Restoring PLM with multiple battery-powered devices

[swbrains]

Hi,

 

When using the Restore Modem (PLM) option, it tells you to place all battery-powered devices in programming mode first.  How can you set multiple RemoteLincs (for example) into programming mode without the devices thinking they are linking to each other?  I hold down Set on one remote for three seconds and it beeps and starts flashing.  Then I press Set on the second remote for three seconds and they both beep and stop blinking.  

 

How do I set multiple battery-powered Insteon devices into programming mode at the same time so I can complete the Restore Modem operation successfully?

 

Thanks,

Vinnie

[Brian H]

Do you have the Pro version?

If you do. You can turn off automatic writes to Battery Devices. Then do each one individually. If needed some of mine with no updates don't have to be woken up. After you Restore The Modem.

[LeeG]

Exactly where are you reading all RF only devices should be placed into linking mode at the same time?

 

They have to be done one at a time, completing one and taking it out of linking mode, before moving to the next. 

[swbrains]

Do you have the Pro version?

 

I don't have the Pro version.  Will it still allow me to restore the modem and skip the devices not in programming mode so I can go back and restore them one at a time?

 

Exactly where are you reading all RF only devices should be placed into linking mode at the same time?

 

After clicking the menu option "Restore Modem (PLM)" a large popup window appears with a message about placing all battery-operated devices in programming mode.   I don't know if it said "at the same time", but since the restore PLM is a single operation, I figured it's going to issue errors when it hits a device not ready to receive programming data.

[LeeG]

The RF devices will all fail during the initial Restore Modem (PLM) processing.  When the Restore is complete the RF devices will have the updates queued.  Put one RF device in linking mode, right click on device primary node and select Write Updates to Device.  When that device update completes, take it out of linking mode and move to the next RF device. 

[swbrains]

Thanks Lee.  That's what I was kind of thinking I would end up doing.  I had used "Write Updates to Device" via the right-click menu in the past so I was wondering if that's how I'd do it if it failed for the other remotes after Restore Modem.  The new modem should arrive tomorrow so hopefully it will go smoothly.  I printed out the Wiki page for replacing a modem/PLM and intend to follow the steps there for this process.  The "old" one is going back to SmartHome under warranty... only 18 months old and the LED won't even come on.  

 

From what I've read from other users, PLM failure in less than three years is fairly common.  I also read a rumor that UD was possibly going to produce their own PLM in the near future.  Any truth to that?

 

Thanks again!

[Xathros]

UDI currently has their first batch of 5 test PLM's ready but I believe they are waiting for a resolution to the pesky All On events before going into full scale production.

 

-Xathros

[LeeG]

Following the Wiki is important.   Having the ISY powered down when powering up the new PLM is most important.  The PLM has no message sequence when it powers up. The only way the ISY knows there is a new PLM is when it asks the PLM for information during the ISY boot up. 

 

Should not have problems during the PLM replacement.  It does take time to change every device link database entry that has the old PLM address.  Plus the small time for the RF device updates to fail and be queued for later updates.

[swbrains]

Got the new PLM and did a factory reset on it first thing.  Then I attached the ethernet cable and plugged it in.  Then I plugged in ISY99.  Loaded admin inteface and it started automatically doing a bunch of updates.  When that completed, most devices has 1011 icons next t them.  I then started the Restore Modem operation and as expected the remotelincs failed, but then I'm also getting a number of "cannot communicate with device" errors for a number of the regular devices like switchlincs and keypads.  Some are updating properly though.

 

All these devices worked prior to replacing the PLM.  Any ideas why they wouldn't accept an update now, or special steps I should follow to help correct the failures on these devices?  Do I simply try the manual update on each one after the whole process completes?

[swbrains]

Ok, got the remotes to update and also finally got the other devices to update by doing manual updates on them a couple of times.

 

But now none of my scenes work.  All the devices linked directly to a single device work fine, including from remotes.  But anything that triggers a scene doesn't work.  Any ideas what I should be looking at?

 

I've rebooted both the PLM and ISY but it didn't help.

 

Thanks!

[LeeG]

Do a Show Device Links Table on a device that is not responding to a Scene and see if it has the new PLM address in some of the link records.

[swbrains]

I tried this on several devices in the scene and noticed one record in each (at random positions in the list) that contained the address of the new PLM.

[LeeG]

I would expect more link records with either the old or new PLM address.  Can you post an image of the Show display with type of device, with old and new PLM address.

 

This is a Scene that is invoked from a Program?

[swbrains]

This scene (most of them actually) are invoked with a device and/or programmatically.  I've attached a screenshot of Show Device Links Table for one device in the scene. The new PLM is 30.6B.4C.  I also attached a screenshot of the device info (2477D v4.1).

[LeeG]

There are 4 link records with 00.00.00 address that are probably old PLM entries that were updated with the 00.00.00 address.  Try another Restore Modem (PLM) followed by another Show to see if the 00.00.00 addresses were changed.

[swbrains]

Ok, I did another Restore Modem but it only flashed the progress window for a second or two saying "reset plm" then I think I saw writing 0 bytes for a split second, then it disappeared.  The device links remained the same after that with the 00.00.00 records.    It seems like it really didn't do the whole process as I would have thought it would take a few minutes and show errors for the battery powered devices again since they're not in "set" mode, but nothing really changed.

