Firewalla Purple Restore Problem
So I had the network gremlins visit recently. My Firewalla Purple had issues keeping a connection possible due to an issue with Spectrum Modem and the DNS connection. During this time, several other users on the Facebook forum indicated the same issue:
After resetting the Firewalla Purple to factory, I have tried many times to get the Purple back online. I just can't get through the setup process.
Step 1: I can see the box when attempting to pair with it.
Step 2: The installation starts as the app progresses. My modem was rebooted, LAN to Firewalla WAN, and several times I have made it all the way to "exchanging keys for app access". The process is taking hours, and it never finishes. I've restarted this so many times.
Right now I am sitting at a Checking for updates. I just seems to stop at various spots in the installation process.
I need to step away and wait for a few ideas. Thanks.
-
Any idea on how this process should take in total? I can't remember how long my first successful setup was long ago. I'm watching the process at "Upgrading Firewalla service" at the moment.
Update: 5 minutes past, still at Upgrading Firewalla service...
Now at Starting Firewalla Service at 7 minutes.
Exchanging Keys for app access at the 9 minute mark. I've been here before in previous attempts.
Stuck at Exchanging keys for app access after 10 minutes of waiting. Is this normal?
So, should I micro sd flash the box at this point?
-
Please do not reset.
Can you visit https://diag.firewalla.com and see what it says?
-
Also, can you refer to this article, it has a bit more info https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/4416174293267
(including reboot modem ... )
-
so the purple is in setup mode, Spectrum modem rebooted and connected directly into WAN on purple.
iPhone in LTE mode with app setup in progress. I’m past network setup and am currently at “ upgrading Firewalla service.”
process is slow, and I’ve been here before over an hour. So I’m a bit confused.
This attempt I made it to Starting Firewalla Service on the app setup, but stalled here. I’ll be patient and hang on waiting.
That status page link shows it’s not seen yet by the diagnostics page.
-
@Ricard Hastie Great catch and thanks for the post!
After also running into the same issue and reading this thread, I tried moving the Firewalla purple lower downstream to my Meraki switch where on auto negotiation I saw a ton of transmission related errors. Setting it to be on 100Mbps FD allowed for it to finally finish the setup steps. It seems there is some sort of bug with a hard reset and proper auto negotiation. I'd recommend that Firewalla change it to force at 100-base-T until after setup is complete but I have no idea if this was a firmware issue in the first place.Update:
The issue still seems to persist with physical layer transmission errors. It seems that the root cause is the devices port may have gone bad. :( Moving this to a support ticket.
https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/4993109334547/comments/9298454123155 -
I have experienced the same. The firewalla purple at home stop working since 27Nov22 while I am on a road trip. When back home, the status light show red. I have tried to reboot it but doesn't work. So, I have to reset it. However, it always end up on Exchanging keys for app access. Kindly please advise what should I do. My phone is on the 5G home broadband wifi and is online all the time when setting up the firewalla purple.
-
@ming it is very likely you have a bad WAN port as this is a known issue the team has taken a considerable amount of care on. I would highly recommend opening a support ticket and working through that process with them.
For getting the device to finish setup I recommend using a switch and/or making your router force 10mbps or 100mbps connection on the port or using a switch that can only handle up to 100mbps per port. Although it does not sound intuitive it should allow the connection to be stable enough to complete the setup process.
https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/4993109334547/comments/12127860141971
-
I have finally managed to restore the box. Functionally it works fine now. However, seems like the bandwidth is cap on 100Mbps where connecting directly to the modem Wi-Fi can run up to 300Mbps. In the modem Lan port, it shows it is running at 1Gbps. Please advise what could be done
-
I've tried several times this weekend to get my firewalla purple back into our network as the primary router. I have reset it, both from the app, and hard reset. When I try to install via the app, it takes HOURS, and seems to hang when the app shows "Exchanging keys". My iPhone has WiFi turned off, I reset the modem before starting, but I can only conclude that it it has failed, repeatedly. I can't even get to the point where I could manage port speeds. Help, or I'll need to flush this investment.
-
Siva,
It sounds like you have the same problem as I, and several others on this thread, experienced.
A perfectly good Purple just stops working, and exhibits the behavior your describe. Support sent me a new one (Thank you Firewalla!!!) and its been awesome ever since. I love my Firewalla Purple.. but.. yeah, frustrating when it breaks.. I'm pretty sure yours is broken for good.. I did all the things, flash, reset, retry... 20 different ways.. all to no avail.. I hope mine lasts for good this second time around... -
@siva I advise you open a support case and reference this thread. If it's hardware failure they can help you out. Keep in mind a number of issues can manifest the same failure conditions.
If you would like to further validate this particular failure you can try getting a managed switch where you can change link information, run a variable ping test from another device on the WAN side, and the LAN side, if possible set your config with the LAN port as a secondary WAN, or use a WiFi access point as a WAN. This can further help you verify which port has failed if any.
-
I travel with my Purple worldwide and use it a couple/few weeks out of every month. And occasionally I perform a factory reset just out of "best practices". And usually the soft factory reset works with no issues, but not this time.
Tried a factory reset on my Purple - software (app) and the hard "button" reset - both failed - several times over several days. Had the same issue as others above - the setup screen on the app would freeze at various points (exchanging keys...., installing updates, etc). A couple of times the wi-fi SSID that I had previously configured would show up on my wi-fi list, other times nothing - so I knew the reset wasn't working.
After reading other comments above, I pulled out an old router that only supported 10/100 mb, connected that, performed a hard (button) factory reset again, and the Purple was up and running in just a few minutes.
Is this the result of a recent firmware update?
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
20 comments