When your JBL Xtreme won’t turn on unless it has external power, this likely means one or more things. Either your speaker is defective, its battery no longer recharges, or, service mode is in effect. So, assuming that your speaker is still okay, we’ll cover here the last possibility. Thus, we describe below how to get your JBL Xtreme out of service mode to restore proper operation.
JBL Xtreme Won’t Turn On Unless Plugged In: Service Mode Details
First, when in this mode (often called ‘weird’ or ‘secret’) mode, you’ll see some interesting behaviors. The speaker does not power ON unless you connect an external power. Thus, it will not run on the internal battery. Furthermore, when you connect outside power, it comes ON without pressing the Power button.
Further, you cannot turn off the Xtreme while it is in Service mode, unless you disconnect the external power source. And then, it powers off without pressing the Power button. So when this service mode is active, the Power button appears to not work.
Indeed, none of the buttons seem to work in Service mode, except for the ones needed to exit service mode. E.g. The speaker won’t pair with anything, and the Power button does not switch it OFF either.
How to Turn On Service Mode
This is what you may have done by accident at some point just prior to your speaker’s strange behavior starting… To turn on this Service mode, power up the speaker first. Then press the Connect+ and Volume UP buttons at the same time. Hold them in until the speaker powers OFF. This usually takes ten seconds or so.
Now you can enter this mode as long as the speaker is ON. It doesn’t matter whether it has external power or not. Also, these buttons are very close to each other. So it’s easy to press them together by mistake.
JBL Xtreme Won’t Turn On Unless Plugged In: How to Fix
Now you can restore proper speaker operation by disabling this mode. But note that when Service mode is ON, then you must connect external power to switch it OFF. Why? Because when in Service mode, the speaker won’t come on without outside power. Thus, you need the power adapter to make this fix.
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- So, connect your speaker to AC power and turn on the speaker.
- Then, with the speaker Power button glowing, press the Connect+ and Volume UP button combo. Hold them in for ten seconds or so, until the unit powers off.
- Then, normal speaker operation returns the next time you turn it ON.
Finally, the Power button should work again, whether or not you connect the AC adapter.