Harman Kardon Invoke Setup Failure

Finally, after 3 days of trying to 'Update my new invoke it worked. I unplugged it and plugged it in maybe 9 or 10 times. It finally updated successfully. Hang in there and keep trying.

Did you get a resolution. I have just brought one out of the box and Harman Karmon and Microsoft have been useless All they can do is blame the other. 

The approach that worked for me (I'm located in UK).

I launched it - waited for update failure notification - then just unplug from the socket. Plug again and wait for it to update again. In several attempts - on the fifth, it worked fine. After was more updates needed. Do the same.

Since then, it is working fine for me.

Alex

Okay, I made the mistake of buying 4 Invokes for $50 at the Microsoft Store. I first bought two and really like them and then bought two more.

I have two of them set up.  I love the sound quality (it's better than the Echo Dots and Google Homes that I also have) and I've been pretty happy with them. I use them for listening to the radio (via TuneIn), setting timers, and as my alarm clock.

I have also set up reminders and they showed up in my Windows PC as a notification. That's something that I don't think Alexa or Google Home can do.  Really neat!  I also like Cortana's personality.

But I made the mistake of waiting too long before setting the other two up. I have been trying since December 2019 to set them up using both my Windows 10 PC and an Android phone. The setup app can connect to the speakers and then have the speakers connect to my WiFi network. Everything seems to be going well but the set up process never finishes.

After connecting to WiFi, the speaker tells me it needs to update the system software/firmware and to please wait. Eventually, the speakers tells me that something went wrong and that I should start the setup process over again.

I keep repeating the setup process and the same thing happens. It seems like it is trying to update the software/firmware to the latest version but a server is down or something so it can never finish the set up process.

Can someone from Microsoft please tell me if it is still possible to setup my two remaining Harmon Kardon Invoke speakers?  Is the server responsible for setting up and updating the Invoke still operating?

If not, is there any way I can manually update the firmware on the Invokes to the latest? There is a USB port on the Invoke that is supposed to be used for "service". Can this be used to update the firmware?  Is there a firmware file available for download?

If the server is down, can Microsoft put the server back up again so I can set up my remaining two Invokes?  I received no warning that this would happen.  Perhaps you host the server on your Azure Cloud services?  That would seem like the perfect place to do it.  It shouldn't take up too much resources as it would just spin up when needed.  Please restore the server even if it's only for a limited time.  Just give us a warning when it will go down so we would have time to set up our speakers before its too late.

I tried emailing Harmon Kardon but I can tell they won't be of much help (they seemed clueless about this).  Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.  These are brand new speakers and I would just hate for them to be useless right out of the box.  And I wish that Microsoft wouldn't give up on Cortana like this.

I have had the same issue at ThomasBee.   I have not been able to complete the setup process so I can use my invoke for the first time.  I am able to complete the setup process all the way up to the point when it tries to connect to the Microsoft server to update and it immediately fails the setup process.  I have tried completing the setup process on multiple networks, computers, and mobile phone and I always encounter the same issue.  Its pretty sad that I can't even use my speaker to play music.  Microsoft needs to fix this issue or stop requiring all these steps if you don't want to use Cortana at all.

I have exactly this issue. We have 2 Invokes that are working ok, although I never linked them to Skype or the XBox, so I can't say anything about that.

I gave my daughter a third one for Christmas and setup is failing exactly as described here. I swapped hers for one of the others so she has Spotify working on that and is happy enough, but I still have the new one that can't complete setup and so is a total brick.

Here is what I found out by calling Harmon Kardon about the Invoke. Microsoft dropped support for the Invoke and any other smart speakers that use Cortana. The Harmon Kardon customer service rep said they had that information second hand after receiving so many phone calls about the Invoke. Now, in my words. Basically, they have quit on Cortana rather than making improvements. We can still use an audio cable to connect a device to listen to music. However, no Cortana, no Bluetooth, no music apps. We now have a very nice paper weight. Glad I only paid half price for it 2-years ago. Harmon Kardon emailed me a code for 30% off any other Harmon Kardon product from their website. Lord knows that Microsoft has not offered any assistance and has not notified its customers of this business decision to quit on their customers. They couldn't succeed with their Windows Phones, so it would only make sense to continue to support their apps on iPhones and Android phones. Thanks again MS and any input or feedback from your company would be much appreciated. Perhaps, Harmon Kardon could provide a software update and give us Alexa or Google on the Invoke.