Fire TV: Alexa Voice Remote Control Stopped Working

Having a problem with the Alexa Voice remote control feature on the Amazon Fire TV Firestick? I did too. The Voice Control button just stopped working entirely for me when I was trying to perform a voice search. Sometimes the Fire TV even turned off when trying to use Alexa. Here are some steps you can take to fix the issue.


Fix 1 – Restart

First try simply restarting the Fire TV to see if that clears the issue. You can do so with these steps:

  1. From the Home screen, choose “Settings“.
  2. Select “My Fire TV” or “System“.
  3. Choose “Restart“.

You can also press and hold the “Select” and “Play” buttons on the remote simultaneously until the Fire TV resets.


Fix 2 – Reset Remote

  1. Unplug the Fire TV from its power source and wait 60 seconds.
  2. Press and hold the Left ◀, Menu ☰, and Back Fire TV Remote Back Button buttons simultaneously for about 15 seconds.
  3. Wait 5 seconds, then remove the batteries from the remote.
  4. Plug the Fire TV back into its power source and wait 60 seconds.
  5. Place the batteries back into the remote.
  6. Press the Home button on the remote.

Fix 3 – Ensure Voice Button is Clean

The voice control button is located at the top of the remote where it easily gets dirty and grimy. This can cause the button to stick and not work properly. Use a lightly dampened cloth to clean around the button to ensure that it’s clean.


Fix 4 – Re-register the Device

The microphone button on the remote usually stops working because the link to your Amazon account is broken. Refresh it by deregistering the Fire TV and re-registering.

  1. From the Home screen, select “Settings” ⚙️ > “Account & Profile Settings > “Amazon account” > “Deregister“.
  2. Confirm your selection by selecting “Deregister” again.
  3. When the registration page loads, sign back in using your Amazon account to re-register the device.

Fix 5 – Check Home Button Setting

  1. From the Home screen, select “Settings” ⚙️.
  2. Choose “Equipment Control“.
    Note: If you can’t enter this menu, this setting won’t cause this problem. Disregard this fix.
  3. Select “Manage Equipment“.
  4. Select “Advanced Settings“.
  5. Ensure that “Home button” is set to “HDMI-CEC Only“.

Fix 6 – Factory Reset

Sorry it has to come to this. But if you have tried everything above, the only thing left to try is a factory reset. A factory reset will reset the Fire TV to the state it was when you bought it.

To factory reset the Fire TV, press the Home button to get to the home screen, then navigate to Settings ⚙️ > My Fire TV or Device & Software > Device & Software > Reset to Factory Defaults.


Fix 3 fixed voice control for my family’s Fire TV Stick. But I have heard Fix 1 has helped many people with this problem too. If you have gone through the steps for all four fixes, your remote may be defective. Your best bet is to purchase a replacement. Let me know how everything worked for you in the comments!

31 thoughts on “Fire TV: Alexa Voice Remote Control Stopped Working”

  1. Finally!!! Thank you! Deregistering and re-registering worked for me. I’ve tried everything and nothing worked. The only thing left was a full factory reset. That would’ve taken forever to reinstall everything.

    Reply
  2. Hi ! I tried all these steps and the alexa voice still won’t work.. The light turns orange-red instead of blue now. Pleaseee help me!

    Reply
  3. Hello Mitch,
    – Josh B. indicated in his post above, on: 3/21/2021 the following:
    “Deregister and re-register worked for me … tried everything and nothing worked. The only thing left was a full factory reset. That would’ve taken forever to reinstall everything”.
    – My question is: isn’t Deregister and re-register pretty much the same as a Factory Reset?
    – Wouldn’t all side loaded apps be lost by Dereregister?
    Please advise.
    Thank you.

    Reply
      • When I did this it did delete some apps and I had to re-down a couple and there were a few updates on a couple of apps which forced me to do that.

