Green, then off, then green, then off - resolved

My iotawatt seems to have died a few hours ago after running and updating steady for the last several years. I must not have searched for the right lights sequence: green, then completely off, green, then completely off (repeat forever), about 1 second cycle time for each. Not dull green, but the usual LED full-on bright. No red at all (power cycled in a dark room). Unplugged voltage reference, USB power, waited several minutes, plugged back in. Same sequence immediately. Wireless network scan (in case it was initialized and in AP mode) shows nothing. Pinging its old IP fails.

The unit is in a not-too-easy-to-reach location, and I’ll work to get the box out to read the SD card, since it is not working as of today.

Any ideas?

Could use a little more background info before I start speculating.

  • Do you know what the auto-update class is?

  • Have you ben doing anything with configuration?

  • Where is the IoTaWatt located (country)?

  • Did you get it from OEM or from the Stuff store?

Auto update is ALPHA class.
Last configuration change was about 6 months ago.
Location is USA/SouthDakota
I purchased from the store Order #1146

It is tucked in the same wiring closet as the power distribution panel, nothing is wet that I can see.

Alpha went to a release 02_06_00 on Monday evening. Do you have any way of knowing if was running yesterday?

It was still running this morning.

Trying to determine if it updated. Do you have uploaders like PVoutput, Emoncms or influx?

Did you see the status display and if so did you notice anything different about it?

Nothing being shipped out. I got the SD card out. Mounted read-only, looking at the IOTAWATT/IOTAMSGS.TXT file, I see the update and restarting over and over:

SD initialized.
2/03/21 22:44:14z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1612392254
2/03/21 22:44:14z Reset reason: Software/System restart
2/03/21 22:44:14z Trace:  1:3, 1:4, 1:3, 1:4, 1:3, 1:4, 1:1, 1:2[1], 9:0[1], 9:0, 9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 8:9, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5[20], 20:0, 20:1, 20:2, 20
:3, 1:6, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5[21], 21:0, 21:2
2/03/21 22:44:14z ESP8266 ChipID: 2517970
2/03/21 22:44:14z IoTaWatt 4.x, Firmware version 02_05_12
2/03/21 22:44:14z SPIFFS mounted.
2/03/21 15:44:14 Local time zone: -7:00
2/03/21 15:44:14 Using Daylight Saving Time (BST) when in effect.
2/03/21 15:44:14 device name: IotaWatt
2/03/21 15:44:14 HTTP server started
2/03/21 15:44:14 timeSync: service started.
2/03/21 15:44:14 statService: started.
2/03/21 15:44:15 dataLog: service started.
2/03/21 15:44:19 dataLog: Last log entry 02/03/21 15:44:10
2/03/21 15:45:14 historyLog: service started.
2/03/21 15:45:15 historyLog: Last log entry 02/03/21 15:44:00
2/03/21 16:35:16 WiFi connected. SSID=zzzz, IP=, channel=11, RSSI -60db
2/03/21 16:35:16 MDNS responder started for hostname IotaWatt
2/03/21 16:35:16 LLMNR responder started for hostname IotaWatt
2/03/21 16:35:16 Updater: service started. Auto-update class is ALPHA
2/03/21 16:35:25 Updater: Invalid response from server. HTTPcode: -4
2/03/21 17:35:24 Updater: Auto-update is current for class ALPHA.
3/17/21 13:15:06 Updater: Update from 02_05_12 to 02_06_00
3/17/21 13:15:06 Updater: download 02_06_00
3/17/21 13:15:15 Updater: Release downloaded 9459ms, size 830064
3/17/21 13:15:25 Updater: signature verified
3/17/21 13:15:33 Updater: firmware upgraded to version 02_06_00
3/17/21 13:15:33 Updater: Firmware updated, restarting.

