Harman Kardon Invoke Cortana Speaker

Anonymous
2020-03-04T03:48:09+00:00

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 Harman Kardon but I can tell they won't be of much help.  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.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Cortana and search

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-06-10T02:00:39+00:00

    Thank you so much for your reply.  I did as you instructed and I was able to fool my 2 new Invokes into working.

    In the past I tried everything.  I think the main difference is that after removing power from my Invoke, I can't wait too long to reapply power (I waited a day).  This time, I did as you instructed (waited about 1 minute) and after the 2nd setup process, the speaker will pretend it was successful.

    I now have a total of 4 working Harman Kardon Invokes and I'm very happy.

    Just an update on my situation.  I have a total of 4 Invokes.  I have two working Invokes with the following firmware:

    SDK BUILD: 2.0.4.067aa17.vs-ssh-main

    OTA IMAGE: Barracuda_libre-11.1842.0

    I have another two non-working Invokes with older firmware

    SDK BUILD: 2.0.3.3b4d6b8.cortanasdk-harman-main

    OTA IMAGE: Barracuda_libre-2.1729.2

    For awhile I was able to get the non-working ones to work by "fooling" them with the instructions above.  But now they are completing not working.  All they do is display a spinning/whirling light when I plug them in.  I can't even use the pin-hole to reset them anymore.  They don't seem to respond to anything.

    I just wish there was some way to use the USB service port to flash them with the newest firmware.  These are great sounding speakers and I have been very happy with Cortana.  I can't stand the thought that they are useless now and doomed to the landfill.  It's just not ecologically friendly to dump brand new speakers in a landfill.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-05-25T21:46:47+00:00

    Invoke hiccup today = no audio output, showed up in bluetooth.  XYZ attempts later I removed from bluetooth to start setup from scratch.

    Multiple setup attempts

    Cortana setup app gets to demo videos and the audio switches to the Surface Real-Tek speakers.

    Setup attempts = (6-10 +?) time passing.  Something changed.

    NEW -> Microsoft Account had a New Sign-In that generated an auto-email.  I passed the HK Invoke to MSFT account sign-in step in the setup process multiple times.  20-20 hindsight, surprised email notice did not happen much earlier today.

    Microsoft account
    New sign-in detected
    Country/region: United States
    Date: 5/25/2020 1:56 PM (PST)
    Service: HK Invoke

    The sign-in is a GOOD thing.

    Pressed the Invoke Bluetooth button at the end of the process to pair it to the Microsoft Surface.

    The Invoke works again.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-05-13T19:15:37+00:00

    I’ve completely given up now. If they ever get give the ability to be Bluetooth only with no Cortana required, then I’ll get them out of storage for music playback because they sounded great!

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-05-13T03:09:19+00:00

    I have the same issue in Canada with Windows 10 1909.

    doesn't get any farther than the firmware upgrade at the end of setup - tried hard reset or pulling the plug 🔌 and VPN from America

    it's really a shame as Cortana was one of my elderly Mother's only friends...

    rip media center, portable media center, Windows mobile, Windows phone every version, Windows rt, msn explorer, msn messenger, messenger phone, Kinect, cortana, etc etc etc

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-05-05T09:41:36+00:00

    So, I tried with MFA switched off and same result. My phones see the Invoke and I can even adjust the volume on the phone and see the volume change reflected in the lights on the top of the Invokes. But no actual audio comes from them, even though I can hear Cortana 'speaking' fine.

    I use Spotify, which I am now wondering might be the actual issue here, app specific - even though Spotify sees the Invoke and connects to it, no audio actually emanates from the app. Which again was fine just a few days ago!

    Are you using Spotify for music playback?

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