Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 disconnects after 3 seconds (HA OS on Unraid VM)

Configuration Z-Wave
1

After an update of both Unraid and HomeAssistant my Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 will no longer stay connected to the HA VM running on Unraid.

If I boot up the VM without any USB devices connected, and then select the Z-Stick in Unraid, HomeAssistant shows the following logs:

Jan 17 19:24:47 homeassistant kernel: usb 2-1: new full-speed USB device number 7 using uhci_hcd
Jan 17 19:24:47 homeassistant kernel: usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0658, idProduct=0200, bcdDevice= 0.00
Jan 17 19:24:47 homeassistant kernel: usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
Jan 17 19:24:47 homeassistant kernel: cdc_acm 2-1:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
Jan 17 19:24:50 homeassistant kernel: usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 7

As you can see the USB device is initially recognized as ttyACM0, but disconnects after 3 seconds every time. During those 3 seconds it can also be seen in the ā€œAll Hardwareā€ list with the serial path /dev/serial/by-id/usb-0658_0200-if00.

In comparison, this is what the logs look like for my working SONOFF ZigBee Dongle:

Jan 17 19:25:39 homeassistant kernel: usb 3-1: new full-speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
Jan 17 19:25:39 homeassistant kernel: usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=10c4, idProduct=ea60, bcdDevice= 1.00
Jan 17 19:25:39 homeassistant kernel: usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Jan 17 19:25:39 homeassistant kernel: usb 3-1: Product: Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus
Jan 17 19:25:39 homeassistant kernel: usb 3-1: Manufacturer: ITead
Jan 17 19:25:39 homeassistant kernel: usb 3-1: SerialNumber: 261cbfcf63c9eb118ea98d4f1d69213e
Jan 17 19:25:39 homeassistant kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver cp210x
Jan 17 19:25:39 homeassistant kernel: usbserial: USB Serial support registered for cp210x
Jan 17 19:25:39 homeassistant kernel: cp210x 3-1:1.0: cp210x converter detected
Jan 17 19:25:39 homeassistant kernel: usb 3-1: cp210x converter now attached to ttyUSB0

I also tried passing the Z-Stick through to another random Ubuntu VM I had lying around, and it stayed connected even after 30+ seconds, with the logs looking like this:

Jan 17 20:30:58 randomvm kernel: [ 2691.512901] usb 2-2: new full-speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
Jan 17 20:30:58 randomvm kernel: [ 2691.684024] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0658, idProduct=0200, bcdDevice= 0.00
Jan 17 20:30:58 randomvm kernel: [ 2691.684030] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
Jan 17 20:30:58 randomvm kernel: [ 2691.699414] cdc_acm 2-2:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
Jan 17 20:30:58 randomvm kernel: [ 2691.699432] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_acm
Jan 17 20:30:58 randomvm kernel: [ 2691.699433] cdc_acm: USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters

So I donā€™t think itā€™s a problem with my Unraid setup, as the stick can obviously stay connected to other VMs.

Other things Iā€™ve tried that made no difference:

  • Using a direct USB port instead of an extension cable
  • Using both a 2.0 and 3.0 port
  • Passing the USB port through to the VM before boot and while itā€™s already running.
  • Restarting the physical Unraid server
  • Factory Resetting the Z-Stick

Thing I havenā€™t tried yet (cause theyā€™d be really annoying lol)

  • Setting up a completely new HA VM
  • Installing a dedicated PCI USB card
  • Buying a new Z-Stick

Relevant versions:
HA Core: 2024.1.3
HA Supervisor: 2023.12.1
HA Operating System: 11.4
Unraid: 6.12.6

2

Is the ZWaveJS addon running? Maybe it doesnā€™t play nice with a soft reset or the watchdog?

1 Like
3

As mentioned, the soft reset is the problem, so just disable soft-reset in the add-on configuration. A soft-reset of a 500-series controller causes a USB reset.

My understanding is that Unraid doesnā€™t support hot-plugging of USB devices and VMs, so it doesnā€™t restore the connection to the VM after the USB reset. If you can get hot-plug working, thatā€™s better than disabling soft-reset, otherwise just disable it.

1 Like
5

I donā€™t think this could be the issue, since my Z-Wave add-on isnā€™t even running. In fact it canā€™t be running, since it fails to start every time if the configured USB device could not be found.

The way I see it my issue should be completely independent of the Z-Wave add-on, right? Since Iā€™m observing the 3-second disconnect without the add-on even running.

Obviously I tried disabling soft-reset and restating everything, but since I canā€™t get the add-on to even start I donā€™t think it matters.

@RickKramer

6

Are you sure the add-on isnā€™t running? Did you disable the Z-Wave integration? HA makes sure the add-on is always running.

Unraid and HomeAssistant

Sure you didnā€™t upgrade anything else? An upgrade of HA Core would not affect your USB devices. Possible Unraid is the problem then. Or did you also update HAOS, or the add-on?

7

The add-on definitely isnā€™t running. Iā€™ve disabled the entire Z-Wave JS integration and got the same result.

Unraid and HomeAssistant

Youā€™re right, I shouldā€™ve been more clear on that. When I said ā€œHomeAssistantā€ I meant literally everything. I updated Core, Supervisor and the OS, as well as all my add-ons.

This was a ~1.5 year old installation with few updates cause Iā€™m lazy. And aside from the Z-Stick nothing broke during this big update :smiley:

8

There are a number of open USB issues against HAOS. If itā€™s not the Z-Wave JS add-on thatā€™s the culprit (youā€™ll need soft-reset disabled regardless), then maybe youā€™re hitting one of those.

9

I bit the bullet over the weekend and bought the Z-Stick 7, with the assumption that itā€™ll behave the same and Iā€™ll return it.

Lo and behold, it works! I had to manually change the XML USB configuration of the Unraid VM, since the new Z-Stick 7 and my old Zigbee Dongle were being assigned the exact same port by the UI, but after fixing that both devices show up properly in HA and my Z-Wave network is back up and running.

Throwing money at the problem isnā€™t the most satisfying solution, but Iā€™m happy with it for now.

Iā€™m guessing the old Z-Stick 5 isnā€™t actually ā€˜brokenā€™, and is indeed hitting some kind of fixable bug, but since the new one works Iā€™m gonna stop investigating :stuck_out_tongue: