How to delete "interview not complete" devices

Discussions about Z-Way software and Z-Wave technology in general
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arjanh
Posts: 3
Joined: 09 Dec 2020 10:45

How to delete "interview not complete" devices

Post by arjanh »

Hardware: z-wave.me USB stick on Raspberry Pi 3B, z-wayserver version 3.1.1.

I have 3 devices that I had issues with during inclusion. As a result, those 3 devices show up as "Interview is not complete" under "Network health" in the Expert GUI.
These 3 devices simply don't exist (I've re-included them after a device reset, they are working fine under another device ID), I would like to just remove them. But... how? From the expert GUI, you can only remove failed devices, and somehow z-way doesn't see these devices as failed (yet).

From the regular UI (Devices -> Manage), there is a trash can icon behind every device listed, but that doesn't work.
When I click the trash can icon, I am presented with 2 options: "Reset and remove" and "Remove".
The first one doesn't work at all: clicking it shows a modal window with no content and only a "Cancel" button.
The second one does not work either: very shortly the following error message appears:
"An unexpected error occured during loading data. Try to reload the page."
(I made a screen recording here: http://misc.webgear.nl/z-wave.mov
Then the page reloads as if nothing happened. And the device is still there.

How can I remove a device that is not on my z-way network????

Finally: I've been using z-way since 2015. Five years have passed and the quality of the z-way software is still very questionable. It was bad in 2015, it is still as bad now.
Do you guys test at all? There are so many things that just don't work or only work somewhat.
I paid EUR 35 for a z-wave dongle, I paid EUR 60 for a z-wave license... is it too much to ask to expect a bit of quality in return?
For 2021 I wish for lots of quality improvements on the z-way software ;-) Thank you!
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PoltoS
Posts: 7578
Joined: 26 Jan 2011 19:36

Re: How to delete "interview not complete" devices

Post by PoltoS »

We suggest to go in Expert UI and delete there: Network->Control. Add/Remove from network if the device is reachable or Remove Failed if it is not anymore.

The widnow you refer in the video has a bug that is already fixed and will work as expected in the next release.

We did a lot of improvements, bug fixes and polishing of the UI in last half a year and we will continue to improve in 2021. Hope you will be satisfied with it.
arjanh
Posts: 3
Joined: 09 Dec 2020 10:45

Re: How to delete "interview not complete" devices

Post by arjanh »

Thanks PoltoS for your reply.
Unfortunately, I still can't remove the failed devices. As said, I have 3 devices that don't exist on my network, while z-way still sees them:
Image
If I go to the Expert UI, Network -> Control, I see the following:
Image
Most options are disabled... how can I delete these 3 devices? Am I not seeing something?

Thanks again!!!
enbemokel
Posts: 482
Joined: 08 Aug 2016 17:36

Re: How to delete "interview not complete" devices

Post by enbemokel »

Hi, you may use the tool/app mxInfo, there is an option to save a config.json without the "old" products.
Maybe that will be an option for your problem. Didn´t tried it for myself for this purpose, just looking to get some information.
piet66
Posts: 267
Joined: 04 Feb 2017 17:00

Re: How to delete "interview not complete" devices

Post by piet66 »

MxInfo/ConfigJson only removes virtual devices from config.json, not from the running system. And here we have a problem with no longer existing physical devices. This doesn't help.

You could try to set interviewDone to true and see what will happen. Which command class is incomplete, you should see in ExpertUI/Configuration.

If you can use MxInfo, you can look with MxInfo/ZwayConfiguration what is stored about these devices by ZWay.
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Rev 1.2
Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster, 32bit)
RaZberry by Z-Wave.Me ZW0700 7.20.00 07.38/1766938484 1025/257
Z-Way version v4.1.2 from 2023-10-18 03:34:26 +0300
seattleneil
Posts: 172
Joined: 02 Mar 2020 22:41

Re: How to delete "interview not complete" devices

Post by seattleneil »

An easy way to teach Z-Way that a device has failed is to remove power from the device so that the device is truly "dead", then use the Expert UI and press the "Call for NIF" button for the failed device (from the Configuration menu->Interview sub-menu). Z-Way will attempt to communicate with the "dead" device for around 2 minutes and then declare the device failed. At that point, you can delete the device using the Network-Control menu and pressing the "Remove Failed Node" button after selecting the device ID of the failed device.

Keep in mind, the device will likely be left in the included state, so you'll need to either factory reset the device or exclude the device, before being able to include the device. This is not a problem, it's just a reminder.

If the real issue is that the interview process hasn't completed, it is possible to clear this error condition. Whether this makes sense or not depends on which command classes have interviewed successfully and which have failed. For example, if the Basic command class interview has completed successfully, there's a good chance you'll be able to control the device; clearing the interview error(s) may make sense. On the flip side, if the device requires support for the Security command class and the Security command class interview has failed, clearing the interview error(s) would not be productive.
arjanh
Posts: 3
Joined: 09 Dec 2020 10:45

Re: How to delete "interview not complete" devices

Post by arjanh »

I finally managed to remove the devices, in the expert GUI.
For all "Interview not complete" devices, go to the Configuration tab, click "Force interview".
The interrview fill fail, because the device doesn't exist.
Now z-way also notices this, and then marks the device as Failed. And then you can remove that device from the Network tab.
The trick seems to be to force another interview.
My non-existing devices are finally gone.

Thanks for helping everyone!
enbemokel
Posts: 482
Joined: 08 Aug 2016 17:36

Re: How to delete "interview not complete" devices

Post by enbemokel »

Thanks for information.
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