Google Wifi adding puck to mesh fails

[nmcl]

I've had 4 original Google wifi pucks connected to my ISP and working well for over 7 years. However, recently the main puck, which connects to the router, died. I had a pack of two pucks which I'd not gotten around to use, so figured I'd use one of them as a replacement and live happily ever after! However, I couldn't figure out how to add a new puck at that point in the mesh without deleting the entire mesh/Home and creating a new one. I didn't figure that was a problem so went ahead and did just that. I should add that I factory reset each of the pucks before doing any of what I'm about to mention. Although I was able to create a new Home and add another puck to the mesh, that's when the problems started.

When I tried to add a 3rd puck, using my Android phone (Pixel 9), it detected the puck fine, scanned the QR code and said it was doing things but eventually after sitting on the "Adding Wifi point to your Wi-Fi mesh" it failed with the message that it had lost bluetooth connectivity to the device. That seemed strange given the phone was right next to it. So I tried one of the other pucks. Same outcome. I then tried the last remaining unused puck: same outcome. At this stage, I reset all of the 3 unconnected pucks keeping the main (router) puck and the one I'd added to the mesh still in situ. I took the 3 other pucks back to be right next to the router puck and tried again, this time with an iOS device as I read elsewhere that could be a problem. No luck. Same outcome.

I then dug out some older iOS machines and Android phones to try older versions of Google Home and even Google Wifi. Again, no luck at all. My last attempt was to set aside the two pucks which work in their own mesh and see if I could create a totally new Home mesh with the 3 remaining pucks. I created a new Home and tried to register each of the 3 pucks separately as the new router puck for the Home and it failed for each of them.

I'm at a loss as to what to try next. I know that 2 of these pucks worked fine in the original mesh for 7 years. They all seem to factory reset fine too. Outwardly they all look the same as the 2 pucks which work. Any help would be appreciated because at the moment I have 3 paperweights 😞

Thanks!

[AndersC]

Hi @nmcl,

Thank you for posting in the community. I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing inconvenience when adding your Google Wifi point(s) to your mesh network. I'm happy to help.

To better understand why this is happening, please provide the information below:

• Did you remove all devices when factory resetting, or only the ones left to add?
• Are the other two points the same model as the ones you already have connected?
• Did you make any changes to your network, such as changing the modem, password, or SSID?
• Do the points broadcast the setup Service Set Identifier (SSID) or network name located at the bottom of the device?
• What's the total number of points you're trying to set up?
• Did you try to set up the points wirelessly or through a wired connection? How do you want your mesh setup?
• What's the color of the lights on the router and points?
• If the Wifi device is already set up, does the device’s LED pulse orange?

• Are the points within the recommended distance from the parent point?

  • The recommended distance is between 20 to 25 feet (6 to 7 meters).

• Does any Wifi device broadcast a custom SSID?
• Did you get a message in the Home app when you added a point?
• Do you have any switches in your network setup?

Please keep me posted. I'll be waiting for your response.

Regards,

Anders

[nmcl]

Hey, thanks for the response. Here are the answers:

• As I mentioned originally, the main puck which was connected to the Home died so I deleted the Home, created a new one and factory reset every single device before attempting to add them to the network.
• All points are the same model as far as I can tell.
• I brought back the network on a different SSID and password. The modem/router remains the same.
• The 2 pucks which are on the network broadcast the new mesh SSID. The other devices don't send out any signals.
• Ideally 4. I have 6 pucks to choose from, 2 of which are in their own mesh now.
• I tried wirelessly as I've done in the past. When I couldn't get some of the pucks to connect via the Home app, I connected them one at a time to one of the pucks which was connected to the Mesh and tried again but that didn't work either.
• The router is fully functioning. The 2 pucks connected to it and their own mesh are white, as I'd expect. The other 4 pucks flash blue and don't change throughout the Home connection attempts.
• No. White.
• I've tried them at various distances, even bringing them close together to see if that made a difference. It did not.
• You mean other than the mesh SSID?
• I got a "success" message when creating the current 2-puck mesh. For all of the others the Home app fails at one of two points and I couldn't get a handle on whether this was random or something else was going on. One point was when it spent minutes stuck on a message "adding device to mesh" (or something like that) then it eventually came back and said "failed" and I should try again later. I did and it didn't help. The second failure point was elsewhere during the setup and the failure message was (again, not exact text) telling me that the wifi or bluetooth connection had gone away and I needed to check the devices. Since Bluetooth and wifi hadn't failed and I tried using at least 2 different devices (Android and iOS) I figure that message is dubious.
• No.

I hope this helps.

Thanks!!

[AndersC]

Hi @nmcl,

Thank you for the information provided. It helps me to better understand the situation.

In order to troubleshoot your devices, please follow the steps below:

1. Change iOS settings (VPN, iCloud Private Relay, Local Network access).
   • Disable VPN:
     • Go to the device’s Settings.
     • Select General.
     • Tap VPN and Device Management. Then if connected, disable the VPN.
   • Disable iCloud Private Relay:
     • On an iOS device, go to Settings.
     • Select [your name].
     • Tap iCloud.
     • Select Private Relay, then tap the slider to turn it off.
   • Enable Local Network access:
     • Go to the device Settings.
     • Select Bluetooth and make sure it's enabled.
     • Go back to Settings
     • Tap Privacy > Local Network.
     • Toggle Google Home on.
2. Perform a 5-minute power cycle:
   
   • Disconnect the modem from its power source.
   • Unplug the Ethernet cable and power cord from the router.
   • Remove the power cord from the points.
   • Leave everything unplugged for 5 minutes.
   • Start a timer to track.
   • Check the make and model of the modem, and make sure there isn't a backup battery. If there’s a backup battery, remove the battery, otherwise it won't perform a power cycle.
   • Connect the power cable to the modem and allow the modem to fully turn on before proceeding.​ This process can take up to a minute. All light indicators should be solid colors.
   • Connect the Ethernet cable, then the power cable, to the router. Wait until the modem is fully back online.
   • Connect the power cable to the points.

3. Make sure to double-check the model to verify if it's a modem, modem and router combo, or router.

Please keep me posted. I'll look forward to your response.

Regards,

Anders

[nmcl]

Hey @AndersC 

Done all of what you suggested. Specifically:

1a: VPN was not set up on any of the devices I used, including iOS. I double checked though.

1b: iCloud Private Relay was not enabled either.

1c: Google Home was already enabled for Local Network access. I toggled it off and then back on anyway.

2: I power cycled the modem, unplugged the ethernet as you suggested etc. I also waited for the 5 minutes.

3: It's a modem.

I also power cycled the 2 puck mesh but have not done anything else, such as attempt to add another puck. If that is the next step then let me know but I didn't want to jump to conclusions if you had something else I needed to try before then.

Thanks again,

Mark.

[AndersC]

Hi @nmcl,

Thank you for confirming you already follow these troubleshooting steps.

The team would like to learn more about this behavior. When you get a chance, 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.
To help us assist you better, please include the link to your Community thread and your Community username.
Don't hesitate to reach out if you need help or have more questions in the future.

Regards,

Anders

[nmcl]

Thanks @AndersC I've filled in the form.

[AltonJ]

Did this get rectified?  I'm having a very similar issue, worked through first level support who kicked it to Google Home.  Described the issue to them and they stated it's a Google Wifi issue and said they were kicking it to them.  It's been 48 hours and I haven't seen anything else.