C-8 "Z-Wave is unresponsive" message with inaccessible zwaveVersion page -- FIXED!

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1

Recently discovered my C-8 hub no longer communicating with z-wave devices. It refuses to communicate with new devices and takes forever to display the Z-Wave Details screen, which eventually returns with nothing shown. And the moment I try to view the details screen, I get the dreaded "Z-Wave is unresponsive." message in the alerts area at the top right of the screen.

I've tried everything I can find that is suggested to fix similar issues, including:

  • Multiple soft resets, even going back to previous software versions.
  • Multiple Z-Wave repairs
  • Multiple Z-Wave radio resets via the diagnostics tool
  • Removing all Z-Wave devices and repeating the above
  • Shutting down and removing power and waiting for at least 30 seconds, attempted multiple times
  • I have tried multiple USB power adapters

Other notes:

  • I have very few Z-Wave devices (maybe five total); I use mostly Zigbee
  • Device is running the latest software, and has only had this issue since the latest software update... but running older software doesn't help.
  • There is an option for 'Firmware Update' in the Z-Wave Details screen, but clicking that button and confirming only produces a pop-up that says "Z-Wave Updater: Getting Device Versions" that never goes anywhere, no matter how long I wait.
  • I am not using PoE; it is being powered by the included power adapter, and my network does not support PoE.
  • The power adapter is plugged into a APC battery backup the entire time, so this should not be anything caused by "bad power"

At this point, all Z-Wave devices have been unplugged from power and removed from the C-8's devices list, and the hub's Z-Wave settings & radio have been reset multiple times, so there should be no devices that are interfering with the C-8's Z-Wave radio. And yet, as soon as you try to view the Z-Wave Details screen, the "Z-Wave is unresponsive" message appears in the alerts area. That 'unresponsive' alert doesn't appear beforehand, which makes sense, because there are no devices left that are using the Z-Wave radio at the moment.)

So, I'm at a loss. I have a old C-7 that I had previously factory reset and had connected via mesh to control outdoor devices, and that hub has no issues connecting with any of the Z-Wave devices. (Once the C-8 stopped working with Z-Wave devices, just to be sure there wasn't some Z-Wave conflict, I unplugged the C-7 and again tried all of the various repair steps above, which made no difference.) Right now, my old C-7 is being used to control the Z-Wave devices that are both inside and outside of the house... and while there's a bit of a delay, surprisingly it works, but it's definitely not ideal.

Perhaps someone has some advice...

Only thing I have not tried is a complete (non-soft) reset... but given all my devices would need to be reenrolled and all my custom drivers, scripts, and rules would have to be re-done... that sounds like a nightmare.

Here is some info from the hub, in case it's helpful...

Hardware: C-8
Version: 2.3.8.139
Z-Wave Radio Region: US - 908.4 MHz - 916 MHz

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 2.05.27 PM
Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 2.05.27 PM2082×890 65.4 KB

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 2.05.44 PM

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 2.06.14 PM

2

A soft reset and restoring an old backup does not revert the platform.

Did you try a prior platform version using the "Restore Previous Version" in the diagnostic tool?

3

I did restore from a backup that was using an earlier software version... so I'm not sure whether that is different than "Restore Previous Version," but I guess I can try that too.

I'll report back.

4

It is different.

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5

Well, that made no difference. I picked a different version (2.3.7144), and had hopes because it mentioned updating drivers and took awhile... but then when it booted, it still indicates Z-Wave is unresponsive.

Oh, and all my settings have been completed wiped; I was presented with a "new rule" dialog for some reason, without being prompted to recover my old settings.

6

After doing a soft reset, I was prompted to pick from my backups... so at least we're no worse than before. (Although that has spurred me to make sure all my custom drivers, etc., are safely stored somewhere offline, just in case.)

Interestingly, this time the 'Update Firmware' option is no longer displaying in the Z-Wave Details screen... and while it still takes a moment to load, that screen seems to load faster. But the 'Z-Wave Unresponsive' message has re-appeared.

Still, I'll try to add a device, just in case that message is misleading.

7

If you did a soft reset then yes your settings would be wiped. To roll back the platform the ONLY thing you need to do is to restore previous version. It does not wipe the database.

Glad you go everything back with a database restore.

A database restore does not change the platform version.
A platform version change (backwards or forwards) does not change the database.

8

No good; I tried adding two devices that previously worked, both were reset to factory defaults (with neither appearing in the device list), and they are never seen by the hub.

So it's still unhappy... but I appreciate the advice thus far.

10

To be clear- I had all my settings, everything was normal (except for non-functioning Z-Wave), and when I did the 'Restore Previous Version,' it came back as if it was a new device; no devices, no nothing, with a brand new hub name. I was definitely surprised, since I'd figure picking an option that would wipe settings, the UI would have cautioned me.

Anyway, soft reset and restore fixed my settings at least. Just not Z-Wave.

