Migration to vera2: struggle (and fun)

Community Playground General Discussions
#1

It’s been crazy at work all summer, I didn’t have much time to play with Vera lately.
So when I got vera2 I thought to do quick copy of everything and get back to my work.
Well, that was naive thinking.

My primary Vera was still on UI2, so to migrate I have to upgrade it to the latest UI4.

So I went to that /vera2 page, started upgrade, waited, power cycled, and… nothing is loading, no devices whatsoever. I though “what a mess!”. I was still naive.

I loaded UI2 FW and restored backup, confirmed that everything looked peachy, and started upgrade again.
This time UI4 started, and I saw all my devices! Viva la Vera! Then I notices that everything else, minor details like room, scenes, timers, events etc are all gone. Crap! Back to UI2. All peach again.

This morning I started upgrade 3rd time, and left it run until I’m back at evening. Well, a hardly expected surprise was awaiting me at home. This time Vera died. Or may be it’s in coma, pick what you like.

The fact is - power light blinking slowly, and it doesn’t boot. :cry:

#2

Viva la Vera, lol

I haven’t made the transition to Vera2 yet, but thanks for the reminder that I am approaching the deadline.

#3

Received Vera 2 after some shipping problems.

Ran through the directions on the wiki. Received error message when choosing Controller Shift on Vera 1:
“Command failed: ERROR: Controller is SIS or is not primary”

Hm. Checked the Z-Wave Options to confirm what Vera 1’s role was:
“Role Suc SIS:YES PRI:YES”

Clearly, it’s Primary…

At a dead stop. Great.
.//A.

#4

While trying to figure out how to solve the Controller Shift issue migrating from Vera 1 - Vera 2, I went to turn off Vera 2’s Wifi (I use a separate router/WAP for my network, and have never used Vera for Wifi).

Went to Advanced : Net & Wifi and chose :“Connect Through Another gateway… Vera is a Switch” and set “Wifi On” to NO.

  • this is how my current Vera is connected.

Error message when saving:
“Saving local data …
…
…
…
…
…
Error saving data, status code: 500”

Click OK, repeat process, information is then saved.

#5

Anyone else having this issue when trying to follow the recommended migration path to Vera 2?

.//A.

[quote=“anthonyris, post:3, topic:166599”]Received Vera 2 after some shipping problems.

Ran through the directions on the wiki. Received error message when choosing Controller Shift on Vera 1:
“Command failed: ERROR: Controller is SIS or is not primary”

Hm. Checked the Z-Wave Options to confirm what Vera 1’s role was:
“Role Suc SIS:YES PRI:YES”

Clearly, it’s Primary…

At a dead stop. Great.
.//A.[/quote]

#6

Support Ticket(s) submitted days ago, emails sent, voicemail left. Still no resolution on this Vera2 migration issue from MCV. Maybe they should hold off billing my credit card until the device is actually up and working??

C’mon MCV, I’ve been hanging with you for 2 years now…

[quote=“anthonyris, post:5, topic:166599”]Anyone else having this issue when trying to follow the recommended migration path to Vera 2?

.//A.

[quote=“anthonyris, post:3, topic:166599”]Received Vera 2 after some shipping problems.

Ran through the directions on the wiki. Received error message when choosing Controller Shift on Vera 1:
“Command failed: ERROR: Controller is SIS or is not primary”

Hm. Checked the Z-Wave Options to confirm what Vera 1’s role was:
“Role Suc SIS:YES PRI:YES”

Clearly, it’s Primary…

At a dead stop. Great.
.//A.[/quote][/quote]

#7

325xi,

Lets start at the beginning. We are talking about your Vera 1 right? If so, How is your power light flashing…Is it flashing on and off? Just kidding about the on / off part…

If its a double pulse Vera does not have Internet. If it blinks consistently within a few seconds of powering on, then Vera’s firmware has become corrupted. This link may be what you need.

http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Firmware_Flash

anthonyris,

I’m a little confused not only about your situation but about others experiencing the same issue. Maybe someone can respond who has done the Option #1 controller shift and had success…
Even though your system reports PRI:YES, it’s still configured as Suc SIS: which indicates there is a Primary controller in your system. What is the Node ID of your Vera? It should be 1.
As far as your Error message maybe the system was busy when you hit save the first time.

JOD.

#8

It is simply astounding that there still has not been any resolution/communication/acknowledgement from MCV on this issue. I am buying products from them, and basically getting the middle finger waved at me in return. That’s not right.

All I want is the ability to use the product I just purchased from them, which also took them 2 full weeks to respond after the package was apparently never shipped.

