I have a TTN Gateway that worked perfectly well under Version 2. Now it is a doorstop. Can someone help please?

TTN have upgraded their systems to version 3 back in December 2021. It is now April 2022 and I still have not managed to restore what was a fully functioning, experimental TTN hub with various devices and applications all working happily.

Since then, my TTN Gateway can still be accessed from my PC via WiFi but I am now stuck in an endless loop when trying to connect to it. I see a window after entering the correct SSID and WiFi password that says “Reconnecting Gateway”. Then nothing happens.

Needless to say, my computer IS connected to the WiFi network “PM9”.

Over at the TTN console end, I set up the new instance of my gateway in June 2021 – in anticipation – however the gateway is showing as “disconnected”.

Why? I have no idea.
What can I do about it? I have no idea.

I would be very grateful if someone could help me out of this rut.

The “detailed documentation on configuring your gateways” is so detailed, it is completely overwhelming and confusing. It is suggested that if I have any questions about reconfiguration, I can visit your forum but that is even more overwhelming, disjointed and confusing.

I am an experienced computer and software engineer yet I am completely at my wits end to get this going again. TTN seem to have set up a working system and then trashed it with an “upgrade”. If they are hoping to get this technology widely adopted, they are going to have to make it usable and also desist from then making it unusable shortly afterwards!

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Follow instructions The Things Kickstarter Gateway | The Things Stack for LoRaWAN and use The Things Network Account for the account server.

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I hope you got the frustration out of your system and can some provide details so we are able to help. Let’s start with what brand and make is your gateway?

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One observation I would make is that there seemed to have been very few problems reported (in this forum) at the transition to version 3, no doubt a lot of planning went into the transition process.

As for TTN now being ‘unuseable’ I find that very surprising, its seems the vast majority of users are quite happy.

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I have done all that: over and over again. I don’t wan’t to get into playing with UARTs, though.

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Thank you for your sensible reply.
The answer is: not yet.
This is my gateway brand and make:
https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/docs/gateways/gateway/
The 868 model.

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Can you confirm which s/w version it is running.

What LED status do you see?

Can you show a grab of the GW Registration screen/set up in TTN(CE) console (aka V3)?

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I don’t know which s/w version it is running because I can’t properly connect to the unit.
Connecting to the units webserver via a cable I can get it to scan for WiFi networks after which I select the WiFi network and enter in the WiFi password. I then see a screen that says “Reconnecting Gateway” showing the correct WiFi SSID . - upon which I see 4 blue LEDs on the unit. Subsequent attempts to connect to the units webserver goes back to the “Gateway Settings” screen and repeats indefinitely.
I will try and upload the screenshot of the TTN Console screen.

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image

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I understand that I probably need to modify the global_conf.json file (which I have downloaded) to reflect the address of the V3 server, however without being able to access the unit’s webserver properly and not knowing another method, I am stuck.

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global_conf.json (3.4 KB)

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ignore the .json file for now…sounds like you couldnt update that on the GW anyhow…

does the GW id you entered on the Gateway Settings page on the GW exactly match what you have put into the console, also have you directly copied/pasted the API key and can you show what option(s)/permission(s) you have set for the key in the console please.

Also wrt the GW I assume you did open and follow the instruction to:-
While the gateway is powered on, hold the pink reset button for 5 seconds (until each of the 5 LEDs illuminate). This erases the existing configuration on the gateway.

To update the GW settings to point to correct TTN server you update here vs using .json file per the instruction…have you done that?
image

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I configured two TTKG’s, over the LAN connection. It was slightly tricky to configure them. One thing in particular was that it would not connect if you chose a WiFi access point right away. It only worked when I left it empty at first, but filled in all of the other things like gateway id, account server and gateway key. Then only later filled in the wifi access point details.

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I did the pink button stuff before but I have now done it again.
Is the “Gateway Key” on the settings page the same as the “API Key” on the console?
I will upload a dump of the API Key permissions. What should they be?

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image

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I tried all of the above (again), starting with the pink button and checking that all the parameters are the same, generating a new API key and entering it as the Gateway Key and setting the Account Server to https://eu1.cloud.thethings.network. The result is that the gateway is at last connected!

I also tried to upgrade the firmware by downloading the checksums and firmware.hex files from GitHub and putting them in the “update” folder of a FAT32 SD card but, on powering up, nothing apparently occurred and I don’t know how to check the firmware version - going to http://things-gateway.local/ does not offer up a lot of information. How can I find out what firmware is installed? Do I need to use the CLI?

I now have a chance to try and re-build my Node App.

Thank you for your assistance.

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If you look in the V3 console under General Settings – > attributes it will likely show the firmware version - leave the tick box below enabled to get auto update :wink:

image

Enjoy your node app re-build…

If hadnt worked would have suggested meet up as just up M40 not far from where you are over at K-on-Thames :slight_smile:

@bertrik when I migrated to V3 I didnt bother re-doing WiFi as also on Ethernet so guess experience the same (configure before deploying on WiFi) - guess we leave that tip here as hint to any future stragglers or new deployers (before disty stocks exhausted!) :slight_smile:

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I have indeed connected the gateway via an Ethernet cable - for reliability.

I have now re-created a couple of Apps and added three of my “end devices” and set the uplink and downlink formatters to “CayenneLPP”. I have a legacy setup on Cayenne for these devices - which remember the same DevEUI’s as existed before (under V.2), however nothing is picked up by the Cayenne widgets now. Do I need to change anything there? Or perhaps delete and re-build the widgets on the Cayenne system to work over the new “Stack”?

Have you added the replacement integration/webhook for Cayenne/myDevices in the new (V3) App(s)

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Thank you - I have now and the connection to Cayenne is made.

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