My new VeraLite stopped playing nice and the web became unresponsive even after reboots.
So I did a hard reset like this:
Power off; Power on; As soon as blue light blinks, press reset button once; wait for blue light to blink like crazy;
telnet 192.168.1.1
Get interface that looks rather like OpenWRT (is it?)
flash_eraseall -j /dev/mtd7
sync
echo b > /proc/sysrq-trigger
Power cycle
Connect web browser to 192.168.81.1
(this was all directly connected to my laptop, changing the ethernet IP to suitable values as I progressed).
Anyway - the web is fine, but in that condition I cannot “login” because it cannot see the findvera internet service.
So I pop it on my main network and it DHCPs fine and gets a public IP (I have a /27 IPv4 public block). Then it goes weird. Port 22 opens for a bit (running dropbear) but I cannot ssh in as I don’t have the root PW. Then 22 drops. 80 never starts. nmap shows it settles into a state where it only has 53 (dns) open.
I reran the process and managed to initiate a factory reset from the web interface. Still no joy.
Is it REALLY necessary to have CAPTCHAs on for a logging in account. I’m already having a bad day, dealing with 1 unreadable text and 3 obtuse questions on every post is unnecesary.
[quote=“Z-Waver, post:2, topic:183825”]Yes, it’s running on openWRT. It seems unwise that you’d go ahead and erase a file system without even knowing what you are working on, but…
That was the 2nd thing I tried - the recovery tool seems unhappy to work on Windows 7 on VMWare, even with the XP compatability layer installed.
It does not find any network cards. I have no access at all to any native Windows machines (all linux).
Do you happen to know if I can write the firmware from a recovery mode telnet session? Certainly can with raw OpenWRT.
There’s no config and no backup unfortunately. Never got that far. In fact I did not even get as far as adding a device.
Basically I’ve got 7 days under UK law to either make this work or return the lot to the vendor for a refund. I’m not feeling very inspired based on the initial experiences!
[quote=“TimJWatts, post:5, topic:183825”]There’s no config and no backup unfortunately. Never got that far. In fact I did not even get as far as adding a device.
Basically I’ve got 7 days under UK law to either make this work or return the lot to the vendor for a refund. I’m not feeling very inspired based on the initial experiences![/quote]
Have you opened a ticket with Vera support? They do not actively monitor these forums.
Part of the problem seems to be that chrome is making a pigs ear of handling the VeraLite web.
I also telnetted in and mounted mtd number 8 (IIRC) and looked over the filesystem and found the “official” reset script which confirmed that it is mtd number 7 that needs wiping, though the erase command was slightly different.
I have it back2back with my PC which has internet over wifi and I have my linux PC acting as a NAT gateway for the Vera so it can see the internet.
Ha - Update…
I have hacked it. telnetted in, mount -t jffs2 /dev/mtdblock7 /mnt
edit /mnt/etc/passwd so root has a known password.
Now running /usr/bin/cmh_Reset.sh for a clean reset as I note that script does a lot of other things too, including restoring known original config files and initiating a “first boot” scenario.
root@MiOS_35111122:~# /usr/bin/cmh_Reset.sh
ERROR: Failed to delete guest users, reason:
debug1: channel 0: free: client-session, nchannels 1
Connection to 192.168.81.1 closed by remote host.
Connection to 192.168.81.1 closed.
Transferred: sent 5152, received 3240 bytes, in 139.6 seconds
Bytes per second: sent 36.9, received 23.2
debug1: Exit status -1
Wonder if that “Failure” matters…
Now at least I can try burning the firmware using the ssh method.
And plus side, this forum has stopped asking me for CAPTCHAs!!
Before even including a Z-Wave device the unit was inoperable? And, rather than returning for a working unit, you dove in and futzed up the whole thing?
If I were you, I would quietly box it all up and exchange it for a good unit. But, I have a feeling that you’ll do something quite different.
Well - an element of self help is not unwarranted - the thing I was trying to do was initiate a factory reset - being the obvious course of action. Unfortunately the web interface had become unresponsive with LUUP errors. Anyway - forcing a blank of the overlay where the config is not “futzing it up” as this is what the reset script does, amongst other things.
But yes, it’s going back as as far as I am concerned it never worked right as as I have UK law on my side, the ancillary components are going back too.
It “worked” for a while until following documented instructions for divorcing it from the portal.
I’ve worked with a number of OpenWRT systems before, including modifying and rebuilding the firmware. I get the feeling this one is suffering from trying to integrate it into some sort of portal and the use of some rather inept windows tools as recovery devices. I have never had this much trouble with WRT54GS units running all manners of firmware for years.
I’m really not impressed with this. It’s a hell of a lot easier recovering a near bricked device when you have instructions like:
boot into recover mode
telnet in
wget the firmware
burn the firmware with “mtd -r write /tmp/firmware.bin linux”
compared to "run some windows tool that only likes XP, does unspecified things, (what does it do? - act as a TFTP server, or client or use some unspecified magic routine to upload firmware). When that doesn’t work (which is inevitable) it’s very hard to debug.
My conclusion is I’m probably going to be happier with a RaspberyPi with Zwave adaptor or something where the process is not obfuscated.
I’ve had zero response to to my official support request so my feeling is this is really not ready for prime time.
I’m sorry if that seems negative, but I run computers for a living so I know what is reasonable to expect - and this is not meeting expectations.