Below is the info from the Zwave Device tab.
Version 2.40 L:1
House/Node 6
Role Suc SIS:YES PRI:YES
Last update 31-DEC-1969 19:0
Last dongle backup 18-SEPT-2010 16:52

The Scene Notifications don’t work anyway (another un-responded-to Support Ticket), so I may just bag the old Vera setup and start new with Vera 2. A shame, as troubleshooting it would help MCV for future issues, but if no one from Support responds…

New Question: what needs to be done to kill all the old associations and start fresh with Vera 2? Is there a wiki that is actually correct?

.//A.

[quote=“JOD, post:7, topic:166599”]anthonyris,

I’m a little confused not only about your situation but about others experiencing the same issue. Maybe someone can respond who has done the Option #1 controller shift and had success…
Even though your system reports PRI:YES, it’s still configured as Suc SIS: which indicates there is a Primary controller in your system. What is the Node ID of your Vera? It should be 1.
As far as your Error message maybe the system was busy when you hit save the first time.

JOD.[/quote]

#9

I understand your frustration and I understand where MCV is and heading. Here is my 2 cents worth on the matter. They are a small company trying to claw their way forward, they have a small team of programmers / developers and I know they are working very hard.
They know the limitations of the hardware but that’s not something you will see advertised, your problem as well as others I guarantee are being worked on. Yes it is frustrating to wait and the worst part is not knowing that they even received your trouble tickets. I’ve mentioned that to them in the past.
BTW. Has anyone added all 225 devices that Vera is supposed to handle?

Hang in there, they will get to you.

Here is my Z-Wave info.
Version 2.78 L:1
House/Node 1
Role Master SIS:YES PRI:YES
Last update N/A
Last dongle backup 14-OCT-2010 2:45

Check this out.
http://docs.mios.com/doc.php?language=1&manual=1&platform=0&page=zwave_device_advanced

JOD.

#10

Thanks for the link on resetting the system. Haven’t heard from MCV. 5 days and counting. So I’m just going to kill my old Vera and start over with Vera2. No joy in it for me, as this is in my vacation house and it just needs to work as I’m not here to constantly tweak it.

JOD: I totally get the small company issues. I’m currently the CEO of a small company, and have managed and/or worked at 5 software & technology startups over the last 15 years. I live and breathe what the MCV folks do, and can empathize. HOWEVER, it is completely unacceptable to not respond to clients.

You simply cannot “Feature Release” your way to good customer service. You either believe customer service is critical, or you don’t. It’s a cultural thing. Once that culture is set, it’s extremely difficult to change. If they can’t commit to service now, when they need all of the WOM marketing they can get, I despair.

I would have a great deal of respect if they even came out and said, “Hey, we’re toast. We cannot deal with all the support requests. You’ll have to bear with us for now and here is how we are solving for that”

Instead, we get defensive, self-serving posts about how they usually respond in 24 hours/48 hours, or it’s user error, or the newest release, or CEDIA, or the Dongle, or the new UI, or we don’t understand… And it’s crap.

Notice I’m not bashing the technology. I 100% understand that I bought into Vera as an emerging concept with unproven software and a new inexperienced company. That’s not my issue. I’ll arm wrestle with every new gizmo that surfaces. My issue is being treated like an ATM, with not even a response when I have questions/issues.

The irony is that Vera owners can be a great source of future revenues for MCV. The original Beta Testers (myself included) can be persuasive walking sandwich boards for MCV. Just treat the Vera owners like you give a damn about your customers.

Onward, I suppose,
.//A.

[quote=“JOD, post:9, topic:166599”]I understand your frustration and I understand where MCV is and heading. Here is my 2 cents worth on the matter. They are a small company trying to claw their way forward, they have a small team of programmers / developers and I know they are working very hard.
They know the limitations of the hardware but that’s not something you will see advertised, your problem as well as others I guarantee are being worked on. Yes it is frustrating to wait and the worst part is not knowing that they even received your trouble tickets. I’ve mentioned that to them in the past.
BTW. Has anyone added all 225 devices that Vera is supposed to handle?

Hang in there, they will get to you.

Here is my Z-Wave info.
Version 2.78 L:1
House/Node 1
Role Master SIS:YES PRI:YES
Last update N/A
Last dongle backup 14-OCT-2010 2:45

Check this out.
http://docs.mios.com/doc.php?language=1&manual=1&platform=0&page=zwave_device_advanced

JOD.[/quote]

#11

My 2 cents worth… I feel your pain, MCV. You know you’ve got an amazing product in a market without much competition at your price point, but you can’t quite get ahead of the curve. If only you had more time, more money, more staff…

So please know… Each and everyone of us is an integral part of your future, MCV. We WANT you to succeed. We want you to exceed your wildest dreams. And we want to be part of that!

