Brand new Green refuses initial connection

Hello all. I’m new here. I came to this forum because I saw a response from PETERAGE in an online search. I looked for a private message on his member page, but saw none.
So thought I’d post a message for help. I just bought a HA Green, and it refuses connection from the first plugin. I’ve been trying to trouble shoot it in my router, windows security settings and the firewall. But have run into dead ends each time. Also, I tried it on my desktop computer, tablet and phone, but the browser says it refuses to accept connection, and gives me an Error -6 message. The app on my tablet or phone just scans and scans without ever finding the server.
I saw PeteRage’s post about pinging homeassistant.local, and so I did. The strange thing is it gave an IPv6 IP address, not an IPv4. So I’m not sure what is going on with that, or how to fix it? Or maybe it’s because my Desktop computer is connected via ethernet, because my phone pinged the IPv4 IP address of 192.168.1.123. So I’m not sure. But I’m hoping someone here would be able to steer me in the right direction. Even more strange, is I read from another member on here, that you can ping with an -4 added to force IPv4 IP address, and when I did this on my computer, it gave me a completely different IP address, that is from Clifton, NJ. So now I’m wondering if my HA Green isn’t still setup with someone else’s information on it???
Everything I’ve read for months on this, says that HA Green is the easiest installation device to start learning and using HA. But my experience is anything but so far. I’m hoping there is something I’m missing, which can get me going again.
Also I’m wondering if I might should just return this, and get a Yellow, as it has a space for a NVMe SSD? Thanks to anyone who can give me some guidance.

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Not sure if this is common practice, but I’m also linking my post here since I’m seeing the same issue with the ameridroid HA Yellow with PI5 where they pre-install it.

If you happen to find a solution, here is my post

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Same issue here, I will send it back next week. I could ping the IP provided in my routers UI but never managed to get access to homeassitant green UI to start the configuration. I believe there is something wrong with it. Never managed to get access, same Network, Firewalls off, Different Browsers, iPhone, PC, MAC tried all isnt working. Im disappointed.

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Same issue here, I will send it back next week. I could ping the IP provided in my routers UI but never managed to get access to homeassitant green UI to start the configuration. I believe there is something wrong with it. Never managed to get access, same Network, Firewalls off, Different Browsers, iPhone, PC, MAC tried all isnt working. Im disappointed.

Hello, are you all able to access :4357 port? that should take you to the HA Observer. If you are able to access that port using the IP address (for example 192.168.1.16:4357) and you get:
|Supervisor:|Connected|
|Supported:|Supported|
|Healthy:|Healthy|
but port :8123 is not working, then reinstalling the HA OS will typically fix the issue. But if you are not able to access :8123 or :4357 that might indicate something else going on.

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Yes I’m seeing exactly what you described when accessing port 4357.

I also confirmed with tnc in PowerShell that on port 8123 the PingSucceeded = true, but the TcpTestSuceeded = False

Should I just follow the HA OS installation instructions outlined here? (My example is the HA Yellow with CM5)

Is there anything else that I need to do to wipe the current installation of HA OS prior to running those instructions?

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Yes, you will need to install RPi boot and use an USB-C to get the eMMC on the CM5 detected by your computer. If you are able to do that I would recommend to erase the eMMC and flash the NVMe with the HA Yellow image if possible.

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Sounds good, thanks! I’m sure I’ll have more questions later :stuck_out_tongue:

Note, I also reserved a dedicated port IP just outside of the range that is automatically assigned by the Nest Wifi, and I see the same behavior.

Hi! I am having issues connecting HA Green out of the box as well. Very stuck and frustrated. Read the above but that might as well as be a foreign language because I understand none of that. Is there a more basic guide to the fix? Current HAGreen was supposed to be plug and play.

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Hello Rachelle,

Yes the HA Green is plug and play, but sometimes there is issues with the Network that prevent the Home Assistant interface to be accessible via port :8123 while port :4357 is working and the unit is running Home Assistant correctly. We have found that resseting the device using the official instructions Resetting the device – Home Assistant Green fixes that issue.

Now, what connection issues are you having? I would assume you cannot access homeassistant.local:8123, you will need to try with the IP, can you access 192.168.1.XX:8123? If not, can you access 192.168.1.XX:4357?

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Hello Brandon, I’ve already shipped my HA Green back to the seller, before I saw your instrux here about the other port. However, I STILL have a question for you. I’m thinking that I should buy a Yellow instead of the Green, because of the NVMe drive slot, which would give me much needed speed and data expansion. Do you think that the Yellow is worth twice the price for its capabilities??? Thanks for any help. Cheers!

For the same money you can get an N100 based NUC which will massively out perform a yellow.

