Issues Connecting Samsung Microwave Oven to SmartThings

[Justin Noel]

Issues Connecting Samsung Microwave Oven to SmartThings

Please be patient with the long post. I’ve tried to be complete with the background of my connectivity issue just in case our exchange of the first oven for a replacement is somehow the root of our connectivity issue.

Recently we had to replace a 12 year old LG over the range microwave oven. Since we have other Samsung appliances (washer, dryer, fridge) and quite a few iOT devices connected and controllable from SmartThings (SmartThings Hub V3) we replaced it with a new Stainless Steel Samsung 2.1-cu ft 1000-Watt Smart Over-the-Range Microwave with Sensor Cooking (ME21DG6300SRAA). We had it installed above the stove and I had very little difficulty getting it set up with SmartThings. After a few days of use we discovered the internal fan that cools the emitter and internal circuitry was not running. This was causing the unit to power off in the middle of operation. So we took it back and exchanged it for another one, installed it, and this time we listened closely to be sure we could hear a fan running so this one was fine.

Unlike the first defective oven this one did not automatically prompt me to add the unit to the SmartThings app on my iPhone. So I anticipating that I would have to remove the old microwave from SmartThings I used the app to remove the device and got notice it had been removed. At one point I was asked to confirm I was the owner I think. Or this may have been when I went to add back the new oven. I only saw this once but the app reported the oven had been removed. I then used the QR code to add the new oven and it worked and until the next day when the WiFi symbol disappeared for no apparent reason. I had looked at my router log to see what MAC ID the oven was and set the router up to always assign the same IP address to it so it would not have to go through DHCP every time the oven lost power for some reason. It was not long after that the oven went off line and I’ve not had any luck adding it back. At one point I removed it from SmartThings and tried to add it back and no joy there either.

It’s infuriating that when I’m near the new MW oven the app on my iPhone tells me there is a microwave oven I can add to SmartThings but when I try to add it (both with the QR code and by putting the oven in AP mode) it easily finds my router asking me to log in, seems to accept the login, then tells me it’s adding the device to SmartThings with a rotating graphic on the LED display, but ultimately fails returning me to a list of available router names with a red message under my router name saying the password is incorrect (ABSOLUTELY not the case and I assume a catch all failure notification). Even the wrong password message is inconsistent with it sometimes showing up and other times not. But always when the add fails it returns to the list of available routers near our home.

It’s not like I don’t know anything about networking. I’m CISCO certified and can make my Synology mesh router and access points do flips. It’s clearly some sort of quirky issue with how the registration process is working with SmartThings with a reliance to using an internal WiFi connection inside the oven to handshake with an active connection to my wifi network. It’s an obtuse process with little or no transparency. I’ve gotten various error codes with followup suggestions (all of which I’ve tried) and no joy there either.

Despite Samsung not listing ANYWHERE on the box or documentation what the MAC ID is of the oven, because I was able to add it initially before it fell off the network, I was able to glean the MAC ID from my router log history. I’ve even tried putting the MAC ID into my reserved IP address table to see if that would assure a match when it tries to connect. It’s NOT a wifi strength issue. My iPhone shows an excellent connection when I’m standing in the kitchen in front of the microwave and there is a host of lights connected to SmartThings and a large screen Amazon Echo Show on the island counter that shows no issue with connectivity, the kitchen has it’s own access point (its a mesh network).

I work from home and we have a professionally installed network on Google Fiber. The issue is some fault in the Samsung registration process and maybe something needs to be done on the server end. I’ve used the SmartThings app to ATTEMPT to get support and have gotten 2 emails saying they will get back to me but I’ve heard NOTHING from SmartThings support in over 4 days. That’s just pitiful. 😐

When I can afford to take my entire network down today I’m going to initialize the router, managed network switch, the SmartThings hub, and all the access points, and unplug the microwave for a bit AND THEN bring everything back up just to be sure there is not some sort of latent memory of the old MAC ID association in the routing tables. Beyond this Hail Mary step I’m at a loss with respect to what I’ve not tried.

SAMSUNG SMARTTHINGS SUPPORT WHERE ARE YOU????

• Justin -

 

 

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[userV5EaLNFCvv]

Im having the same issue.  Did you ever solve this?

[Justin Noel · Accepted solution]

Yep, solved it but certainly not because Samsung SmartThings support had anything to do with it. Their support is by email only and nothing realtime. Took them 4 days to respond to my request for assistance. Even then it was a slow, awkward, painful back and forth with email over several days. Whomever  responded to me was epically  clueless and, even though I provided very specific model information of the oven in my initial contact, they started out telling me how to do things on some different model.*

*Sorry I had to get that out of my system. 

So in the end, having literally tried every single possible or even slightly possible solution  I ended up shutting down my entire network -- powering off my router, the SmartThings Hub, ethernet switch, all WiFi access points and even unplugged the cable to my internet provider.

This was done theorizing maybe the hardware MAC id of the defective microwave oven I had to return to Lowe's in exchange for a new one was still being remembered by the various routing tables an active network of internet devices maintains for efficiency. Remember this is despite my having purged the old MAC id of the returned oven from my router which most certainly should not have remembered the old one once I deleted it.

But I have a mesh network with 7 wifi access points and a 24 port managed ethernet switch so there is a lot of places where possibly that old ID might be getting stored. 

Once everything was off and/or disconnected I walked around the house and re-connected or turned everything back on, made sure the network was back up and good. Then I tried adding the microwave oven again to SmartThings precisely as I had done 50 times before and IT WORKED... first time.

We both work from home online so our network is substantial with lots of active network routing going on so it probably makes sense that the old MAC id could have been stuck in the works causing a conflicting id to fail. Maybe that old ID was being pushed up to SmartThings by my network and it did not match the different MAC ID the newly installed oven had?

This may not work for you but give it a shot. Remember the primary objective (by ARPA back in the day when it was to be used by the military) was for the design of the internet and by extension ethernet and WiFI to be ROBUST and error fault tolerant with a lot of redundancy and buffering and the ability to try and try again when a connection could not be made. So an active network of devices stores tables of addresses and ids to provide speed and redundancy.

So, it appears in my case at least, that was the problem.

Sorry to be long winded I like to explain WHY trying something, on the surface, does not look like it will work is still worth trying.

Best of luck

- Justin -