Been doing HA for years. X10 to Vera to Hubitat. Have 3 hubitats (All C-7s) in three different properties. Can usually troubleshoot issues. Update hubs regularly when new releases out.
Three days ago my primary (home) hub just stopped responding to device activation commands. I had made NO changes - not even an update. Alexa (Echo integration) stopped working. Was able to go into hub and no devices were responding when trying to activate directly from device page. Tried to reset radios by shutting down from settings menu, waiting a minute, and restarting. No change - devices still not responding. Next step: backed up hub, updated, rebooted and tried again. No change. Nothing working. Was going away for weekend so went to zwave details and did a zwave repair thinking it'd have time to rebuild and settle. Came back today and devices still not working. Checked logs and saw some things that appeared to occupy resources that I wasn't using so I deleted a couple of virtual devices and apps that I had disabled. Did a reboot and still no change -- devices not responding. Finally, just did a soft reset by rebooting the hub and telling the hub to rebuild database. Reboot worked fine. But still having the problem.
Any idea on what's happening? I do NOT want to completely redo the hub, the automations, the devices, etc. How do I get support from Hubitat? Any help would be appreciated.
Further to my last. I have already performed these steps:
... please shut down the hub from settings and unplug for 30 seconds, then re-plug to boot back up..... Confirm that hub's Z-Wave regional radio frequency matches that of your device. and ... make sure you do not have a Z-Wave firmware update:
I checked m Zwave version and this was the result:
VersionReport(zWaveLibraryType:7, zWaveProtocolVersion:7, zWaveProtocolSubVersion:18, firmware0Version:7, firmware0SubVersion:18, hardwareVersion:1, firmwareTargets:1, targetVersions:[[target:1, version:7, subVersion:18]])
Are all the affected devices Z-wave, or a mix? The Amazon Echo makes it seem like more than Z-wave, but I wasn't sure upon reading things. Echo often stops with internet connectivity issues, but Z-wave should be unaffected if that was the only issue.
That isn't good. It would (to me) point to a radio issue, or possibly a database issue.
I would take a backup, and do a soft reset via diagnostics menu, then upload your backup to restore. If you have an older backup, it wouldn't hurt to try that either.
I think I read somewhere, that on occasion, the reboot method of soft reset isn't working. I haven't seen that happen on any of my hubs, but worth trying.
What does your Z-wave page look like? Could you upload a screenshot after the hub has run for a couple hours or more? There may be something there that points to an issue.
I noticed it when Amazon Echos stopped responding. But that was just a symptom. It is not operating at the hub management UI level when I try to activate a device from the device page. And yes, ALL devices are affected. Some devices show in the device information that the switch has changed on and off (despite the fact that the actual device is not being controlled) and some don't do anything when I hit on/off.
I did just try an older backup. A couple of months old. It restored fine, but the issue remained the same. The hub will not control the devices, despite the hub management UI working. Screenshots of zwave details here:
Uh, might just be coincidence, but the exact same thing has happened to my C8. All of a sudden, no devices are responding. I loaded the latest firmware and rebooted, no change. It was all working fine last night, and then sometime around midnight it just wedged.
The Hubitat interface seems normal, but attempting to send commands to any device (Zigbee or ZWave) seems to do nothing.
Ah, correction, the one ZWave device is working, just Zigbee is out. And, I have warnings from last night that the Zigbee devices that were in mesh mode were generating excessive hub activity.
So, this might be unique to me, but the timing and other similarities were interesting. Nothing of note happened last night that would explain the sudden problems.
Any USB-A power block yes, like an old one from a phone or something should work fine. Just make sure it is at least 1A, a little higher is better to ensure sufficient power.
You could also try a new cord just to be safe. Any USB cord with the right ports should work
This is either disconcerting or comforting -- I'm not sure. It really troubles me that I can be perfectly stable with a system and out of nowhere it just stops working catastrophically and there is really very little I can do about it. I have backups -- but restoring one didn't seem to work. The support here is not great, although I went to the help on the main website and it directed me to here. So, you have to be a computer scientist to troubleshoot an issue, or, just get lucky that someone can help you. or not.
Relative to your comment on Zigbee -- one of the last things I was doing was using a Zigbee remote to turn either activate or turn off my lights. Sometimes it takes time for them to "register" the command. So, although I have no way of telling if that was "it" -- I had thought of that, and with your comment, perhaps that is an issue/contributor.
Looking at this I just found out I have no data in either my zwave or zigbee logs. Not sure how that can be.
What are you going to do to address it? Any ideas? What can/does Hubitat do for users in this case?
They populate live there is no history, so you have to leave them open. I believe the Z-wave logs only show outbound (or is it inbound?) info and its not very useful info at that.
