Thermostat suddenly said offline, now can't get an entry key for app

[mfin]

Yesterday I went to my iOS app to turn the heating up and my nest thermostat showed as offline. Because I sometimes use home.nest.com in a browser to control the heating when using my laptop I looked on that too. Same thing.

I ended up completely factory resetting the thermostat and before that removed it from the app. I configured the thermostat again, basically doing the whole install procedure, connecting to the heat link etc etc.

I now am at a state where the app and the browser experience correctly show home/away etc and I have no Nest products added to it yet, just a big plus sign to add a product.

Of course, it says to go to the thermostat, go to settings > Nest App and get an entry key (to put into the app). I do that but the thermostat never gets an entry key. It comes back saying "There was a problem connecting to the service. Try again later". Also note if I go into the thermostat settings in order to try get it to check for any software updates for itself it can't check that either.

I rebooted the router, following troubleshooting guides. Because I'm pretty good with I.T. I even thought to try check against and IP address conflicts on my LAN. I did this by getting my router to assign it a reserved IP address that I know 100% is not being used and would never be issued by the routers DHCP server. I confirmed in the router and in other network monitoring software I have that all this was fine, it is.

So.... what do I do now?

I've got no control in the app. My thermostat is now effectively anything but "smart" and is no better than the 30 year old one it replaced.

Any idea how to resolve this?

Does anyone know the server domains the thermostat is trying to reach for example (I could try check they are available or not, I assume the thermostat can't reach them because they are unavailable and not something to do with the thermostat itself now I have troubleshooted everything I can around that?)

[mfin · Accepted solution]

Solved! ...it took ages to work it out. It was not the fault of Nest. In order to help other people who may be troubleshooting similar things this is what I did. I tethered the Thermostat to my mobile phone's hotspot instead and tried to get a key to setup the App. It worked. Therefore the problem was something to do with the Wifi.

I setup a new additional SSID and connected to that, it again seemed to work. BUT, while the thermostat reported its state to the app and to home.nest.com correctly, making adjustments to the thermostat's setting using the app or home.nest.com did not work. I therefore set about looking at my router and wifi setup again. I had rebooted the router a few times, but I had one additional wireless access point which it turns out the thermostat was connected to. I rebooted that WAP and everything worked, It can drive you crazy trying to find a problem!

My advice to anyone finding my post is really to try rebooting all of the wifi/router infrastructure. Also, connecting the Nest to a mobile phone's wifi hotspot (if you can) is a great troubleshooting step.

Good luck to people, these Nest thermostats and apps are really poor! The problems I have had since buying the thermostat aren't limited to what I have just described! Most people know the home/away assist is terrible and using the Google Home app doesn't help either!

Is the Nest Thermostat still the best of a bad bunch? Hmmmm.... Tado looks good but they make you subscribe to use a fully functional home/away automation for the heating (stuff that)! Hive seems to be reasonable and the way I will go if I get more problems with the Nest, yes it's not as slick, but if it works who cares.

Of course the final annoying thing is Nest doesn't play ball with Apple's Homekit/Home, so no Siri control etc. I have tried running Homebridge on a Raspberry Pi, and it looked really promising, responding to Siri commands. BUT, it soon broke down and was lying, falsely reporting the temperature settings of the thermostat. I tried a few plugins for homebridge but never got it to work reliably and predictably.

There has to be a market for a smart thermostat that just works reliably! If there was such a premium offering I'd buy it! Nest is not it despite its good looks! 

[Jake]

Hey mfin,

I am glad to hear everything is good to go from here. Thank you for also sharing for others what had helped resolve the issue. Let me know if you have any further questions from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look.

Hey MrMikeBanks,

I wanted to follow up with you, and ensure you are not having any issues from here. Please let me know, as I would be glad to review.

Best regards,

Jake

[Anonymous]

The whole ecosystem is a disaster. There is nothing that you can do. I've tried everything. Everyday there is something new to deal with. One day my automations get wiped out and then on another day non of my devices are recognized. You roll the dice with Google's home ecosystem that I don't want no part of anymore. A multi billion dollar company and Google can't get anything right. 

[Anonymous]

Right now as of this message I am at work. None of my devices are are online (even though I know they are connected to my WiFi) and I can't do anything about it until I get home. I can't control none of my devices remotely. What's the point of all of this if Google Home can't get crap right? It's so annoying. 

[zoeuvre]

Hi MrMikeBanks, 
 

How's it going with your Nest Thermostat? In case you have an update, let us know and we'll be happy to help.

Thanks for your help, Jake. 
 

Best,

Zoe

[Dan_A]

Hey there,

I wanted to follow up and see if you still need help. Please let me know if you are still having any concerns or questions from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

Regards,

Dan

[Dan_A]

Hello again,

We haven't heard from you in a while so we'll be locking this thread if there is no update within 24 hours. If you need assistance or want to discuss topics, feel free to start a new thread.
 

Cheers,

Dan

[Anonymous]

Google's whole ecosystem is going down the toilet fast. You're not the only one having issues with their bs.