Invalid config file after power loss

Configuration
1

I set up my HA system a couple of months ago, using Green and all out of the box basic setup. No customizations other than adding an integration for my Rheem water heater. After a recent power outage I found that my HA server was throwing an error: expected ‘’, but found ‘’ in “/config/configuration.yaml”, line 4, column 1

I do not have a /config/ directory, but I do have /homeassistant/configuration.yaml. That file contains the following:

homeassistant

# Loads default set of integrations. Do not remove.
default_config:

# Load frontend themes from the themes folder
frontend:
  themes: !include_dir_merge_named themes

automation: !include automations.yaml
script: !include scripts.yaml
scene: !include scenes.yaml

It seems to be choking on something after the 'default_config:" line. I have not been able to find anything online to explain the issue. Any thoughts? I’ve been collecting log data so would prefer not to have to wipe it and reinstall from scratch. Thanks.

2

Try commenting out the themes line like this, then restart and see what happens:

homeassistant

# Loads default set of integrations. Do not remove.
default_config:

# Load frontend themes from the themes folder
frontend:
#  themes: !include_dir_merge_named themes

automation: !include automations.yaml
script: !include scripts.yaml
scene: !include scenes.yaml

Also can you copy and paste the exact error correctly formatted for the forum with the </> button in the post toolbar.

3

Thanks for the quick reply! I commented out the themes line and used “Developer tools” - Check Configuration:

Configuration errors
Error loading /config/configuration.yaml: expected '<document start>', but found '<block mapping start>'
  in "/config/configuration.yaml", line 4, column 1

This was the same error message as before. (Apologies for not noticing the formatting got munged in the last post.)

I could not do a soft restart due to the invalid config error.

4

Should have a colon after it:

homeassistant:
1 Like
5

:flushed:
That did the trick. I was able to restart successfully, then un-commented the themes line and restarted again. It is up and running again.

I must have inadvertently deleted the colon at some point while I was poking around the UI, but it didn’t raise an error until the power outage forced it to restart.

Thanks very much for the help! I’m looking forward to learning more about the HA system. Looks like a fascinating way to spend a lot of free time. :laughing: