Offline ESPHOME Devices

[mmatus1112 (Manuel Matus)]

Since last HomeAssistant update, ESPHOME shows all devices as offline, however, they are active and properly working. Any idea?

[orange-assistant (the real one)]

@mmatus1112

Any idea?

Any logs?

@mmatus1112

Since last HomeAssistant update, ESPHOME shows all devices as offline

That’s very unlikely as a HA update shouldn’t at all interfere with the ESPHOME Dashboard (which is updated separately). Feel free to tell us what exact versions you are running.

And don’t be scared to give this thread here a read

How to help us help you - or How to ask a good question

Before we begin… This forum is not a helpdesk The people here don’t work for Home Assistant, that’s an open source project. We are volunteering our free time to help others. Not all topics may get an answer, never mind one that helps you solve your problem. [image] This also isn’t a general home automation forum, this is a forum for Home Assistant and things related to it. Any question about Home Assistant, and about using things with Home Assistant, is welcome here. We can’t help you with e…

[aceindy]

and did you search??
someone asked the same question abt 3 hrs ago…

EspHome Device appears offline

1- Fix your mDNS in your router… 2- Use a fixed IP 3- Add your local domain name to both your router and esphome device domain (Optional, string): Set the domain of the node hostname used for uploading. For example, if it’s set to .local, all uploads will be sent to <HOSTNAME>.local. Defaults to .local. Apparently, your router added the domain name inverellit.local somewhere along the line. my first try would be to add domain: .inverellit.local to the wifi section in your esphome yaml. …

[mmatus1112 (Manuel Matus)]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Ok, I will provide as much info as possible.

1. I am using HA version 2023.3.1
2. I am using ESPHome v2023.2.4 (I believe is the latest)
3. I looked at the other thread opened but the issue is different. In my case, ESPHOME shows the devices offline, but I can see the logs wirelessly, and I can even change the configuration of the devices (upload a modification via wireless).

4. If I re-upload the configuration wirelessly, the device appears online for like 1 minute and then becomes offline again.
   

   
   
   
   

