Rotation of lid has stopped working

[Andy29]

The nest thermostat operates by turning the outside and then pushing forward on the screen to accept the choice chosen by rotating.  

Our nest has stopped having anything happen as we rotate the external part.  The thermostat hadn't been removed or affected by any water or environmental effects.

Now, we've tried rebooting it, trying to find better screwdrivers to open the back area to test the rotation issue.   Found a cord to connect the usb, but still have no effect getting the rotation working.  

without the rotation working, can't get the nest to connect to the house's wifi,  can't tell it what temperature we'd like, as winter comes

Is there anything else we can do?

[Andy29]

Plugged in over usb.   according to the info file on it:

Model:  Backplate-2.21

Software version 4.2.8

Display Model: 2.12

Display version: 5.9.4-5

[David_K · Accepted solution]

It looks as though you have the 2nd gen Nest Learning Thermostat. The 2nd gen has an optical sensor on the inside that tracks the dial spin, which may have faulted. To check your warranty status and options, contact the Google Nest support team directly.

1. Go to Contact Us - Google Nest Help
2. Select an appropriate product or category, type a brief description of the issue, then click Next.
3. Click Other, then click Next step.
4. In the Resources section, click Next step.
5. Choose to get a phone call, call or chat with the team, depending on availability in your country.

If it is the sensor, I'm not sure if you've noticed any strange temperature changes, it could be registering a turn of the dial when there isn't actually any input. If your warranty has expired, it's probably unlikely Nest will be able to assist unfortunately.

[Andy29]

Thanks David, your answer is correct, and thanks to your instructions I was able to talk to google-nest support about the problem.  According to them, there's a remote chance that I could take out the interior screws and try to fix the optical sensor.  Remote, and unrecommended.  my call helper made an application on my part to extend the warranty, which unsurprisingly wasn't a working idea.

looks like I'll just buy us the next version of the thermometer and install it where the old one used to be.

[EdmondB]

Hello Andy29,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop, and I'm happy to hear that this has been sorted out. If you need further help, let me know.

I appreciate the help, @David_K.

Best,
Edmond

[David_K]

No problem!