Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Generation Alexa Speaker (No Power & Blacklisted!) Can I Fix It?

In this video today, I have bought another faulty item from eBay and I'm going to try my best to fix it.
This one is an Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Gen. It turns out that Amazon are quite particular about the ownership of these things. Can I get it reactivated?!
Hope you enjoy.
Steve
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The magic things I use to break stuff;
My soldering iron: amzn.to/2Isf360
My leaded solder: amzn.to/3giGtI1
My flux: amzn.to/3lTrPIh
My soldering wick: amzn.to/3groIGn
My microscope: amzn.to/2VP3msU
My blue mat: amzn.to/3mUiIZl
My tweezers: amzn.to/2VOMjYc
My multimeter: amzn.to/2LjBgnN
My oscilloscope: amzn.to/3mUiIZl
My underpants: amzn.to/3gknvjY

[@hymlog]

....BEAUTIFUL FLASHING DOOR STOP ...ONE OF A KIND! ... IN ALL THE WORLD YOU ARE SO BLESSED TO HAVE SUCH A ITEM ....GIVE IT FIFTY YEARS AND SELL IT THEN RETIRE!

[@thepeopleschamp9076]

This is common with Amazon. I was sent an Echo Dot with a messed up powerbrick that would short out, they sent a replacement and told me to keep the original. The replacement worked fine. I decided to plug the new powerbrick into the old Echo and it turned on just fine. But I couldn't do anything because they deactivated the original Echo when they shipped the replacement. I was told I'd have to pay the full price of the original Echo and then they'd activate it. I just kept it for parts.

[@goku445]

Why would anyone buy these things in the first place. They should pay YOU to have it. You're the product with this. Don't expect any ethics for Amazon.

[@matthewsheeran]

There is a GUID in the firmware somewhere which can be changed..

[@shriyashdeshmukh9638]

My adapter make some sort of weird sounds and the alexa doesn't start as well

[@robba1234]

More landfill electronics, Well done Amazon, I understand the idea behind their position but it's definitely not the best to say something and then change their mind (bad practice) But if you watch the

[@OOOHBILLY]

That’s a steal of a deal!

[@theinstallerguy786]

Seems like the seller had a faulty power supply and then ordered a new one for the new psu and swapped it over and sold the unit to you.

[@mick0905]

Hmmmm. Gut it and stick one of the cheap bluetooth amps in there, or if you're feeling brave you can fit a Raspberry Pi zero W inside and turn it into a Google Home device.

[@StezStixFix]

That is an excellent suggestion! I do like the thought of sticking two fingers up to Amazon by converting it to Google Home... I'll have a look at both those options I think...

[@Deepsleeperbr]

I’d like to see that. It is a great idea

[@aakashjain1522]

I have amazon echo 3rd gen and a raspberry pi zero, but i don't know as how to connect rpi to echo speakers and turn it into google assistant.

[@dreamygloom]

I think it’s fair to pay the full price of the device but also I would get a refund from the seller.

[@mojoblues66]

Is it? These things cost 2€ to manufacture, and Amazon makes millions by spying on the users and selling off the private data. I think they should *pay* people money to use it. But OTOH there are enough dumbasses out there paying money to get spied upon, not only by Amazon, so why bother?

[@SmoothEmJay]

So, Amazon send out a faulty unit. Seller complains and gets a replacement, but isn't asked for the faulty one back. Amazon then mark the "faulty" one as "stolen"?? So that means if you get a replacement for anything made by Amazon, from Amazon, then you're a thief. Right?

[@rabbitslayer42]

If you keep it you're just a hoarder, if you try selling it you are basically selling something you don't legally own, so yes.

[@SmoothEmJay]

@@rabbitslayer42 I guess. Just a bit random to flag an item reported as "faulty" as "stolen". But I guess.

[@Xerkies]

I have 12v 1 amp power supply. Ive got it to turn on but i cant reset it and not even get it to the orange light

[@lukedorrington7455]

I've repaired one of these from ebay it had a faulty speaker, now after fitting a new speaker it does everything alexa should except if you play a song it cuts out after a few seconds, everything else works fine, it's confusing me this one

[@omijharjani]

disassemble it on the channel and try to reuse the speaker inside

[@oldguy8177able]

amazon absolute power corrupts absolutely

[@therg4545]

Can you tell me_ what is name of adapter slot

[@choppergirl]

All my 3rd Gen Echo Dots started going off line one by one over the course of a day or two to a rotating red ring of death. My 4th Gen's still work. I tried resetting them, connecting them to a different wifi point, changing the Wifi settings on my router, everything. If reset, they will say "Updating your device... I'll let you know when ready" and then loop forever. I suspect Amazon pushed a firmware update out htere for 3rd Gens that bricked everybody's 3rd Gen... can someone else confirm? They also updated their phone app to require Android 8; so I'm stuck, there is no upgrading further for me. I'm wondering if they didn't hire some daaaaft millenial programs because boy are they royally FFFFFFFing up with these two moves. The 3rd Gen Hockeypuck is the most popular ever and next to noone is going to have a phone with Android 8 yet... I bought 12 of these 3rd Gen Dots this year.. and this is... troubling.

