This topic

BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

dnairb0011 — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 11:21:48 GMT

I have been running v1.02.12build02 firmware on my wholehome setup since December 2020 and had no issues. I disabled auto update and stayed on this firmware because it worked well after issues I had with a previous firmware update. I finally took the plunge and updated the firmware in mid Feb 2023 to the latest v1.02.13 build07.

The only reason I updated this time was due to the constant reminder of a firmware update every time I opened the app, and assumed after all this time it would / should be safe to update. Other people I know had updated to v1.02.13 build07 without issue so I tried it.

Big mistake, and one I seriously regret. I've had to reboot my network more than once since the update and regularly get discs go offline. I've had to move 1 disc to get a 'decent' connection, though it still loses connectivity. None of the discs are any further than 5 meters apart. 1 other disc that often loses connectivity now impacts on my security devices as the apps now regularly fail when trying to remotely unlock and or monitor my front door.

Is it possible to revert back to the previous firmware I was on as that was faultless in comparison and everything worked.

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

Andy_00 — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 06:06:41 GMT

Hope this helps, found it on another post on here

http://mybtdevice.home/rollback.htm

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

dnairb0011 — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 11:28:47 GMT

Thanks for the link.

I have already obtained this and performed a rollback after losing access to everything multiple times when I was away from home for a while.

Sadly, even though I am back on the previous firmware the system does not appear to be as stable as it was originally. I had to restart the network twice in 1 evening after receiving notifications that devices had lost connection.

I have turned off auto updates again and hoping things will stabilise once more, failing that, the Wholehome system will be replaced as I can't rely on a WiFi mesh system that regularly goes offline.

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

dnairb0011 — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 13:11:29 GMT

Spoke too soon. Went out for a while and while I was out my Wholehome went offline again, disconnecting everything that was using the wifi.

When I got in I decided to factory reset the discs again as I hadn't done it after reverting to the original firmware. When it came to the final disc, which was not one of the original set, I had to plug it into the router. As soon as it was detected, it performed a firmware update (automatically as I had disabled auto updates in the app) and now all of the discs are running the latest firmware version again.

What a waste of time!!!!!

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

Les-Gibson — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 14:14:26 GMT

You could try doing the same thing again only this time, when you connect the final disc to the router, disconnect your hub from the line first.

Hopefully the two will still communicate with each other and the app over your local network but with no internet connection to the hub it won't be able to update the disc

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

dnairb0011 — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 14:50:35 GMT

That is something to consider.

Now everything is back up and running I'll monitor it to see how it performs before deciding on my next option. Not sure I can be bothered to keep messing about with this set much longer as it's currently proving to be pretty unreliable now.

I need a setup I can rely on, this setup no longer fills me with confidence.

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

johnaa — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 17:58:23 GMT

My neighbours are having problems with these discs. I have looked at the logs on all of the discs. The master disc is crashing, just stopping dead, no error message, no stack dump. Then the disc restarts. It happens two or three times a day. That takes two or three minutes each time. Regardless of the environment, firmware should never crash like this. Either there is a bug in every version of the firmware. Or BT have introduced a bug in a later version which is what might have happened here with v1.02.13 build07.

I think it is appalling that BT has just abandoned support for these discs and essentially committed a lot of hardware prematurely to landfill. Equipment manufacturers should be legally obliged to either make the firmware open source so bug fixes can be made by the open source community or, at least, provide a way of unlocking the boot loader so third party firmware like OpenWRT can be installed.

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

dnairb0011 — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 18:20:56 GMT

My discs were all replaced as I got so fed up with them going offline daily, sometimes multiple times a day. I was sending logs daily, which was a waste of time as I don't think anyone looked at them or knew how to interpret them as the questions I was being asked would have been answered by checking the logs. This did surprise me somewhat as I worked with routers and would often interpret logs to identify issues.

Sadly though, even the replacement discs weren't / aren't faultless. I ended up swapping the channels and now they often go for several day, or even a couple of weeks without going offline but as soon as there is 1 disc that goes offline there are usually a number of issues over a couple of days, from 1 disc to all of them going offline.

Fortunately I have devices connected to the discs now that alert me via an app when discs go offline and I am able to reboot individual discs or the whole network remotely. Not ideal but a useful workaround.

I'm currently contemplating binning the lot and looking at another brand as it's still frustrating that the issues persist.

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

johnaa — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 08:14:57 GMT

Thanks for replying to this old thread. Were the replacement discs also BT Wholehome? Can I confirm that you're now running the last and presumably final version of the software v1.02.13 build07.

I think you are right that the first level BT support staff were probably not able to analyse the logs or have the time. I guess that staff that were able to analyse the logs would be moved on to supporting later products which were being used by customers inside the warranty period. By the way, I had to merge the logs for the 3 discs before I could see what was going on.

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

Andy_00 — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 08:17:14 GMT

Is the latest build now safe to use ?

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

dnairb0011 — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 08:56:59 GMT

Yes the replacement discs were the same, BT Wholehome discs and running the latest firmware version, which is the version you list.

It wasn't first line support that I was dealing with at this point, I was dealing with the technical services dept but I'm still disappointed that they didn't appear to be interpreting the logs I sent them to identify why random discs were going offline at random intervals, as they still do now, though nowhere near as often.

