Your Echo Hub is on the wall, the screen is lit up, but when you say "Alexa" nothing happens. Or maybe it shows your smart home dashboard but won't actually control any of the devices on it. Either way, you've got a control panel that's not controlling anything, and that defeats the whole purpose.
The quickest fix is a simple power cycle. Unplug the USB-C cable from the back of the Hub and count to 30 before plugging it back in. The screen goes dark, then boots up within about 45 seconds. After that, the wake word should work again. This clears most transient software hangs.
If a power cycle didn't fix it, work through the rest of these in order. They cover every reason a Hub stops listening or stops communicating with your smart home.
Check the Microphone Mute
The Echo Hub has a physical microphone mute button on the device. Look for the button with the microphone icon on the top edge. When the mics are muted, you'll see a red indicator bar on the screen. Press that mute button once to toggle the mics back on. If you mounted the Hub high on a wall and can't easily reach the button, use the Alexa app on your phone instead: open the app, tap your Hub, then check the microphone status under Device Settings.
Power Cycle the Hub Properly
Most people don't wait long enough when they unplug a device. Pull the USB-C cable from the Hub itself, not the wall adapter. Wait a full 30 seconds, that's the time needed for the internal capacitors to discharge and force a clean boot. Plug it back in. The screen will show the Amazon logo as it boots. Once the dashboard appears, test the wake word.
If your Hub is powered through PoE+ with a third-party adapter, unplug the Ethernet cable from the Hub instead. Wait the same 30 seconds, then reconnect.
Check the Alexa App for Offline Status
Open the Alexa app on your phone and tap Devices. Find your Echo Hub in the device list. If it shows "Offline," the Hub lost its network connection. If it shows "Online" but still ignores commands, the Alexa voice service on the device is hung even though the network is fine. Either way, the next step will fix it.
Reconnect to Wi-Fi
When the Hub is offline, walk through Wi-Fi setup in the Alexa app. Tap the Hub, then Settings > Wireless > Change. The Hub supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Stick with 5 GHz if your router supports it, it's more reliable for the Hub's smart home traffic. If your router uses separate SSIDs for each band, make sure you're selecting the one your router actually serves consistently.
Force a Firmware Update
Amazon pushes Echo Hub firmware updates silently in the background, but sometimes a Hub gets stuck on a version with bugs. Leave the Hub plugged in and idle for 30 minutes. During that idle time it pings Amazon's update servers and downloads any pending firmware. After 30 minutes, unplug from the USB-C cable, wait 30 seconds, and plug back in. The firmware installs during the boot cycle.
Fix Custom Dashboard Widgets That Won't Save
This is a known issue specific to the Echo Hub. You set up a custom dashboard with your cameras, routines, and device groups, but the widgets refuse to save or disappear after you exit the menu. Open the Alexa app, tap Devices, then tap your Hub. Go to Dashboard and rebuild the layout one widget at a time. Save after each individual widget rather than adding everything at once and saving. This works around the glitch that happens when the dashboard tries to write too many changes at the same time.
Disable a Misbehaving Skill
If the Hub responds to some commands but not others, or if it shows your smart home devices but can't control them, a Skill is likely hanging the device. In the Alexa app, go to More > Skills and Games > Your Skills. Look for any Skill that you recently enabled or that recently updated. Disable it, then test whether the Hub responds to commands for that specific device type. If responsiveness returns, that Skill was the cause.
Factory Reset the Echo Hub
If none of the software-level fixes cleared the problem, you're looking at a full reset. On the Hub's screen, go to Settings > Device Options > Reset to Factory Defaults. This wipes everything, all paired devices, routines, dashboard layouts, and Alexa settings for this Hub. You'll set it up fresh from the Alexa app afterward.
There's also a hardware shortcut that people often confuse with a factory reset: holding the mute button for 5 to 10 seconds restarts the Hub but does NOT factory reset it. Use that shortcut as a quick restart when you don't want to lose your settings. Only the on-screen menu option does a true factory reset.
Check PoE+ Power Delivery
The Echo Hub ships with a 12.5W USB-C wall adapter, but some people install it using Power over Ethernet with a third-party 802.3at PoE+ adapter. If you're using PoE+, the Hub needs a proper 802.3at adapter like the PoE Texas at-HUB. A standard 802.3af PoE adapter doesn't deliver enough power, and the Hub will behave erratically, the screen might flicker, it might reboot randomly, or it might ignore commands entirely. Check that your PoE injector or switch is actually 802.3at PoE+, not the older af standard.
Reboot Your Wi-Fi Router
The Echo Hub acts as a smart home controller for your Zigbee, Matter, and Thread devices. But it still depends on your home network to reach Alexa's cloud servers. If the Hub can't control your smart home devices AND your phone's Alexa app is also struggling, the problem is almost certainly your router, not the Hub. Unplug the router for 60 seconds, plug it back in, and wait 3 minutes for it to fully boot. The Hub reconnects on its own once the network comes back.
Check Smart Home Hub Commissioning
The Echo Hub has Zigbee, Matter, and Thread built-in, but commissioning failures are a known issue. If your smart home devices are connected directly to the Hub's radios but the Hub won't control them, go to Devices in the Alexa app and check whether each device shows as connected. For Matter devices, try removing the device from the Hub and re-adding it through the Alexa app's Matter setup flow. Note that the Echo Hub does NOT include a Z-Wave radio, if your older smart home gear uses Z-Wave, you'll need a separate Z-Wave hub like the Aeotec Smart Home Hub to bridge those devices into Alexa.