I used a Pi3 for years, tried an pi5 (disaster) and then moved to the N100 platform, huge performance and reliability upgrade.

Pi based systems were good back in the day, but now they are at the same price point as ‘propper’ computers…

Stevae

Yes! I think the Yellow is a great machine, you can get a CM4 or a CM5 for it with different RAM capacities. @tescophil has a point, we recently came up with a Voice Accelerator Bundle with two variants, one using the ODROID-H4 (Intel N97 processor, superior to the minimum N100 recommended by Home Assistant for Voice processing) and one using the ODROID-H4 Ultra (Intel Core i3 N305 processor, up to twice as fast as the N100 in benchmarks for unparalleled performance), the price of these might variate from being cheaper or more expensive than a Yellow depending on the CM4/CM5 RAM/eMMC Size and the NVMe Size. We offer a few assembled HA Yellow Kit (Pro Kit or Essential Kit).

The benfits of the Yellow would be support, the HA OS might be better mantain for official hardware like the Yellow or Green, it comes with Zigbee, Thread and Matter Support, you can add Z-Wave via GPIO internally or via USB.

For the other side as Tescophil mentioned you can get a better performance for similar or better price with the Voice Accelerator Bundles that we mentioned above (but you will need to add Zigbee, Thread and Z-Wave via USB), per your request we could ship those with the Home Assistant OS already installed, and they include the H4/H4 Ultra board, DDR5 RAM, 128GB NVMe, Case, Power Supply, basically all you need to get it working. Also if you want to make any changes you can reach out to us at [email protected] and we can make any changes you would like, more RAM, larger NVMe, etc.

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Thank you Brandon. I appreciate both yours, and @tescophil’s responses as this gives me a lot of good information. I, of course, want to get the best performance for the cheapest price, as now days we all have been paying ridiculous inflated prices for a while, and money is tight. But I’d like to ask you, considering three main basic considerations being cost, performance and ease of use, which device will perform best with HA, cover the most use cases and not force me to give up a kidney to get it??? I’ve already been looking at the configurations of the Yellow with CM5, higher ram and bluetooth. How does that compare with the Odroid-H4 and the H4 Ultra for real world plug it in and start working with it kind of situations? I definitely prefer to have HA preinstalled, as I’m not a coder, and I’ve read that installations can be tricky and riddled with problems. And while I know about Linux, I’ve never actually used it. Furthermore, I’m wondering about the Ultra being twice the price of the H4? Lastly, are there any coupons or disct codes for the Ultra, as that is well out of my price range unless I can find a little help? Thanks for all of your time and assistance. I truly appreciate it.

You’re very welcome! I completely understand wanting the best performance at a reasonable price. Let me try to break this down for you, focusing on cost, performance, and ease of use:

Home Assistant Yellow + CM5

  • Cost: $350-$400 for an assembled unit with Home Assistant pre-installed (might be lower depending on the CM5 RAM and eMMC Size. We have not been able to get 8GB or 16GB RAM CM5’s at this time, I think they might be available in February/March).
  • Performance: The CM5 + Yellow offers solid performance for HA, especially having Zigbee on board and the option of getting BT with the CM5 (WiFi is not nessary as HA Hubs need to be connected via Ethernet, so the CM5’s that come with WiFi/BT you will only be using the BT on HA). The BCM2712 processor in the CM5 doesn’t quite match the raw processing power of an Intel Core i3 or even the Intel N97 in the ODROID-H4 Ultra.
  • Ease of Use: User-friendly; plug-and-play with Home Assistant pre-installed and Zigbee/BT capabilities built in (if purchased pre-built).

ODROID-H4

  • Cost: $224.95 for the base configuration:
    • Intel N97 processor (great performance, likely comparable to or slightly better than the CM5). The H4 Ultra would start at $387.95 (with 16GB RAM) it comes with an Intel i3 processor and it offers significantly better performance than the CM5’s Broadcom BCM2712 processor.
    • 8GB DDR5 RAM (can upgrade to 16GB for ~$17).
    • 128GB NVMe with Home Assistant OS pre-installed by us.
    • Includes a power supply and protective case.

Adding Zigbee/BT/Z-Wave capabilities via USB dongles (e.g., SONOFF Zigbee dongle, ZBT-1, and a Bluetooth or Z-Wave USB) would bring the total to ~$300-$315.

  • Performance: The N97 processor is powerful and efficient, likely outperforming the CM5 in most scenarios. With the ability to customize RAM and add accessories, it’s a highly flexible option.

  • Ease of Use: While we pre-install HA on the NVMe, additional setup will be required to configure Zigbee/BT/Z-Wave dongles. It’s not difficult, and it is something that you will need to do with the Yellow as well (The main difference is the the Yellow has Zigbee/BT on board, but configuration is still needed).

