Jabra Elite 7 Active / Elite 7 Pro Left Earbud Not Working [SOLVED]

The Jabra Elite 7 Active & Pro are the current flagship earbuds in the Jabra store and offer a great listening experience.

But when they came out in late 2021, they had their software & occasional hardware issues.

Initially, users were unable to pair just one earbud, and they tried to fix it with a firmware update.

However, people are still complaining about the Jabra Elite 7 Active & Elite Pro left earbud not working, connecting, or even turning on in some cases.

Jabra Elite 7 Active/Pro Problems

I own a pair of the older Jabra 75t, and they work great. Recently I decided to get a pair of new Jabras for my wife and saw that the 75t was discontinued.

Browsing their store, I saw the Elite 7 Pro as a good alternative, but after browsing online forums and talking to users, I found some core issues with the Jabra Elite 7 (both Pro & Active versions).

1. Some users reported that the left earbud was dead on arrival (DOA), which seems like a manufacturing issue.
2. For some users, the left earbud stopped working after some time. It won’t turn on or show any LED activity. It just won’t do anything. Not even charge.
3. In less severe cases, the left earbud will turn on or charge, but it won’t connect/pair or get audio.

I have owned enough earbuds to know that these problems are not very unique. Other earbuds brands also have these problems where one earbud won’t work.

The good news is the troubleshooting is quite easy, and you can go through a few standard steps to get your left Jabra earbud working again.

PS: I have found one unique solution that seems to work for the majority of people with left Jabra earbuds not working. I am going to include it below as well.

Jabra Elite 7 Left Earbud Not Working – Troubleshooting

Not all malfunctioning Jabra earbuds are the same. While the symptoms might be similar, the cause might be different.

Therefore, it is a good idea to follow comprehensive troubleshooting steps to systematically rule out each potential reason for your left Jabra earbud not to work.

We will start with the easiest and most common causes and make our way down to more special ones.

By the end of this guide, you will have your Jabra earbuds working as well as new ones.

Power Cycle Your Earbuds

Over the years, I have fixed a number of electronics just by turning it OFF & ON again.

The method is so effective that it has become a running joke in the tech industry.

Try this if you are getting some activity on your left earbud. If it turns ON but won’t connect or get audio, power cycling can fix any such issues.

Although you can power OFF your Jabra Elite 7 earbuds by putting them in the charging case, we are going to do this manually.

To manually turn your Jabra Elite 7 OFF, press the back buttons on both earbuds simultaneously. The earbuds will turn OFF.

Don’t put them in the charging and wait for 60 seconds before you turn them ON again by pressing and holding the same buttons for 1-2 seconds.

Once the power cycle is complete, try pairing the earbuds again and see if your left earbud is working as expected now.

Check the Charging

Sometimes your earbud will not charge even if you put them in a charging case and leave them for sufficient time.

If your left earbud is not working or connecting, check the charge level.

To do this, look at the LED indicator on the left earbud (on the backside) and see if it is showing any color.

The below image shows different color codes for different levels of charge. If it is solid red, that means it’s critically low on charge.

Clean the Dirty Charging Pins

Dirty charging pins are one of the most common reasons for your earbuds not to charge and hence show no activity.

It can happen to either of your earbuds.

When used regularly, your earbuds will pick up wax, oils, and dust particles, and when these debris accumulate on the charging pins, they block the flow of current.

In such a case, you will need to clean both your earbuds and charging case.

In fact, it is a good practice to clean your case and buds for good hygiene regularly.

To clean your earbuds and charging case, follow the below steps:

• Take a dry cotton swab and gently clean the pins on the charging case and each earbud. This will remove any major debris deposits.
• Next, dip a new cotton swab in acetone or WD40 Contact Cleaner and clean the contacts again.
• Repeat this a few times till the shiny surface of the mental contacts is visible.

Similarly, the charging port on your earbud case will also accumulate dirt and debris over time and will need similar cleaning.

You can generously spray the WD40 from a nozzle to remove any hard debris.

Pair Your Jabra Elite 7 Again

In my personal experience, most hiccups with wireless earbuds come from unsynced mispairing.

Every earbuds brand has pairing issues (maybe apart from Apple AirPods), and Jabra is no different.

Jabra has been using the master-slave connection for Bluetooth pairing on older models, which means only one earbud (master) will connect to your phone, and the other earbud (slave) will connect to the master earbud.

When you take your earbuds out of the case, it takes a little time for them to pair together first (called synching).

Once they are synced, they will appear in your phone’s Bluetooth list as a single device.

However, the Elite 7 Pro and Elite 7 Active were the first Jabra earbuds with independent Bluetooth connections.

This enabled the mono feature, where you can just use one earbud as well.

Being the first-generation device with this type of connection, they are bound to have pairing issues.

If your left Jabar Elite 7 earbud is charging and turning ON fine and just not getting any audio, it is probably due to pairing issues.

Below is the correct step-by-step process to pair them.

