Nest Learning Thermostat gen 3 cannot detect wifi anymore.

[RonnyG]

Hello,

Since a day or 14 my Nest is offline and does not detect any ssid's. If I go to Settings/Network there is no error code, only the sentence 'Probably your network is hidden or to far away'. If I enter ssid/pwd manually, same result. Resetting wifi does not help, nor restarting the device or my router. Nest Weave only shows the fabric id. I followed all router recommandations of your help pages, nothing helps. I switched my router to a Unifi Dream Router eliminating router problems and have descent monitoring of all my Unifi gear (although everything concerning the Nest worked flawlessly from the end of anuari 2023 until 14 days ago). No difference..., router is 4 meters from the Nest, all my other wifi/iot devices do work, smartphone has no problems and my unifi devices don't discover any interference.

The Nest has Model Backplate 6.5 and the software is v 5.9.5-2

Battery is 3.942V

Setting temperatures manually on the device is ok.

Finally I did a factory reset of the Nest. It simply does not connect to the internet anymore.

After 3 days googling the problem and trying out all suggestions I'm pretty sure the Nest's wifi area has hardware problems.

I'm in for a replacement of the item under Belgian guarantee.

Edit:

Did a chat session with Google Support, went through some tests with them and received a RMA form for replacement. Quick, easy and very helpful.

Best Regards,

Ronny.

[Jenelyn_O]

Hi RonnyG,

Thanks for reaching out and for sharing your thoughts and experiences. We appreciate all the troubleshooting steps you performed. I'm glad to hear that you chatted with our support and everything went smoothly. Please let us know if you need further assistance, as we'll be willing to help. 

Cheers,

Jenelyn

[RonnyG]

Hello Jenelyn_O,

A few days ago I received the replacement .3th gen thermostat. Today I found some time to install it. Wireless networks are detected and no problem connecting to my home netwrk. The heatlink is connected wired, bur the thermostat says it has to be connected wireless to be able to do (future) updates. Error code H74, go to nest.com/h74 . That page stil does not exist !!??!! I found another post from 11-27-2022 where the same problem is announced. Lazy Google !!! You can't properly document your own hardware... . I did reset the heatlink by pressing the button of it for 20 seconds and the blue led is blinking fast now, ready to link to the thermostat, but no succes, not automaticly or by command for searching it on the thermostat. Stuck installing the thermostat. ... So please help?

Edit: I found the sollution after fiddling around a bit:

1) If the thermostat keeps asking to make a wireless connection to the heatlink, choose ready (don't try to connect).

2) I one of the following menu items you will find 'replace heatlink'. (in fact my thermostat is replaced ofcourse, but it does not know my heatlink).

3) It asks for a 6 digit code of the heatlink, you can find that code near the left side screw hole if you take away the cover of the heatlink.

4) Insert the code in your new thermostat.

Tada, ... wirless linked!

Everything is working again.

Google could have sent a little manual in the replacement box on how to replace a new thermostat on the original heatlink. This would save at least half an hour on installing the new thermostat and gaining credits for Google speaking of good service to their customers!

Best regards,

Ronny.

[AlexD]

Thanks for sharing all the information about your @RonnyG . I am sorry to hear you had difficulties connecting the replacement to the Heat Link but I am happy to see you did manage to get things on track.

You certainly did a lot of troubleshooting and went through a lot of steps to try everything possible which is awesome. 

Also a thing to add, on some setups the connection might be wired only due to distance or interference. So it is good to check the Heat Link connection type before replacing a display to make sure to not try and connecting wireless if not possible.   

This of course is not the case here as I assume you have a OpenTherm system based on the code you received. 

I am happy to see you managed to figure everything out and shared the steps that worked for you here in case anyone needs them.

Just to check, is there anything else I could perhaps try and assist with? 

[RonnyG]

Hello AlexD,

As you know I received the nest.go/h74 message, you're aware of the missing documentation of it too. Please fix that? It's been almost 2 years ago that people noticed that there is no description/documentation for that error.

Second I received a mail in French from a welcome mailinglist of the GoogleNest community (again in French!?!), which I opted-out from when I first received it. My native language is Dutch as of the majority of the Belgian people. After using Google sevices for a few decades now. Google should know that as I fill it out everywhere possible when installing something or when being asked for. So please change my language to Dutch for communication till eternity and maybe I will opt-in again.

Best regards,

Ronny.

[AlexD]

Thank you for all the feedback. I can definitely take note of all the information provided and pass it along but I can't promise anything as any changes are not up to me but different departments. 

I am sorry for any inconvenience caused by your experience and thank you again for all the feedback provided. I'll be locking this thread as your thermostat issue is currently resolved. If you have any new issues, updates or just a discussion topic, feel free to start a new thread in the community. Thanks, AlexD.