Have you tried a new power supply yet?
Side note... what would do if you went to make dinner one night and all of sudden your Microwave did not work (besides cooking with something else)?
Okay re: the logs. No, have not tried the PS yet. I'm doing this between work trying to figure out whether to pull it all or what to do to remedy the situation with limited time.
Also, not sure the question is entirely relevant. If it was less than say 5 years old, I'd bitch like hell. Post bad reviews. Reach out to company and complain. Depends on how egregious. To start. Then I'd troubleshoot it as best I could because I don't want to pay for something AGAIN that should last longer. If it was past a reasonable time for failure, I'd probably just go buy a new one.
Should that scenario apply here? Is your point Hubitat should be as easy to use as a microwave, and last as long? If so, it isn't as easy to use, and it should last far longer before it craps out because it's a computer with software that has almost no mechanical parts.
my Samsung microwave died once within its 1yr warranty (main board), then again at about 1.5 yrs (magnetron). Did not even bother contacting Samsung on the second failure as I knew they would be worthless. There was nothing to tell me what was wrong with it, runs but no heat, same as the first time it failed. Just me and google to try and figure it out. Eventually got it diagnosed through an extended warranty and it paid me back the original purchase price due to the outrageous quote from the repair shop. So I then fixed it myself for $50 once I knew what was wrong with it. There are no parts to replace on a HE hub, but there is time put into working on it.
Just saying, it is basically an appliance. A relatively inexpensive one at that.
Most people it does work fine for a long time (people still running C4's out there), some people may get random failures, not all hardware is going to be made perfectly.
If you want something that is a tank and (maybe?) has white glove support you need to look beyond DIY hobbyist solutions. Look at the dealer supported automation systems like Control4 and Savant.
Take some advice .. there are many people here that know what they are doing.
Some of the best tech support people you will meet, that know their stuff.
As told please try a new PS 2amp if possible. ( And let us know what happens. )
Also you may need to reboot from settings and pic advanced
and reboot with Rebuild database on reboot < checked.
Give it a try ..
I'm working again. I'll defer posting details until everyone else helps get you working, since I now suspect that I had a completely different issue and I don't want to create confusion. I probably should start a new thread.
Short answer, for now - I suspect I had a flaky and relatively recently added Zigbee device that took other devices down with it, so I'm not prepared to fault Hubitat for that. The Hubitat did its job in my case by creating log entries indicating that something didn't look right. I hadn't noticed those when I first posted.
I will order a 2 amp PS and see if that solves the issue. I doubt it will, but okay, since I can still interact with the hub.
I know there are a ton of people here that know what they're doing. That's great. I have spent COUNTLESS hours on figuring out home automation, zwave, zigbee, networking, Hubitat, apps, etc. etc. I'm just looking for support -- NOT on adding a new app -- I've asked that before and figured that out. Not mission critical. But my entire time investment is DOA when I did nothing. So, the fact that there "many people here that know what they're doing" doesn't help me if 1) they've got other things to do, or 2) there is nothing in the community to help my situation, or 3) there IS something in the community to help my situation, but I can't find it despite searching. So, yes, the community is great -- if and when you can find something. And believe me, this is not my first time struggling with finding help here.
Now I clearly know this is not a device for your run-of-the-mill tech user. But there's a HUGE difference between not being "user friendly" and having no lifeline when something shits the bed. I always solve my own problem, and I'm trying to here -- and I've solved MANY on my own -- but either there's no one available, or no one can find this post, or no one really knows what's wrong. I tried everything I could find in multiple unorganized community threads and now the most helpful response is "it could be a power supply." So, telling me I should consider Control4 or Savant is really not all that helpful.
You dont have a single other spare power block that is 1A or greater? How do you charge things? I suggested that first because typically it is a super easy way to rule something out. I don't think I have ever had someone say they needed to order one out of all the times it has been suggested.
The first thing to start having issues when there is voltage fluctuations is the z-wave radio. I just had this happen about 2 weeks ago and its been fine since I replaced it. Mine would work for a few hours then crap out until I rebooted.
Its only been ~ 1 day since your first post and you have yet to try the first thing I suggested. I am waiting for that test before going any further.
my Samsung microwave died once within its 1yr warranty (main board), then again at about 1.5 yrs (magnetron). Did not even bother contacting Samsung on the second failure as I knew they would be worthless. There was nothing to tell me what was wrong with it, runs but no heat, same as the first time it failed. Just me and google to try and figure it out. Eventually got it diagnosed through an extended warranty and it paid me back the original purchase price due to the outrageous quote from the repair shop. So I then fixed it myself for $50 once I knew what was wrong with it. There are no parts to replace on a HE hub, but there is time put into working on it.
