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
    2020-05-05T07:47:16+00:00

    Thank you very much for this.

    I will try what you suggest. :)

    If all else fails I will buy a Bose Soundlink! Not that I want to.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-05-05T08:58:30+00:00

    Mine are all working and I'm in Australia so you should be able to get yours working.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-05-05T09:07:04+00:00

    That’s encouraging! Without the need for APK interference? I think that’s beyond me!

    I’m using Cortana on an old Android phone. I can get the Invoke through setup okay and connected to WiFi. My devices see the Invokes but the red light never goes out and they never finish set up. 

    Have tried the one minute reboot too. Very frustrating!

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-05-05T09:13:50+00:00

    Have you got two factor authentication that might be blocking the final step?

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-05-05T09:22:32+00:00

    Thank you for trying to the help. Really appreciate it. I don't get prompted for any MFA info but I will look a bit deeper into that. What's frustrating me is a week ago all was well!

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