Photon claiming issues

Troubleshooting
1

I have both an iPHone and Android phone. I am not able to claim the photon on either. I have tried the CLI method. Nothing works. On the PC I get all they way to configuration complete but then it never is connected to the cloud. So, I enter the “Reconfigure/Check Again” merry go round.

On my Iphone I get all the way to “Verify Device Ownership” but thats it and to get to that point I have to turn off the wifi connection on the phone manually. Once I am at this point the app hangs. If I do not disconnect the wifi manually the app hangs at Connect to Wifi network.

On the android phone I get the Uh oh screen informing me that it cannot disconnect from the soft AP.

I have tried numerous times (over an hour now) with two different brand new photons with no luck. I have read the documents and searched the community. If I missed a resolution in the community, please steer me in the correct direction. Any help is appreciated. I am about ready to hang up the photons for good!

Thanks

2

Is the Photon breathing cyan?

3

It is always breathing Blue. I should have also noted that in the CLI method the SSID is found. I am using WEP keys and I have tried all 4 of them. I am able to connect to either of the photons regardless of if I use the apps or CLI via the photon wifi

4

There are special considerations for WEP. You can’t just enter the key, you need to do some special things are described here:

http://rickkas7.github.io/wep/

Once you get that straightened out, you can fix the claiming using these steps. The normal sequence on the status LED is: white, blinking green, blinking cyan (light blue), fast blinking cyan, and finally breathing cyan. You can only claim when breathing cyan.

Method 1

If you have not done so already, please install the Particle CLI. The command line utilities are useful not only for solving this problem but will be valuable later on, as well.

https://docs.particle.io/guide/tools-and-features/cli

If you are using Windows, be sure to use the link to Windows CLI Installer that will automatically install all of the components instead of the more complicated manual install.

Put the Photon into Listening mode (blinking blue) by holding down SETUP until it blinks blue. Then issue the CLI command:

particle identify

Save the Device ID; you’ll need it next.

Reset the Photon and wait for it to breathe cyan. The next step won’t succeed until it’s breathing cyan. Then issue the command:

particle device add YOUR_DEVICE_ID

Method 2

If you don’t want to install the CLI now, you can use one of the techniques in this document for finding your device ID:

https://docs.particle.io/faq/particle-devices/finding-device-id/photon/

Once you know it, you can go to https://build.particle.io. Select the Devices icon (circle with 4 lines) and use the Add Device link to add the device. The Photon must be in breathing cyan mode and then use the Device ID you obtained earlier and enter it into the box.

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5

There are special considerations for WEP. You can't just enter the key, you need to do some special things are described here

Thanks for the information and your reply. Did I miss this somewhere in the documentation?

Method 1

I do have the CLI installed and I used the Windows installer, Thank you. So getting the device into breathing cyan is only going to happen once I have made the connection to the cloud-which will only happen once I resolve the WEP issue correct?

So much for simple! Thanks for your time, Ill give it a try.

6

That was a very simple fix. Thank you very much.

1 Like
7

As a general recommendation, WEP is not a very secure encryption, and you'd be much better of picking something more secure. Just wanted to throw that out there.

8

Yes, I appreciate and understand that. I am simply trying to verify an issue and am using a known wifi connection. My point was knowing about a fix that took about 30 seconds, could have easily been added ( and should be added IMHO) to the documents and saved a lot of stomach acid.

Thank you though for pointing that out and your time

1 Like