Unfortunately, I have to agree with anthonyris… your communication and customer support is just not what it needs to be - particularly when you’ve got a product and software (Vera2 & UI4) that is not quite ready for prime time. We all understand why that may be so, but, bottom line, you need to nail down UI4 and do a better job supporting your existing customer base. Addressing the former will likely help with the latter, but both are desperately needed.

I’m still a huge fan, MCV. Just show me what you’ve got!

#12

I understand 100% and was just trying to be a support for what your going through. Trust me, I’ve been there since day one, actually I had MCV tell me no one was experiencing the number of problems I was having.
Truth be told I exceeded Vera’s memory capacity and she locked up (daily) trying to cope with the traffic…Then the Vera 2 was pushed out with guess what? More memory. Did they know my problems? Sure they did, but there is more going on here than meets the eye…Nuff said

Thats when I decided to come here and try to help others get through the mess.

JOD.

#13

[quote=“JOD, post:7, topic:166599”]325xi,

Lets start at the beginning. We are talking about your Vera 1 right? If so, How is your power light flashing…Is it flashing on and off? Just kidding about the on / off part…

If its a double pulse Vera does not have Internet. If it blinks consistently within a few seconds of powering on, then Vera’s firmware has become corrupted. This link may be what you need.

http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Firmware_Flash[/quote]

Well that was a slowly and steady blinking light.

I of course used this utility in the past, but now I don’t have any XP computers to run it. On Win 7 it doesn’t seem to work.

Finally, it was 3rd (!!!) attempt on the same Vera that worked perfectly with UI2 for years. I didn’t have guts to rescue it again, so I simply sent it back as is, took Vera2 and created new z-wave network from scratch. So far so good

#14

Just finished excluding my old devices and resetting up with the new Vera2. Gave up on migration. Devices all work fine, except for the Panasonic IP camera.

Went through the wizard. Dashboard shows cam image, but no pan/tilt control. Ticket submitted…

Update: removed, re-added Panasonic Cam. Works.
.//A.

#15

@JOD

I have my vera 2 for a week now and as you might have noticed stuck my head as deep in the rabbit hole as possible.

(having worked as a systems (hard/software) testengineer thats no surprise, but hey… here i am)

i upgraded to 1.1.1245 (as a true tester should ;-)) as wel as Z-wave 3.20 firm.

I must say, the UI4 is proving difficult at times since most luup coding has been done for UI 2 and 3.

Ok so much for the intro…im learning here and was wondering…

My vera 2 shows SUC/SIS:YES PRI:NO is this correct? i only have one switch (Duewi) connected to the system and no hardware controllers. i AM using ivera for iphone as a second means of control.

Some “input” would be appreciated!

Regards,

Henk

#16

@Henk,

i upgraded to 1.1.1245 (as a true tester should ;-)) as wel as Z-wave 3.20 firm. My vera 2 shows SUC/SIS:YES PRI:NO is this correct?
No it's not. SUC/SIS is not supported in 3.20 but I've seen reports of that status changing on it's own sometime after the conversion. You should also be at PRI:YES Maybe someone else can chime in as to the correct steps to get you set up as I'm still running 2.78

JOD.

#17

@JOD

Being new to vera made me a bit weary i think, not fully understanding each and every function and button
(that combined with my testersblood can be dangerous sometimes :D)

After your confirmation i went back to my Zwave devicesettings, advanced tab and hit Controller shift “GO”
When i tried before i got an error that was also described in this thread.

But doing this now (without meanwhile fiddling with luup files) got me the next result:
Controller shifted.

Settings now advertised by vera are:

Vera2 @ 1.1.1245
Zwave 3.20 L:1
Master Sis:NO PRI:YES

Is this more like it should?

Thanks for taking a noob by the hand here JOD, today iflyM3 and Ap15e did the same for me and i must say, it feels like a warm welcome to the vera forum. Now all i need to do is to convince Google to implement unicode 6.0 properly into Chrome :wink:

Henk

#18

[quote=“Henk, post:17, topic:166599”]Vera2 @ 1.1.1245
Zwave 3.20 L:1
Master Sis:NO PRI:YES

Is this more like it should?[/quote]
@Henk,
That’s what you need!

(Interesting that you had it say ‘SUC/SIS: Yes’ while on .1245, as that string is from the old firmware; and as @JOD stated, not supported anymore.)