** Restart **

SD initialized.
3/17/21 19:15:41z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1616008541
3/17/21 19:15:41z Reset reason: Software/System restart
3/17/21 19:15:41z Trace:  9:0, 9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 8:9, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5[19], 1:6, 1:1[6], 1:2[7], 9:0[7], 9:0, 9:1, 8:4, 8:6, 8:8, 8:9, 9:3, 9:5, 9:9, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5[5], 5:0, 5:7
3/17/21 19:15:41z ESP8266 ChipID: 2517970
3/17/21 19:15:41z IoTaWatt 4.x, Firmware version 02_06_00
3/17/21 19:15:41z Updater: Installing update files for version 02_06_00
3/17/21 19:15:41z Updater: Installing GRAPH.JS
3/17/21 19:15:41z Updater: Installing GRAPH2.HTM
3/17/21 19:15:41z Updater: Installing GRAPH2.JS
3/17/21 19:15:41z Updater: Installing INDEX.HTM
3/17/21 19:15:42z Updater: Installing TABLES.TXT
3/17/21 19:15:42z Updater: Installing CNFSTYLE.CSS
3/17/21 19:15:42z Updater: Installing EDIT.HTM
3/17/21 19:15:42z Updater: Installing GRAPH.HTM
3/17/21 19:15:42z Updater: Installation complete.
3/17/21 19:15:42z SPIFFS mounted.

** Restart **

SD initialized.
3/17/21 19:15:44z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1616008544
3/17/21 19:15:44z Reset reason: Exception
3/17/21 19:15:44z Trace:  11:0, 11:4, 11:5, 11:5, 11:10, 11:15, 11:20, 11:20[1], 11:20[2], 11:20[3], 11:21, 11:22, 11:21, 11:22, 11:21, 11:22, 11:21, 11:22, 11:20[4], 11:20[5], 11:20[6], 11:20[7], 11:25, 11:30, 11:31, 11:30, 11:31, 11:32, 11:31, 31:100, 31:100, 31:100
3/17/21 19:15:44z ESP8266 ChipID: 2517970
3/17/21 19:15:44z IoTaWatt 4.x, Firmware version 02_06_00
3/17/21 19:15:44z SPIFFS mounted.

** Restart **

That restart repeats every few seconds until I took off power to get the card out.

OK, I’m hopeful. Can you upload the config.txt file in a private message please?

@overeasy - you are awesome - the new config file fixed the issue.

I recall setting up transfer to Emoncms ages ago, then removing the configuration. I suppose that’s the part that was causing the grief in the config.txt with the ALPHA 02_06_00 today. Thanks a million for helping out with this!

Thanks for being part of the ALPHA program. Not everyone can work with me to debug issues like this. This is a substantial release that changed the uploaders for Emoncms and the influxes. That fragment of old Emoncms configuration caused the problem. I’m glad you told me that you had previously configured and removed Emoncms upload. I was starting to panic thinking this is going to happen to all Alphas without Emoncms, but only those who had it way back and then removed. The fix will be in a maintenance release very soon.

I’ll close the public thread.

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I am also seeing this, mine stopped about 3 hours ago, now flashing green and isn’t connecting to wifi. What do I need to do?

** Restart **

SD initialized.
3/17/21 22:10:09z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1616019009 
3/17/21 22:10:09z Reset reason: Exception
3/17/21 22:10:09z Trace:  11:0, 11:4, 11:5, 11:5, 11:10, 11:15, 11:20, 11:20[1], 11:20[2], 11:20[3], 11:21, 11:22, 11:21, 11:22, 11:20[4], 11:20[5], 11:20[6], 11:20[7], 11:25, 11:30, 11:31, 11:30, 11:31, 11:32, 11:31, 31:100, 31:100, 31:100, 31:100, 31:101, 31:102, 3:100
3/17/21 22:10:09z ESP8266 ChipID: 1816002
3/17/21 22:10:09z IoTaWatt 4.x, Firmware version 02_06_00
3/17/21 22:10:09z SPIFFS mounted.

** Restart **

SD initialized.
3/17/21 22:10:10z Real Time Clock is running. Unix time 1616019010 
3/17/21 22:10:10z Reset reason: Exception
3/17/21 22:10:10z Trace:  11:0, 11:4, 11:5, 11:5, 11:10, 11:15, 11:20, 11:20[1], 11:20[2], 11:20[3], 11:21, 11:22, 11:21, 11:22, 11:20[4], 11:20[5], 11:20[6], 11:20[7], 11:25, 11:30, 11:31, 11:30, 11:31, 11:32, 11:31, 31:100, 31:100, 31:100, 31:100, 31:101, 31:102, 3:100
3/17/21 22:10:10z ESP8266 ChipID: 1816002
3/17/21 22:10:10z IoTaWatt 4.x, Firmware version 02_06_00
3/17/21 22:10:10z SPIFFS mounted.

What was the change/fix to the config.txt file?

Confirming a diff of the old and new shows the elimination of the section
image
from my config.txt is what fixed the issue for my installation.

This was a leftover from when I had tried shipping data to Emoncms ages ago, then deactivated that feature.

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