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Nest thermostat saying please reattach to base

Mansavig
Community Member

I had my Neat thermostat working perfectly for 8 months and then suddenly out of the blue the wifi connectivity stopped working. I connected with the support team and followed all the resolution steps but still didn’t work. Support team ordered a replacement which was received today. The replacement thermostat firstly came with completely discharged battery so had to charge it using usb. Once it had substantial charging attached the display to the base and it keeps on saying “please remove it from base and reattach again”. Tried doing it multiple times but it’s still not working. So to troubleshoot I put in the old display again and it attached immediately without any issues. Really tired and frustrated with these thermostats.

4 REPLIES 4

zoeuvre
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi Mansavig, 

 

Yikes! Let's see what's going on. Are you located in North America or Europe? And what type of Nest Thermostat do you have? Also, follow these: 

 

  1. Make sure that the wires are flat on the base. 
    • Detach the thermostat from its base and check that the wires lay flat on the base. Otherwise, the wires may be pushing the thermostat away from the base, causing the error message.
  2. Loosen the screws of the base. 
    • Use a screwdriver to loosen the screws of the base by a half or quarter of a (counter clockwise) turn. This should help if the base is screwed too tightly to the wall.
  3. Make sure the thermostat display is properly seated. 
    • Check the Nest Thermostat from the side. If the white plastic from the thermostat base is visible around any of the edges, the Nest display isn't seated properly. In this case, reseat the display.
    • If the display doesn’t go any further, detach it from the base and check for loose wires or other obstructions that could cause the display to push away the base.
    • If necessary, take pictures of your thermostat base and wire setup to confirm that there aren’t any obstructions.
  4. Check the 20-pin connector at the back of the thermostat display.
    • Inspect the 20-pin connector for any visible damage. Check both the male and female ends on the base and display.
    • Make sure the pins are straight and in good condition.
  5. Swap thermostat displays.
    • If you have 2 or more thermostats of the same generation (as different versions of the thermostat have different base plates), you can swap the displays to check if the issue is related to the display or the base plate.
  6. Reseat the wires. 
    • Turn off the power to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), and reseat all the wires.
    • Make sure that the wire from the terminal is flush against the base, so the customer can properly seat the display at the base.
    • ​Turn the power back on, and reattach the display to the base.
  7. Perform a battery disconnect.
    • Remove the display from the base.
    • Perform a hard restart on the thermostat. For Nest Learning Thermostat (NLT) and Nest Thermostat E (NTE), press the thermostat ring until the screen turns off (about 10 seconds) then let go of the ring. For Nest Thermostat (2020), remove the thermostat from its base, and remove both of the AAA batteries. Replace the batteries, and press the thermostat onto the base until it clicks into place. The thermostat takes a few moments to turn on and restart.
    • While the display is detached from the base, wait for the thermostat to turn back on and display the message: "Please attach the display to its base."

 

Let us know how it goes.

 

Best,

Zoe

dougsbeard
Community Member

Had the same thing happen, W5 error on the original device and now I’m on my 2nd replacement because the first one did this and now the second replacement is doing this as well.

 

What’s funny is the original device works just fine when I plug it back onto the wall (aside from the wifi being broken) but the replacement device continues with this nonstop cycle.

 

Customer care has been completely useless with this one.

RenzJ
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey dougsbeard,

 

We haven’t seen your form submission come through - were you able to access it alright? Let us know if you’re running into trouble or still need our help!

 

Thanks,

Renz

RenzJ
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi everyone,

 

@dougsbeard, we're sorry for any trouble this may have caused you. I appreciate you posting and updating us on your efforts to address your concern and find a fix. The team would like to learn more about this. Please fill out this form and let us know when you’re finished. We’ll have someone reach out to you via email from there.

 

Thanks for the help here, Mark.

 

Cheers,

Renz