davidfromingleside

Q: Siri not working on Sierra

I upgraded to Sierra and Siri doesn't work.  I hear the beep that Siri has been activated but when I talk there is no waveform movement in the Siri window or in other words it's not hearing me.  When I go in the System Preferences I see the microphone is hearing me when I talk with the bar meter moving as I speak.  I even tried my Bluetooth headset mic as an alternative source and SIri will still not recognize my voice.  Any ideas?

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), iOS 10

Posted on Sep 21, 2016 6:14 AM

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Q: Siri not working on Sierra

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  • by Graham Sims,

    Graham Sims Graham Sims Sep 29, 2016 10:27 AM in response to davidfromingleside
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 29, 2016 10:27 AM in response to davidfromingleside

    I had the same problem. I have external speakers attached to my iMac. After much fruitless following of different solutions, I found that by unplugging the speakers, Siri started to work. It continued to work when the jack plug for the speakers was plugged back in. Hope this helps somebody.

  • by palander,

    palander palander Sep 30, 2016 2:04 PM in response to davidfromingleside
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 30, 2016 2:04 PM in response to davidfromingleside

    I have same kind of an issue. Siri can't hear me through my Focusrite 6i6 soundcard + external mic, altough it can be seen in Siri's settings, and every other application works just fine. If I tell Siri to listen to internal microphone, it does work. However, for me this is inconvenient as I use my macbook mainly lid closed.

     

    And unfortunately, no help disabling / enabling dictation settings.

  • by biver,

    biver biver Oct 3, 2016 4:10 PM in response to davidfromingleside
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 3, 2016 4:10 PM in response to davidfromingleside

    I too am having this problem.  I'm using a StarTech external Thunderbolt dock and when that's connected Siri doesn't hear me.  Unplugged it works fine.  Definitely a bug.

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Oct 3, 2016 4:14 PM in response to biver
    Level 9 (54,010 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 3, 2016 4:14 PM in response to biver

    When you complained to the StarTech support about this bug in their dock, what was their response?

  • by biver,

    biver biver Oct 3, 2016 5:27 PM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 3, 2016 5:27 PM in response to Allan Eckert

    It hadn't occurred to me to do so, yet, as it worked in every other way perfectly until this issue. Seems to me that since other people with docks are having a problem too that it would be a Mac OS bug. I should also mention that Its not being used in this scenario. I'm attempting to use the built in mic. The dock just being plugged in is the problem.

  • by CCS-Ben,

    CCS-Ben CCS-Ben Oct 4, 2016 9:03 AM in response to CMagnuson
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 4, 2016 9:03 AM in response to CMagnuson

    Siri appears to be working now. Here's what I did...

     

    1. I unplugged my OWC dock from my MacBook, and unplugged all accessory cables from my OWC dock.
    2. I then plugged in my OWC dock to my MacBook (no accessories plugged into OWC dock).
      1. Siri worked.
    3. I then proceeded to plug each accessory into the OWC dock, and tested Siri after each step.
      1. Siri would stop working after plugging in a certain accessory.
    4. Each time Siri stopped working I started over (back to step 1).
    5. After the third time (or so) of Siri not working after a certain point, I turned Siri off and on again via System Preferences.
      1. After doing this, Siri has now been working consistently.

     

    I don't know if the key was unplugging/plugging in the dock/accessories, or if the solution was turning Siri on/off (I had previously tried turning Siri on/off but it didn't fix it).

     

    I've shut-down and restarted several times now and Siri continues to work without any interaction from me.

  • by biver,

    biver biver Oct 4, 2016 10:11 AM in response to CCS-Ben
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 4, 2016 10:11 AM in response to CCS-Ben

    OK, i did as you suggested and disconnected everything and JUST connect the dock and its power.  This seems to work and then the 2nd test doesn't. I'm assuming the Mac eventually detects the sound card in the dock and that's why it stops working.  However, after plugging the dock in and then testing and failing and THEN changing the Siri mic input away from the internal mic and then back to it (in Siri System Preference) seems to have fixed it.

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Oct 4, 2016 11:34 AM in response to biver
    Level 9 (54,010 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 4, 2016 11:34 AM in response to biver

    "Seems to me that since other people with docks are having a problem too that it would be a Mac OS bug."

     

    That logical works just as well in the opposite direction.

  • by biver,

    biver biver Oct 4, 2016 3:13 PM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 4, 2016 3:13 PM in response to Allan Eckert

    True.  So what are you getting at... that my order of operations is reversed?  I SHOULD have contacted the dock manufacturer before posting here?  Why would I choose that over this by default?

  • by CCS-Ben,

    CCS-Ben CCS-Ben Oct 4, 2016 7:09 PM in response to biver
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 4, 2016 7:09 PM in response to biver

    Glad it worked!

     

    I think the sound card driver (or in my case, the Elgato dock driver) isn't connecting to Siri (via Mac OS) correctly initially...but once that connection is made via manual interaction, Mac OS is able to remember this new setting going forward. Based on what I've read this appears to be happening with various peripherals. I wouldn't be surprised if this gets fixed in the next Sierra update, assuming the OS just needs to be tweaked to handle the initial connection to these drivers.

  • by milbar,

    milbar milbar Oct 7, 2016 8:40 PM in response to CCS-Ben
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 7, 2016 8:40 PM in response to CCS-Ben

    I have a 2015 MBP with no modifications and no external devices. I have the same issue. Tried disabling and re-enabling Siri, dictation off/on, etc. Mic works for all applications except Siri.

  • by elbrodelche,

    elbrodelche elbrodelche Oct 9, 2016 3:45 AM in response to ifisch5
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 9, 2016 3:45 AM in response to ifisch5

    This worked for me too.

  • by rlivingston,

    rlivingston rlivingston Oct 10, 2016 10:40 AM in response to CCS-Ben
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 10, 2016 10:40 AM in response to CCS-Ben

    Thanks for your answer. I had the same problem. Disconnecting the OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock solved. I have a scanner and a couple of hard drives attached to the Dock.

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