[@choppergirl]

I figured out how to fix this, this is called the Orange Ring of Death, event hough its actually a rotating red opink ring. To fix it, yo have to do a hard reset which involves holding dow the Mute button and the Volume Down button for 20 seconds until she resets and says "She's now ready for Setup". Do this while the ring is rotating. Then once in this setup mode, it's just a matter of going through the Alexa app again and adding a new echo dot device and picking a wifi hotspot and boom she will work again. Note that her wake word will be reset back to Alexa, so if you were using something else before, you'll have to change that with "Alexa, change wake word to... (one of these) Alexa Echo Computer Amazon" This must happen after some firmware updates that brick up the device.. As a random FYI, you can check for firmware updates at any time by saying "Alexa, check for updates".

[@goku445]

They say the idiot is not the one who makes a mistake but the one who makes the same mistake over and over.

[@choppergirl]

@@goku445 I actually found a secret keypress... mute plus down arrow for 60 secs...that would do an undocumented feature and not only reset them but remove all smart home devices and reset them from the red ring of death. Posted it an got tons of gushing thank yous who had given up on their red ring of death locked up Alexas. I also found that if you distribute half across your 2.4 network and half across your 5ghz they are more resilient to any one radio locking up. So the only idiot around here is still Alexa herself. She does some things very well, other things bone headed poorly from very bad programming. For a blind person like me regardless of how much she often pisses me off the overall benefit was worth it. Particularly lights, timers, reminders, weather, and time date.

[@dewira1696]

what is the brand of the adaptor? it's that a Amazon ac adaptor?

[@dewira1696]

and if it's not amazon product can i use another adapter?

[@dewira1696]

please answer me sir my echo dot is offline for months

[@StezStixFix]

Hey Squidy. I used a universal adapter. Search Amazon/eBay and you can pick one up. You can set the correct voltage on it and use it for any AC/DC device.

[@dewira1696]

@@StezStixFix thank you so much sir appreciate it

[@dewira1696]

@@StezStixFix btw can I buy another adapter at the nearest electronics store?

[@martinlewis1015]

I fixed mine by holding dot down until she said reseting device please wait. It puts it back into factory. Mine was stuck in setup mode and could not get it fully working

[@englishrupe01]

Worth a try but i don't think it would work here as the serial number would be permanently encoded and would still be blocked....i think. But worth a try, anyway. Thanks for telling us the technique.

[@alexthemtaandr211weatherfa2]

@@englishrupe01 interesting

[@nicholasalbeck7114]

Better living through chemistry

[@mohitpurohit1335]

Hey, which power supply did you use as replacement to original power supply? my echo dot 3rd gen power supply is not working, what power supply can i use as a replacement?

[@StezStixFix]

Hiya. I used a universal adapter on mine, but the cheapest way to get a replacement would be to go for a usb adapter that steps the voltage to 12v. Something like this: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254628434946

[@mohitpurohit1335]

@@StezStixFix Thanks for the suggestion and your videos, they are very helpful.

[@chriswarner8623]

​@@StezStixFix I just ordered a USB cable for this it's a psp 1000 charger cable

[@alexthemtaandr211weatherfa2]

Reasons for Amazon echo purple ring 💍

[@charlesmurphy1510]

Cmon you hackers can’t you do something?

[@englishrupe01]

He did.....turned it into a bluetooth speaker.

[@brianreay4104]

It isn’t Amazon’s fault, why should they re register for free? The seller is at fault.

[@StezStixFix]

Very true, Brian. I was disappointed that they assured me it would be re-registered, and then later refused. My main gripe is that they essentially would rather it was thrown away than re-used.

[@Phyrre56]

This is only true if the seller is lying, which I think they are. I can't imagine Amazon saying "keep that faulty Echo and we'll turn it into e-waste from our end." I'm guessing the seller stole this item, maybe like a porch pirate situation, and they're making up a story. They realized the Echo had been blacklisted so they damaged the power supply and resold it as faulty. They got 12 quid for it that way instead of nothing. If the seller isn't lying, then Amazon's policy is disgraceful. It would mean their policy is to create e-waste because they can't be bothered to do a proper return.

[@youpagan]

Amazon should have exchanged it and recycled the return. Better still if it was the PSU - replace and resell as refurbished. Maybe activation fee for you but no way full price

[@brianreay4104]

@@youpagan Amazon have no responsibility to offer anything. They are a business.

[@youpagan]

@@brianreay4104 They are but people don't like to see things in a landfill and the art of repair is being killed off... Right to repair movements is gathering a head of steam - but is it enough? Companies have choices and I like repairing things - some help some like Amazon don't. I gave 3 suggestions not instructions. The seller should have been honest but it is like Amazon went round his house for a shit and didn't bother flushing. I have been fixing stuff for decades now. So correct - Amazon have their own model and choose as they will.

[@chrise.2495]

Nowerdays it cost less then 10€

[@victorvarsanyi6702]

Porch pirate loot.

[@chrisrobson8540]

ahhh so thats how you become a billionaire space turdnugget😛

[@ibrahimkocaalioglu]

why people buy such products. never buy lockable products.

[@joe1692]

What a waste of time, you should delete this video !!!

[@markharrisllb]

They should have reactivated yours and deactivated the replacement. I bought my wife one at her request a few birthdays ago, after a month she unplugged it because it annoyed her. I’m a boomer, my wife is gen x, I bet you can’t guess which one is the technophobe.

[@Zigfryed]

Kinda useless to watch this video. Didn't help in anything, and you didn't even open the device. You should at least have the courtesy to title the video truthfully.

[@ErickBuildsStuff]

See the follow up video. He retrofitted it.