You go to update your Ring Chime sounds only to find out that your Ring Chime is stuck updating its internal software! Is this a bug or something different?
Your Ring Chime can be updating its internal software because this is the firmware that the device needs in order to keep its features up and running. These updates help prevent bugs as well as security issues. The Ring Chime just happens to be notorious for taking longer to complete these updates than Ring’s other devices.
Let’s get your Ring Chime’s update problems solved by starting with talking about why some devices take forever to update their firmware!
The Ring Chime: The Smart “Old School” Doorbell Chime
The Ring Chime is one of the most interesting devices to come out of Ring’s smart home products. The Ring Chime calls back to how old school doorbells used to work, but it also adds some interesting smart features for your home.
If you get the base model Ring Chime, it acts as a notification for when your Ring doorbell gets an alert. This can be great if you don’t want to constantly haul your phone around while you’re in your own home. You could simply add a Ring Chime or two around the house and they’ll be able to let you know when someone’s at your door like a traditional doorbell would.
Things get really interesting when we look at the Ring Chime Pro. The Pro model of the Ring Chime also acts as a Wi-Fi range extender. This is a great way to improve your Wi-Fi range, while also getting a little extra utility out of the devices in your home.
Picking up a Ring Chime Pro as a Wi-Fi extender is an even more attractive option when you consider the relatively affordable price of this product.
What’s The Problem With The Internal Software Update
There is one big problem when we start looking at the Ring Chime and Ring Chime Pro. Users all over the Internet have reported that this device gets stuck on its updating screen for anywhere from five minutes to up to an hour. For such a basic device, an hour-long update cycle is a little over the top.
Basically when you first setup the Chime, or sometimes when you change its settings, the Ring app stops you doing anything saying “Chime is currently updating its internal software”:
This might not be the biggest problem given how basic this device is. It doesn’t have too many features, so a long update cycle might not get in the way of much utility. However, this can be a huge problem if you want to update the Ring Chime sound, but you can’t get past the device update alert.
In order to figure out what’s going on inside your Ring Chime, we need to quickly talk about what firmware is.
How The Ring Chime (And Really Any Smart Device) Works
Every smart device in your home has a program that is etched directly into its own circuitry. This is the program that your device requires in order to run all of its basic functions. In the tech world, we call this firmware.
Unlike software, you can’t really get rid of firmware. While you could uninstall apps on your computer or smartphone, you can’t uninstall the firmware that runs those apps. Firmware is the most basic programming that our devices have and all of the features and applications we use are architectured on top of this firmware.
Firmware updates can take a while. If there’s a problem during a firmware update, it could seriously jeopardize the functionality of your device. This is the big reason why firmware updates tend to be a bit slower than other software updates.
Even the humble Ring Chime has firmware that needs to be updated from time to time. However, the Ring Chime has an abnormally long update cycle, which means we need to talk about a few ways that you can fix Ring Chimes that are stuck on their updating screen.
Note: if you have setup your Ring Chime within the last 24 hours, it can be normal for the Ring Chime section of the Ring app to regularly pop up with the “Chime is currently updating its internal software” error – even after quickly changing a notification sound. In this case, it’s best just to wait it out. But if you setup your Chime ages ago (and still get the error regularly), it’s worth trying to fix it.
Why Ring Chime Is Updating (And How to Fix)
There’s good news and then there is some challenging news about how we can handle firmware update problems with the Ring Chime. We’re going to start with a fix that might seem counterintuitive at first, but it actually gets great results.
Update Your Firmware
Our first fix has to start before the problem begins. One thing you can do to keep your Ring Chime in good shape is to manually update your firmware.
Checking for manual firmware updates allows you to stay one step ahead of the time-consuming updates that can keep your device from working as intended. Starting a manual firmware update might not improve the time that it takes these updates to process, but it will help you schedule your updates around your life.
When you check for a manual update, you can choose to start it then and there. This allows you to start updating firmware when you know you can have several minutes to an hour of downtime on your Ring Chime. This definitely beats finding out that you’re in the middle of a firmware update while you’re trying to update your Ring Chime’s sounds.