[swbrains]

I also just tried File->Restore Devices and it ran (for quite a while) and then I followed this with updating the battery powered devices.  Everything completed.  I unplugged the ISY and PLM, plugged the PLM back in, waited 10 seconds and then plugged in the ISY.

 

Same issue.  No scene response from the devices or from the admin interface if I turn no a scene there.  I can, however, turn on/off actual devices from the admin interface, just not scenes.

 

I ran a test on one of my scenes and got the following:

Thu 02/12/2015 03:02:13 PM : [GRP-RX      ] 02 61 1B 13 00 15 

<html><font color="red">----- Night Watch Test Results -----</font></html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Kitchen Cabinet Lights (1F B8 33 1)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Kitchen (Slave 2) (24 71 BA 1)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Island (24 91 7C 1)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Living Room (Slave 1) (24 82 AF 1)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Living Rm Keypad - Island (24 17 5E 4)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Living Rm Keypad - Cabinets (24 17 5E 5)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Kitchen Keypad - Island (29 49 FF 4)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Kitchen Keypad - Living Room (29 49 FF 5)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Living Rm Keypad - Living Roo (24 17 5E 2)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Living Rm Keypad - Kitchen (24 17 5E 3)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Laundry Hall - Master (24 0 7 1)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Living Room (24 91 87 1)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Butler Pantry Cabinet Lights (28 89 E 1)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Foyer - Master (1F B8 86 1)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Dining Room (24 7C 3C 1)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Kitchen (24 80 14 1)</html>

<html><font color="red">[Failed]</font> Nook (24 9C 94 1)</html>

<html><font color="red">----- Night Watch Test Results -----</font></html>

Thu 02/12/2015 03:02:22 PM : [iNST-TX-I1  ] 02 62 00 00 1B CF 13 00

Thu 02/12/2015 03:02:22 PM : [iNST-ACK    ] 02 62 00.00.1B CF 13 00 06          LTOFFRR(00)

Thu 02/12/2015 03:02:50 PM : [        Time] 15:02:52 0(0)

 

Attached is a device links table from one of the devices in a scene.  It has a line for the new PLM and a few other lines, none of which reference the old PLM.

 

I'm at a complete loss and completely frustrated at this point. I now have a bunch of keypads around my house that do absolutely nothing as they were all connected to scenes that no longer work.

 

[swbrains]

Ok, so I read elsewhere here about a similar problem with scenes not working after a PLM swap. I tried deleting a device from a non-working scene and adding it back to the scene and now that device works with the scene.  I noticed before deleting it that there was no record in the device links table referencing the scene ID as described in the other thread.  After deleting/re-adding the device to the scene, the scene ID record was in the device's link table so it seems that is the problem.

 

Please don't tell me my only solution is to delete about a hundred scene devices and re-add them all back in one at a time, trying to replicate the exact setup I had before.  There must be an automated way for the system to handle re-writing the required scene ID records to each of the devices through something like the File->Restore Devices menu option.  Shouldn't it do that since the ISY knows what scenes these devices are a part of and that process is essentially rewriting each devices link table, no?

 

I think I'd rather pull out all my insteon devices and reinstall regular switches than have to essentially recreate every one of my scenes from scratch in the admin interface. Please tell me there's a better way to resolve this issue.

[Xathros]

Do you have an recent ISY backup from before the PLM failure?  If so, I would restore the backup then run the Restore PLM again.

 

-Xathros

[swbrains]

I just tried restoring the backup although I chose Restore Devices as the device link tables showed the old PLM addresses.  Does Restore PLM also update the devices themselves with the new PLM address?

 

I can always restore the backup again and then do Restore PLM if that's better.

[Xathros]

I just tried restoring the backup although I chose Restore Devices as the device link tables showed the old PLM addresses.  Does Restore PLM also update the devices themselves with the new PLM address?

 

 

Yes.

 

I can always restore the backup again and then do Restore PLM if that's better.

 

Should not need to.

 

-Xathros

 

 

[LeeG]

You need to do a Restore Modem (PLM) which will rebuild the PLM link database and should rebuild the devices link databases as well.  There was a step missed or done in the wrong sequence (or maybe a Delete Modem (PLM) was done) during the process of replacing  the PLM.  If PLM and ISY were not powered down during the PLM change problems like this can happen.

 

First do a Restore Modem (PLM)

 

If a device Show does not have multiple new PLM links then do a Restore Device.  If that resolves the device link table then do a File | Restore Devices to rebuild the other devices.

 

If you intend to go back to non Insteon devices please post so we don't waste time finding a solution to the PLM replacement activity.

[swbrains]

The ISY backup and Restore process(es) seems to have worked.  I got my scene control back.  Not sure why the ISY data was corrupt though and the backup was necessary.  Anyway, thanks to everyone for all your help.  I'm just restoring the remotes now since they need to be updated one at a time, but at least the keypad/scene buttons appear to be working again.

[Xathros]

I suspect that a Delete PLM was issued from the menu at some point. 

 

-Xathros

[LeeG]

Glad things are back.   Should the PLM ever need replacing follow the Wiki instructions exactly.   That sequence should give good results.