Skyconnect ZHA detected but 'could not read USB' after Configure [FIXED]

Hardware
1

Hi, I’m playing with HA since 6 months now and was happy to receive the Skyconnect. It worked fine on my Raspberry Pi 4 for a while until two weeks ago when I got a corrupted SD card. I bought an SSD drive, reinstalled a clean HA but found that even with an out-of-the-box installation the Skyconnect USB-stick would not configure. It is recognized after a hardware restart but returns an error during it’s initial configuration cycle.
I tried different USB-ports, I tried different locations to discard electronic interference but with same result.
I suspect the SkyConnect is broke but I have no clue how to go about finding out what to do next. Are there HW reset options available for the SkyConnect? Any help is appreciated.

Edit: I do remember that I also changed the multi protocol setting before things got worse… perhaps SD card crash was not related to this.

FIXED: After reading more I used the steps on the SkyConnect Firmware update page: Home Assistant SkyConnect firmware-update
Appearently I bricked my SkyConnect with the Multiprotocoll setting. The firmware update solved the issue. After firmware update (via windows) I plugged it back in my PI4 (ignoring the ZHA setup), restoring my latest working backup in HA, restarting my Pi and It was running as before recognizing all my devices.

Below are the symptom screenshots I captured before this issue was solved (local language);

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2 Likes
2

How did you connect the SSD? I’d try a longer extension cord or a powered usb2 hub to get the skyconnect as far away from the SSD as possible.

3

[ EDIT ]
A complete powercycle of the pi seems to have solved my problem

I have the exact same issue.

I tried migrating from a ConBeeII stick but once I swapped the sticks and rewrote the IEEE address
as per migration guide everything stopped working.

So I tried enabling the ’ Silicon Labs multi-protocol’ option , but I think that killed the stick

Is there any way to flash the original firmware to the stick? Or are there any other options?

1 Like
4

Exactly the same problem. After enabling the multiprotocol, the stick is dead (is it really?). It is recognized when sticking into my HA Raspberry Pi, but during installation I get the “Failed to connect” at Serial Port Settings.
Disabling multiprotocol, restoring earlier backups to HA did not help

Should I try to reflash the stick?
Any solutions?

It is working now! The solution was:

  1. Problems reflashing my SkyConnect USB dongle back to EmberZNet - #3 by Djelibeybi
    As written by PsyDafke on Jan 25, 2023
    Ok, you have to

unplug/replug the stick.
Stop/Disable any add-on that can access the SkyConnect stick (ZHA, Silabs Multiprotocol, …)
SSH & Web Terminal (from the Community Add-ons section, make sure to disable “Protection mode” to get direct hardware access)
as per : Flash Silicon Labs radio firmware manually · NabuCasa/silabs-firmware Wiki · GitHub

  1. Flash Silicon Labs radio firmware manually · NabuCasa/silabs-firmware Wiki · GitHub

==> That is: I had to reflash the Sky Connect stick with the original firmware to de-brick it! <==

(During the LESSON I learned:
A: how to install SSH & Web Terminal add-on to HA
B: how to install git-hub to a windows computer
C: how to generate a public/private key for the terminal to work
D: how to download the firmware to the Raspberry Pi
E: how to flash it to the SkyConnect stick)

5

Have you tried removing the stick, disconnecting power (really disconnect the plug) from the Raspberry Pi for a couple of minutes then turning it back on after plugging the stick back in?
that’s what worked for me.

I’m not too happy about swapping my conbee2 stick for the Skyconnect stick at the moment.
A lot of my buttons no longer work and I had to install a repeater to get the same coverage.

*Philips Tap Switch is not found at all,
Ikea Shortcut Buttons connect and disappear but don’t work or only a couple of times.
I have read the other posts about the Ikea Shortcut Buttons, but the fact that they disappear made me remove them completely
*

6

Thanks for this suggestion, I will check this later this week.

7

Interesting, I also remember now that that I checked that setting just before things broke down. I will check the suggested fixes later this week.

8

Thanks! I will try your suggested fixes later this week (I’m feeling hopeful:-)).

9

Logical but no. I tried that with just plug out, waiting a few minutes, plugin, even in my laptop and later back into the Pi but it still did not work. I also tried different USB ports. All devices do recognize the stick, but HA fails finalize the configuration cycle and fails. I have hopes for firmware reflash trying later this week…

10

It does . exactly the same issue. flashing the Sykconnect dongle did solve the no-connectivity issue.

i ve been able to restore also an network backup

now it’s working as intended, but no more mix Zigbee / threads for the moment :wink:

Error

11

It seems the ZHA USB stick got bricked. I fixed it with a firmware update (see original post).

12

It seems the ZHA USB stick got bricked indeed. I fixed it using the official firmware update procedure from HA (see fix in original post).

13

Just experienced the same, all of a sudden the dongle would be detected but i would get an error message saying that HA could not talk to the dongle.

After i reflashed it, it started working again.