Here’s how you can manually check the firmware update on any Ring device:
- Open the Ring app
- Tapp the three lines on the top left of the app
- Select your Ring Chime
- Tap Device Health
- Find the “Firmware” section
If there’s an update available for your firmware, you’ll be able to start the update then and there. If your firmware is totally up to date, you’ll just see this message relayed to you:
Hard Reset Your Ring Chime
It’s an unfortunate truth that the Ring Chime can get stuck on the update screen because of internal problems. This means you’re going to have to do a factory reset to take the Ring Chime back to its original firmware.
The factory reset restores a device to the firmware that it shipped with from the factory. Most of today’s modern devices are built to reset to the original firmware in order to undo any potential problems that a faulty update can cause.
Ring Chimes can get stuck on their firmware update screen and need to be factory reset. Here’s how you can reset generation 1 and generation 2 Ring Chimes.
Ring Chime Gen 1
The process to factory reset your first generation Ring Chime is a little bit involved. Here’s a step-by-step process through factory resetting a gen-one Ring Chime.
The first thing you need to do is locate a factory reset tool or a paperclip. This is a small device that can poke the reset button that is located in a small hole on the side of the Ring Chime.
It’s important that the Ring Chime stays plugged in during the factory reset process so it has enough power to complete the reset.
Using the paper clip or reset tool, press the factory reset button and hold it down for 15 seconds. At the end of this 15 seconds, your generation 1 Ring Chime will be factory reset.
Ring Chime Gen 2 and Ring Chime Pro
Factory resetting your Ring Chime generation 2 and your Ring Chime Pro is a little bit easier than factory resetting the original model.
Ring updated a lot of their devices to be easier to initiate a factory reset. You won’t have to mess around with a factory reset tool or a little paper clip to get the job done here. All you need to do is locate the orange button on your Ring Chime and hold it down for 20 seconds – you can see this step at 3:05 in the below YouTube video:
At the end of that 20 seconds, release the orange button and your device will be factory reset.
Wait It Out
The last solution is definitely the least exciting, but sometimes all you can do to solve the tech problem is wait it out.
If your Ring Chime is in the middle of an update, the best thing you can do is just wait for it to complete. This should only take 5 minutes, but it could take up to an hour to fully update the firmware inside of the Ring Chime.
It’s best to wait rather than trying to mess with the firmware updating process. Unplugging your Ring Chime during a firmware update can do serious damage to the firmware itself. This is a server-side problem over at Ring and sometimes we just need to wait for those programmers and tech workers to solve issues on their end.
Waiting it out is especially good advice if you have setup your Ring Chime in the past 24 hours. The update might be a genuine update that is simply taking longer than normal – in this case, there’s no need to do anything more.
Are you receiving a Ring warning stating “You Are Being Recorded” and unsure how to disable it? Refer to this article for a solution to resolve this issue.
Hi Tristan,
I had the first Gen Ring Doorbell. In Fact Jamie Siminoff sold me his device over the phone when he was just starting. I now have up dated to the Ring Pro 2 Doorbell and also added the new ring transformer. It is installed and working ok. It is being used with the 30 year old solenoid metal banger ..or old standard door chime. I never notice before but when the doorbell button is pressed it only rings the chime once.
When I had a push button switch type if you pressed it 10 times it rang the chimes 10 times. Unfortunately the Ring Door Bell will not let you do that as it is still recording the event and won’t reset till after that or it cycles out. Some times I am in the garage working on my classic car and don’t have the phone with me. It would be nice if the Ring Doorbell could be pressed multi times with the chimes responding like back in the old switch days.
I have the Ring Chime Pro that I will install in the garage but again… only one chime from that also. I am working on a out board fix with a time delay relay to do multi rings after the first doorbell press on the ring. There needs to be some old school brought back in our life’s. Without WiFi and Bluetooth as of 2022 we are tied to all the new tech. I cannot find anything on the market that will do Multi rings. I think that’s something that should be addressed. I’d be interested in any comments you might have.
Regards: Mark Richman
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your comment, and that’s awesome that Jamie sold you your first Ring Doorbell! Nice story.
Yes you’re quite right about the ‘ring once’ problem – we covered this in a separate article. It’s frustrating for sure.
The ‘easiest’ approach right now is to set-up a smart home routine, for example an Alexa routine that will trigger when the doorbell is pressed. You could then have a light flash multiple times, or an Echo device play a short song a few times. That can work well.
But it would definitely be nice if Ring (or a third party) can come up with an easier solution. I agree that it’s a step backwards.
Thanks,
Tristan