Nortek USB failure with zigbee integration

Hello,
New user here (from Smartthings) and just starting to figure out what it will take to begin a migration.
I have a Nortek husbzb-1. I have done a bit of reading and watched a ton of YouTube videos to guide me through adding Z-wave and ZigBee. I am running HA on Windows 10 with VirtualBox and had a little bit of trouble with drivers and getting the VM to see the USB stick. I think I have that worked out because I can now see it listed under hardware. I had some trouble with Z-Wave at first but adding it in the configuration yaml worked and it seems good now. While going through the process to add the Zigbee I can see the device but each time it fails with an “unknown error”.

I haven’t seen many other folks mention anything like this. I am tempted to start over from scratch because haven’t done much yet just explored how it works. But any help would be appreciated.

I see this error in the log:
Logger: aiohttp.server
Source: components/zha/config_flow.py:130
First occurred: January 26, 2021, 11:45:33 PM (1 occurrences)
Last logged: January 26, 2021, 11:45:33 PM

Error handling request
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/aiohttp/web_protocol.py”, line 422, in _handle_request
resp = await self._request_handler(request)
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/aiohttp/web_app.py”, line 499, in _handle
resp = await handler(request)
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/aiohttp/web_middlewares.py”, line 118, in impl
return await handler(request)
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/http/security_filter.py”, line 56, in security_filter_middleware
return await handler(request)
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/http/request_context.py”, line 18, in request_context_middleware
return await handler(request)
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/http/ban.py”, line 72, in ban_middleware
return await handler(request)
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/http/auth.py”, line 127, in auth_middleware
return await handler(request)
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/http/view.py”, line 129, in handle
result = await result
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/config/config_entries.py”, line 169, in post
return await super().post(request, flow_id)
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/http/data_validator.py”, line 60, in wrapper
result = await method(view, request, *args, **kwargs)
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/data_entry_flow.py”, line 106, in post
result = await self._flow_mgr.async_configure(flow_id, data)
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/data_entry_flow.py”, line 155, in async_configure
result = await self._async_handle_step(flow, cur_step[“step_id”], user_input)
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/data_entry_flow.py”, line 213, in _async_handle_step
result: Dict = await getattr(flow, method)(user_input)
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/zha/config_flow.py”, line 59, in async_step_user
auto_detected_data = await detect_radios(dev_path)
File “/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/zha/config_flow.py”, line 130, in detect_radios
if await radio.controller.probe(dev_config):
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/zigpy_deconz/api.py”, line 380, in probe
await asyncio.wait_for(api._probe(), timeout=PROBE_TIMEOUT)
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/asyncio/tasks.py”, line 494, in wait_for
return fut.result()
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/zigpy_deconz/api.py”, line 395, in _probe
await self.connect()
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/zigpy_deconz/api.py”, line 245, in connect
self._uart = await zigpy_deconz.uart.connect(self._config, self)
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/zigpy_deconz/uart.py”, line 139, in connect
_, protocol = await serial_asyncio.create_serial_connection(
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/serial_asyncio/init.py”, line 445, in create_serial_connection
serial_instance = serial.serial_for_url(*args, **kwargs)
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/serial/init.py”, line 90, in serial_for_url
instance.open()
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/serial/serialposix.py”, line 336, in open
self._update_dtr_state()
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/serial/serialposix.py”, line 713, in _update_dtr_state
fcntl.ioctl(self.fd, TIOCMBIS, TIOCM_DTR_str)
TimeoutError: [Errno 110] Operation timed out

And I also see this warning:

Logger: zigpy_znp.zigbee.application
Source: /usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/zigpy_znp/zigbee/application.py:172
First occurred: January 26, 2021, 11:45:12 PM (1 occurrences)
Last logged: January 26, 2021, 11:45:12 PM

Failed to probe ZNP radio with config {‘path’: ‘/dev/serial/by-id/usb-Silicon_Labs_HubZ_Smart_Home_Controller_C1300983-if01-port0’, ‘flow_control’: None, ‘baudrate’: 115200}
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/zigpy_znp/zigbee/application.py”, line 167, in probe
await znp.connect()
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/zigpy_znp/api.py”, line 199, in connect
self._uart = await uart.connect(self._config[conf.CONF_DEVICE], self)
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/zigpy_znp/uart.py”, line 170, in connect
transport.serial.rts = False
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/serial/serialutil.py”, line 463, in rts
self._update_rts_state()
File “/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/serial/serialposix.py”, line 708, in _update_rts_state
fcntl.ioctl(self.fd, TIOCMBIC, TIOCM_RTS_str)
TimeoutError: [Errno 110] Operation timed out

I’m having the same issue in regards to the failed probe.
First time I noticed the network seemed to have crashed.
Installed it again, still get the error, deleted the .db to be sure, still have the error. But can add deviced. I tried with another adapter and get the same failed port message.
Tried different usb ports with always the same warning message about the probe failing.

I’m using the Nortek USB adapter and it has worked fine. I have no real advise on the error above, but I have found that these (and other) USB devices work better when you use a short USB extension cable (1-2’) to get them away from the PC and any monitor near the device. Seems to reduce interference.

OK… so I seem to have got it working. I am not sure if it will keep working.

I found that windows wasn’t happy with the drivers. I uninstalled the devices. I had found some other folks that had pulled drivers for the device from other software. I downloaded and installed the Axial server software. Found the driver folder and moved it to my hard disk then uninstalled the software. I then rebooted windows turning off driver signing following instructions I found online. I was able to install the drivers and after rebooting the VM the z-wave started working but zigbee still didn’t I went through a couple reboots and then windows rejected the driver again. I just rebooted again turning off driver signing and now both seem to work. I got a light bulb working. I am not sure if it will keep working without somehow permanently disabling the driver signing… but will have to see.

Some further digging today has revealed it is likely related to a USB HUB I had the thing plugged into… well partially.
I had to go through the driver process regardless.
Today I wanted to do more testing to see if it was more reliable through machine reboots. It appears that if I don’t plug the USB stick directly into my computer I have more issues. The VM wouldn’t even boot until I unplugged it when connected to the hub. But directly into my machine it seems more stable. I will continue to try further reboots to see if it continues to work. Sometimes the VM gest stuck mid boot at a 1.0319 line that says “Serial: 0250/1550 driver, 4 ports, IRW sharing enabled”. If that occurs it seems to crash the VM. If I restart Virtual Box it usually will work again. I keep looking for patterns to post. Any insight to how to make it more stable and less likely to need interaction on boot would be great. I might consider abandoning the VM route and getting a PI just to not worry about everything breaking down when I am not home. Thanks!