Slow to no responses from Insteon Devices

[climbchild]

I have tried my level-best to search through the topics and cannot find a definitive answer to the challenges I'm experiencing.  So hoping someone can help.  I've had Insteon for 15-20 years and have had relatively few problems.  I have upgraded to EISY and use HA to serve up Siri.  Everything has been working FLAWLESSLY for nearly a year.  With no changes to the system or devices(or anything else I can think of) things just started to slow down or not respond at all.  First it seemed to be only through Homekit, but now even through UD.  I've been going through all the trouble-shooting on the wikis, but it nothing seems to help.  I've power-cycled everything several times, to no avail.  Most recently, I attempted to restore devices through Admin Console.  That has been in progress for more than a day, and seems to have made things much worse.  Half the devices are now in either a red exclamation or green icon status.  I tried a PLM restore and received errors like "failed writing PLM slave link" and "driver not found".  I'm not even sure what else to try at this point, or what to report in order to allow someone to help me.  I've attached an error log hoping that gives some insight. 

My gratitude to the brain trust, as I've never failed to figure things out with the system, so pardon me while my pride licks its wounds...

ISY Error Log.v5.9.1__Sun 2025.02.16 08.11.35 AM.txt

[paulbates]

Sounds like a dying / dead PLM. Some questions

• How old is the PLM. There's a sticker with 4 numbers on the back of the PLM, what are they?
• Unplugging, waiting for 10 seconds and replugging the plm, any change?
  • Restore plm now, any change
• In iox go to tools/diagnostics/PLM info, what does it say
  • What does the PLM links table show?

[climbchild]

Thank you so much for the help!

Here's the back of the PLM.  https://share.icloud.com/photos/03cX7RjFSHYssXN2A5ZqiepkQ

I have power cycled it twice, doesn't seem to have an effect?

I've restored the PLM twice through Admin Console, also no visible impact.

I've attached the PLM links table.  Please let me know if there is anything else that would be helpful

PLM Links Table.v5.9.1__Sun 2025.02.16 09.25.47 AM.xml

[paulbates]

Looks like you have links. A few more questions

• Do you have Insteon device to device setups like a 3 way where the switches work on their own without the ISY? Do those things work?
• Can you turn on the event viewer, set it to level 3, pick a few devices and switch them from the device and then also control them from iox, and post the event viewer? A screen shot will be better

[climbchild]

I think I understood your requests.  I have several three-ways in the house.  I went to one in the garage.  Operating all three switches worked.  The switch with the load worked without incident, but I did notice that one of the other switches, while the light did go on and off, had a flashing red on the front LEDs when operating.  (hope that makes sense)

All switches worked and operated the lights.

 

Here's the event viewer.  From what I could tell, virtually nothing showed up in the event viewer from the four switches I operated manually, but then when I activated the same four switches through the IOX, plenty of information appeared on the event viewer.  I hope this helps.  Again, I very much appreciate your assistance.

[paulbates]

You're welcome. The information is all helpful.

It's an older PLM from 2016 that's an older rev. It's somewhere between dying and dead. You'll need to get a new PLM ordered and follow the swap out procedure. 

The new rev PLMs have had component upgrades so ideally it will last longer

Edited Sunday at 04:10 PM by paulbates

[climbchild]

Thank you very much.  

Is this the proper one for replacement?  Or would you recommend something else?

https://shop.insteon.com/products/plm-usb-modem-interface?srsltid=AfmBOop4WwRAQPhDAwU014C6jwZDCiz8E8MIiqQpJ4uG-rwmj9S7uskl

@paulbatesEssentially, I'm asking if there's any advantage to USB vs Serial PLMs?

Edited Sunday at 04:20 PM by climbchild

[paulbates]

Yes since you have an eisy you can replace the serial with USB version, just use the cable that comes with the new one and follow the replace PLM procedure. The procedure listed is for the ISY994 but you can follow it for eisy except for the Port A step, plug it in to where the current PLM is plugged into eisy

The only caveat is if your current serial PLM is located remotely from the eisy, more than 15' and you have a custom serial cable... if "yes" to that special case, you'll need to get the serial version of the PLM. If not, it doesn't matter.

Edited Sunday at 04:24 PM by paulbates

[climbchild]

Thank you @paulbates

Have a great Sunday!