Request Failed When Setting Up Router After Factory Reset

[NoWifi]

TL;DR Has anyone figured out how to resolve the “request failed” message after a factory reset?

Context
Our family installed a mesh system with one Nest Wifi Router and two Points about a year and a half ago, and it was generally working fine with some occasional connectivity issues.

Last night, one of our Points wasn’t working. After unplugging it and letting it reset multiple times, it still failed to secure a mesh connection so I initiated a factory reset from the device (not the app).  When that didn’t work, I decided to reboot the whole system by factory resetting all three devices - that worked in the past to fix the intermittent wifi dropping issue.

Issue

As a result, the Home app no longer has the Wifi icon. When I attempt to set up the router from the app, I’m able to specify a Home, wifi name/password, and room but then it always fails while trying to “create wifi” and I get the dreaded “request failed” message.  When trying again, I get a “connection” issue, as though the original “create wifi” step seeded a partial network.

Attempted Fixes

I spent over two hours on the phone with Nest Support last night and combed through all the Help Center and other forums.  By now, I’ve performed a factory reset probably 20+ times.

We’ve confirmed that my modem is working by accessing the Internet with the default Nest wifi “setupXXX.X”SSID and don’t suspect I have a Double NAT problem because I only have a modem. I’ve also tried using a brand new “Home” and tried the setup using a different iPhone altogether, and even with different user logins.

At this point, none of our Google devices, like Chromcast, in our Home are accessible because we can’t set up and associate a wifi network with the home. It seems as though there’s a configuration issue. Lastly, we can’t even try the restart Cloud Services via Privacy settings workaround, because there’s no Wifi icon to bring up the setting.

Has anyone else gotten stuck at this point, with the “request failed” message after a factory reset?

[Installer_Guy]

9/10 times I run into an issue during the setup process - Its with an iPhone. I think it could be something within the security of the phone since it's joining an unsecure or public network i.e. the Setupxxxxxx during the setup process. 

[Antiloop]

I had the same problem but found an easy solution. Use the original router that was provided by your ISP or any other router that works and connect you Google Nest Router to the other router via an Ethernet cable. 

Then run the Home App and setup the Google Nest Router

[BFowkes]

Hey Guys,

I found a solution that worked for me. Everything I had tried failed so I went back to my modem and turned wireless back on, connected my phone to that wireless signal. Opened the home app and tried the setup again and this time it worked. Might be coincidence but I'd tried about 20 times to set it up again, each time with the modem wireless turned off, as soon as I turned it back on the setup worked first go

[inneedofwifi]

Did there end up being a fix to this? I have just had it happen to me and none of the suggestions earlier in the thread have helped.

[SLCLIMB]

I was able to get mine to go through after a few hours of testing different things. Not sure why this worked, but it did work for me.

I turned off the Private IP Address setting on my iPhone when it attempted to connect to the network. I also setup a switch between the router and modem, which makes no sense from a networking standpoint but it did work.

Hopefully this works for others.

MB8600 modem, TL-Link Switch

[Ssravan]

any fix for this yet ! This is very badly impacting our work day having to troubleshoot this for hours with no solution. Would be great if google support can help !!! 

[araujonelson]

Hello there. 

Yesterday (09/25/2022) I faced this issue. Suddenly my Nest Wifi stopped working (no network connection but everything was fine from the ISP side) so I did a factory reset. Tried to setup it with my iPhone several times with no luck. Luckily I had an Android phone in home so I did another factory reset and the setup worked with that phone.

Please, Google, fix this as soon as possible. 

[itsbob]

Hello all, I have entered the mix with the same issue. I just moved to a new place and installed a new modem. When doing so, the nest router could not connect to the modem. So I did a factory reset and now it errors out after setting everything up and never finishes. Please help, need this router for work ASAP. These things were expensive lol

[araujonelson]

@itsbob Have you tried all the workarounds posted along this thread?

[itsbob]

I have factory restarted several times. Deleted all homes and re-created. Deleted the Google Home app and all data then re-installed.

I did find that my modem was not working properly but I have gotten that setup now and verified it is working properly. I am plugged in directly to the modem and have internet.

The new issue is that when I try to add my nest wifi i get to the step for connecting to the modem and it says "The modem isn't giving your Wifi point an internet connection". I have followed the instructions to restart both modem and WIFI and it did not work.

[EPal]

I’m also experiencing the same issue. Is there an ETA on a resolution?

[Dan-1989]

What a heap of crap same issue for me, factory reset via the google home app now I can’t create a new wifi network. Google fix this crap cause it’s not a one off, my router is 6 months old.

[Kiwifruit]

I am having the same issue with 2 routers so would be keen on a solution 

[JAB22]

yall need to give the google router an ip on your original isp router don't let it give the router an ip on its own set it to static 

[w1se]

 Considering the age of the problem.   I think it’s safe to say there’s no development on this major issue.   Google dropped the ball on this one and I, for one, will never buy a google router again.  The phone only setup and management is the worst business model for a complicated piece of technology.   Can’t even backup settings. *sigh*. What a pile……

[santiagodoldan]

After 2 months, I tried to setup my 2 routers again, I first tried  setting them up using iPhone Google Home app and I was not able to make it work, then I tried using Android Google Home app and it finally worked. The difference between iPhone vs Android Google Home apps was that the later one let me configure the PPPoE account.

[kense]

I performed the factory reset in the Google Home app FIRST and it removed the network from my app, but the devices didn't seem to actually reset. I was still able to find the network in my available WiFi networks in my phone settings.

I performed a manual factory reset by pressing and holding the reset button until the solid yellow light appeared. The devices then showed in the Google Home app as being available to set up, but the set up failed with the same "request failed" error message everyone else found here.

I eventually found that I had to delete the app from my iPhone and select the option to delete the app data when deleting the app. After reinstalling the app, and with the devices having been manually factory reset, I was able to re-set up the devices in the app.

So, I'm back up and running now after a few hours of trying various combinations of process order. It shouldn't be that difficult!

Hope this helps someone encountering the same issue.