5. ESP log is below

# ESPHome

2023-03-05 09:49:30,254 INFO 304 GET / (0.0.0.0) 2.43ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,290 INFO 200 GET /static/fonts/material-icons/material-icons.css?hash=ead4c276 (0.0.0.0) 3.39ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,296 INFO 200 GET /static/css/esphome-2.css?hash=e81a30ae (0.0.0.0) 3.41ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,304 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/index-67cb530c.js (0.0.0.0) 5.23ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,311 INFO 200 GET /static/fonts/material-icons/MaterialIcons-Regular.woff2?hash=570eb838 (0.0.0.0) 3.75ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,398 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.a24dad9a.js (0.0.0.0) 3.64ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,408 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.abbbe9de.js (0.0.0.0) 5.98ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,411 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.bc0ca5c5.js (0.0.0.0) 6.30ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,462 INFO 200 GET /static/images/logo-text.svg (0.0.0.0) 3.52ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,483 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 8.33ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,507 INFO 200 GET /static/fonts/material-icons/MaterialIcons-Regular.woff2 (0.0.0.0) 2.31ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,508 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.e7806b41.js (0.0.0.0) 43.64ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,989 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.5cd5d307.js (0.0.0.0) 2.26ms 2023-03-05 09:49:30,993 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.2fd5868c.js (0.0.0.0) 2.21ms 2023-03-05 09:49:35,519 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.08ms 2023-03-05 09:49:40,457 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.01ms 2023-03-05 09:49:46,090 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 5.20ms 2023-03-05 09:49:52,076 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 5.50ms 2023-03-05 09:49:58,090 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 5.48ms 2023-03-05 09:50:04,088 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 4.60ms 2023-03-05 09:50:10,095 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 8.82ms 2023-03-05 09:50:16,105 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 5.35ms 2023-03-05 09:50:22,114 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 10.13ms 2023-03-05 09:50:28,095 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 4.81ms 2023-03-05 09:50:34,111 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 3.87ms 2023-03-05 09:50:40,101 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.03ms 2023-03-05 09:50:46,099 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.06ms 2023-03-05 09:50:52,083 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.04ms 2023-03-05 09:50:57,073 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.06ms 2023-03-05 09:52:35,420 INFO 200 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.03ms 2023-03-05 09:53:00,984 INFO 304 GET / (0.0.0.0) 1.08ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,033 INFO 200 GET /static/fonts/material-icons/material-icons.css?hash=ead4c276 (0.0.0.0) 2.10ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,043 INFO 200 GET /static/css/esphome-2.css?hash=e81a30ae (0.0.0.0) 1.77ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,047 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/index-67cb530c.js (0.0.0.0) 2.50ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,056 INFO 200 GET /static/fonts/material-icons/MaterialIcons-Regular.woff2?hash=570eb838 (0.0.0.0) 2.49ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,208 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.a24dad9a.js (0.0.0.0) 2.28ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,212 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.abbbe9de.js (0.0.0.0) 1.65ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,217 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.bc0ca5c5.js (0.0.0.0) 2.14ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,298 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 3.07ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,333 INFO 200 GET /static/images/logo-text.svg (0.0.0.0) 2.02ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,338 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.e7806b41.js (0.0.0.0) 19.32ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,343 INFO 200 GET /static/fonts/material-icons/MaterialIcons-Regular.woff2 (0.0.0.0) 2.34ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,782 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.5cd5d307.js (0.0.0.0) 2.16ms 2023-03-05 09:53:01,786 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.2fd5868c.js (0.0.0.0) 2.17ms 2023-03-05 09:53:06,319 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 1.99ms 2023-03-05 09:53:11,302 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.37ms 2023-03-05 09:53:17,086 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.14ms 2023-03-05 09:53:22,978 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.04ms 2023-03-05 09:53:26,786 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.fde3eaa6.js (0.0.0.0) 1.31ms 2023-03-05 09:53:26,808 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.fef57cf6.js (0.0.0.0) 1.83ms 2023-03-05 09:53:26,820 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.2083297b.js (0.0.0.0) 1.71ms 2023-03-05 09:53:26,823 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.d981cbff.js (0.0.0.0) 1.85ms 2023-03-05 09:53:26,882 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.d0299bcf.js (0.0.0.0) 1.31ms 2023-03-05 09:53:26,910 INFO 101 GET /logs (0.0.0.0) 0.86ms 2023-03-05 09:53:26,918 INFO Running command 'esphome --dashboard logs /config/esphome/sensor_temp.yaml --device OTA' 2023-03-05 09:53:27,895 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.66ms 2023-03-05 09:53:32,900 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.07ms 2023-03-05 09:53:37,912 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.05ms 2023-03-05 09:53:42,918 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.13ms 2023-03-05 09:53:47,928 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.08ms 2023-03-05 09:53:53,103 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.16ms 2023-03-05 09:53:58,101 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 4.20ms 2023-03-05 09:54:04,088 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 5.72ms 2023-03-05 09:54:10,105 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 11.15ms 2023-03-05 09:54:16,086 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 5.76ms 2023-03-05 09:54:22,087 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 9.54ms 2023-03-05 09:54:28,101 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 5.64ms 2023-03-05 09:54:34,108 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 9.41ms 2023-03-05 09:54:40,101 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 9.16ms 2023-03-05 09:54:46,112 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 9.81ms 2023-03-05 09:54:52,096 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 7.23ms 2023-03-05 09:54:58,107 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 6.02ms 2023-03-05 09:55:03,116 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 8.66ms 2023-03-05 09:55:06,258 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.04c56d03.js (0.0.0.0) 3.55ms 2023-03-05 09:55:06,297 INFO 200 GET /edit?configuration=sensor_temp.yaml (0.0.0.0) 3.37ms 2023-03-05 09:55:06,377 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/monaco-editor/esm/vs/editor/editor.worker.js (0.0.0.0) 3.26ms 2023-03-05 09:55:06,416 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.5cd5d307.js (0.0.0.0) 5.48ms 2023-03-05 09:55:06,424 INFO 101 GET /ace (0.0.0.0) 2.80ms 2023-03-05 09:55:06,456 INFO Running command 'esphome --dashboard -q vscode --ace /config/esphome' 2023-03-05 09:55:07,104 INFO 200 GET /static/fonts/codicon.ttf (0.0.0.0) 4.42ms 2023-03-05 09:55:08,115 INFO 200 POST /edit?configuration=sensor_temp.yaml (0.0.0.0) 3.76ms 2023-03-05 09:55:08,146 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.44a9a4ba.js (0.0.0.0) 3.34ms 2023-03-05 09:55:08,193 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.ce47441c.js (0.0.0.0) 4.36ms 2023-03-05 09:55:08,208 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.ee00fa01.js (0.0.0.0) 3.74ms 2023-03-05 09:55:08,268 INFO 304 GET /info?configuration=sensor_temp.yaml (0.0.0.0) 4.53ms 2023-03-05 09:55:09,439 INFO 200 GET /static/js/esphome/c.1fea68dd.js (0.0.0.0) 3.22ms 2023-03-05 09:55:09,474 INFO 101 GET /run (0.0.0.0) 2.51ms 2023-03-05 09:55:09,477 INFO Running command 'esphome --dashboard run /config/esphome/sensor_temp.yaml --device OTA' 2023-03-05 09:55:49,220 INFO 200 GET /static/images/logo-text.svg (0.0.0.0) 1.96ms 2023-03-05 09:55:49,235 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 4.62ms 2023-03-05 09:55:54,232 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.05ms 2023-03-05 09:55:59,224 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.04ms 2023-03-05 09:56:05,098 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.08ms 2023-03-05 09:56:11,095 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 3.48ms 2023-03-05 09:56:17,110 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.59ms 2023-03-05 09:56:23,100 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 2.56ms 2023-03-05 09:56:28,451 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 6.12ms 2023-03-05 09:56:34,095 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 5.58ms 2023-03-05 09:56:39,118 INFO 304 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 5.69ms 2023-03-05 09:57:35,424 INFO 200 GET /devices (0.0.0.0) 5.56ms

