Ever since the January 19, 2026 G4 geomagnetic solar storm, IoX cannot connect with many of my Insteon devices. It could be that all of those were damaged by the solar storm, but I figured it was more likely damaged powerline modem (PLM). I replaced the PLM after browsing the wiki for advice on this, and used what I think is the approved procedure for replacing a PLM:

A PDF posted on the forum says:

Replace Modem (PLM)

This operation is most useful when you need to replace a defective PLM and the EISY/POLISY is rebooted with a new PLM. When the communication links were established via the Link Management Menu, the PLM and INSTEON devices adds each device addresses it is linked to, in its own link table.

The EISY/POLISY also reads and stores the PLM’s address at boot up. The EISY/POLISY stores all the configurations settings in the device tree. If you are replacing a PLM the EISY/POLISY will have the old PLM address link stored in it.

Warning: Never replace your PLM while the EISY/POLISY is running because it will assume it is still connected with the old PLM. The EISY/POLISY will appear to work, but it will be writing the address of the old PLM into the device links, thus you will not see devices updates etc. If this menu option is selected, the EISY/POLISY goes through all INSTEON devices looking for old and new PLM address links. If an old PLM address link is found, it replaces them with the address of the new PLM and adds the corresponding device link to the new PLM.

Here is what I did, after taking out the old PLM and ordering a brand new one from insteon.com:

To update corrupted tables in a PLM (modified from posts on the wiki):

- Take the power plug out of the EISY to do a power-off cold reboot

- Disconnect the data cable between the PLM and EISY (NOT necessary to unplug the RJ-45 ethernet cable if you use one to connect your EISY to the internet or local network

- Take PLM out of the AC power outlet (this does NOT by itself reboot the PLM AKA reset the PLM tables)

- New reboot the PLM, AKA factory reset:

- [hold the set button in on the PLM while plugging it in and continue to hold until the PLM stops buzzing, then all links are cleared. (Steve Lee, Insteon Support) Nope, this didn't work for me]

- Reset the PLM:

"To reset PowerLinc Modem to its original factory settings, unplug from wall outlet and wait 10 seconds. Press and hold Set button; while continuing to press and hold, plug back in. A long beep will sound; continue holding Set button until beep stops, then release. After several seconds, status LED will turn on to indicate reset is complete]

- Connect the PLM to the EISY/POLISY with the data cable

- Plug the power cord back into the EISY

- Go to Admin Console and wait for system initialization to complete

- [ignored probably irrelevant information about waiting for battery powered units and looking for a battery icon in IoX; I don't see a battery icon, nor is there any buttcon with a hover state indicating battery; these buttcons – buttons with icons – need a mouse hover state that explains what they are) Click on the Battery icon at the top. This will prevent EISY/POLISY from trying to update programming on your RF devices which are probably in sleep mode]

- File > Restore Modem (PLM) menu

- Wait until the "System Busy" at the bottom left goes away, and the green 1011 icons quit appearing

- In case EISY/POLISY cannot communicate (or decides not to if it’s an RF device during the process, you will have a series of nodes with green 1011 icons in the device tree. For each one of those nodes:

- If an RF device, ensure that the device is in Programming mode (awake)

- Right mouse click > Write Updates to Device.

If the above procedure fails on many of your devices, it's highly recommended that you follow the instructions for Restore Devices.

Looked in https://wiki.universal-devices.com/Eisy:User_Guide and searched the forum for Restore Devices, and found nothing useful.

See the picture for the number of devices IoX can't communicate with.

I tried rebooting both the EISY and my PC, after which IoX showed no errors! But then I went through the list and tried to turn each of the Insteon units on and off and you can see how many failed. I started at the bottom and tried "Write updates to device" and "Restore Device" both without doing anything to the Insteon unit and after putting the Insteon unit. Both failed for the bottom two units with a big red exclamation point at which time I gave up and created this post. I would hate to have to replace this many Insteon units without knowing that it would solve the problem. I thought, "maybe I need phase a signal bridge" and then "no, with so many dual wireless/powerline Insteon units, I have no need for a physical phase signal bridge."

Have you tried doing a device restore on a non responding device? If only some don't work, then the PLM is somewhat functional. Sounds more like memory (link table) corruption. Start with units closest to the PLM to re-establish the network.