11

Go to this URL, using your hub IP
yourHubIP*/hub/zwaveVersion

Post the results.

Also, after reverting the firmware correctly, have you done a shut down and removing power? Thats the only way to restart the zwave radio after a hard crash (which is what it looks like it is doing).

Please double check your current platform version using Settings > Hub Details
(or also shown in diagnostic tool)

12

I had forgotten to do this after reverting, so I just did that. And I had hope it worked at first, because z-wave was enabled and the 'unresponsive' message didn't appear, even after going into the Z-Wave Details screen (which also seemed to load more quickly). But adding a device didn't work, and then I noticed the 'unresponsive' message returned; doing a shutdown, removing power and waiting, then restarting it, the 'unresponsive' message was still there.

So I went ahead and updated its software back to the latest version, and afterwards shut it down and waited awhile, and restarted... but the 'unresponsive' message remains.

I got a blank page ('not found'). Just to be sure I, I checked it from the command line:

% wget 192.168.1.181/hub/zwaveVersion
--2024-04-17 17:32:51--  http://192.168.1.181/hub/zwaveVersion
Connecting to 192.168.1.181:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
2024-04-17 17:33:01 ERROR 404: Not Found.

...same result for https; other pages work fine. But let me know if I'm trying the wrong URL.

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 5.43.42 PM

13

Interestingly, when I disable Z-Wave and access that URL, I get the message "No Z-Wave controller instance is available." So clearly that's the correct URL for info... but the moment I re-enable Z-Wave and refresh that URL, I get the blank (404 not found) page.

14

Please PM me your hub id, so I can check it out

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15

I have one hub with no ZWave enabled.
Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 4.59.35 PM

Trying the URL on it gives me:

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 4.58.59 PM

1 Like
16

Right, that was my point. Leaving z-wave enabled gives me a blank (404 error) page, but disabling it returns the "No Z-Wave controller instance is available." So the hub definitely behaves differently when Z-Wave is enabled vs. disabled (not like it's acting like it's disabled the entire time), but strange that when enabled the hub returns a 404 page. Seems like it's crashing so hard as to not even make the z-wave version page available, almost like it's saying "z-wave? what's that?" :confused:

17

I browsed through your list of things-you've-tried but I'm not sure I saw one where you did a Soft Reset, did NOT restore anything, shutdown, power cycle and bring it up in what is very similar to Factory Fresh. Does going to the ZWave Details page work? I know you won't have any devices etc. but it sure feels like there's something hanging around to crash that ZWave. I'm wondering if an empty DB can provide a clue.

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18

Yeah, I thought about doing that, but was wary, thinking that might prevent my ability to recover my settings from a backup afterwards. (I was also reading up on 'safe mode,' but learned that disables the radios, which wouldn't help.)

But as long as I can do another soft reset and re-apply past settings, a soft reset without restoring the DB seems worth a shot. Like you said, it won't really be usable (since all my devices will be missing), but it might point the way to whatever has gone wonky. (Assuming it's not outright hardware failure.)

19

You won't really need to do that because a Restore begins with a Soft Reset behind the scenes. Any backup that worked in the past 24 hours will work again. :slight_smile:

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20

No good. :frowning_face:

I did a soft reset, making sure to power off the device for at least a minute, then restarted. I did not perform a restore process, skipped the prompt to add a new device, and the hub appeared as brand new (settings-wise), asking me to give it a name. But "Z-Wave is unresponsive" was already displaying in the top right of the screen before I even tried anything related to Z-Wave.

I did a shutdown again, powered off and waited a minute, then started up one last time, just to make sure the z-wave radio was restarted, still no luck. And both times, the /hub/zwaveVersion page was also giving a 404 error.

I was also getting a load warning the first time, but that seems to have gone away on its own, so I dunno if that was just caused temporarily by the "new hub setup" procedure.

I've since restored from cloud, and have all my (non-zwave) devices back... with z-wave still unhappy.

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21

Following the advice given via PM from @bcopeland, I visited the following URL for my hub:

/hub/advanced/installZipgateway718

...waited until I got the message "success, please reboot" (your browser will just sit there loading until you get a result), and then rebooted. After that, everything was working again. It seems the software for the z-wave chip got corrupted, perhaps after an incomplete or failed firmware update.

After I rebooted, for good measure I also shut down the hub, removed power for 30 seconds, and powered it back up, just to be sure the z-wave radio was fully reset. That was mostly because I had previously futzed with the country/frequency setting for z-wave (back when I was flailing, trying anything to fix it), so I thought it best to ensure the z-wave radio was properly powered-off after I set it back to the correct frequency setting.

Hopefully this will help others, who get the dreaded "Z-Wave Unresponsive" message and also find the "/hub/zwaveVersion" page returns a 404 error.

Thanks for your help, @bcopeland, @csteele, and @jtp10181 !

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