Is a soft reset necessary!?

I'm going to express a bit of discourse for a minute. You can disagree with me if you'd like. Those of you that know me, understand that I generally use good judgement when it comes to my hub, am not quick to point fingers, and have done my share of troubleshooting over the years that I've been here. So I - in a small way - feel like I am justified in this statement.

As of late, it seems that the "answer to everyone's problems" is a soft reset. That is NOT always the case. I've seen several posts where no one asks what is actually running on a hub. Devices or 3rd party apps. THAT is an important question. I've personally experienced where one device has taken down both meshes and shut down my hub. When things aren't working, the answer is NOT always a soft reset. So stop recommending that right out of the gate. These types of measures should be at the end of the check list. All you're doing is creating an army of disgruntled users when their issue pops up again and again. If you're not taking the time to properly troubleshoot, then you're adding to that user's problems and frustration.

7 Likes

If you want consistency in answers, the real way to fix that is to have Hubitat staff answer the tech support questions not end users.

Until then, people will give the advice THEY think makes sense, and is prudent to do. And it may differ in what you think is the right first step.

Not sure that this post will change any of that.

I do agree, for what it's worth, that a soft reset isn't always needed (and I don't recommend it except in cases they show logs that indicates a likelihood of corruption). On the other hand, I haven't heard of it hurting either... So...

5 Likes

Me either, but when a device is the problem, a soft reset just reintroduces the problem. My hope with this post is for those automatically recommending it to read this and maybe reconsider their answers a bit. There is no right answer to this, but bring it up and there is a response, even if a silent acknowledgement. Or maybe the new people will question why they should immediately reset.
Jason, if you recommended it, it would be justified. But when it's the second answer to a question that's as generic as I've seen lately, I'd be questioning why.

1 Like

I must admit the only time a soft reset is my go to is if there are errors in the logs with SQL in them. Then the issue COULD be database corruption.
I'm sure in the dim and distant past someone posted a list of questions/things to try if you have hub issues.
Just a vague memory......
Then again all my memories are becoming vague. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Soft reset is only needed when their is obvious database errors in the logs. Some people think it also helps with the slowdown as it will create a "fresh" copy of the database but that will probably only be short lived and the slowdowns will come back. I've done it a couple times myself, but it was due to my db getting corrupted during testing or due to power loss.

Daily reboots are also a band-aide fix. It does help rebooting every night but it shouldn't be needed as well. There is other issues with the hub that are causing this to be required.

In the forums over the years some of the issues that have been identified include

  1. Temperature. Make sure the hub is well ventilated.
  2. Power supply. Some have had a bad power supply and replaced it with a beefier one with good results.
  3. Bad device. This could be causing mesh issues that are causing issues with the hub. Some devices spam the mess with power reporting info but its hidden in the logs usually. Cleaning up these devices (especially when you have a lot of them) will make the mesh much more responsive.
  4. Bad devices 2. This is a wide range of issues that people just blame the hub for. But you need to understand your mess, your devices, how they are routing and if there are any devices in there that could cause issues with devices falling off such as zigbee bulbs. This takes a bit more knowledge but is a critical piece of troubleshooting.
  5. And finally apps/drivers. We usually start here because its easy to enable/disable them. But there are many possible issues. Too many devices on a dashboard is one example. I'm don't like calling them bad apps or drivers, just apps/drivers with a bug that has yet to be found.

HA is not easy. But its fun.

7 Likes

One of the things that might have a chance of helping is a published troubleshooting FAQ with info exactly like that, and probably expanded on further. If one already exists, and we aren't using it then maybe it needs updated and us helpers need to be better about pointing users to it (I honestly don't know if one exists or not).

I'm not sure that would really help, but it may give a documented "playbook", if you will, that helpful user ambassadors can point newbies to in order to give them help in a way that is consistent as slightly less ad hoc.

But I do admit, on the other hand, that many users do not want to read anything - even if the Troubleshooting FAQ were super helpful.

5 Likes

Judging from the number of MyQ posts about the same issue, I agree that is VERY true.
:grin:

3 Likes

Yeah, I can't argue with that. The biggest thorn in documentation's side is that people actually have to READ IT.

I think of the Unraid forums a lot. They have some EXCELLENT FAQs, and when new users come in and ask the same question for the 100th time, the regulars all there just post the link to that question # in the faq.

Seems a little cold at first, but is VERY effective in giving out consistent guidance repeatedly.

Yes, there are often follow-up questions/clarifications that still need answers, but that's ok.

2 Likes

Totally agree. I often don't know when to apply which fix.

The latest surge of new hubs with no software at all, and having to do a factory reset, would be another good example of the need for this FAQ. I don't know how many times the past couple weeks Ashok has "saved the day" fixing this error.

Yes, but that fix was passed on to him by the admins. Him and a numbered few. I was not one of them. I would NOT advise someone to do it personally, although I understand the criteria, So I will continue to tag those that were advised by the powers and let them take responsibility.

1 Like

I just wrote this in another thread, before I even wandered into this one (I can never pass up a thread that's in the debate chamber)!

FAQ threads or the ability to sticky oldie but goodie threads (or specific posts) would serve the same goal, I think.

I got accused of that in that thread too! Some serious deja vu today :upside_down_face:.

4 Likes

There is a multi-part issue to that.

  • I think people are searching (for a change!) and finding that original app first.
  • The old app doesn't work, and nobody bothers to read to the end to see that the old app has been superceded.
  • Nobody that has access (a moderator?) has noted in the first post in the original (depreciated) app as being non-functional.
1 Like

what are the links? that can be remedied easily and respectfully

In a different forum, where I am a moderator, I did a huge FAQ archive thread for things that came up over and over again. I simply made a locked sticky where nobody could post. It contained links out to the various relevant threads. It was easy to manage as you were just collating information and not really creating it. As time moves on, as the topic du jour changes, you just eliminate the old thread and add a new one into the sticky.

It works fine, and requires minimal effort.

I search those forums a lot and find all my questions are usually already answered. I must be one of the few. Unraid forums have a lot of answers.

They do indeed. Very impressive.

A number of times I have searched for something, only to find a post where squid, et al, posted the link to the question in the FAQ - but the FAQ wasn't int the top couple of search results.

All depends on the wording I guess.

1 Like

There will always be those users that either won't or can't look up the answer to a question themselves before just asking it for what turns out to be the :face_with_symbols_over_mouth::face_with_symbols_over_mouth: time.

But at least trying to help make the answers easier to find, and easier to point people to the information that already exisys, is better for everyone!

1 Like

I'd like to see what you're pointing at with these two posts if you don't mind.

Are there any non-staff users that can edit a post by another user?

I know it's possible to edit the title of a thread to indicate that an app contained in it is deprecated.

But I think only staff can actually change user posts, and I wouldn't expect them to weigh into threads on deprecated vs. active user code. Unless there was an issue of platform instability, copyright or something, and then they'd just delete whatever posts they needed to.

Hmm, not sure about this particular software. I would think moderators could though.