Nest. Your network may be hidden or too far away

[Corndweller23]

Hello,

I had a nest 3rd Gen learning thermostat installed in December 2022. Everything has been perfect until today.

The unit now cannot see my (or any other) networks. When searching for networks it almost instantly shows the message "Your network may be hidden or too far away" All of my other network devices are working perfectly. I have attempted all of the troubleshooting steps, to no avail. My feeling is that the wifi chip has perhaps gone bad?

My question is - Who do I contact in order to get a replacement unit? 

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[David_K]

Do you recall seeing a W5 error message at all?

1. Press the thermostat ring to open the Quick View menu.
2. Select Settings > Network.
3. Does it say "Error – nest.com/w5"?

Does your thermostat show any Wifi networks to connect to at all?

[Corndweller23]

Thanks for your reply.

No error messages are showing. There is an exclamation mark in the centre of the cog icon (settings menu)

When I enter settings I get a 'Internet disconnected' message'. Entering the Network screen is when I get the original message = Your network may be hidden or too far away. Manually entering my Router info does not help. No wifi networks seem to be available and yet my phone is sat next to the thermostat and can see at least 10 networks, including mine.

[David_K]

Just to confirm, your Wifi network isn't hidden? I'm assuming not if your phone can see your Wifi network without issue? Have you tried using the troubleshooter and selecting Wi-Fi?

Nest Thermostat Troubleshooter

[Corndweller23]

Hello,

The network is not hidden. Yes, I used the trouble shooter, but with no success.

[David_K]

In that case, I've asked a specialist to review this topic and advise on next steps. Just so you know, it may take a short while for them to do that.

[Corndweller23]

Thank you. I am convinced the unit is faulty, but I will await some feedback from the specialist.

[Markjosephp · Accepted solution]

Hello folks,

Thanks for looking into this, @David_K.

@Corndweller23, I'm sorry for the trouble this may have caused you, and I appreciate all the steps you have taken trying to reconnect your Nest Thermostat back to your Wi-Fi network. I'd be happy to shed some light on the situation here.

Going over these steps might help:

1. On your actual thermostat, go to Settings > Reset > Account Connection > Reset to confirm.
   1. This will forget the network connection and unlink your account.
2. Once the thermostat has been refreshed, check the battery level under Power in the Technical Info settings.
   1. If the battery level status is at 3.7 volts, pull the thermostat display and charge it for an hour to speed up the charging process.
3. After an hour of charging, attempt to reconnect your thermostat to the Wi-Fi network.

Keep me posted if that helps or if any message code appears.

Regards,
Mark

[Corndweller23]

Thanks for your advice. The battery level was fine as I already checked it (3.9v). Resetting the connection resulted in wifi networks being available again. Managed to log in to my network and now everything seems fine. Thanks for the help, it's much appreciated.

👍🙏

[Markjosephp]

Hi Corndweller23,

Music to my ears! It's amazing to hear that steps did the trick—let me know if you need anything from me, but you're always free to start a new thread for any other questions or concerns. We're here to help!

Best regards,

Mark