Edited Sunday at 01:27 AM2 days by Guy Lavoie

I tried a device restore on every single one of the non-responding devices, both individually and via Restore Devices. I also did a second factory reset of the PLM, no change. For decades, I've had noise filters on all fans and other powerline noise generators, no changes there. All of the scenes linking the non-responding devices work fine, I just can't reach them through the PLM, and my programs for turning the outside lights on and off only work with the driveway lights, not the other lights on the outside of the house that are part of the same scene, a scene which works fine with local control from any one of several switches linked to this same scene. Sigh.

Interestingly, one of the devices that couldn't be reached now can, after doing a factory reset on the PLM, and one that could, now can't. Using Ockham's (Occam's) Razor, it seems likely that some AC power supply in the house somewhere is now putting out a lot of noise, rather than the PLM or individual Insteon devices. Or, perhaps, one of my FilterLincs has been killed by the geomagnetic storm. I really wish I had gotten an Insteon Diagnostic Keypad (2993-222) back when they were available. I decided to get some FilterLincs to add to my large collection of them and put them on the few remaining suspect chargers and other devices, and if that doesn't work, start turning off breakers at the panel and then trying a Restore Device on one of recalcitrant devices.

Do you notice if the working or non working groups are on a common breaker? I used to have X10 and one thing I've kept is my Elk ESM-1 signal strength meter. It indicates Insteon signals quite well, as well as background noise. I think you have the right approach by trying to isolate the problem by turning off breakers.

Does the eisy still have a Replace PLM function?

When you install a replacement PLM and then reboot so the controller knows you have a new PLM. You had to use the Replace PLM function. To go out to all the modules and replace the old PLMs six digit ID with the replacement PLMs six digit id. If the replacement PLM sends commands with the new id to a module with the old PLMs id It will not respond.

Did the Replace Modem function. Several times. Both before and after replacing the PLM with a new one. I looked for the Elk ESM online but it's no longer available. I found something on amazon that looks similar, thinking about getting one: https://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Electricity-Meter-Trifield-Analyzer/dp/B083PZ7JR3/r;; anyone have experience with this, or something similar that's still available?

General line noise isn't as specific as looking for noise in the 120 kHz region, but is still good to know if it's strong enough. But I'd start testing with turning off breakers first.

Instead of breakers, I first decided to unplug and put away all of our winter lights, in case one of them was the culprit. (They were plugged in long before the mass failure occurred, though.) Still couldn't "restore device" for one of the devices. Breakers next. For interest's sake, since the Insteon noise-detection device is no longer available, is there anything similar available? There are things you plug into a socket or fixture and then electronically "sniff" for them at the individual breakers at the main panel. I also wonder if we can assume that Insteon dimmer modules and switches won't pass 120 kHz noise from the lamp or whatever – but I am now concerned this is unfounded.

I turned off all the breakers except for (a) the FiOS system unit and extender, (b) my computer (c) the AC outlet with my PLM (having an AC outlet tester with lights helped a lot with figuring out which breaker went to this, it wasn't labeled; on the other hand none of the breakers were labeled when we bought the house, so now it's labeled. And, turned on the breaker for Side Door Light and made sure it was on. Tried to Restore Device to it and:

I have no clue what this means. I did get a lot of exercise running up and down two flights of stairs about 50-75 times, so that's a plus.

The next time I tried to Write Updates to Device and Restore Device, absolutely nothing happened. Trying to turn the light on and off failed, as well. That might be because there was not enough wireless repeating going on to get the signal to that light. I ended up giving up and turning on all of the breakers again. Interestingly, I could no longer use IoX to turn off or on a light (Office Bookshelf Lights) that worked fine before. Each time: "Request Failed." Giving up for the evening.

Very big house, used to be the home and architect's studio of one of Frank Lloyd Wright's last students. Lots of breakers on the panel. Ordered a "Dirty Electricity Meter by Trifield - Model EM100" for $143 from amazon to speed up the detective work. Even if it can't "listen" to individual breakers, I can plug it in at the breaker panel and turn them on and off whilst listening at the panel to see where the problem is coming from. Or indeed if that's the problem. (Tired out from all that running up and down two flights of steps.)

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by KConover