"Your Google Home Isn't Set Up Yet" / Can't Find Google Home Speaker During Set Up Process

[eawofa]

My Google Home Speaker (GA3A00417A14) all of a sudden stopped working this week. And now, it keeps telling me: "Your Google Home isn't set up yet. To get started download the Google Home App on a phone or tablet." Additionally, my Google Home is definitely still set up; in fact, my Google Home Mini Speaker upstairs (by my Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band Mesh Extender) is still working perfectly fine with my Google Home.

Furthermore, I deleted my Google Home Speaker from my Google Home Devices because I thought that getting it back connected would be a relatively seamless process. However, when I go through the set up process of adding my Google Home Speaker back into my Google Home, the Google Home App is not able to find my Google Home Speaker and I keep getting taking back to the "What are you setting up?" screen.

I've done the following to try to resolve the issue, but nothing has worked:
1. Unplugged the Google Home Speaker for 60 seconds, then plugged it back in again.
2. Factory Reset the Google Home Speaker by pressing and holding the microphone mute button for 15 seconds.
3. Deleted my Google Home App from my iOS Device, then Re-Installed it again.
4. Powered off/Rebooted my iPhone 14 Pro Max.
5. Plugged in my Google Home Speaker upstairs by my Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band Mesh Extender and Google Home Mini Speaker, which is still working perfectly fine.
6. Allowed all new devices to connect via Access Control on my NETGEAR Nighthawk Router.
7. Allowed guests to see each other and access my local network via my NETGEAR Nighthawk Router.
8. Put my iPhone 14 Pro Max in Airplane mode and turned on just Wi Fi (and allowed Google Home to use Bluetooth for new connections).
9. Allowed precise Location Access "Always" on my iOS Device.
10. Ensured in my Google Account > Data & privacy > History settings that everything was turned to "On" (i.e. Web & App Activity, Timeline, YouTube History).

At this point, it seems like there's a Hardware Issue/Malfunction with my Google Home Speaker ... Sooo, can Google send me over a new one?

Otherwise, please confirm how I can get my Google Home Speaker to get back into Set Up Mode, so I can seamlessly add it back into my Google Home. Thanks!

[eawofa]

Hi @David_K - Can you provide your thoughts here?

I tried a couple of things from your Post: "Need help with setup? Troubleshoot common Google Nest or Home speaker/display problems"

But nothing has resolved the problem(s) yet.

[David_K]

After the reset, what colour are the lights on top of the device?
Did you try the alternate setup steps in that link?

You could also try connecting it to a Wi-Fi hotspot to see if it's an issue with the device or the Wi-Fi network.

[eawofa]

After the reset, what colour are the lights on top of the device?
- Immediately after the reset, four white dot lights show on top of the device.
- Then, as the reset is being processed, there is a loading effect showing on the top of the device with red, white, yellow, blue, and teal dot lights.
- When the reset completes, there is a full circle of red, white, yellow, blue, and teal dot lights that show on the top of the device and music that indicates that the reset has completed.
- Right after that, there are four dot lights that show on top of the device in teal, blue, yellow and red and then white, white, white and red (and back-and-forth) as the Speaker tells me: "Welcome to Google Home. To get started download the Google Home App on a phone or tablet."

Did you try the alternate setup steps in that link?
- I've done something similar when setting up my Vizio Soundbar ... But in this case, I'm not seeing an available network with the name "GoogleHomeXXXX" (where XXXX is a random number) for me to connect to.
- And I'm a little confused by the iPhone/iPad Instructions of "Swipe up from the bottom, hold, then let go. Swipe up on the Google Home app." Note: I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max.

You could also try connecting it to a Wi-Fi hotspot to see if it's an issue with the device or the Wi-Fi network.
- I use my WiFi hotspot all the time, but I'm not seeing an option to connect my Google Home Speaker to it, given my Google Home Speaker is not being able to be found by the Google Home App (nor any App) at the moment.
- My device is working perfectly fine, and so what my Google Home Speaker prior to last week.
- I've also verified that my Wi-Fi network is working perfectly fine.

One potential fix I haven't tried yet ...
- I've heard/read that sometimes, using another iPhone/iPad to run the setup process with the Google Home Speaker ended up working as expected.
- Currently, I don't have another iPhone/iPad to test this with, and I haven't gone out of my way to get one because this seems unlikely to me to "magically fix" whatever issue is presently causing the problem.

[eawofa]

Hi @kelanfromgoogle - Can you provide your thoughts here?

I'd love to get back to discussing How Google Home [has] made [my] home more enjoyable to live in ... But currently, the convenience of Google Home has been severely limited in my space downstairs.

[David_K · Accepted solution]

From your description of the LED colours, I think there could be a hardware issue here, because if it's ready for setup you should see 4 white lights that slowly pulse. From what you've described, it sounds like that doesn't happen after the reset finishes. What also makes me think that is you're not seeing it broadcast it's setup Wi-Fi network, which definitely should be there.

I should've explained that to test with a Wi-Fi hotspot, you need two devices to do the setup. 

• Turn on the Wifi hotspot feature on a phone or tablet. If you're not sure how to do this, refer to the manufacturer's support website.
• Connect a second phone or tablet to that Wifi hotspot.
• You can then use that second phone or tablet with the Google Home app to setup your device and connect it to the Wi-Fi hotspot on the first phone or tablet.

With that said, you have the 1st generation Google Home, so you're welcome to contact support (steps below) to confirm there's no other troubleshooting steps you can try, however I suspect not. I want to be honest with you in saying it will be out of warranty, so if that's the case it may well be the end of the road for this device unfortunately.

1. Go to Contact Us - Google Nest Help
2. Select an appropriate product or category, type a brief description of the issue, then click Next.
3. Click Other, then click Next step.
4. In the Resources section, click Next step.
5. Choose to get a phone call, call or chat with the team, depending on availability in your country.