• Turn on the earbuds by taking them out of the charging case. If they don’t turn ON automatically, you can manually turn them on by pressing the buttons on both buds for ONE second.
• Now to put the earbuds into pairing mode, press and hold both buttons on the earbuds for THREE seconds till you see the blue flashing LED on the right earbud. Your earbuds are in pairing mode now.
• Now on your phone, turn on the Bluetooth and let it find the new earbuds that will appear as “Jabra Elite 7 Pro” or “Jabra Elite 7 Active” depending on your model.
• Tap on the name and follow the on-screen instructions to finish the pairing process.
• If it asks for a code, input the default code, 0000.

Reset the Earbuds & Charging Case

If charging, dirty pins, and bad pairing isn’t the cause of your problem, then we are going to do some software resets.

Resetting your earbuds will remove temporary software glitches and revert your earbuds to factory state.

We will reset both the earbuds and the charging case separately.

Reset your Jabra Elite 7 earbuds

• Take your Jabra Elite 7 earbuds out of the charging case and turn them ON.
• Now, press & hold the button on both earbuds for 10-15 seconds until the LED light flashes purple.
• Your earbuds will go through the reset process, and once completed, the LED will blink blue, indicating pairing mode.

Resetting your Jabra Elite 7 earbuds will remove all devices that were paired with your earbuds. So you will have to go through pairing them again.

Resetting can also fix other issues as well like charging problems or if you are not getting sound in one of the earbuds.

This was quite common with the previous Elite 75t model

Reset the charging case

Next, we are going to reset the charging case as well. To do that, follow the below instructions.

1. Put both earbuds inside the charging case and leave the lid open.
2. Plug the charging case into a power source using the original Jabra USB cable or any other good-quality cable.
3. The LED indicator will turn on near the USB port. Wait 3 to 5 seconds and close the lid. Your charging case will refresh its firmware and reset.

If this also doesn’t solve the issue, we are going to try a solution that is guaranteed to fix your earbud (unless its hardware damage)

Update Language Setting

I found this solution online while looking at different problems people had with their Jabra Elite 7 Active and Pro earbuds.

I call this the magic solution.

Before you do this, make sure you have reset both your earbuds and charging case following the instructions above.

Now follow the below steps to update firmware via language setup (this might sound weird but follow it to the word)

Step 1: Clear the cache on your Jabra app. You can do this via settings, but if you are not sure how to do this, an easy alternative is to uninstall and reinstall the app.

Step 2: “Forget” your Jabra earbuds from your phone’s list of paired Bluetooth devices. You can do this in your Bluetooth settings.

Step 4: Place both of your Jabra earbuds in their charging box.

Step 5: Now remove ONLY the left earbud from the box.

Step 6: Pair the left earbud with your phone. You will need to press & hold down the button on the earbud for between 3 to 5 seconds to enter pairing mode.

Step 7: Now, open the Jabra Sound+ app on your phone and make sure your earbud is paired.

Step 8: If the app prompts you to update the firmware, choose to skip this step.[Important!] Instead, navigate to the language settings within the app.

Step 9: Select your preferred language and follow the instructions on the screen to load the language update onto the earbud.

Step 10: Put the left earbud into the charging box again and close the lid. This should prompt the purple firmware update LED light to flash on the charging case (It might take about 10 seconds for the light to start flashing.)

Step 11: While waiting for the update to complete, unpair the Jabra earbuds from your phone once again through your Bluetooth settings.

Step 12: Once the update is finished, remove both earbuds from the charging box, place them in your ears, and pair them with your phone the usual way.

And voila! You should now be able to enjoy sound in both earbuds.

If this doesn’t work on the first try, repeat the whole process a few times (for some people, it took a few times to work)

Check for Physical Damage

The above “magic trick” has worked for many people, but if it doesn’t work for you and you have also followed all the other troubleshooting steps above, then it’s time to consider the hard truth – maybe you have physically damaged your earbuds.

Physical damage can come from shock (for example, dropping earbuds from a height) or from moisture (sweat, water, or from humid environment).

In both cases, something internal will get damaged.

Physically damaged earbuds are hard to repair because the components are so miniature that a normal user can’t fix them on his own.

You will need to send the earbuds in for repair or get them fixed from your local repair shop

Last Resort – Contact Jabra Support

Fortunately, the Jabra support team is very active and cooperative.

If you bought the earbuds from them directly, you should contact them.

You can reach out to Jabra Support via their website or directly through the Jabra Sound+ app.

Jabra is very active on social media sites like Twitter and Reddit, and even if you post on these sites, you will receive a reply with helpful suggestions and further steps.

Great customer support is what I really like about this brand.

However, if you have bought your pair from a third-party retailer like BestBuy or Walmart, first try to reach out to them for a solution.

Jabra Elite 7 Active Not Working – Conclusion

In this exhaustive troubleshooting guide, we have discussed all possible reasons and solutions to your Jabra Elite 7 Active or Elite 7 Pro left earbud not working.

Unless you have a hardware problem that couldn’t be fixed with hands-on repair, this guide should be able to solve your problem.

Let us know in the comments below how your troubleshooting goes.

If you want, you can also post your specific questions in Techrandm Forums.