Apologies in advance for the length of the post. Hoping providing more information helps.
I have opened a tech support case as well but exploring all avenues to try to get help!
Ran into a very annoying fault tonight whilst helping a friend of mine replace their internet modem/router. In the process we seem to have lost the ability to control the Vera Edge. The Vera Edge was tested and operating correctly before swapping routers and then became inoperable afterwards.
For reference, this is the process I followed when swapping the routers:
Power off Vera Edge
Power off old router and unplug Ethernet cable connecting Vera to the router.
Follow Internet Service Provider’s instructions to swap the old router for the new one.
Confirm new router was operating correctly and internet was accessible.
Plug Vera back into new router.
Power up Vera and wait for all 5 lights to be on or blinking.
Scan LAN to find Vera’s new IP address - 192.168.0.22.
Ping new IP address - ping returned response (as can be seen in the attached screenshot)
Go to web browser (Firefox initially) and try to directly access Vera via 192.168.0.22
Vera home page comes up but only partially loads (as can be seen in the attached screenshot). Can only view the Vera logo, time/date, weather and welcome message. The Dashboard was not visible nor were any of the menu items along the left hand side so I could not access Devices, Settings, Scenes, etc.
I opened the VeraMobile App. and attempted to turn a light on/off but it would not respond. I also attempted the same with VeraMate App. as well as with an Amazon Echo but none would respond - I logged out and back into each app and re-linked the Vera with the Echo given that the IP address of the Vera had changed. For each of the Apps it appeared to “find” the Vera but was unable to control anything.
Furthermore, the Dashboard appeared to be displaying correctly on the VeraMate App. but nothing was controllable. It appeared that some values, i.e. temperature from a Remotec ZXT-120 definitely changed values between last night and this morning… but lights that were definitely switched ON were not showing that way on the App. nor could I switch them ON/OFF…
From here I tried the following to troubleshoot and rectify the issue:
Turned the Vera off/on. I attempted this a dozen times throughout my troubleshooting but it had not effect.
Attempted logging in via home.getvera.com - The controller came up as “Connection OK” and allowed me to “Connect” (as can be seen in the attached screenshot) but again, it would not load the entire dashboard.
Cleared all cookies and cache from my laptop and attempted to access again through the web browser - no effect.
Attempted accessing the Vera using Google Chrome and Internet Explorer web browsers - all showed the same thing (as can be seen in the attached screenshot).
Attempted unplugging and turning off the new router and returning the system back to the old router. IP address of the Vera returned to 10.0.0.18 and I was able to ping and access it but it showed the exact same thing.
Attempted all of the above with my laptop plugged directly into the router via an Ethernet cable as well as accessing via WiFi.
When accessing the Vera via home.getvera.com I could see in the Advanced Information that the Vera was not running the latest Firmware:
Your firmware is not up to date
Current Version 1.7.3452
So I attempted to trigger a firmware update via the Advanced Information page. This appeared to start a firmware update on the Vera as the message changed to:
Update started. Process may take up to 15 minutes.
Current Version 1.7.3452
And the fourth light on the Vera turned off and two others started blinking rapidly so it appeared to be performing the firmware update. I waited over 20 minutes but there was no change in the behavior of the Vera so I eventually powered it off and on. The update process appeared to have no effect, Vera was still showing as running the old firmware when I accessed the Advanced Information page and the web browser still would not display all information.
I tried this update process again but this time left it overnight - Still no luck.
I cannot think of anything else to try at this point.
My friend is confined to a wheel chair with very limited body control which is why this is so urgent.
Your new router has a firewall which is blocking some of the communication from the vera. Based on what you are describing, it is likely the communication from the vera out as you have no weather logo.
Look into the router settings and turn off the firewall temporarily to see if it fixes it. This would also explain why it is unable to update firmware, it probably got the upgrade flag previously but is unable to reach the server to download, so again, look into the router
You don’t have a DHCP issue since you are able to reach the vera. The vera might not be able to complete luup reload. Are you able to go into apps/develop aps/serial port configuration and hit the save button?
Thank you very much for your response and suggestions. I’ll respond to each dot point separately:
[quote=“rafale77, post:2, topic:199194”]1. Your new router has a firewall which is blocking some of the communication from the vera. Based on what you are describing, it is likely the communication from the vera out as you have no weather logo.
Look into the router settings and turn off the firewall temporarily to see if it fixes it. This would also explain why it is unable to update firmware, it probably got the upgrade flag previously but is unable to reach the server to download, so again, look into the router[/quote]
As I said in the troubleshooting point 5 above: Attempted unplugging and turning off the new router and returning the system back to the old router. IP address of the Vera returned to 10.0.0.18 and I was able to ping and access it but it showed the exact same thing. So in other words, the issue was exactly the same on the old and new routers where previously the Vera was working perfectly fine on the old router less than 1 hour prior…
Also, if it were a firewall issue I would imagine that would prevent access to the internet in it’s entirety such that it would display as “Connection OK” when logging in via home.getvera.com.
I am unable to access any part of the Dashboard menus from a PC as shown in the above screenshot. None of the Dashboard icons or menus are visible or accessible. Is there a way to do what you’ve described without access to the Dashboard?