[aceindy]

@mmatus1112

I looked at the other thread opened but the issue is different. In my case, ESPHOME shows the devices offline, but I can see the logs wirelessly, and I can even change the configuration of the devices (upload a modification via wireless).

So it is the same as the other thread (you have a mDNS issue)…
Nothing serious though, as you stated, HA communicates fine with it

[orange-assistant (the real one)]

@aceindy

you have a mDNS issue

Indeed.

@mmatus1112 did you by chance change anything in your network infrastructure?

Quick fix would be to change the detection of online nodes in the dashboard from the default (mDNS) to ICMP pings. The “proper” fix would be to get mDNS working correctly again in your network

Frequently Asked Questions

[Canedje]

I do have the same problem but realy don’t understand this mDNS, ICMP ping orAvahi?
The strange part is that it is already working for years and now suddenly this happens??
What is changed? (I didn’t change anythinh except updating ESPHome and HA)

I realy don’t understand the easy sounding solution:

Just follow the next steps:

1. Enable Avahi on both subnets.
2. Enable UDP traffic from ESPHome node’s subnet to 224.0.0.251/32 on port 5353.

What subnets??? I do not have subnets as far as i Know

Is it possible to explane this to simple people like me?

[mmatus1112 (Manuel Matus)]

I feel you as I am experiencing the same thing. I have two Home Assistant Blue devices. I updated one of them while the other one was not updated. The updated one shows the issue while the one that is NOT updated DOES NOT show the issue. I have NOT changed anything from my network at all. I went into my router (xfinity), and saw nothing related to mDNS nor ICMP.

In my troubleshooting issues I have found that if I restart my router, all devices become online but eventually will go offline anyways (but they still work on HA). I will just wait for an ESPhome update to come out and see if the issue is resolved as I believe is not a router configuration issue.

[HA1974 (NNo)]

Im running the latest ESPhome

i can connect OTA to the device logging and updates are working
but the status is OFFLINE at ESPhome

HA ( on trusted network) and the ESPhome device( on a NoT network)

[aceindy]

@HA1974 sound like mDNS issues, just use your own dns or use a fixed IP

@aceindy

So it is the same as the other thread (you have a mDNS issue)…
Nothing serious though, as you stated, HA communicates fine with it

[TechUnplugged]

I’m having the same issue and I am using a fixed IP address with reservations in DHCP. They still show offline even though I can connect to them and they are functioning properly.

[Phil23]

Can’t understand how this can be so unreliable.
Regardless of MDNS, all my devices receive a reserved IP Address from my Windows DNS Server.

