HomeKit Home 18.6 Update problem, Homepods stuck in update loop.

[ColdCase]

I had two homes, one that used three AppleTVs as hubs and one that used three Homepods. It has been stable for years. Because the old Home version will not be supported and have been told the new version is more stable, I updated the homes a week ago. There have been a couple issues. I now have three homes. The home running on AppleTV hubs were split into two, one home on one AppleTVs and the the other new home on the other. The third AppleTV disappeared. I dunno off hand which versions they are, thought they were all 4K.

The AppleTV home seems to work OK, except for one Yale lock. The lock seems to be split between the homes and unreachable. Some LFIX lights on the Homepods turn on and off randomly. So I thought some cleanup was due.

Meanwhile a more serious issue arrises The Homepods are set to update automatically. Yesterday they decided it was time to update to 18.6 and all three are now stuck in the update loop. They get warm to the touch. Advanced protection is turned off, don’t think it was ever active.

So what to do? There are more than a dozen devices and automations and I fear that I’ll have to start from scratch. I was thinking about unplugging all the HomePods. Plug one in and reset it, then adding it back to the main home. Does that retain the current home config? Or am I just into a long week…..

The Home has been so stable I have not been following the events here, and am not up to speed. I'm sure I missed something. I do have the EVE app and it shows devices on the main home as unreachable.

 

[ColdCase]

BTW Apple support says only remedy is to reset the HomePods and start new....

 

[ColdCase]

Apple support suggested trying factory reset of the HomePods but after they boot they apparently try to update to 18.6 and don't come back on line. Status on two indicate they are running 18.5, the other 18.6 but the wheels continue spinning. These are Model: MQHW2LL/A, first generation HomePods I think about 5 years old.

Obviously I don't know enough about whats going on during the transition. This was a stable home at one time. The Home app on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac Laptop show slightly different device status. Most automations continue to run when the pods are not in a "crashed" state, and several accessories can be controlled. The displayed Home device status improves over several hours and then crashes to not connected status. The single HomePod (reports version 18.5) always seems to be unavailable where the HomePod pair go in and out.

The second Home using the AppleTV hubs continues to operate, but two out of the three up to date 4K AppleTVs configuration screen indicate they are located in the second home, but homekit apps put both in both the second home and the new home with different names.......

Perhaps if this doesn't settle down in a couple days I could try moving one of the ApplTVs to the main home and then unplug/remove the HomePods.