JBL Tune 500BT Won’t Turn On? – Complete Fix Guide

What to do when JBL Tune 500BT Won’t Turn On? Unfortunately, that happens to more JBL customers than anyone would like, but some solutions are easy to follow. 

The first step when your JBL Tune 500BT won’t turn on is ensuring its battery is full and updating its firmware or trying a factory reset to eliminate the issue. Next must press the buttons for longer than indicated by the user guide.

Many customers get desperate when their headphones stop working correctly, which is entirely understandable. Nowadays, music carries us through chores.

Fortunately, fixing your JBL 500BT won't take much effort or time, only patience! 

Follow all the solutions below to have your headphone working again.

Why JBL Tune 500BT Won’t Turn On?

The JBL Tune 500BT not turning on can happen for many reasons. Fortunately, all of them are well documented since headphones are a simple device. 

So before proceeding to the solution, we advise you to check the common causes.

With that knowledge in mind, you can troubleshoot your headphone even faster.

✅ Dead/Malfunctioning Battery

Since the 500BT is a Bluetooth device, it won’t turn on if there is no battery. A bug might sometimes prevent it from turning on if the battery is not full.

✅ Malfunctioning Power Button

A few times, everything is working on your headphone but the power button. It can be due to weariness or pressing it too hard.

✅ Software Issue

A bit more unlikely to happen, but your device might have trouble in its inner system. Firmware failure can be involved.

✅ Damaged Charging Port

When the charging port is damaged, you might think you’ve charged the headphone when it actually has no battery. 

How To Fix JBL Tune 500BT Not Turning

After checking the most common causes of the JBL Tune 500BT failing to turn on, we move on to the solutions.

A few solutions are widespread, and others could surprise you.

We suggest you try each solution until one of them gets your headphone back to work.

Solution #1: Give The Headset A Full Charge

In this solution, we will work on the hypothesis that your headphone has some bug preventing it from turning on when the battery is not full.

It is unfortunate, and it might mean you have to keep it fully charged. 

That is certainly annoying if you use headphones to go to school, work, college, or any other outdoor activity. 

Here is how you fully charge the JBL Tune 500BT:

1. Connect the micro-USB end of the charging cable to the headphone
2. Connect the other end to a USB power source (a computer, power bank, etc.)
3. A red light indicates it is charging
4. When the red light disappears, you can disconnect the JBL TUne 500BT

After the headphones are fully charged (which takes 2 hours), you must try to turn them on. If it did work, then that’s it!

The bug can be caused by some firmware issue or a communication error in the hardware, such as not transmitting power if the battery is not full. 

Tip: To further troubleshoot the issue, we recommend checking solution #2. It might get rid of any bugs altogether.

Solution #2: Update The Firmware

Firmware updates are helpful for many reasons.

A new firmware release has different objectives:

• Tackling bugs that showed up with the past firmware
• Improving the way the software handles the hardware (in this case, it improves audio quality)
• Improving the overall experience of users

How To Update The JBL Firmware

So if you are having any difficulty with your JBL Tune 500BT, it is time to check for a firmware update.

Here is how you can do it:

1. Open the JBL app on your phone
2. Go to the list of connected devices
3. Check for available updates on JBL Tune 500BT
4. Install if possible

Note: If no update is available for your headphone, there are two possibilities. Either it means the issue is on the hardware, or the firmware is the correct version, but it is not correctly installed. 

Solution #3: Factory Reset

The issue with your headphone might be an incorrect firmware installation. It can also be some random bug that just started showing up.

Whatever the case, we can solve it with a factory reset. As the name suggests, the factory reset will return the headphones to their default settings.

It will eliminate any Bluetooth connections it established with your devices.

Here is how to do it:

1. Hold the “+” and “-” buttons simultaneously
2. Release after 15 seconds
3. Press the power button once

Usually, a headphone with software issues should go back to functioning normally after the procedure above. Next, you will have to pair your devices again. 

Note: There is no problem resetting your phone several times if the issue happens repeatedly. 

However, we suggest you contact JBL as such an issue should not be happening so often.

Solution #4: Press Buttons For Longer

Sometimes the issue is so severe that not even performing a factory reset will get the headphone to turn on.

If the headphone does not turn on at the end of the reset procedure, it is hard to tell whether it was indeed reset.

When that happens, there is a similar procedure you can try. It involves pressing buttons for longer than the resetting steps recommend.

Here is what you will do:

1. Press both volume buttons
2. Hold them for 30 seconds
3. Release those buttons
4. Press and hold the power button for 30 seconds

The success rate with the method outlined above is surprisingly high.

If you’ve come so far and have been frustrated, this alternate resetting method will likely get your spirit up.

Solution #5: Fix The Power Button

Suppose you’ve come so far and none of the solutions above worked.

In that case, there is one possibility to face: the power button itself is not working correctly.

Unfortunately, it is hard to immediately tell that without opening the JBL Tune 500BT for inspection. And that is what we will do.

Don’t Forget About Your Device’s Warranty

Before proceeding, though, let’s discuss two pathways. First, is your headphone still under warranty? 

Remember that JBL’s products have a 1-year warranty as long as you don’t harm them by foolish accidents (like spilling water on the headphone’s cups) or intentionally (like opening them to inspect).

If it is, go to JBL’s site and register for a warranty.

How To Open The JBL Tune 500BT

If you’ve had the headphone for more than one year, the warranty won’t cover whatever issue it presents.

In that case, it is worth checking its inside. Let’s do it:

1. Check which earcup has the power button on your JBL Tune 500BT.
2. Rotate the ear cushions of that earcup smoothly to remove them (they are simply wrapped around, so you can use your bare hands)
3. Use a screwdriver to remove the three screws you are seeing.
4. Grab WD-40 or any other similar-quality lubricant.
5. Press the power button while putting a drop of lubricant on its inner side.
6. Reassemble everything

The mystery has been solved, huh? The issue was, in fact, minimal hardware trouble.

Remember, you can try such a solution every time headphones with a similar structure fail to power on.

Tip: Don't use too much lubricant! 

Since the headphone is very small, too much lubricant could spread and damage critical electronic parts. If need be, ask a professional to do that.

What We Learned

Have you found your JBL Tune 500BT Won’t Turn on? There is a myriad of solutions you can try to get the problem out of the way.

The guide above provides everything you need to get your headphone back to work in a few minutes.

Remember that Solution #5 can only be done if the warranty has expired.