        Reply
    • I used every step to fix my remote and the only one that work was number two which was the last one I tried. When I did the registering all I had to do was re-register through my computer which only took 10 seconds and it did not erase any of my stuff. A full factory reset would not fix this problem so you don’t need to do a full factory reset. You just deregister and re-register it’s free

      Reply
  4. The other day the blue light on remote came on. I didn’t know what that meant. Once I realized what it meant, the blue light was off but I went ahead and changed out the batteries anyway. Hi completed step three and Alexa worked one time when I told her to open harry potter movies and she opened Mary Poppins instead. LOL she can’t I had a delayed reaction on that and then she stopped working again. I’ve gone through every option and nothings working. One good thing I finally figured out how to mirror image my Apple phone to my Samsung TV. Thank you for that. I I guess I have to buy a remote control now?

    Reply
  5. I purchased an exact replacement remote from amazon as to have a spare and thats the one that voice wont work on. I press the mic and it brings up text search

    Reply
  6. Restarting the TV worked for me! Thank goodness. Now if I could just figure out why sometimes the channel select button doesn’t work. (Brand new batteries.)

    Reply
  7. Bought a new Fire TV. Turned it on and Alex didn’t work. Restarted the TV (Fix1) after reading the fixes above and Alexa started working. Thanks for the great tip.

    Reply
  8. i’ve been trying to figure out this stupid blue light blinking, but only blinking after i ask Alexa a command, so i de- registered my account and to no avail again!!! So… i ended up having to unplug my Toshiba fire tv for 60 seconds and hold down the buttons like they mentioned in the “FIX 2” and once i had done that (seemed to be a silky thing with the tv off and holding all those buttons down and removing batteries and blah blah) and i hit the little home/house button on the remote and tv turned on but then….a stupid KEYBOARD THINGY POPPED UP, well i then held the home button down for 10 seconds and finally it paired my remote again!!! so if the KEYBOARD THINGY POPS UP….JUST HOLD DOWN THAT HOME BUTTON FOR 10 MORE SECONDS and you should be off to the races…good luck everyone!!

    Reply
  9. I have tried all of them and they dont work for me. I even tried using a replacement remote. That didnt work either. I contacted Amazon Customer Service and I may as well have said “pooo poo lar lar ding dong” as they didnt have a clue what was wrong nor could they understand my detailed explanation of the issue and all the troubleshooting steps that I had followed

    Reply
  10. I have tried all of the options several times but to no avail. Alexa will work one time, then when I press the microphone on the remote I get the message that an unexpected error has occurred. If the problem persists, please contact Amazon Customer Service; which is like talking to a rock.

    Reply
    • Check for latest updates. Try the deregister and re-register steps again. If that doesn’t work, I would factory reset your Fire TV.

      Reply
  11. Ok smart people…..Setup of Firecube did power tv on and off. My fire remote does power the tv on and off. HOWEVER, voice command does not….WHY?????? HELP ME!!!

    Reply
  12. None of the above worked for me. When I press the mic button on the remote the blue light comes on, when I release it flashes blue. Seems the microphone on the remote is faulty and I need a new remote. I’ve tried a replacement remote and this works fine.

    Reply
  13. Nice one! After resetting my remote several times, and not working it was the de-register that worked perfectly. No other site I have come accross mentions that one :-D

    Thanks!

    Reply
  14. Alexa randomly malfunctions. Won’t come up; won’t hear me; wrong results. After a day, suddenly it works. NEVER can find the app or settings. When I see yet another comic book movie about machines taking over, I GIGGLE!!!!!!!

    Reply
  15. I need to edit my previous comment where I wrote that #2 fix worked for me. It did, once, then stopped working. Unfortunately I had written my comment before it stopped working. The good news is I found a solution to my problem. Earlier in the day I replaced the batteries in my laptops wireless mouse because it was working sporadically, when I tested the batteries they were almost dead. Anyway I put new batteries in my FireTV’s remote and bingo! Alexa voice remote control is back up and working like a champ again. New batteries, wow, who knew? That actually should have been step one in my troubleshooting.

    Reply

Leave a Comment