After 4 years... Another Gen3 That's Decided It Isn't Happy With Network Config

Troubleshooting
1

I have a Gen3 controller I purchased in 2021 because my OG Plaid/Spruce device from their Kickstarter was essentially killed off. My Rachio has worked flawlessly since the day I set it up until last Friday when the controller went offline at 7:31AM local time. I was out of town at the time but I can see the disconnect in my router logs as well as the notification from the controller. The 3rd quadrant blinks 12 times then red once.

My RouteThis key is S9A5TNKW

I have tried every solution I could find in the support forums, including:

  • Rebooted the device first (the obvious thing)

  • Started with the troubleshooter in the app on my iphone

  • Rebooted my router and modem

  • Updated the firmware on my router and modem

  • Reset the controller to factory by holding the Stop button and starting over

  • Brought the controller into my office and tried configuring it while sitting directly next to the router (RSSI between -42 and -47)

  • Disabled my firewall

  • Disabled Roaming Assist on the router (not needed anyways as this is a single router environment)

  • Changed my router’s DNS servers to Google (8.8.8.8)

  • Confirmed that I can resolve and lookup mqtt.rach.io

  • I created a new 2.4Ghz only IoT network, ensured that is as basic as can be and tried adding the controller to it (even though I already operate 2.4 and 5.0 on separate SSID’s)

  • I then tried reserving a static IP and forcing the controller to use 8.8.8.8 for DNS

  • I connected from my Mac laptop and used the cURL commands to try forcing the configuration

The controller will join the WiFi and 3 minutes later it disconnects. It never becomes available.

Here is an excerpt from my router system log:

May 29 09:33:25 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(696): wl0.2: Auth 74:7A:90:F1:FB:82, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
May 29 09:33:25 kernel: SBF: dhd0: INIT [74:7a:90:f1:fb:82] ID 65535 BFW 65535 THRSH 2048
May 29 09:33:25 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(733): wl0.2: Assoc 74:7A:90:F1:FB:82, status: Successful (0), rssi:-46
May 29 09:36:29 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(673): wl0.2: Disassoc 74:7A:90:F1:FB:82, status: 0, reason: Disassociated because sending station is leaving (or has left) BSS (8), rssi:0
May 29 09:36:29 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(656): wl0.2: Deauth_ind 74:7A:90:F1:FB:82, status: 0, reason: Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS (3), rssi:0

I am running out of ideas on how to get it working again. It seems odd that DNS resolution would suddenly stop working and I’m unable to get it going again even after changing the DNS servers as well as forcing it to a specific DNS server.

2 Likes
2

I also started having issues with my Rachio 3 Pro. Noticed that it wasn’t connected today but it may have been offline a few days. Spectrum was doing overnight, hours long, upgrades over the last three days but that all could be a coincidence as well. Whatever the case…I tried just about everything and in the end I just tried connecting to a 5ghz network and it worked perfectly. No idea why it won’t connect up to 2.4ghz. Deja vu has kicked in because I believe I had this exact same issue a few years ago.

3

Interesting. I did see where someone else had the same resolution. I’ll give it a shot. Support replied to my ticket and said that the issue is a weak wifi signal, which it absolutely isn’t because I have controller sitting next to my router for testing (RSSI is like -42 according to the router logs)

1 Like
4

I have had problems with my 1st Generation for months. I am having it taken out and a manual sprinkler system put in. This isn’t worth the aggravation.

5

Let us know how it turns out!

6

Whelp, no dice on that possible solution. At this point, I’m stumped and figure I will just buy a Wyze or something inexpensive. Definitely not worth the $50/yr that it cost me to own it before it failed.

1 Like
7

Support was kind enough to send me a refurbished/warranty controller… which also did not work.

In the end, I had to do a hard reset on my Asus router and reconfigure my networks to get it working. The new controller came online within 30 seconds of my freshly reset router rebooting. I have no idea what caused the issue as I wasn’t home at the time it went offline and according to my router logs there were no changes made for at least 30 days prior (it was more like 180 days since I had replaced the router)