Which is better?

  • If cost and performance are the main factors, the ODROID-H4 offers more flexibility and raw power for less money. And you can easily upgrade RAM if necessary or get a larger NVMe.

Recommendation

For a balance of performance, flexibility, and price, I think the ODROID-H4 would be the way to go—especially with HA pre-installed on the NVMe.

Let me know if you have any other questions or reach out to us at [email protected] if you are interested on seeing what all the options and pricing would be for the H4 pre-built hub—I’m happy to help!

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Man! That is the perfect response, and almost exactly what I was thinking. So thank you so much for that excellent information. I am guessing that unless you are setting up an extremely extensive home, that the H4 is more than enough to fit the needs of most. I already have a Nortek dongle for Zigby and Z-wave, but nothing for BT. And being able to double the RAM for $17 dollars is attractive. Also, the 128gb NVMe seems small, so I’d like to know how much to upgrade to the 1tb NVMe? And I do have one last question after watching NetworkChuck’s video on adding the AI voice asst. I found what he did to be very fascinating, but he flew through it too quickly and I’m not sure I’d ever get that done correctly on my own. SO, I’m wondering IF you guys can also preset that AI voice asst up in HA, so that when I get it, I have a minimum of things to finish its setup?

Steve, that’s a great question! Let me break it down:

AI Processing with the H4 Ultra

We recommend the ODROID-H4 Ultra for AI tasks because AI processing benefits significantly from a powerful processor and sufficient RAM, such as the H4 Ultra’s Intel i3 and up to 16GB of DDR5.

However, there’s a limitation: as far as we are aware, you can’t currently run HA OS and Ollama on the same device unless you’re using Linux/Windows and running Home Assistant in a virtual machine. Our team generally doesn’t recommend that setup due to potential complexity and reliability concerns.

Two Ways to Approach This

  1. H4 or H4 Ultra Running Home Assistant OS
  • You can run Whisper and Piper locally using Home Assistant add-ons. HA OS will detect them and prompt you to add the Wyoming integration, making it relatively straightforward.
  • However, as of now, there’s no option to run Ollama or similar AI tools directly within HA OS as a conversation agent. If you need AI like Ollama, it would have to run on a separate device.
  1. H4 or H4 Ultra with DietPi/Debian and Docker
  • We can pre-install DietPi or Debian on the H4 Ultra, running Piper, Whisper, and Ollama via Docker. This setup offloads voice processing and AI to the H4 Ultra.
  • For Home Assistant, you’d run HA OS on a separate, economical device like our ameriDroid Smart Home Hub, starting at $79.95. This division of labor ensures you get the best performance for both AI and Home Assistant.

Recommendation

If you need AI capabilities alongside Home Assistant, the second approach offers the best flexibility and performance but of course it will end up being more expensive. If AI is not a necessity for you, we would recommend getting the H4 with Home Assistant.

Forgot to mention, the difference to upgrade to a 1TB NVMe would be $50, but if you are getting a whole bundle, for example the H4 and upgrade to 16GB RAM and 1TB NVMe I would do my best to offer the best deal possible so the upgrades do not raise the price that much.

Brandon, thanks so much for your answer. Again, I’m just a novice with HA, but reading alllllll of this brings up another question in my mind, why not just partition the NVMe drive, and run all of that on one partition, while running HA on the other???
I’m an extremely reasonable guy, but going from a $104 dollar Green, to a $400+ dollar device, it would have to sing and dance and make breakfast for that kind of raise. Lol. And considering how innovative the guys who made HA are, and all their recent extra hiring, I’d think they would have this married together by now, or at least in the very near future. Am I sounding unreasonable, or is that a common expectation? Thanks.

Also pertaining to your offer above, “Forgot to mention, the difference to upgrade to a 1TB NVMe would be $50, but if you are getting a whole bundle, for example the H4 and upgrade to 16GB RAM and 1TB NVMe I would do my best to offer the best deal possible so the upgrades do not raise the price that much.”
As long as you can keep it close to the H4 price, I would definitely buy this with these upgrades. And I truly appreciate your efforts to keep my price as close as possible! So much so, that this sort of kind gesture would push me to want to spend a great deal more with you in the future, as great customer service and personal attention are mainstays of business in the era I grew up, and I covet them much more than most.

Sorry for yet another question, but you now have my mind going a thousand mph… Lol. What if I ran HA on the H4 and loaded an AI like Ollama onto a separate drive on my EXTREMELY powerful home computer??? I’m thinking something like NetworkChuck did with his laptop on that video?