFi... so I've given in and can't be bothered using so much of my time to try and resolve this.

[Melulup]

I also bought the soundbar for alexa, and it is as if I have been cheated.

[Members_26pdbOR]

I managed to get a new Samsung Q930C to connect through Samsung's "smartthings" App AND to activate Alex in the soundbar. After that, I could activate Alexa via the soundbar's own microphone, as well as playing content via other Alexa devices on the same WiFi network. 

Problem quickly arose. Whenever the Q930C's Alexa hears the wake-up word, it lowers the volume of whatever is playing on the surround sound system (as you'd expect). In my case, it did successfully perform the Alexa command, BUT the sound levels remained permanently muted.

Even after power-cycling the soundbar, sound levels remained muted by around 70%. Rear speakers playing Dolby 5.1 or Dolby Atmos only make a sound like tin tacks being dropped onto metal when they should have the sounds of machine-gun fire in a battle scene. 

Removing 1 of the 2 soundbar entries in the Alexa App has disabled Alexa in the soundbar, but I've yet to discover how to completely remove the Q930C from the Alexa App. (The "Solution" post doesn't give sufficient step-by-step instructions on how to do this.)

I've tried calling Samsung's (alleged) technical support people, at levels 0 (basic setup), level 1 (more technical), and level 2 (deep technical support). The senior "technical support" advisor's knowledge and abilities didn't really go beyond a factory reset of my connected Visual Display Unit, which has absolutely nothing to do with Sound nor Alexa! We spent another 2 hours on this nonsense, as he didn't understand that my TV/smart-streaming-device is an Amazon Fire TV Stick connected to HDMI IN, with "pass-through" of the pictures via HDMI OUT eARC, using an old Samsung 800-series TV just to display pictures with internal speakers off. 

All that Samsung's most advanced technical support managed to achieve is totally messing up the settings on the old TV which has absolutely nothing to do with Alexa nor the muted sound issue (as it has neither Alexa nor is it used to play sounds). Totally incompetent! 

Suggest that the Alexa implemented by Samsung on its Q-series soundbars has a significant design flaw. We should be issued with a partial refund.