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

dnairb0011 — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 09:09:45 GMT

I don't know what version you're running but I was running v1.02.12build02 for ages with no issues at all, having had issues with a previous firmware update.

At the time I first had issues I dealt directly with the team that were responsible for the firmware updates and they told me to turn off automatic updates, then sent me a pre release firmware to try. This worked without any issues and I had left automatic updates disabled. They then contacted me some time later to advise of an updated firmware release that they felt I should try, which was v1.02.12build02. This worked fine, with no issues and I still left automatic updates disabled.

I made the stupid mistake after a considerable period of running the stable version to turn on automatic updates, believing the latest version should / would be fine as it had been available for ages.

It was after doing the firmware update that my issues started and even reverting back to the previous firmware version (v1.02.12build02) didn't resolve the issues and restore my discs to their previously excellent performance.

If your system is stable then don't do the upgrade is all I can say.

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

naylor2006 — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 10:03:40 GMT

Ive had the BT Wholehome WIFI since 2019, I originally bought a 3 disc kit, my house is a 30's build and the walls are concrete and incredibly thick, for WIFI its a right pain so strategically placed discs around the house helped alot, of course MESH helps so much when you cant run ethernet to access points.

From my experience with the discs they are great for the average home user, but if you stress them out, IE with heavy constant bandwidth or a ton of devices they crash, this is a right problem for them as alot of the time after they reboot disc 3 in the chain might not connect back to 2 and go straight to 1 even though clearly its a weaker signal there. You'd have to reboot and hope for the best.....and this is even after setting 'Prefer Daisy Chain' in the settings.

Other issues would be sometimes after a crash disc 3 would simply never see 2 until 2 was rebooted, so then you'd end up switching off all the discs, powering up the master, then 2 wait......then 3.....hoping it was all in order.

Things got worse when I got a 4th disc, they just arent enterprise grade type gear but for most difficult coverage homes they are great and easy to setup.

One of the main issues I read was that they use the existing 5Ghz connection to talk to each other, IE they dont have a separate backhaul, the same bandwidth you share with it and your device is also used to receive/send from the nearest disc. I connected my NAS to the ethernet port on one disc which was great in theory as it brought ethernet to a device where I could not via a cable, if multiple people opened up streams to watch stuff sometimes that disc would crash.

Having said that, I now have 8 discs (picked them up cheap on ebay)....I know the limit is 4 but eventually I just got so fed up because MESH is somewhat the issue rather than the discs. What I have done over the last 6 months or so is find hidden ways of getting ethernet to each disc or at least the area that needs ethernet. So they are all in AP mode now and never crash, they dont have to work to find their neighbour all they do is just act as access points. It helps so much now if there is ever a power cut or a need for reboot because they just come online, great news for my wife, no faff.

My advice would be before getting a 'better' MESH kit just consider getting some ethernet around the property, it would be a better investment. If you cant do it yourself there are plenty of data cabling guys who have very clever ways of getting cables into certain areas without ripping walls apart, which was a no no at my house.

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

dnairb0011 — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 12:11:04 GMT

I used to have a 4 disc setup, which, as mentioned originally worked flawlessly for a few years. I also had my work laptop hanging off of one of the discs via ethernet cable and again I had no issues whatsoever. I believe the official max number of discs you can use is 6, but if you have 8 then maybe it isn’t 6. I did try the other home WiFi disc product that BT released some years back, which annoyingly isn’t compatible with Wholehome, but decided that I’d stick with my Wholehome setup, which at the time was flawless.

I do have 2 other sets of discs available that I don’t use as I now currently manage with a standard 3 disc setup. My property is also early 1930s and has had a major internal refurb, which included running ethernet cables to each room. Sadly these cables go back to a cupboard that is no longer suitable for my current requirements and a WiFi Mesh has now proven to be far more suited.

It's fair to say my setup is rarely stressed to the point it fails as the discs would often go offline when they aren’t busy, if I was away or if no one was home. Holidays being a regular occurrence where I had to contact family members to get them to go round and reboot the system. The only traffic they would be carrying at the time would be minimal and mainly from cctv cameras, which wouldn't be using much bandwidth, even when viewing live footage.

I now have smart devices plugged into the slave discs via Ethernet cables which are accessible via an app on my phone. When a disc goes offline I am notified of the smart device losing connectivity. I have all of the discs plugged into smart plugs, with the primary disc plugged into a smart plug that is connected to the Home hub WiFi, not the Wholehome Mesh WiFi. This way, if an individual disc goes offline I can reboot that disc remotely via the smart plug app, if the whole Mesh goes offline, then again I can still reboot the main disc and restart the Mesh. While not ideal it works for me as rerunning Ethernet cables isn’t something that will work for me.

Re: BT Wholehome wifi firmware downgrade

naylor2006 — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 12:48:05 GMT

Haha, that’s great, I also did wonder about using smart plugs for this purpose also cause I have a few lying around for different things. They are all 2.4ghz as well so if the nearby disc goes down it could surely still reach the closer neighbour, in order to be powered off and on.

Forgive me, the max is 6, but as forums posts have found before you can plug one in and just leave it plugged into your network and it configures itself, then it just turns up in the app and you can name it. However it’s not that stable, I did have 7 all in a mesh at one point and it would crash a lot. Like I said now I have 8 all backed by Ethernet and I’ve not had an issue since I did that.