Insignia Voice smart speakers are pretty amazing, with Google Assistant voice commands, Bluetooth wireless, surprisingly great sound and so much more, all in a small and highly affordable package.
But, just like any smart speaker – or any gadget, really – the Insignia Voice can have problems, and when it gets stuck it seems to get really, really stuck! And then, unfortunately, so do we, and a bit frustrated as well…
So I’ve put together a complete troubleshooting guide for Insignia Voice smart speakers, listing all of the troubles you might be experiencing and clear and easy-to-understand instructions for correcting them and getting your little digital buddy unstuck.
Troubleshooting the Insignia Voice Smart Speaker – First Things First
Before I get into a proper list of all of the possible problems you might be having with your Insignia Voice, we should try the most obvious, simple, and effective thing – resetting your Voice.
A factory reset will quite often – even most of the time – resolve so many different issues, and you may be back to business as usual quicker than you could imagine.
How to Factory Reset the Insignia Voice Speaker
- To do a full factory reset of your Insignia Voice, simply press and hold the microphone button for at least 12 seconds.
- The lights on the top of the speaker will flash orange and white, indicating the reset was successful.
After resetting your Voice you must set it up again.
Setting Up the Insignia Voice Speaker
- First, place the speaker where you would like it to be.
- Plug your speaker’s power adaptor into the wall and into the Voice, which should then turn on.
- On your smartphone or another device – Android or Apple phones or tablets – turn on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Location Services.
- And for Google Assistant features, make sure you are signed into your Google account.
- Make sure your phone or tablet’s time is correctly set.
- If you haven’t already, download Google Smart Home.
- Google Home will find the Insignia Voice and lead you through setting it up.
Troubleshooting the Insignia Voice Smart Speaker – A Complete Guide
Now we’ll run through a complete list of problems people have with their Insignia Voice. If the factory reset didn’t solve your problem, one of the sections below should help.
Simply find your issue in the following list, click on that link and you’ll be taken to the correct section of this article.
- No Power – Insignia Voice Won’t Turn On
- No Sound or Low Sound – Insignia Voice Plays Too Softly
- No Bluetooth Connection – Insignia Voice Won’t Connect to Bluetooth
- Bluetooth Keeps Unpairing – Insignia Voice Keeps Disconnecting from Bluetooth
- Insignia Voice Does Not Appear on Your Phone or other Bluetooth Device
- Wrong Time – Insignia Voice Displays Incorrect Time
- Insignia Voice Display Stuck on “Load”
- Insignia Voice Display Stuck on “Set”
- No Wi-Fi Connection – Insignia Voice Won’t Connect to Wi-Fi
Troubleshooting Insignia Voice Won’t Turn On – No Power
- Make sure that your speaker is plugged into the wall
- Make sure the cord is also plugged into the speaker itself
- Double-check both connections to make sure they are seated properly
- Check the wall outlet by plugging in another device, a lamp, or something similar
- Pay your utility bill – just kidding…
Troubleshooting Insignia Voice Plays Too Softly – No Sound or Low Sound
- Make sure that the volume is turned up on your Insignia Voice
- Also check the volume on your phone, tablet, or other Bluetooth devices
- Make sure the Bluetooth device is not muted and does not have “volume limiting” activated
- Make sure that music or audio is actually playing
- If your music player or media player has a volume control, make sure it is turned up and not muted
- Make sure that your Insignia Voice and/or your Bluetooth device are not paired to other devices
Troubleshooting Insignia Voice Won’t Connect to Bluetooth
- First, check to make sure your Insignia Voice speaker is in range of your phone or tablet – typically up to around 30 or so feet, but possibly less in some environments
- If you’re not sure, simply move them closer to each other
- Make sure Bluetooth is turned on on your phone or tablet
- On your phone’s Bluetooth screen, “forget” the Insignia – which should appear as NS-CSPGASP – and then re-pair the two devices
- Put your Insignia Voice in discoverable mode by pressing and holding both the volume up and volume down buttons at the same time for at least 4 seconds
- Refresh your phone’s Bluetooth screen, then find the Insignia Voice – again, NS-CSPGASP – and select it
- Make sure your speaker or phone/tablet is not paired with other Bluetooth devices
Troubleshooting Insignia Voice Keeps Disconnecting from Bluetooth
- Make sure your Insignia Voice and your Bluetooth device are in the range of each other – typically up to around 30 or so feet, but possibly less in some environments
- If you’re not sure, simply move them closer to each other
- Make sure your phone, tablet, or other Bluetooth device is fully charged
- Make sure your phone, tablet, or other Bluetooth device isn’t trying to pair with another speaker
Troubleshooting Insignia Voice Doesn’t Appear on Phone
- Make sure your Insignia Voice is powered on
- Make sure your Insignia Voice and your Bluetooth device are in the range of each other – typically up to around 30 or so feet, but possibly less in some environments
- If you’re not sure, simply move them closer to each other
- Put your Insignia Voice in discoverable mode and then refresh your phone’s Bluetooth devices list
- To put your Insignia Voice in discoverable mode, press and hold both the volume up and volume down buttons at the same time for at least 4 seconds
- Remember that on your device’s Bluetooth screen you may see either NS-CSPGASP or whatever name you assigned your Insignia Voice through Google Home
Troubleshooting Insignia Voice Displays Incorrect Time
The Insignia Voice smart speaker uses Google Home to determine and display the time, which in turn uses your phone or device’s time settings.
