Stuck in Download device controller loop

General Discussion
17

Small Background

  • I reached out to SmartThings Support Team. They gave me many suggestions on how to reset the hub, etc, etc. They did mention that the Hub cannot connect to 192.168.42.xx subnet.

  • I looked at my network configuration, and my network subnet was running on 192.168.50.xx range. Although the network IP range is not exactly the same (as mentioned by the Support Team), it was still in the same class (Class C Network).

Solution

  • I changed the DHCP in my router to a Class B Subnet range. Now I run on 172.16.53.xx range.
  • Once the network IP range was changed & internet was running, I had reset the SmartThings Hub again
  • Post the reset, connected the hub via Ethernet and started the discovery process in the SmartThings App.
  • The hub was discovered as everytime, but something was different. Post discovery, the hub registration took about 40 seconds, compared to 5 seconds during failed attempts.
  • After registration, there were a few updates downloaded on the hub, during this time the light on the Hub changed from flashing Red/Green to blinking Blue and then solid green. It is possible that hub got the new settings and was rebooting to apply them
  • The process on the SmartThings App completed & the hub was now successfully connected.

I can see the hub in SmartThings App as well as on https://my.smartthings.com/

Root Cause

  • SmarThing Hub cannot connect to a network running Class C Network (192 - 233 IP range)
  • The error on the SmartThing Mobile App - Couldn’t download device controller. Try again by tapping the device card is misleading. It should be more meaningful such as Network Subnet not supported or something on similar lines.

I hope this helps someone in the future

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