Echo making musical notes... for no apparent reason(?)

[Parsnips]

It just started, like three notes and the third note echoed.  The light ring was flashing as well, around and around, on and on.

I asked Alexa and she didn't know anything, eventually I told her stop and that stopped the sounds, but when I asked her to resume she didn't know what to resume.

What's going on here?  I still need to sleep and I'd like to know if this is going to happen in the middle of the night.

[vegasguy]

Is it the same notes as when you reset (pull the plug) on Echo?


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[renegade600]

check the setting logs and see if it shows any interaction. 

[mike27oct]

It's probably the Bluetooth issue.  Search forum for the keyword, Bluetooth and read on.

It could be interference from the outside world, too, but I doubt it.  Although, I have had two instances for when I turned on my BT speaker before connecting it to anything yet, and heard weak TV or radio chatter; likely coming from a car with BT driving down the street.  This has never happened with the Echo -- yet.

If you haven't rebooted the Echo yet by unplugging it for a moment, do that to clear anything out.

[Parsnips]

Is it the same notes as when you reset (pull the plug) on Echo?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No,it was three ascending notes, a pause, and a repeat of the third note.   And it didn't stop until I told it two after a couple of minutes...


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check the setting logs and see if it shows any interaction. 

Thanks, I'll dig up the logs.

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It's probably the Bluetooth issue.  Search forum for the keyword, Bluetooth and read on.

It could be interference from the outside world, too, but I doubt it.  Although, I have had two instances for when I turned on my BT speaker before connecting it to anything yet, and heard weak TV or radio chatter; likely coming from a car with BT driving down the street.  This has never happened with the Echo -- yet.

If you haven't rebooted the Echo yet by unplugging it for a moment, do that to clear anything out.

I didn't turn Bluetooth on but it that may be a default, thanks, I'll look it up.  I live in a really radio rich environment if ever there was one but I've never had any particular radio problems except for headphones that apparently used AM radio spectrum or something, I heard a commercial for Time Warner Cable and sent them back immediately.

[Parsnips]

check the setting logs and see if it shows any interaction.

Erm, I don't see any logs...

[renegade600]

check the setting logs and see if it shows any interaction.

Erm, I don't see any logs...

the logs are called history. 

[Parsnips]

check the setting logs and see if it shows any interaction.

(Duh...)  Nope, all it shows is me asking Alexa what it was doing and finally telling it to stop.

It hasn't done it again.

[mike27oct]

Logs seem to never show stuff like this; it did not show a thing when I was getting replies to the BT spurious contacts from a PC.  I really think this could have been another BT issue, either from OP's BT being on elsewhere or from outside BT influence.  All Wi-Fi is, is another form of radio waves like AM/FM are, and radio is subject to interference.

[DParker]

Logs seem to never show stuff like this; it did not show a thing when I was getting replies to the BT spurious contacts from a PC.  I really think this could have been another BT issue, either from OP's BT being on elsewhere or from outside BT influence.  All Wi-Fi is, is another form of radio waves like AM/FM are, and radio is subject to interference.

Something to do with wi-fi, perhaps.  But Bluetooth seems unlikely, given the requirement that devices be paired before one can invoke functionality on the other.

[mike27oct]

Doubt it. Wi-Fi is purely radio waves, whereas BT is radio, too, but it carries audio signal. If OP ever used Echo with BT, then there must be a BT device on somewhere.  Many people never turn of BT. but I do since I have many BT devices that can be forgotten to be turned off.

Anyway, I suggested to OP above:
"If you haven't rebooted the Echo yet by unplugging it for a moment, do that to clear anything out."
He never replied that he did so.

Whenever anything weird happens with a device, the first troubleshooting procedure is to "turn it off, and turn it on."  Wise advice from the TV comedy, "The IT Crowd".  (BTW, almost finished watching all episodes once again. Hilarious.)

[renegade600]

Logs seem to never show stuff like this; it did not show a thing when I was getting replies to the BT spurious contacts from a PC.  I really think this could have been another BT issue, either from OP's BT being on elsewhere or from outside BT influence.  All Wi-Fi is, is another form of radio waves like AM/FM are, and radio is subject to interference.

logs may not show that stuff, but is best to check it anyway to eliminate the possibility.   That is why I will always suggest it.  It could also be the echo went offline then back online.  I know there are sounds there (just happened to me)  or it could be some other notification that have sounds we are not aware of yet  :-) 

@parsnips - If it is something that only happened once, then I would not worry about it.   If it happens regularly, then I would start doing research. 

[DParker]

Doubt it. Wi-Fi is purely radio waves, whereas BT is radio, too, but it carries audio signa.

I'm not sure what you mean by "purely radio waves" vs "carries audio signal".  Wi-Fi is a standard (802.11, with multiple variations) that is used to communicate digital data via radio wave modulation.  So is Bluetooth.  Each is designed with different purposes in mind, and do so via different protocols, but both are ultimately ways of wirelessly communicating digital data.  Whether that data represents audio information, keyboard presses, mouse activity, etc...it's still digital data, and in both cases radio frequency signals are the ultimate medium of exchange.  There is no extra "audio signal" being carried by Bluetooth radios.  And in the case of the older...and still most commonly implemented...802.11 standards, WiFi and Bluetooth share the same band of the RF spectrum (2.4 GHz).

If OP ever used Echo with BT, then there must be a BT device on somewhere.

Not necessarily.  Most people pair their Echo with a mobile device (phone or tablet) for streaming music.  In my case, my phone....and I never have it's Bluetooth turned on unless I'm using it.  It also seems fairly unlikely that OP would have paired a device with the Echo and then forgotten about it....especially if that device is still around and somehow actively streaming content to it.

[Parsnips]

Logs seem to never show stuff like this; it did not show a thing when I was getting replies to the BT spurious contacts from a PC.  I really think this could have been another BT issue, either from OP's BT being on elsewhere or from outside BT influence.  All Wi-Fi is, is another form of radio waves like AM/FM are, and radio is subject to interference.

logs may not show that stuff, but is best to check it anyway to eliminate the possibility.   That is why I will always suggest it.  It could also be the echo went offline then back online.  I know there are sounds there (just happened to me)  or it could be some other notification that have sounds we are not aware of yet  :-) 

@parsnips - If it is something that only happened once, then I would not worry about it.   If it happens regularly, then I would start doing research.

Sorry, I did as suggested and cycled the power as Mike27oct suggested.. and it hasn't returned, thanks for the suggestion.

And the sound is the 'Simple Alarm', which I definitely didn't set (didn't know it was there) so I haven't a clue.  And I didn't have any Bluetooth devices set up either, hadn't gotten that far.

Teething pains, maybe?

[mike27oct]

Glad to know power cycling fixed the problem you were having.

DParker, as I have a background in electronics training and repair far back in my past that was a full year of ET school, 5 days a week of nothing but electronics, pertaining to things like radio, radar, computers and their logic circuits etc, and then repairing the darn things for another 5+ years,its not fair for me to get into a discussion any deeper than my previous comments.  There is a difference between Wi-Fi (i.e radio) for routers and Wi-Fi (radio) for BT, but let's just drop further discussion.  We both have better things to do.

And, the problem with BT interfering with Echo is because in many cases someone DID forgot the BT of some device was still on.  So good for you; like me, you turn off BT when not using it, but, nevertheless, we both can forget it is on once in a while and cause our self a problem.