If your Insignia Voice displays the wrong time, you must do a factory reset of the speaker, but to save yourself some time, first make sure that your phone is set to the right time zone or, if you have it on manual time, that the time is set correctly.
- To do a full factory reset of your Insignia Voice, simply press and hold the microphone button for at least 12 seconds.
- The lights on the top of the speaker will flash orange and white, indicating the reset was successful.
You will then have to go through the normal setup of your Insignia Voice again, as I outlined above.
Troubleshooting Insignia Voice Display Stuck on “Load”
The Load message on the speaker’s display indicates it is trying to download the most recent firmware updates and install them, which can take as long as an hour or more to complete.
If the Load message has been displayed for much longer than this, though, the speaker is unable to complete this task. Since this normally happens every day at 4 AM EST, you can simply leave your Voice on at that time, and make sure it is not streaming/playing music, and the download and installation should be able to successfully completed.
You can also manually download firmware updates through Google Home:
- Open the Google Home App
- Tap Devices on the top right of the home page
- Scroll down to the proper device card
- Select the device card menu, then the More menu, and then the Settings option
- If there is a firmware update available, it will be displayed here, and you can simply select it
If these solutions don’t work, try resetting your Insignia Voice:
- To do a full factory reset of your Insignia Voice, simply press and hold the microphone button for at least 12 seconds.
- The lights on the top of the speaker will flash orange and white, indicating the reset was successful.
You will then have to go through the normal setup of your Insignia Voice again, as I outlined above.
Troubleshooting Insignia Voice Display Stuck on “Set”
The Load message on the speaker’s display indicates it is trying to connect to your Bluetooth device, so the troubleshooting is actually the same as we covered above, in the Insignia Voice Won’t Connect to Bluetooth section.
But let’s go over these same steps again:
- First, check to make sure your Insignia Voice speaker is in range of your phone or tablet – typically up to around 30 or so feet, but possibly less in some environments
- If you’re not sure, simply move them closer to each other
- Make sure Bluetooth is turned on on your phone or tablet
- On your phone’s Bluetooth screen, “forget” the Insignia – which should appear as NS-CSPGASP – and then re-pair the two devices
- Put your Insignia Voice in discoverable mode by pressing and holding both the volume up and volume down buttons at the same time for at least 4 seconds
- Find the Insignia Voice – again, NS-CSPGASP – on your phone’s Bluetooth screen and select it
- Make sure your speaker or phone/tablet is not paired with other Bluetooth devices
Troubleshooting Insignia Voice Won’t Connect to Wi-Fi
Since Insignia Voice uses Google Home to connect to your wireless network, what we really need to do is make sure your phone or tablet is connected to the wi-fi network.
- Make sure your phone or other device has Wi-Fi turned on/enabled
- Make sure you have the right network selected and have entered the correct password
- Make sure you are in the range of the wi-fi router and that it is turned on
- Turn the wi-fi off and on and allow your device to reconnect
- Restart your device
- Restart the wi-fi router
- Make sure your wi-fi service is actually working – by trying to use the internet with a PC or other device on the network
- Pay your internet bill – again, just kidding…