The vera “internet ok” is very misleading. Mine is completely firewalled, has no access in or out and yet still shows “internet ok” because it received an ip address. A firewall can block some ports and not others. It can also pick one direction only. It looks like the mcv server can find your vera but not the other way around. Now the switch back to the older router I missed. Sorry. But still I still think you have a network routing problem.
What you are seeing, I have seen when the vera has no access to the server. I initially sometimes had to click on the dashboard tab over and over again for it show.
I however modified my vera to function completely without the mcv server so it works now. I still think your Luup engine is not completing the reload and it is because it is trying to reach out to something on the internet it cannot find. What plugins do you have installed?
Before addressing your comment, a quick update: I have been logging in remotely all morning just to see if anything is changing but had no luck until just now. I logged in and I can now see all of the Dashboard items and everything seems OK BUT… No Devices are showing up. They are not visible in the Devices tab, Dashboard or even when I go to create or modify a scene! (see attached screenshots). All the Scenes and everything else are there but none of the devices are showing up… HOWEVER… I messaged my friend and asked her to attempt control of her devices via her Amazon Echo (the only way she can control anything due to limited body movement) and it worked!!! The Amazon Echo control was definitely NOT working last night and the Echo was returning “The hub associated with xxxxx is not responding”. So it now appears at the moment that, other than the devices being invisible in the web interface, the system is inexplicably operational again…
I have had no response from Customer Care but it’s possible they’ve gotten in there and sorted something out? I am now able to navigate to the Customer Care tab and double check that Remote Access is indeed enabled so that’s good!
Now to address your comments:
Understand what you’re saying. I do not have remote access to the router so cannot check any settings in it until later tonight.
[quote=“rafale77, post:4, topic:199194”]What you are seeing, I have seen when the vera has no access to the server. I initially sometimes had to click on the dashboard tab over and over again for it show.
I however modified my vera to function completely without the mcv server so it works now. I still think your Luup engine is not completing the reload and it is because it is trying to reach out to something on the internet it cannot find. What plugins do you have installed?[/quote]
Plug-ins installed are: “Sercomm IP Camera” and “Amazon Alexa Helper”
Wow this is strange. CC cannot get into your vera on their own. You need to enable the access. Well as far as I know. I would be worried if this was not the case.
The amazon helper could be the culprit. It maybe trying to reach a server on the internet and hang there waiting for a response or crash. It sounds like some of the network issues were solved now. No way for me to understand you could actuate devices without having them on the UI. If you can, I would recommend to recover from a backup.
I didn’t say it in the first post but I attempted to enable Remote Access through the VeraMobile App (obviously because I couldn’t access anything through the PC). I was unsure if it worked because it returned an ERROR when I enabled it. However when I closed and re-opened the App it showed Remote Access as enabled and provided the access number which I in turn provided to CC when I logged the issue.
As an FYI, the Dashboard appeared to be displaying correctly on the VeraMate App. last night (and now) but nothing was controllable. It appeared that some values, i.e. temperature from a Remotec ZXT-120 changed values between last night and this morning… Very odd…
Agreed. At this stage, because I’m doing everything remotely and as far as my friend is concerned, control via Alexa is now working (???) so she is happy… I think I’ll just leave it alone until I either (a) receive a response from CC or (b) it stops working!
Thanks for the help. I will report back if more information comes to light.
CC have been in touch. They are saying they are unable to access the unit via Remote Access. Now that I have access to the Dashboard I have attempted to disable and re-enable Remote Access but they are saying they still cannot access the unit. So as a last resort I have provided them with username and password hoping they can see what is going on.
Other info I have noticed:
It appears we can control all devices via the Amazon Echo and VeraMate App but are unable to control anything via the web interface (because no devices are visible!) or the VeraMobile App (even though devices ARE visible, they are non-responsive)
No scenes are working at all. Scene are still visible and listed in the Dashboard but if you try to edit them then you just get messages like: “There is no device which can act as a scene action.” because there are no devices visible at all in the Vera!!!
So final update. It seems to all be fixed now thanks to CC who, as always, have been fantastic.
Their final explanation of what occurred was:
“What I think is that initially there was an issue with the new router, every time you change the vera controller to a new router you need to reset his network settings as the controller still has the information from the other router, but after that when the firmware procedure failed some of the files of the firmware became missing, that?s why the devices were not visible although they were still on the controller, that?s why you could control some of them with Alexa, I just restored those missing files to the controller and that fixed the issue.”
So in future they recommended you should trigger a manual network reset by pressing the reset button of the Vera Edge for 10 seconds if moving a Vera from one router to another. And NEVER trigger a Firmware update unless everything is operational.
Glad you got it figured out and recovered. Didn’t think of the missing json files in /etc/cmh-ludl folder which would cause the devices to exist and execute but not show up in the UI. I am however quite puzzled by how they would have gotten wiped out. And yes I also assumed that your new router had the same ip address on the network which may not be the case, in which case your DNS server address might have changed leading the vera to not be able to reach any ip outside the network.