Google Home Died?

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#1

I have 2 first gen home minis that (on different days) claimed they had lost connection to the Internet. We power cycled everything and both devices then asked me to set them up using the home app. - so I presume they both lost their configuration settings on power-cycle.

The Home App finds the devices and lets me configure, but neither will connect to the WiFi networks (different locations). I’ve tried different WiFi access points too.

I tried doing a factory reset - same result.

I purchased a Nest Hub to replace the home mini, and this connected and works just fine - so I am sure the network is OK.

Could this have been a firmware update in the last week or so that has bricked these 2 devices? It seems very odd that they both died within 1-2 days of each other.

Also see: https://www.reddit.com/r/googlehome/comments/ht4w4t/google_home_dead/

All the best,
Giles.

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#2

That does sound like something weird happened. You could try the support options with Google, I’ve heard if you can find your way through the forest and find the right tree that you can actually get good support. One other thing you might be willing to try is to purchase one of these https://store.google.com/product/ethernet_adapter_for_chromecast (according to Reddit they work to provide a wired network for the mini https://old.reddit.com/r/google/comments/77xws5/google_home_mini_on_ethernet_instead_of_wifi/ ). If that got you connected to the network, perhaps the device would be willing to download an update and fix itself (and perhaps not, I don’t know that to be a fix.)

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#3

I was gonna recommend one of the ethernet adapters also. This fixed a similar issue a good friend of mine had. Also, if you pay for extra Google storage in your Google Drive, even the lowest tier you get free support through Google One. I’ve only ever had to use their support once and it was some of the best phone support calls I have ever had.

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#4

I wonder if this is related… https://twitter.com/justkelly_ok/status/1286317007982301184?s=20

They’re talking about Nest hardware but if they share WLAN chips or some other component it could be.

#5

Probably totally unrelated, but literally ran into similar problem with Blink cameras yesterday. The Blink Sync Module had lost connectivity with Orbi Wi-Fi system sometime recently.

Went through reset and setup, but module could not find any wifi signals.

Logged into Orbi router(not using the simplified app) and changed the channel the 2.4GHz network using from auto to channel 11. Module found wifi and connected.

Very iffy memory of this happening when I installed Orbi last year. No idea why it defaulted to auto again.

So what is a wifi channel? With Googles help I learned the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network (2.400 - 2.495 GHz) is divided into 20MHz wide channels, with centre frequencies separated by 5MHz. Used to be channels 1, 6, and 11 did not overlap, so were recommended. Now it is channels 1,5,9, and 13 ( use of channel 13 not allowed in US). Most of us probably never even encounter the wifi channel setting.

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#6

In Mexico it practically is dead as a brand, no nest home devices around here

Other missing Google hardware in Mexico is the pixel line of products, Stadia, Chromecast ultra and Titan

#7

What is the most common smart home devices in Mexico? Just curious.

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#8

The most obvious of all, Amazon Echo, and worst of all, it makes sense, Alexa has a pretty natural voice, while the voice of the Google Assistant is pretty robotic.

Google is leaving us, and that hurts me because I am a HUGE Google fan and early adopter of its software to the point that my default Android browser is Canary

#9

Same thing happened to me. 2 first gen home minis died within two days. Lost wifi. Google killing off old hardware? In Sweden by the way…

#10

I don’t think they’ve intentionally killed anything… bugs do happen. I have a number of OG mini’s and none of them had had this issues. Same advice as before applies, if you’re willing to order the wired adapter it might fix itself given the opportunity.

#11

I managed to fix mine by securing the WiFi network. We were running with the WiFi unsecured deliberately so anyone could connect. As soon as I tried connecting it to a secured network, it started working.

I have since heard that it was a firmware update that made this change.

I hope this helps anyone else having the same issue.

All the best,
Giles.

1 Like
#12

You’re a gutsy person running an unsecured wifi network.