All Integrations are finding the devices & working.

Right now, opening the ESPHome Web UI is showing all 3 offline,
Yet if I try & Open a try & open a Log for a device it works fine,
proving that the HA platform can resolve the DNS for each device.

All I read says it’s an MDNS issue, but I can’t make find anything wrong with it.
Pretty much guarantee a Reboot of the NUC will have them back showing Online.

What I really don’t get is why, if MDNS has it’s Issues,
why isn’t the ordinary old regular DNS server used if it’s specified on the same subnet.

Obviously 8.8.8.8 won’t know how to resolve mything.mydomain.local,
a DNS server maintained on the same subnet will, so would be the best thing to use.

[aceindy]

@Phil23

mydomain.local,

Add it to your ESPHome yaml:

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password
  domain: .mydomain.local

and it should resolve by DNS
(at least it does for my own dns mydomain.dns, which I configured in my router, not sure it would work on local; it might be reserved)

[Phil23]

@aceindy

Add it to your ESPHome yaml:

Have done that ages ago, but they still come & go.
(You may have suggested I do that originally).

Just updated all devices which went fine, but still one out of 3 appear offline in the WebUi.

All DNS tests show fine, the HA Nuc resolves with domain.local as do the ESP’s,
And Logs & Updates work, so that proves that the core is resolving the addresses.

Only other curved ball I can is is that the BSSID that a device is connected to can change as I have an Omada AP Network with 7 AP’s.

Did not that two of the ESP’s did go to a different BSSID post update & not sure about the third.3.

On this occasion a Reboot of the HA Host hasn’t brought it back to showing online, & neither has rebooting the ESP itself from it’s web page.

Rebooting other stuff is painful;
Main Router has 8 VPN’s & there are 10 Switches in total on my network.
Main two are HP Aruba’s, only Weeks old & the others Poe,
each connected back to the main HP Primary.
No great collection of Daisy Chaining Happening.

Other thing I’ve tried is the Option to Use Ping for Status, but that seems to make no difference either.

Check them later & chances are they will all be online.

[aceindy]

You could compile&download the bins, and then update manually through it’s web?

I have one POE esp device, and that is the only way to update it, as it doesn’t have wifi (so OTA is no go).

But unless I changed something (or when the update concerns a security issue that applies to me), I don’t bother updating anymore…I mean…what is the point…the only thing that changes is the version number

[Troon]

Esphome entities weird behavior

ESPHome uses mDNS to determine status. You can ask it to use ping instead — on Docker, you need to set the ESPHOME_DASHBOARD_USE_PING environment variable to true. I don’t know how you’d do that with the add-on.

A couple of posts later, a reply shows how to do it with the add-on.

[aceindy]

More info here for add-on:

How does the ESPHome Dashboard determine if a node is online?

Add the environment variable ESPHOME_DASHBOARD_USE_PING=true as @finity noted above. Also documented here Frequently Asked Questions — ESPHome. To add the variable with HA addons: ssh into your HA then open the addons.json file. Look for "description": "ESPHome add-on for intelligently managing all your ESP8266/ESP32 devices", then append: "environment": { "ESPHOME_DASHBOARD_USE_PING": "true" }, [Untitled-1] Documentation on Add-on config: Add-On Configuration | Home Ass…

[Phil23]

Interensting Side thought.

As I mentioned I have HP Enterprise Switches at the core of my Network,
Then there’s 3 NetGear JGS516PE - 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet PoE Smart Managed Switches.

They are where my Omada AP’s are connected.

mDNS is a Multicast Service.

So just now, while looking at the Management interface of one of those switches I see there is options for Broadcast Forwarding Method…

Help provided is this-

Help for Broadcast Forwarding

Dynamic Method -
Select this method if you want the device to switch automatically between software and hardware method for broadcast forwarding based on the rate of broadcast frames. The default setting is Dynamic method.

Software Method -
This method is needed for DHCP Client and Plus Utility. However, broadcast frame will be discarded if the rate higher than the software can handle.

Hardware Method -
Select this method if your network application uses a high rate of broadcast frames for transmission. However, DHCP Client and Plus Utility will no longer be supported when this method is selected.

Might Give Hardware Method a try.
Will just need to move my Non-Primary Switches of DHCP & set them Static.