Google lntegration lost and can not be repaired (other then reboot modem / router / Homey): Athom is aware

Hi all,

In my line of work replicating a problem is crucial, so tonight it set myself replicate my Homey going offline problem.

First of all, I began this problem thinking there was a problem with homey and Google home connection. Found out (others did too) that this is not the case. The problem is that Homey goes offline to the outside world. So other app cannot connect anymore. And if you use your Homey app outside your own network you will see it is offline.

First off all it maybe crucial to share more details on this problem what may help to solve this, I will start off:

Homey Pro 2023 (early 2023)
Firmware version: 10.2.1 (8 jan 2024) Problem started around nov/dec 2023
Using wired LAN adapter and WIFI
WIFI home is using Unifi system with multiple AP’s and yes roaming ofcourse.
WIFI home system is doing a channel optimisation every night on AP’s
No static IP, but lease is long enough to ensure Homey gets its same address every time.

Note to myself: A channel optimisation of course causes Homey to roam from one AP to another and probably back. This happens every night. Hence every night Homey goes on roaming.

So here are My steps to replicate the problem:

  • I Connect my Homey on both LAN and WIFI (standard situation after initial setup I believe if you have a LAN adaptor)
  • Disconnect the LAN interface, The Homey will now continue on WIFI. (give it some time)
  • Reconnect your LAN interface, You will see that your Homey will continue on the WIFI interface
  • In my Unifi (home router) I block the Homey WIFI.
  • Homey will now reconnect to the LAN interface
  • When this is done you will see that your Homey is offline for the outside world. Connecting to it from within your LAN will still work fine. But all other apps that use outside mode are now in offline state.
  • Now Restart your Homey.
  • Your Homey will connect to the LAN interface.
  • And now Homey is “online” to the outside world.

What is happening?

Of course there is an IP change when going from WIFI to LAN.
But we see this behaviour also when always connected to WIFI.
My DHCP leases are more than capable to give the Homey its same address every time again so no static IP.
Maybe, it has something to do with WIFI roaming/Channel optimisation. This is done on my network every night. And next day Homey is Offline.

For now I will have this marinade, but I do not have inside info on how e.g. the “online connection” is made and with what specifications for security, for example it can be with IP-address, device-name and, device guids, etc etc.

I do think when something happens on the network side the negotiation with online Homey servers is lost.

I will keep my Homey on Wired LAN with WIFI denied. No reboots at night. Lets see what happens.

Edit: maybe to topic should be changed to homey offline or something. Google, I think, has nothing to do with it.

3 Likes

Here’s other related ‘offline’ issues

1 Like

Passed the 24hrs mark and it’s still working…. Let’s do another 24.

1 Like

It is working for 48 hrs now. Homey is wired on LAN, and Wifi is blocked. The important thing is that you have to have wifi blocked otherwise you keep the problem. My conclusion for now is that somehow wifi is causing the “offline” problem. The firmware change log does not have a date, but I think I around beginning of December the Wifi drivers are updated. Or some other Wifi technic is causing the problem. So putting the homey back to a previous firmware could more indentify the problem. But I am not going to do that, I need my homey for everyday businesses and don’t want to have problems. I’ll keep my homey on wired and have no problem.

Cheers.

About the firmware, the announcements at Slack do have a date. I guess you meant this particular update:

Yeah maybe, the problems began around beginning of December.

Right! This is interesting, Prom
A wifi driver update, followed by a fix caused by the update

.

RC version

.

Nov. 14, 2024

2 Likes

Hey @Prom

great that you seem to have beaten this situation. Congrats for this 48 hrs!!

I have one question, maybe you can help me: How do I block ‘the Homey Wifi’, or how do I recognize it? Is it in the router (I have Orbi with satelites)?

If your router is capable to do it, you should see all your connected clients somewhere. There I see 2 homey-GUIDname devices. One on LAN and one on Wifi. My router is capable of blocking the Wifi as if it’s an unwanted client. I am using Unifi DM, don’t know what your system can do and how it’s working.

1 Like

Thanks @Prom . Will have a look!

:frowning: No specific option for Wifi available to block. I have Homey directly on the LAN, that I can block (but I won’t :wink: )

Thx anyways.

1 Like

When Homey is connected to your LAN,
you can disable Homey’s wifi if I’m correct.
So you don’t need to block anything.
Go to wifi settings via setup mode:

1 Like

@Peter_Kawa OK, thx for this option.

Set-up mode… :thinking: …always tricky…In the description it looks like you can change it to another Wifi network, but in another it also says "Add new Homey’…

Will have a look later and see what is realy possible :slight_smile:

As long as you don’t push the pin longer than 29s you should be safe :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
And always have a backup at hand!

.

This is the odd, but normal way of connecting your Homey in setup mode, because your ‘real’ Homey, is offline.
So this is the way:
3. Select + Add new Homey.
4. Select Homey Pro (Early 2023) and follow the instructions.

This should prompt you to select your Homey

Thx, should be clear now.

But…

When I look at my Homey, Wifi is not set at all :slight_smile:

So that option is not one for me to explore.

@Michel_Bos Just did a test to verify your result on wifi connection. When wifi blocked I indeed do not see the connection in “about” at Homey. But if I unblock Wifi I see both wired lan and Wifi connected. That tells me your device indeed is not connected by Wifi. Why mine is, don’t know.

@Prom furthermore, it is strange then that when you block your Wifi (and get my situation) it works (at least for 48 hrs in a row) and in my case it doesn’t.

It happened to me that Wifi was disabled but when I took look on https://tools.developer.homey.app/tools/system I saw it’s not … check also state there for wifiRadioEnabled - shall be false (just in case)

Checked

Yeah but I wonder, isn’t it simply possible via Setup mode to just disable the wifi radio alltogether, when LAN is connected? (sorry no Pro 23 here).

So you have it True… go trough the setup again to have it False. Even it’s not connected, the radio is alive (based on my checks)