New zigbee2mqtt install - interview fails

General support
1

Hello everyone,

I’m just starting with Zigbee, and while I heard that it can be finicky, I’ve reached the end of my personal troubleshooting.

My setup:

I can’t get any of the sensors to pair. I’ve included the debug log at the end, generally it seems to be “Interview failed because can not get node descriptor”. So the communication between the sensor and the concentrator stops at some point.

What I’ve done:

  • different USB ports, with and without extension cable
  • re-flashed concentrator, although I doubt it’s that as verify was successful
  • kept waking up sensor by clicking button during pairing process
  • tried different sensors (I only have these now, but expect to get a mains-powered socket sometime this week)
  • verified that the Zigbee network channel is in a range that’s not being used by my wifi
  • cleared configuration.yaml, database.db and state.json
  • unplugged the concentrator, rebooted the system

What I will do:

  • buy and flash a new concentrator
  • try a different type of Zigbee device

Anything else I might have missed?

Thanks!

debug-log:
(Somehow this forum’s software seems not really suited for pasting of log files, so I stuck it into pastebin. I hope that’s ok.)

https://pastebin.com/LLfkzvwM

2

You mention that the CC2531 is still running the original firmare.
It needs to be flashed to work with zigbee2mqtt

1 Like
3

Sorry, that may have been a bit misleading. I meant that I flashed the concentrator with the CC2531ZNP-Pro-Secure_Standard.hex firmware for the 1.2 ZStack from the TI website.
I don’t think there is a special firmware for zigbee2mqtt, is there? I mean, zigbee2mqtt detects the concentrator and starts up with no errors, showing me there is one device (the concentrator) active.

In lack of a debugger I flashed it using a Raspberry Pi, which should make no difference. The flash process exited successfully and the Linux USB stack detects it correctly as a concentrator.

4

Interestingly, when I re-flashed the coordinator with the rather older CC2531_DEFAULT_20190608 image than the latest from the TI website, it works. So there’s that.

Thanks for the support!

5

It happened to me that my z2m stop accepting pairing devices from time to time, as explained in the FAQ https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/information/FAQ.html it’s enough sometimes to stop z2m unplug the dongle for sometime and the start it again after replug. I guess adding a reflash step in between might not be necessary, but that’s speculation, always good to try to disconnect power cycle first.