Controller can't find any devices after power outage

[huffmd1]

Hey everyone I came home this afternoon and was told that the building had a power outage for a few hours.  When I got back the power was back on and I began to find out that none of my devices were working.  

 

Logged into the controller and was given an error message on every device that I have installed.  After getting past that I had a red ! next to all my devices and it was unable to communicate with any of my devices.  I restarted it and updated the software and still nothing.  I don't know what is wrong?! 

[mwester]

Sounds like your PLM isn't working.  Unplug it, unplug the ISY.  Then plug in the PLM, wait a few seconds, and plug in the ISY.  See if that makes a difference.

[apostolakisl]

Let me guess the age of your PLM.  26 months?  They all die about 2 months after the warranty is up.  It just takes something like a power outage to put the final straw on the camel's back.  Sometimes a reboot brings it back for a day or two.

 

See the thread about how to fix your plm by replacing the capacitors.

[huffmd1]

Yeah the whole unplug and plug back in thing didn't work.  Are you saying that it needs to be replaced.  I believe it is over 2 years old.  

[Brian H]

The 2413S PLM {any hardware revision between 1.0 and 2.0} has a reputation of failing. Many times shortly after the two year warranty. Hardware 2 and above have new power supply parts but have not been in service long enough to prove they don't also fail after two years.

 

Is the LED on the side of the PLM On and Green? LED dim or out PLM failing.

 

Tools Tab, Diagnostics, PLM Info/Status. Does it show the PLM ID and Connected? In safe mode also indicates PLM failing.

 

Also in diagnostics Show PLM Links Table is it almost empty? Almost empty Links Table also indicates PLM failing.

Any Insteon activity during the link table count can effect it. Many users may run it a few times.

If the PLM Link Table is almost empty. Sometimes a Restore Modem (PLM) will temporarily fix the problem but I may return.

 

Long thread on PLM failure and repair if you are handy.

http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/13866-repair-of-2413s-plm-when-the-power-supply-fails/

[tonysony]

Let me guess the age of your PLM.  26 months?  They all die about 2 months after the warranty is up.  It just takes something like a power outage to put the final straw on the camel's back.  Sometimes a reboot brings it back for a day or two.

 

See the thread about how to fix your plm by replacing the capacitors.

 

The PLM problems have been going on for years. Definitely the weak point in the entire ISY system.... Guaranteed failure at some point.

[apostolakisl]

Yeah the whole unplug and plug back in thing didn't work.  Are you saying that it needs to be replaced.  I believe it is over 2 years old.  

 

Replace the capacitors.  Unless you can't solder.  The nice thing about replacing capacitors instead of getting a new one is that you don't have to run a system wide "replace PLM" command.  This can take all day if you have a lot devices.  The new capacitors are much heavier duty.  Plus it is cheaper, depending on how you price your time.  It is a 30 minute repair provided you have a soldering setup ready to go.

[huffmd1]

So I replaced the PLM and re-programmed it after installing.  I am not having issues with many of my switches not working.  This is happening with any of my buttons that are not hardwired in.  Basically my 6 button switches that have programs or scenes programmed that were working perfectly before are not not functioning.  I even restored the whole ISY from a previous backup before the power outage and still having issues.  

[apostolakisl]

So I replaced the PLM and re-programmed it after installing.  I am not having issues with many of my switches not working.  This is happening with any of my buttons that are not hardwired in.  Basically my 6 button switches that have programs or scenes programmed that were working perfectly before are not not functioning.  I even restored the whole ISY from a previous backup before the power outage and still having issues.  

 

I am confused by your post with the double negatives.  Did you follow these instructions.  http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/420-how-to-replacerestoreremove-plm/

 

When you replace the plm with a new one, all of your devices will need to have their links to the old plm removed and replaced with links to the new plm.  This takes time.  It requires that you do a fresh boot with the new plm before running the restore plm.  The reboot is when ISY registers the address of the PLM currently connected.  I doubt this is the issue since I think in your case it would have been impossible for the ISY to have the old PLM registered as the connected device, but it is worthy of pointing out.

 

When you say it isn't working, what exactly isn't working.  The only things that you would expect could be broken would be things that require ISY.  For example, events that trigger programs on ISY.  Your device to device links should all still work normally no matter what has happened to the PLM.

 

The nice thing about repairing the PLM is that no links need to be changed on the devices.  Worst case scenario is you need to do a restore PLM which would simply re-write the PLM, but would leave all the other devices alone.

 

You can compare your links tables on any devices that aren't behaving as they should with the links table in ISY.  If they don't match, you need to do a restore device.  Perhaps there are some com issues in your home and some link writing didn't go as planned.  The ISY should have recognized this, but it seems that Insteon is not always perfect this way.

 

Restoring the old backup shouldn't have been necessary.  The ISY itself wouldn't have been scrambled by a power outage or PLM failure.