Alexa devices don't work suddenly (Device is unresponsive)

[davek_964]

Have a number of Alexa sockets, and suddenly (yesterday evening) 90% of them are not working - device is unresponsive. Tried switching the socket off / on which makes no difference. It affects sockets in all rooms.

Internet is working fine - and strangely, one of the sockets (which comes on / off on a timer) still seems to switch off / on when the correct time occurs.

I assumed it was a general problem, but a quick search this morning doesn't show anything.

Anybody else suffering from this - or any ideas? I'll have a proper look after work, but it seems a bit odd.

ETA : A quick look at the settings shows Alexa linked to eFamilyCloud to control these devices - and some comments (from about 6 months ago) say that app no longer exists - so maybe the entire service has now disappeared. If it's that, we'll need to use a different service to control the sockets and link Alexa to that (which might be a good thing, since this is the g/f's account and she can never remember her password!).

Edited by davek_964 on Tuesday 24th October 07:34

[B-Minion]

I had exactly the same, everything stopped around 8-00 pm. I tried restarting the router, didn't work, removing the eFamilyCloud link from Alexa & re-linking, also didnt work. Alexa "skills store" is now stuck trying to link the account sayin "please try later" (tried around half a dozen times) frustrating! Interested to know if you solve it.

[Darmok]

Hi all
same thing for me too from last night
plugs work in efamilycloud app but Alexa wont work with them.
tried re-linking my account in the Alexa app but it keeps saying there is an error so i can never re-link it!!
i believe there is another newer app (certainly for IOS) i will see if i can find it and post it here
let me know if you guys get it working again Pls


D.

[davek_964]

I'm assuming that if we use a new app, we'll have to go around all the plugs, re-register them with the new app and then link Alexa to that app.......

Might be a bit time consuming - particularly since I was informed this morning that "I'm expecting you to fix this" - so I may wait a day or two and see if it gets resolved by Amazon / eFamilyCloud.

[FourWheelDrift]

I have had lights not detected by Alexa. I end up removing them and then discovering them again. Can you do the same with the sockets, find it on your Alexa app devices and remove it, then let Alexa discover it again?

[B-Minion]

I've deleted my eFamilyCloud app, installed Smartlife & reset all eight of my sockets. It took me about a couple of minutes each to register them (using the slow blink direct WiFi method) linked the app in Amazon skills and everything is now working OK. I've needed to renew a couple of my routines but everything is fine now.

[Ham_and_Jam]

Strange, just had the same.

All lights (x6) unresponsive. Heating was OK.

Unplugged all Alexa devices, restarted and all back to normal now.

[Hambo180]

I had the same thing monday night / tuesday morning. 6 smart plugs became unresponsive in Alexa but worked fine in eFamilycloud. Removed devices from Alexa but now Alexa can't find the plugs and unable to link efamilycloud with Alexa - getting the error "account binding failed" & "unable to link eafmilycloud with Alexa, please try later"!
Think i migh try the Smartlife app and see if that cures it.

[davek_964]

Hambo180 said:

I had the same thing monday night / tuesday morning. 6 smart plugs became unresponsive in Alexa but worked fine in eFamilycloud. Removed devices from Alexa but now Alexa can't find the plugs and unable to link efamilycloud with Alexa - getting the error "account binding failed" & "unable to link eafmilycloud with Alexa, please try later"!
Think i migh try the Smartlife app and see if that cures it.

Smartlife should - we moved all of ours to Smartlife last night.

In fact, it turns out I was already using Smartlife with my old Amazon account - hence why my watch winder was still working. So we just added everything on to there, and it's all working fine again. The plugs all remembered their names which made it easier.

[Hambo180]

B-Minion said:

I've deleted my eFamilyCloud app, installed Smartlife & reset all eight of my sockets. It took me about a couple of minutes each to register them (using the slow blink direct WiFi method) linked the app in Amazon skills and everything is now working OK. I've needed to renew a couple of my routines but everything is fine now.

Update - Smart Life app installed, plugs set up, linked with Alexa in seconds! All back up and running! eFamilcloud deleted!

[davek_964]

Hambo180 said:

Update - Smart Life app installed, plugs set up, linked with Alexa in seconds! All back up and running! eFamilcloud deleted!

Despite being told it was my job to fix ours, the g/f insisted on doing it herself. There was lots of me saying : "You have to do <this>" and being ignored, repeating myself several times, and eventually her saying "Oh, it says I have to do <this>" 10 minutes later.

Ours did not take seconds...........

[barbarossa69]

I had this problem last week, the way I fixed it was in the Alexa app, enable the Smart Life skill, then signed into that with my efamilycloud login, and the plugs started responding again immediately.

No need to re-enable them or mess about with any other apps, which is perfect if you have a lot of plugs! I hope this helps some people.

[sgrimshaw]

Ours does this with all sorts of devices from time to time ... sometimes a simple power cycle is enough to kick it back into action.

Most annoying when one Alexa will work and another (identical device) won't ....